Chapter Summaries

Chen Shi spent the day among village ghosts and learned from the scholar Zhu before meeting a group of Imperial Guards searching for porcelain-doll children. He revealed that he had seen the creatures, and the purple-clad woman from Xinxiang began questioning him while the scholar ghost perched on her shoulders.

• Chen Shi played pranks around Huangpo Village, avoided three water ghosts at the Yudai River, and brought offerings to his Godmother beneath the willow tree.
• Chen Shi confided that Grandpa had grown strange and might be trying to eat or boil him, then studied ancient texts with the ghost scholar Zhu.
• A carriage carrying Imperial Guards arrived, and Fang He offered Chen Shi silver in exchange for information about porcelain-doll children.
• Chen Shi accepted Fang He's silver and confirmed that the strange children were small and traveled in groups.
• The purple-clad woman approached Chen Shi to ask where the porcelain dolls were, and Chen Shi noticed Zhu hanging across her shoulders before complimenting her beauty.

Chen Shi led the woman in purple and her men toward the porcelain dolls, while they discovered he had once lost his divine embryo and planned to kill him and wipe out his village. The group chased the dolls into a Ghost and God Domain, where they shrank into porcelain figures and began to suspect Chen Shi had deliberately lured them there.

• Zhu Yucai watched from the willow tree as Chen Shi described the porcelain dolls and agreed to guide the woman in purple after accepting dried meat.
• The woman in purple and Fang He realized Chen Shi had a solid but empty divine shrine, and Fang He found a healed scar where his skull had been opened.
• The woman in purple ordered Fang He to kill Chen Shi and have Huangpo Village wiped out after they found the True King's Tomb; Chen Shi overheard and decided to lead them into danger.
• Chen Shi led the group to the porcelain dolls, which fled into the forest after spotting him, and the woman in purple told the others to follow Chen Shi.
• The group entered a Ghost and God Domain, shrank into porcelain dolls, and the woman in purple wondered whether Chen Shi had intentionally lured them there.

Second Miss Zhao and the Imperial Guard were transformed into Porcelain Dolls after Chen Shi led them into a Ghost and God Domain at a rural porcelain kiln. She escaped the kiln workers with other trapped Porcelain Dolls, while Chen Shi evaded capture inside the factory and slipped away.

• Second Miss Zhao realized Huangpo Village's strange domain had turned her and the Imperial Guard into Porcelain Dolls, then followed Chen Shi toward the kiln factory.
• Second Miss Zhao recognized that the supposed True King's Tomb was a porcelain kiln and learned the Porcelain Dolls feared its giant kiln workers.
• The kiln workers chased and killed several of the Imperial Guard before Second Miss Zhao hid in a kiln cave and escaped with other Porcelain Dolls.
• Second Miss Zhao met Li Xian of Quanzhou, He Qinghe of Danjiang, and other notable figures who had also been tricked into the kiln by Chen Shi.
• Chen Shi hid among jars as the kiln workers searched, then escaped while they caught and threw a runaway jar into the fire.

Chen Shi escaped the porcelain-changing Ghost and God Domain by entering the True King's Tomb, where he memorized most of the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art before fleeing as night fell. He reached Huangpo Village with Grandpa, but the villagers’ fearful whispers and the strange stench around Grandpa left him worried that something was wrong.

• Chen Shi entered the True King's Tomb, where its stronger Ghost and God Domain restored his body and revealed the golden writing on a stone stele.
• Chen Shi used spiritual jerky to withstand the tomb's pressure and read most of the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art before the ram-horned tomb guardian warned him to leave.
• The tomb guardians discussed Chen Shi's powerful Grandpa and the Water-Fire Tempering secret art Grandpa had once taken, then a strange force turned them to stone.
• As darkness fell, Chen Shi used the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art to draw in starlight and outrun a drifting giant-headed evil toward Huangpo Village.
• Chen Shi met Grandpa at the village entrance, but his shrine collapsed as the jerky's power ran out, and the two entered the village amid frightened whispers from the residents.

Chen Shi learned that Li Xiaoding had taken his Divine Embryo, while his grandfather’s frightening transformation and the Azure Ghost Claw continued to threaten him. After suppressing the claw’s pain with the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art, Chen Shi wondered whether other suns and moons existed, while his grandfather hunted the fallen giant head.

• Chen Shi soaked in Grandpa’s medicinal vat and recalled waking from a long coma with no memories before age nine, then realized Li Xiaoding had taken his Divine Embryo.
• Grandpa used a Thousand Mile Sound Talisman to urge Chen Tang to take Chen Shi into the city, while Chen Shi cultivated the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art and his true qi quickly dissipated.
• Grandpa stood over Chen Shi as if sleepwalking, then flew out through the window, murmuring that watching had made him hungry.
• The Azure Ghost Claw tightened around Chen Shi’s heart, and he used the Heavenly Dipper-Stepping Rite and Three Lights Righteous Qi Art to ease the pain.
• Chen Shi wondered whether other suns and moons supplied the light he could cultivate, while Grandpa reached the fallen giant head and began eating it.

Chen Shi traveled with Grandpa to neighboring villages, cultivated a body-refining version of the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art, and sold talismans at the Moon Festival markets. In Fangdian Village, constables arrived to collect taxes and questioned the villagers about Liu Zexi, who had hanged himself as a sacrifice to the village's Godmother.

• Chen Shi ate Grandpa's strange medicinal food and discovered that refining his body with the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art worked without its true-qi method.
• Chen Shi and Grandpa rode their talisman-powered cart to Shanyang Village, where they sold talismans and encountered the village's monk-shaped Godmother.
• Chen Shi asked Grandpa whether he would become a Godmother after death, and Grandpa said the netherworld would probably drag him to the underworld.
• Chen Shi and Grandpa passed a village whose Godmother had died and saw its long-dead residents celebrating the Moon Festival.
• In Fangdian Village, constables disrupted the market while collecting taxes, and their leader questioned the villagers about Liu Zexi's death and sacrifice to the Godmother.

Chen Shi and Grandpa left Fangdian Village as night fell early, then took shelter in a ruined temple on a newly appeared hill. The Godmother followed Lu Tiannan and the Xinxiang County yamen runners and killed them all, confirming that they were the people Liu Zexi had asked her to avenge.

• Lu Tiannan threatened Fangdian Village with the King's Law, collected Liu Zexi's household goods for unpaid taxes, and ordered the villagers to pay.
• Lu Tiannan recognized Chen Shi as the child xiucai who had once ranked first in talent across the Fifty Provinces, then warned him not to break the law.
• Grandpa and Chen Shi sold talismans before leaving the village, and Grandpa noticed that nightfall had come a quarter-hour early.
• Chen Shi and Grandpa found a hill and ruined temple that had not been there before, blocked up the temple, and prepared to spend the night inside.
• Lu Tiannan and the yamen runners arrived at the temple after dark, and the Godmother killed them and their horses with branches and roots.
• The Godmother examined Lu Tiannan and said she had not killed the wrong people.

Chen Shi faced a Sui’s eerie bridal procession and was briefly taken into its sedan chair, but the bride suddenly fled and left him unharmed. After returning to the temple, he drew Peachwood Talismans and told Black Pot that Grandpa might have died and become a corpse, while Grandpa remained missing.

• Grandpa explained that Chen Shi’s strong body could let him defeat cultivators who relied on spells, but he would need to strike before they acted.
• As Chen Shi meditated, Grandpa was overcome by hunger for human flesh and left the temple, while the dead constables and horses rose and danced to music from a fox-led wedding procession.
• The foxes and corpses called Chen Shi the groom, and the Sui’s bride appeared beside him after the temple’s Peachwood Talismans burned away.
• Black Pot chased the departing sedan chair, but a gust of yin wind made the procession vanish and left Chen Shi sitting outside the temple.
• Chen Shi drew new Peachwood Talismans with Black Pot’s blood, then told Black Pot that Grandpa might have died after deceiving ghost messengers and returned as a corpse.
• When Chen Shi joked that he might kill Black Pot to silence him, Black Pot hurried to keep watch while Chen Shi rested.

Chen Shi discovered that he could cultivate Sunlight Righteous Qi and Moonlight Righteous Qi inside the ruined temple, then followed Imperial Guard Li Guang to a mountain camp where he learned that Li Xiaoding, the man whose family had stolen his Divine Embryo, was nearby. As Chen Shi prepared Peach Blossom Talismans, he weighed whether he could kill Li Xiaoding and the seven Imperial Guards guarding him.

• Grandpa returned to the ruined temple and warned himself that if he could no longer hold on, he would have to kill Chen Shi rather than let him bring calamity upon the common people.
• Chen Shi found that the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art drew golden and silver forces inside the temple, greatly improving his cultivation, and resolved to return there to practice.
• Chen Shi and Grandpa traveled to Yandang Village to sell talismans, where Imperial Guard Li Guang paid Chen Shi to make Peach Blossom Talismans at his master's hunting camp.
• Chen Shi realized Li Guang served Li Xiaoding, the young master whose family had stolen Chen Shi's Divine Embryo, and followed him into the mountains.
• At Li Xiaoding's camp, Chen Shi saw seven Imperial Guards and recognized that they could kill him with spells, though their lax vigilance might give him an opening.
• As Chen Shi began drawing talismans, he considered killing Li Xiaoding and all seven Imperial Guards so he could survive the revenge attempt.

Chen Shi abandoned his first chance to kill Li Xiaoding when Zi E arrived, but struck when the group gathered again. He killed Li Guang, the Imperial Guards, and Zi E, leaving Li Xiaoding protected by a Golden Bell Talisman and paralyzed by fear.

• Chen Shi pretended he needed Black Pot's blood to draw talismans, making Li Xiaoding and the Imperial Guards stand down.
• Zi E arrived with a visiting card from the Ding Family's Fourth Miss, and Chen Shi withheld his attack to avoid endangering Grandpa and Huangpo Village.
• When the group gathered around Zi E, Chen Shi launched a surprise attack and killed Li Guang and the Imperial Guards.
• Chen Shi killed Zi E before she could cast a spell, then retrieved his knife from one of the Imperial Guards.
• Li Xiaoding burned his Golden Bell Talisman and stood frozen in terror, unable to remember how to use his cultivation.

Chen Shi killed Li Xiaoding and his guards to avenge the theft of his Divine Embryo, then learned Li Xiaoding had taken a different person’s Divine Embryo. He killed Li Xiaoding anyway, left the camp with Black Pot, and reunited with Grandpa, who took charge of his payment.

• Chen Shi destroyed Li Xiaoding’s Golden Light Bell, overpowered him, and learned that Li Xiaoding had transplanted a Divine Embryo only the previous year.
• Chen Shi realized Li Xiaoding might not have stolen his Divine Embryo, but killed him because he had stolen another student’s Divine Embryo and the student had died.
• Chen Shi gathered his belongings, ate the camp’s stew and fruit with Black Pot, and left before nightfall.
• Grandpa waited for Chen Shi on the road, gave him clean clothes, and burned the bloodstained ones.
• Chen Shi told Grandpa he had earned fifty taels, and Grandpa persuaded him to hand over the silver for safekeeping.

After Zhuge Jian investigated Li Xiaoding’s murder and traced the killer to a short talisman master with a black dog, Chen Shi’s heart ailment returned and drove him to seek more cultivation. Zhuge Jian finally realized the suspected killer might be a child, just as Chen Shi and his black dog left for home.

• Zhuge Jian concluded that a short talisman master with a black dog had killed Li Xiaoding and the others, while their souls had vanished, and Li Kefu ordered him to find the killer alive.
• Chen Shi suffered a severe Azure Ghost Hand attack, survived by using the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art, and decided to strengthen himself before returning to the True King’s Tomb.
• Chen Shi resumed his daily routine of cultivation and village life while Zhuge Jian searched the surrounding counties and villages for the suspect.
• Zhuge Jian questioned Chen Shi about Chen Yindu, then spotted a black dog approaching the boy and realized the killer could be a child talisman master.

Chen Shi recovered the remains of three drowned children from the Yudai River, but Zhuge Jian recognized him as the killer of the nine cultivators at Li Family Camp. Zhuge Jian tested Chen Shi’s murderous intent and then let him go, leaving Chen Shi to wonder what would happen to the bailiff.

• Chen Shi dove into the Yudai River, fought off two water ghosts, and recovered Yushuan’s skeleton so his mother could take him home.
• Chen Shi returned to the river and retrieved the remains of the other two drowned children, whose families thanked him.
• Zhuge Jian concluded that Chen Shi had killed the nine cultivators at Li Family Camp and approached him to test his strength and provoke his vital energy.
• Zhuge Jian demonstrated that Chen Shi could neither defeat nor escape him, then told him to avoid leaving evidence in the future.
• Zhuge Jian refused to arrest Chen Shi, saying he had solved the case and that Li Xiaoding deserved to die.

Zhuge Jian uncovered the strange history of Chen Yindu and Chen Shi, then burned the records and left his post rather than expose Chen Shi. His replacement, Qu Ji, led Li Kefu’s party toward Huangpo Village, where a monster disguised as abandoned infants began killing them.

• Zhuge Jian read that many experts had vanished near Huangpo Village and discovered that Chen Shi was Chen Yindu’s grandson, who had returned from the dead.
• Zhuge Jian learned that Chen Yindu had also risen from the dead, burned the documents about the pair, and left his resignation letter behind.
• Li Kefu rejected Zhuge Jian’s resignation, appointed Qu Ji as the new court clerk, and sent him to investigate Chen Yindu’s whereabouts on the day Li Xiaoding was killed.
• Qu Ji persuaded Li Kefu to continue toward Huangpo Village after nightfall, despite a bailiff’s warning about rural dangers.
• Li Kefu’s party heard infant cries in the forest, and Li Ying and other bailiffs went to rescue the supposed abandoned babies.
• A many-necked monster emerged, revealed that the infants were part of its body, and exposed Li Ying and the other bailiffs as inflated human skins.

Li Kefu’s party was devastated by a succession of evils on the way to Huangpo Village, where he confronted Chen Yindu over Li Xiaoding’s death and was killed by the talisman master. At the Desolate Mountain Temple, Chen Shi advanced in the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art, saw the Big Dipper Seven Stars form around him, and gained the strength to break stone with his bare arm.

• Li Kefu’s party fought off a hundred infants, then lost more men to the Head-Breaking Dish and the Thread-Pulling Worm as they continued toward Huangpo Village.
• A fox troupe and the Ghost Bride pursued Li Kefu’s group, making people disappear into the sedan until only Li Kefu and three others remained; the troupe stopped near Huangpo Village.
• Chen Yindu identified himself as Huangpo Village’s talisman master and admitted that his grandson had killed Li Xiaoding, while explaining that he had watched over him.
• Li Kefu attacked Chen Yindu, but Chen Yindu’s small fireball erupted into a vast blaze, killing Li Kefu and his remaining companions despite Li Kefu’s protective talismans.
• At the Desolate Mountain Temple, Chen Shi’s cultivation reached a new realm, drawing seven star-shaped lights around him and letting him channel his Qi and blood to smash a corner off a thousand-jin boulder.

Chen Shi discovered the dangers and benefits of circulating vital energy and blood, then spent the night cultivating in a temple that connected to another sky. After a celestial object destroyed the temple and most of the mountain, he was left staring at the devastation and wondering why it had happened.

• Chen Shi tested how vital energy and blood could enlarge and strengthen parts of his body, but fainted after sending it to his head.
• As night approached, Chen Shi sheltered in the dilapidated temple, sealed its openings with Peachwood Talismans, and continued cultivating through a storm.
• Chen Shi saw sunlight from another spacetime realm shining into the temple and found that it greatly improved his cultivation.
• After cultivating all night, Chen Shi left the temple with Black Pot and headed toward Huangpo Village.
• A burning celestial object struck the temple and shattered it, nearly leveling the desolate mountain; Black Pot knocked Chen Shi into a water-filled ditch, saving them from the blast.
• Chen Shi and Black Pot climbed out to find the surrounding land devastated, and Chen Shi looked up at the True God from Beyond the Heavens and asked why.

After the mountain temple was destroyed, Chen Shi struggled to cultivate at home and worried about his future and Grandpa. He took a paid job investigating missing children in Huangyang Village, where he met a boy named Liu Fugui and prepared to face the evil sui.

• Chen Shi grieved over the destroyed temple, ate Grandpa’s unusually normal dinner, and heard Grandpa fail to persuade Chen Tang to take him into the city.
• Black Pot overheard Chen Shi pleading in his sleep not to be given away, then helped him prepare to leave for Huangyang Village after he accepted five liang to investigate its missing children.
• Sanwang told Chen Shi that children were disappearing after an evil sui began threatening to eat those who wet the bed, and villagers suspected their Godmother had helped kill the Tian family.
• Chen Shi reached the impoverished village, befriended the shy boy Liu Fugui, and learned that the boy had vanished earlier that day but was now standing there.

Chen Shi discovered that three missing children’s souls had been sacrificed to Huangyang Village’s Godmother, while Liu Fugui’s soul had only left his body. At the Tian family’s abandoned house, Chen Shi found Fugui and the other children hanging beneath blood-red talismans, and realized Fugui was still alive.

• Chen Shi followed Liu Fugui to the temple, where he met the ghosts of four missing children and learned that the Godmother had claimed three of their souls.
• Liu Fugui told Chen Shi that he had awakened in the Tian family’s abandoned house, so Chen Shi took him there to investigate.
• Chen Shi used talismans to secure the abandoned house, then searched its rooms and found eight coffins before Fugui vanished.
• Chen Shi saw five blood-red talismans on the hall ceiling, with four children suspended from chains and their blood draining into a cauldron.
• Chen Shi recognized Liu Fugui among the children and realized he was still alive, then called out to wake him.

Chen Shi rescued Liu Fugui and destroyed the talisman monster that had been made to capture children, though three other children were already dead. After warning the villagers to bury the Tian family, he asked Sanwang about strangers who had recently visited and learned that an old talisman master from the provincial capital had been searching for the missing second young lady of the Zhao Family.

• Chen Shi altered four talismans, then confronted the fifth when its master spotted him and began freeing Liu Fugui from the fishhooks and chains.
• The talisman monster attacked Chen Shi, but he brought down the roof and escaped the collapsing house with Fugui.
• Chen Shi used the scent of his urine to lure the monster beneath the Five Sacred Mountains House-Suppressing Talisman, then crushed its bronze tripod and destroyed it.
• Fugui's parents took him home, while the villagers found that the other three captive children were dead.
• Chen Shi told the villagers to bury the Tian family and asked Sanwang about recent visitors, learning that an old talisman master from the provincial capital had sought news of the missing second young lady of the Zhao Family.

Chen Shi waited in Huangyang Village for the talisman master who had harmed Fugui, but the man never came, so Chen Shi headed home. On the road, he ran into Iron Brush Old Man and Zhao Ming and attacked them before they could use their talismans; the chapter ended with Iron Brush Old Man apparently dead amid the talismans activating around him.

• Chen Shi gave Sanwang silver to bury the dead and waited at the village entrance for the talisman master who had hurt Fugui.
• Iron Brush Old Man left his camp to seek revenge, but Zhao Ming stopped him and ordered him to help find Second Miss Zhao instead.
• After waiting all afternoon without seeing the talisman master, Chen Shi left Huangyang Village with the Black Pot.
• Chen Shi and the Black Pot encountered Iron Brush Old Man and Zhao Ming on the road, and Chen Shi recognized Iron Brush Old Man as the man whose lamp oil he had ruined.
• Chen Shi struck Iron Brush Old Man in the groin and face, then broke Zhao Ming's throat and smashed Zhao Ming's head into Iron Brush Old Man's as the old man's talismans activated around him.