Chapter Summaries

A Zhuo told Chen Shi how he became an Underworld marshal during the third descent with Chen Yindu, when their party entered a ghost-and-god battlefield while searching for Chen Shi. After returning to Lake Danan with Empress Shi Ji, Chen Shi learned that the supreme ghost and god from that battle was still active—and that its cyan palms matched the handprint over his heart.

• Aunt A Ying interrogated A Zhuo about his past while Chen Shi, Qiao Hu, and Qiao Wei waited outside.
• As A Zhuo and Chen Shi crossed Lake Danan, A Zhuo explained that he became an Underworld marshal after a dying ghost and god gave him a seal and his bees transformed.
• A Zhuo recounted how Chen Yindu led their six-person party into a battle between powerful ghosts and gods after claiming he had seen Chen Shi atop the supreme ghost and god's head.
• A Zhuo recalled that Green Goat later died from his battle wounds, and Chen Shi promised to repay the kindness Chen Yindu's friends had shown.
• A Zhuo freed Empress Shi Ji and sent Chen Shi back to Lake Danan, suggesting that he visit the ancient remnant at Suspended Cliff.
• A Zhuo warned Chen Shi that the supreme ghost and god had later hunted him and that its palms turned cyan, causing the handprint over Chen Shi's heart to tighten.

Chen Shi visited Xuan Yan with Granny Sha, explored its ancient temple, and awakened the first signs of a divine image for the Holy King of Kai Zhang. On the way back, he learned from Li Tianqing’s letter that spiritual fruits might extend a cultivator’s lifespan, giving him hope for Granny Sha.

• Chen Shi reunited with Granny Sha and Black Pot, then reassured Granny Sha that A Zhuo cared about her and had protected her while serving as a ghost commander.
• Chen Shi and Granny Sha climbed onto Xuan Yan, where Granny Sha explained that its villages worshipped the temple as their Godmother and that the temple concealed an ancient well beneath it.
• Chen Shi examined the empty shrine in the Hall of the Holy King of Kai Zhang and used the West King’s Jade Seal and incense; a faint divine image began to form, astonishing Granny Sha.
• Chen Shi and Granny Sha left Xuan Yan and received a letter from Li Tianqing describing how mediating a feud between spiritual herb spirits had earned him fruits that greatly increased his cultivation and lifespan.
• Chen Shi learned Granny Sha had only twenty-four years left to live and resolved to test whether Li Tianqing’s spiritual fruits could prolong her lifespan.

Chen Shi brought the ginseng grass dolls into his small temple, where their cultivation and the help of Granny Zhuang, Empress Shi Ji, and Black Pot expanded the temple and accelerated his progress. He discovered that their fruits could restore youth and greatly extend lifespan when one rejuvenated Granny Sha, while Lord Wuwang grew impatient waiting for the Judge Dragon Whisker Brush.

• A minor ghost repeatedly asked Sangyu whether Chen Shi had returned, but Chen Shi had Sangyu send it away while he worked on the canopy and tended to Black Pot.
• Chen Shi moved Granny Zhuang and the ginseng grass dolls into his small temple, where the dolls grew rapidly as Granny Zhuang and Empress Shi Ji helped regulate the righteous qi.
• The small temple expanded to gain a third divine shrine, and Black Pot joined the cultivation there while Granny Zhuang and Black Pot helped with Chen Shi's meals.
• Lord Wuwang dreamed that the Judge Dragon Whisker Brush had become a young woman who favored Chen Shi, then resolved to demand the brush in person.
• Chen Shi gave Granny Sha a ginseng grass fruit, and she regained her youthful appearance as her lifespan rose to five hundred years.

Granny Sha rejuvenated after eating Ginseng Grass Fruit, while Chen Shi recruited Shao Jing as the Heavenly Court’s accountant. A letter from Li Tianqing then drew Chen Shi toward the haunted Temple of Emperor Guan, where a deity seemed to be awakening.

• Granny Sha ate another Ginseng Grass Fruit, confirmed her lifespan had reached its limit of 548 years, and warned Chen Shi to keep the temple’s life-extending herbs secret.
• Granny Sha explained that the fruit might work on Chen Shi’s grandfather, but stopped Chen Shi from attempting to enter the Underworld to deliver one.
• Chen Shi met Shao Jing at Gathering Immortals Tower and entrusted him with managing the Heavenly Court’s funds, recruiting him as its accountant.
• Chen Shi returned to Granny Sha, who had bought new clothes, and they headed back toward Gangzi Village.
• Li Tianqing sent Chen Shi an urgent letter describing ominous hauntings at the Temple of Emperor Guan and asking him to come before the new year.
• Chen Shi read that the temple’s deity was Lord Guan the Righteous and Brave and eagerly set out to visit it.

Chen Shi returned the Judge Dragon Whisker Brush to Lord Wuwang, whose test of its power opened the Underworld and drew pursuing ghosts and gods, forcing him to flee. Chen Shi warned Hu Feifei about the danger to Nannan and then hurried toward Qingzhou, where Li Tianqing was attacked by an unseen assailant before Chen Shi arrived.

• Chen Shi strengthened the wooden cart with talismans, then reconciled with Lord Wuwang and returned the Judge Dragon Whisker Brush.
• Lord Wuwang tested the brush outside Huangpo Village, opening the Underworld and drawing ghosts and gods toward him before he vanished into the Underworld.
• Chen Shi waited for Wuwang City to reappear, but neither it nor Lord Wuwang returned, so he worried about the judge's brush and the Benevolent Lord.
• Chen Shi told Hu Feifei and Nannan about Lord Wuwang's peril and discussed how to recover Nannan's memories, then left Ginseng Grass Fruits for Uncle Hu and headed toward Qingzhou.
• Chen Shi picked up Granny Zhuang and continued to Qingzhou, while Li Tianqing was attacked in the Temple of Emperor Guan by an unseen assailant.

Chen Shi reached Qingzhou and found a province ruled by brutal laws, then reunited with Li Tianqing at the God of Wealth Temple. That night, Li Tianqing rode out as a fearsome warrior and attacked Qingzhou City, where Chen Shi recognized him as the province’s notorious bandit leader.

• Chen Shi traveled by river to Qingzhou and saw arrest notices that branded petty offenses as capital crimes.
• Chen Shi met Li Tianqing at the God of Wealth Temple, where Sky Listeners secretly recorded their conversation.
• Chen Shi examined the temple and began carving a miniature version so Li Tianqing could carry it with him.
• At midnight, Li Tianqing mounted a Crimson Flame Warhorse and rode away, slashing down evil spirits along the road.
• Li Tianqing cleaved through Qingzhou City’s gates and its Myriad Souls Banner before charging into the city.
• Chen Shi saw an arrest notice naming Li Tianqing as Qingzhou’s top bandit leader and wondered who had been attacking him at the temple each night.

Chen Shi and Li Tianqing discovered that a black-robed sorcerer was sending evil spirits to kill Li Tianqing, so they let Lord Guan’s divine will take control of Chen Shi and followed its nightly rampage. The chapter ended with Li Tianqing locating the sorcerer’s lair and preparing to investigate it with Chen Shi.

• Li Tianqing rode into Qingzhou City under Lord Guan’s control, killed the Salt Commissioner, and distributed the stolen wealth among nearby villages before returning to the temple.
• Chen Shi read the Sky Listeners’ records and witnessed a black-robed man summon evil spirits to attack the temple, then sent his sword after the man as he fled into Qingzhou City.
• Chen Shi and Li Tianqing concluded that a Southern School Talismans practitioner was raising evil spirits and plotting against Li Tianqing, so they agreed to see what happened when Lord Guan controlled Chen Shi.
• Lord Wuwang sought refuge in Chen Shi’s dream but fled when he encountered the demonic gods in Chen Shi’s Sea of Consciousness and saw Lord Guan drive them back.
• Lord Guan controlled Chen Shi, who rode into a county town, killed the magistrate, and distributed the stolen wealth; Li Tianqing later tracked the black-robed sorcerer with a housefly transformed from a hairpin.
• Li Tianqing told Chen Shi that he had found the sorcerer’s lair and proposed that they go investigate after breakfast.

Chen Shi and Li Tianqing tracked Luan Disheng to Qingzhou’s powerful Wan family, where he revealed that he worked as a medicine farmer cultivating the Elixir of Immortality. He explained that Qingzhou was a pasture for wild evil spirits, which the Wan family’s farmers controlled and harvested as fertilizer for spiritual herbs.

• Chen Shi and Li Tianqing entered Qingzhou, where bailiffs recognized them as the top two wanted criminals but were too afraid to arrest them.
• The pair confronted Luan Disheng outside his home, and he agreed to lead them to his medicine fields after pleading for his family’s safety.
• Luan Disheng described the Wan family’s immense wealth and influence as he led Chen Shi and Li Tianqing past its charitable porridge stall and vast farmland.
• At the Wan family’s spiritual nurseries, Luan Disheng revealed that his fields grew the Elixir of Immortality and that he used evil spirits as medicine fertilizer.
• Luan Disheng explained that the Wan family taught him to control wild evil spirits and that medicine farmers herded them across Qingzhou, which served as their pasture.

Li Tianqing learned that the Wan family’s spiritual herb operation served all thirteen noble families, which used people and evil sui to extend their elders’ lives. After Thirteenth Uncle Li Xiaoguang ordered him to stay out of the affair, Li Tianqing defied the Quanzhou Li Family and joined Chen Shi, as the Hour of Zi approached.

• Chen Shi and Li Tianqing learned from Luan Disheng that the Wan family cultivated 542 sentient spiritual herbs with fertilizer refined from evil sui and ordinary people.
• Li Tianqing told Chen Shi that his family’s two-hundred-year-old ancestor was due to emerge from seclusion and asked Chen Shi to leave Qingzhou with the God of Wealth Temple.
• Chen Shi dismantled the God of Wealth Temple and departed with it, while Li Tianqing went to the Wan Manor to retrieve the elixir of immortality.
• Li Xiaoguang told Li Tianqing that all thirteen noble families owned the Qingzhou medicine fields and ordered him to leave the matter alone and remain in the Spring Attire Pavilion.
• Li Tianqing defied his uncle and left the pavilion to help Chen Shi, who arrived disguised as a pageboy carrying the miniature courtyard.
• As the Hour of Zi neared, Li Tianqing dreamed of the Underworld Bureau’s horse approaching and mounted it, calling for his blade.

At the Wan Manor’s New Year banquet, Li Tianqing rode in as the Red Horse Bandit and, with Lord Guan the Righteous and Brave guiding his blade, slaughtered the thirteen medicine envoys and Wan Shide. He left Quanzhou beneath the Red Hare Horse as the Wan family’s gold and silver flew after him to be distributed among the people.

• The thirteen medicine envoys toasted and condemned the Red Horse Bandit while waiting for the bandit to arrive at the Wan Manor.
• Wan Shide poured wine for Zhai Baobao, and a sudden blade strike killed him before he could use his Golden Pagoda.
• Li Tianqing charged into the banquet hall on the Red Hare Horse and beheaded his uncle Li Xiaoguang with a single strike.
• Lord Guan the Righteous and Brave fought through the Wan Manor, killing Jiang Tu, Fei Youying, Zhang Shouyi, Gu Xiaochuan, Gao Jian, Zhai Baobao, Yang Luohua, Ma Dingguo, Xu Fangzhi, Yan Yi, and Xia Jie.
• After the thirteen envoys were dead, the Wan family’s treasures rose into the air and followed Li Tianqing away as lamps lit across Quanzhou.

Chen Shi and Li Tianqing cleansed Qingzhou of the Wan family’s wealth and corrupt officials before parting ways, with Li Tianqing joining Heavenly Court. Chen Shi returned to Huangpo Village for New Year’s Eve, where a neighbor’s family welcomed him to dinner, though he still missed his own family.

• Li Tianqing woke in Wan Manor and helped Chen Shi burn the Wan family’s land deeds while they cooked a goose over the fire.
• Chen Shi and Li Tianqing took turns impersonating the Red Horse Bandit, killing corrupt officials and evil spirits and distributing the Wan family’s treasure to Qingzhou’s commoners.
• Chen Shi told Li Tianqing that future officials might exploit the people again, but the Red Horse Bandit’s intervention would make them fear going too far; Li Tianqing joined Heavenly Court as Scholar.
• Chen Shi gave Li Tianqing the God of Wealth Temple and advised him to take his mother and Li Jindou somewhere safe, while Chen Shi set off for Xijing to pursue the top scholar title.
• Chen Shi returned to Huangpo Village with food and firecrackers, but found his grandfather absent and spent New Year’s Eve dinner with Yuzhu’s family.
• After dinner, Chen Shi returned home and lay awake missing his family.

Chen Shi celebrated the new year with village elders and mountain spirits, then prepared for the journey to Xijing and recruited Fu Leisheng into the Heavenly Court. The chapter ended with Chen Shi refusing help from Chen Tang’s envoy and quietly looking at a family portrait of the relatives he had never met.

• Chen Shi visited Granny Sha, Granny Zhuang, Xuan Shan, Green Goat, and the Hu family to offer new year greetings, and Xuan Shan joined the occupants of his little temple to cultivate.
• Chen Shi decided to leave for Xijing after the fifteenth day of the first month and take the Little King of Hell with him.
• Fu Leisheng warned Chen Shi that provincial scholars faced deadly dangers on the road to Xijing, accepted three cultivation methods, and joined the Heavenly Court as Mister.
• Sun Yisheng arrived from Xijing under Chen Tang’s orders to escort Chen Shi, but Chen Shi refused his concern and sent him away.
• Chen Shi took out Grandpa’s family portrait and looked at Chen Tang and his mother, whom he had never met.

The Li Family learned that Li Tianqing and Chen Shi had disrupted Qingzhou and moved to capture Li Tianqing’s family while its ancestors considered how to deal with Chen Shi. Preparing to travel to Xijing, Chen Shi visited the True King's Tomb to memorize its cultivation methods, then entered its dangerous passageway and encountered a surviving Talisman God Heavenly Mechanism who mistook him for Chen Tang.

• A Li Family emissary reported the Qingzhou upheaval, prompting Li Xiaozai to order Li Tianqing’s parents and grandfather detained and consult the four living patriarchs.
• Ancestor Li Yiran ordered the Li Family to find Li Tianqing, take back his cultivation art, and hand him over, while the patriarchs resolved to assess Created Being Xiao Wu before deciding Chen Shi’s fate.
• Chen Shi agreed to travel to Xijing with Sun Siyheng and told Black Pot that he wanted to see Chen Tang despite regarding him as a stranger.
• Chen Shi offered incense to the True King's Tomb’s guardians, memorized the stele methods, and followed a tomb-guarding beast inside using the West King's Jade Seal.
• The tomb-guarding beast explained that Chen Tang had fought through the passageway and that the fallen bodies were Talisman God Heavenly Mechanisms; one surviving being recognized Chen Shi as Chen Tang, and Chen Shi stopped the guardian from killing it.

Chen Shi solved the Ten Absolute Array guarding the True King's Tomb scripture repository, memorized the Xiao Lang Emperor Chapter Art, and suffered injuries to his mind, spirit, and Nascent Soul. After recovering at Mirror Lake Villa, he set out with Sun Yisheng and received Granny Sha’s Ram Horn Heavenly Spirit Lamp to heal his Nascent Soul.

• Chen Shi recognized the scripture repository’s doorway as a Ten Absolute Tribulation Array, studied its changes, and opened it with the Ten Absolute Spirit Banner Talisman.
• Inside the repository, Chen Shi collapsed repeatedly while reading immortal scriptures, but memorized the Xiao Lang Emperor Chapter Art before leaving with his mind, spirit, and Nascent Soul injured.
• Chen Shi took the self-repairing talisman god Tianji out of the tomb with help from the ram-horn human-bodied tomb guardian, and Black Pot carried both of them to Mirror Lake Villa.
• On the sixteenth, Chen Shi met Sun Yisheng at Huangpo Village and revealed that his Nascent Soul was injured and nearing completion in size.
• At Gangzi Village, Granny Sha gave Chen Shi the Ram Horn Heavenly Spirit Lamp, and his Nascent Soul entered its flame to begin healing.

Chen Shi traveled toward Xijing with Sun Yisheng, Hu Feifei, and Nannan, while learning that his journey could be dangerous. At a posthouse, the Talisman God Heavenly Mechanism awakened and attacked, leaving Sun Yisheng badly injured before Chen Shi contained it; Sun Yisheng then revealed his connection to Chen Tang and Chen Tang’s position in Xijing.

• Granny Sha, Xuanshan, and Granny Zhuang declined to accompany Chen Shi to Xijing, so he set out with Sun Yisheng.
• Sun Yisheng saw through Hu Feifei’s disguise and warned her that demon cultivators could not take the imperial examinations, but Chen Shi let her and Nannan join the journey.
• At a posthouse, Chen Shi overheard Chen Tang warn Sun Yisheng that powerful enemies might attack them on the road to Xijing.
• The Talisman God Heavenly Mechanism absorbed moonlight, awakened, and attacked Chen Shi, but Sun Yisheng intercepted its blast and was severely injured.
• Chen Shi covered the Talisman God Heavenly Mechanism with the imperial canopy and moved it into the small temple, where he asked Empress Shi Ji to watch over it.
• Chen Shi treated Sun Yisheng’s hands and learned that Sun Yisheng had reached the peak of the Void Refining Realm and that Chen Tang served as a Vice Minister in Xijing.

Chen Shi traveled toward Xijing for the imperial examinations with the injured Sun Yisheng, meeting noble Juren who looked down on poor scholars along the way. After defending his humble origins, Chen Shi declared that he would become the top champion scholar.

• Sun Yisheng mortgaged his carriage to pay for the posthouse damage, dismissed the Imperial Guards, and continued escorting Chen Shi despite their lack of money and his injuries.
• Chen Shi, Sun Yisheng, Hu Feifei, Nannan, and Black Pot traveled in a wooden cart, where Black Pot used its savings to furnish a tiny courtyard carved by Chen Shi.
• Sun Yisheng explained that scholars braved the dangerous road to Xijing because the examinations could change their fortunes, and Chen Shi watched groups of poor candidates traveling on foot.
• In Wind City, Chen Shi sold talismans to replenish their funds, then joined a group of Juren heading west, including Zhou Qianying and Wang Ping.
• Chen Shi stopped to help a poor scholar collect his scattered belongings, but Zhou Qianying and the other noble Juren criticized him for lowering his status.
• Chen Shi declared that his family were mud-legged peasants and vowed to become the top champion scholar.

Chen Shi encountered Ma Zongzhou, who claimed the young master was destined to become top scholar and accused Chen Shi of crimes against the Ma family. Chen Shi beat Ma Zongzhou nearly unconscious and left with Sun Yisheng, asking him to hide the incident from Chen Tang.

• Zhou Qianying discussed the Chen family's prospects, but Ma Zongzhou arrived and said Chen Shi could never become top scholar because the young master would take the honor.
• Ma Zongzhou accused Chen Shi of impersonating a Red Horse Bandit, stealing Ma family elixirs, and destroying a wealthy Qingzhou family.
• Ma Zongzhou's Yellow Turban Strongman attacked Sun Yisheng, while Ma Zongzhou demanded that Chen Shi return the elixirs.
• Chen Shi broke three of Ma Zongzhou's ribs, knocked him down, and beat him unconscious after Ma Zongzhou fought back.
• Chen Shi and Sun Yisheng left in the wooden cart, and Chen Shi asked Sun Yisheng not to tell Chen Tang what had happened.

Chen Shi’s party continued across the Western Ox Continent, where Sun Yisheng was injured in a clash between giant xie and healed by Heiguo in the Underworld. In Xijing, Li Yiran confronted Created Being Xiao Wu, saying he had been waiting to test his strength.

• The Ma family arrived after Chen Shi beat Ma Zongzhou, but Ma Zongming stopped his relatives from pursuing Chen Shi and ordered them to treat him courteously while their ancestors handled the matter.
• Chen Shi’s group traveled through a desolate region, saw villages on giant xie and tribes fighting from the beasts’ backs, and Sun Yisheng injured his primordial spirit while holding up an xie’s leg.
• Heiguo took Sun Yisheng and the Ram Horn Heavenly Spirit Lamp into the Underworld, where the lamp helped heal Sun Yisheng as Heiguo fought off giant ghosts and spirits.
• Chen Shi and Hu Feifei traded clothing for gold and bought flea pigs, while Chen Shi gave Sun Yisheng some of the gold for expenses.
• In rainy Xijing, Li Yiran recognized the pale cloud of corpses above the city and confronted Created Being Xiao Wu, joined by the Li family patriarch, the family head, and a former sect master.

Created Being Xiao Wu confronted the four Li ancestors in Western Capital to learn the whereabouts of the Innate Dao Embryo, promising to leave if they answered. He killed Li Xinshu and continued fighting Li Yiran, Li Ganfeng, and Li Kunyu while diverting their devastating attacks so the city’s residents remained unharmed.

• Created Being Xiao Wu met Li Yiran, Li Ganfeng, Li Kunyu, and Li Xinshu, who had gathered to stop him and knew he sought the Innate Dao Embryo.
• Li Xinshu challenged Created Being Xiao Wu, who used the Supreme Eight Trigrams Body Protection Art to overturn space, break Li Xinshu’s limbs, seal him, and kill him.
• Li Kunyu revealed that Li family informants had tracked Created Being Xiao Wu’s daily route and knew where he lived.
• Li Yiran, Li Ganfeng, and Li Kunyu attacked together with their strongest arts, while Created Being Xiao Wu scattered their power through Western Capital and reversed heaven and earth without harming its people.
• A child saw Created Being Xiao Wu tumble into a puddle, hand over his umbrella, and return to Wenchang Alley to fight the three ancestors.

Ma Jun and Ma Yu joined the other noble-family ancestors to rescue Li Ganfeng and Li Yiran from Created Being Xiao Wu, but their Void Realms failed to suppress his Ghost and God Three Shocks Transformation. After a fierce battle through Western Capital, Xiao Wu escaped, declaring that he understood why his father had retreated and that he could not defeat the elders either.

• Ma Jun explained that Xiao Wu's three transformations came from Chen Yindu's talismanic techniques and advised using Void Realms to suppress his Ghost and God Domain.
• Ma Jun, Ma Yu, and the Xia Family's Third Ancestor arrived with the other noble-family ancestors to save Li Ganfeng and Li Yiran, but their Void Realms failed to suppress Xiao Wu.
• The ancestors attacked Xiao Wu, and their spells lost their outward manifestations as they fought him through Wenchang Alley and onto Chang'an Street.
• Li Ganfeng and Li Yiran collapsed from their injuries and were carried away by Li Family officials while the battle continued through Western Capital.
• A passerby tried to stop the fight but was killed when Xiao Wu's transformations distorted the city around him.
• Xiao Wu leaped into the sky and fled, saying he knew why his father had retreated and that he could not beat the elders; Ma Jun ordered the others not to pursue him.