Chapter Summaries

Chen Shi challenged First Madam Xia Weiyin’s verdict over Gu’s crimes, but she demonstrated the Li Family’s power and ordered Fu Leisheng’s death. After Chen Shi killed Mr. Zeng, he rejected Fu Leisheng’s claim that the world could not be changed and sent a challenge to the Li Family in the provincial capital.

• Chen Shi demanded that Xia Weiyin investigate who had enabled Gu to kill officials, seize a divine embryo, and wield the Xinxiang Earthly Record.
• Xia Weiyin suppressed Chen Shi and Fu Leisheng with the Xinxiang County Chapter of the Earthly Record and displayed the Li Family’s powerful cultivators before ordering Mr. Zeng to kill Fu Leisheng.
• After the Li Family’s convoy departed, Mr. Zeng explained how the family had supported his cultivation and told Fu Leisheng to take his own life.
• Chen Shi summoned the tiger paw from his shrine and killed Mr. Zeng, destroying his Nascent Soul and crushing his body.
• Chen Shi rejected Fu Leisheng’s claim that the world’s injustice could not be changed and ordered Mr. Zeng’s remains sent to the Li Manor in the provincial capital as a challenge.

After Chen Shi killed Mr. Zeng and sent his coffin to the Li Family, Li Xiaozheng chose not to retaliate, preferring to wait and see whether Chen Yindu was truly dead. Chen Shi returned to the countryside with Fu Leisheng, while two evil spirits wondered how his small temple could command Ganyang Mountain’s tiger, and Fu Leisheng began to suspect Black Pot was no ordinary dog.

• A merchant sent Mr. Zeng’s coffin to the Li Family’s residence, where Li Xiaozheng stopped the younger members from riding to Xinxiang County to attack Chen Shi.
• Li Xiaozheng and Xia Weiyin discussed Chen Shi’s Golden Core, his small temple, and the uncertainty surrounding Chen Yindu’s death, and Li Xiaozheng decided not to test Chen Shi.
• Chen Shi and Fu Leisheng left the county in the rain as two evil spirits watched and drew Chen Shi invoking the Mountain Lord’s tiger to kill Mr. Zeng.
• The two evil spirits left to find Granny Sha, while Chen Shi and Fu Leisheng traveled to the countryside and stayed at Chen Shi’s home.
• Black Pot cooked dinner and breakfast for them, and Fu Leisheng suspected the dog was an evil spirit influencing his mind.

Chen Shi taught Fu Leisheng about cultivation while training his sword, and Fu Leisheng realized the golden core itself was the great medicine needed to cultivate a nascent soul. After the villagers celebrated Chen Shi’s examination success, Granny Sha arrived to invite the Mountain Lord to take charge of its new temple, while the black pot kept Fu Leisheng from noticing the countryside’s strange inhabitants.

• Chen Shi explained rural customs to Fu Leisheng, who planned to open a private school in Qiaowan Town.
• Fu Leisheng corrected Chen Shi’s sword technique, and Chen Shi practiced striking distant targets with growing accuracy.
• Chen Shi explained the Seven Refinements of the Big Dipper and the seven returns, eight transformations, and nine returns, leading Fu Leisheng to realize that the golden core was the body’s great medicine.
• Fu Leisheng thanked Chen Shi and the black pot, then wondered why Chen Shi’s cultivation method differed from orthodox techniques.
• The villagers held a banquet to celebrate Chen Shi’s success, and Chen Shi promised to exploit them less harshly once he became a lord.
• Granny Sha invited the Mountain Lord to open its new temple, and Fu Leisheng briefly noticed the talking green goat before the black pot made him dismiss it as normal.

Chen Shi discovered how much the Mountain Lord’s divine embryo enhanced his cultivation and entered his small temple to meet the yellow tiger. As the Mountain Lord’s statue neared completion, incense from across Ganyang Mountain gathered, and the deity descended once more upon the Western Ox Continent.

• Granny Sha told Chen Shi to stay within Ganyang Mountain and warned him not to use the Mountain Lord’s mount on sunny days.
• Chen Shi’s talk of the True God from Beyond the Heavens frightened Fu Leisheng into fleeing for home.
• Chen Shi trained with the Zi Wu Zhan Xie Sword and used the yellow tiger as a divine embryo, accelerating his cultivation.
• Chen Shi entered his small temple, stroked the yellow tiger, and watched incense qi surge toward the Mountain Lord’s statue.
• The people and spirits of Ganyang Mountain offered incense, and the Mountain Lord descended from his shrine as Sun Simiao’s avatar.

Chen Shi invoked the Medicine King God, but the deity and his yellow tiger took over Chen Shi and Black Pot, carrying Chen Shi’s consciousness on a journey to Xinxiang Provincial City. There, the Mountain Lord’s memories revealed how Zheng Sanbao transformed him into a warrior against evil; afterward, the deity settled into a newly built temple and Chen Shi returned to his body.

• The Medicine King God awoke, mistook the situation for a call to battle, and took control of Chen Shi’s body while the yellow tiger occupied Black Pot.
• Trapped inside the small temple, Chen Shi watched the Medicine King God leave Huangpo Village, pay respects to Scholar Zhu and Chen Shi’s godmother, and fly toward Xinxiang Provincial City.
• Li Xiaozheng learned that Chen Shi had reached the city and ordered his officials to observe him without interfering unless he caused trouble.
• At the city wall, the Mountain Lord’s memories showed Zheng Sanbao asking the Medicine King to become a thunder-and-fire-wielding warrior, after which the deity fought evil spirits and helped the Great Ming establish Xinxiang.
• The Medicine King God and his yellow tiger returned to Ganyang Mountain and entered the new temple’s statues, allowing Chen Shi to regain his body.

After the Mountain Lord left Chen Shi’s small temple and entered his new statue, Chen Shi discovered he could capture evil spirits and use them to cultivate. He ended the night riding in a ghost wedding procession, while Granny Sha and the others watched with concern.

• Granny Sha, Green Goat, and the bearded man tracked Chen Shi to the new Mountain Lord Temple and saw the Mountain Lord enter his stone statue.
• Chen Shi recalled the Mountain Lord’s memories, wondered about the True God from Beyond the Heavens, and tried to persuade Black Pot to become his divine embryo.
• Chen Shi captured Head-Breaking Dish in his small temple and used its power to break a tree, then tested its ability to lift objects and people.
• Chen Shi pulled the Cave Viper into his small temple to save a caravan from its tentacles, then used the spirit to accelerate his cultivation.
• Chen Shi captured the Ghost Bride and rode in her sedan with the fox wedding procession as Granny Sha, Green Goat, and the bearded man watched him warily.

Chen Shi’s efforts to capture evil spirits helped turn Ganyang Mountain into a safer place, while his cultivation advanced and he considered improving the Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art. After he killed a flood-causing dragon beneath Qiaowan Town’s bridge, Fu Leisheng warned that the creature had belonged to a powerful household.

• Chen Shi captured the Ghost Bride, then began catching nearby evil spirits and using incense smoke to turn many of them into protective godmothers.
• Granny Sha discovered that villages were spreading around Ganyang Mountain as evil spirits dwindled, while the Third Ghost King secretly helped Chen Shi cultivate inside his temple.
• Chen Shi’s golden core reached its second revolution, and he worried about the rising cost of medicine and his lack of income.
• Chen Shi warned Fu Leisheng about the dangers of letting a nascent soul leave the body, then considered completing the Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art for poor cultivators.
• A flood dragon swept away villages along the Dejiang River, so Chen Shi forged a talismanic copper sword and hung it beneath Qiaowan Town’s bridge.
• Chen Shi’s sword severed the flood dragon’s head the next day, but Fu Leisheng recognized its engraved horns as proof that a powerful person had kept it.

Chen Shi discovered that a flood dragon had drowned thousands of people and used their souls to refine its inner elixir, then chose to investigate the devastation upstream. In a pauper’s graveyard, he fought Yan Fang, a juren refining his Golden Core with wandering souls, and learned that Yan Fang and his companions were searching for the flood dragon their little uncle had lost.

• Chen Shi and Fu Leisheng watched Granny Sha summon thousands of flood victims’ corpses from the river, and she explained that a flood dragon had drowned them to refine its inner elixir.
• Chen Shi rejected Fu Leisheng’s belief that ordinary people could not change the world and headed upstream with Black Pot to help where he could.
• Chen Shi passed flood-ravaged villages and towns, then found a juren cultivating in a pauper’s graveyard by refining the ghosts’ souls.
• The juren, Yan Fang, attacked Chen Shi with green sword light and flames, but stopped when Yan Rong identified Chen Shi as the top scorer of the Xinxiang County examinations.
• Chen Shi warned Yan Fang and the other Yan family disciples not to commit evil, then left as Yan Rong said they needed to find the flood dragon their little uncle had lost.

Yan Rong and the Yan family disciples tracked the Flood Dragon Shangshan and learned Chen Shi had killed it with a Dragon Slaying Sword. Chen Shi reached Lei County, judged Yan Jingsi and the Myriad Souls Banner too dangerous to confront, and was invited into Xuanwu Pavilion, where Yan Rong announced his arrival to the magistrate.

• Yan Rong and the others found Shangshan's headless corpse and identified Chen Shi as the maker of the Dragon Slaying Sword that killed it.
• The Yan disciples decided to report Shangshan's death to Yan Jingsi and rode toward Lei County.
• Chen Shi entered Lei County, learned that Yan Jingsi was the only local dragon keeper, and asked about the magistrate's household.
• Chen Shi assessed the completed Myriad Souls Banner and Xuanwu Pavilion, then decided he could not safely confront Yan Jingsi.
• Yan Rong met Chen Shi outside Xuanwu Pavilion, invited him inside, and sent word that Yan Jingsi should come meet him.

Chen Shi visited Xuanwu Pavilion, where he tested the Yan Family’s defenses and beat Yan Qing after Yan Qing insulted his grandfather. He left alive after dining with Yan Jingsi, then secretly asked a teahouse keeper to buy pregnant animals.

• Chen Shi toured Xuanwu Pavilion with Yan Rong and observed the Yan Family’s guards, unusual spells, and strict household rules.
• Yan Qing confronted Chen Shi over the Dragon Slaying Sword and Shangshan’s death, but Yan Rong stopped the Yan Family experts from attacking when Chen Shi seized and beat Yan Qing for insulting his grandfather.
• Yan Jingsi arrived, said Shangshan’s death had been fated, and hosted Chen Shi and the Yan Family at a banquet.
• Chen Shi left Xuanwu Pavilion apparently drunk, then asked a teahouse keeper to buy a dozen pregnant pigs, dogs, cows, and sheep.

Chen Shi walked through a crowded market while drunk and killed every assassin sent after him without harming the other pedestrians. Yan Qing and Yan Shuo watched him leave, realizing their ambush had failed and all their assassins were dead.

• Chen Shi arranged to collect a dozen pregnant livestock, then left the teahouse with Black Dog still feeling drunk.
• A gold-rusher sent sword qi at Chen Shi, but Chen Shi broke the attack and killed him with a precise punch.
• A streetwalker and several other assassins attacked Chen Shi with spells, puppets, and sword qi, but he killed them while moving through the crowd.
• Chen Shi defeated a giant empowered by Yellow Turban Strongman Talismans, then bought a skewer of sugar-coated haws and gave it to a little girl.
• Yan Qing and Yan Shuo watched Chen Shi leave the city and realized every assassin in their ambush had died without him harming any bystanders.

Chen Shi tested his strength against Fu Leisheng, then obtained and learned the Tianpeng Demon Subduing Great Law. He arrived at Xuanwu Pavilion with pregnant livestock and transformed into a three-headed, six-armed divine warrior, declaring that he would kill the magistrate.

• Chen Shi asked Fu Leisheng to demonstrate the Nascent Soul Realm, and they tested their powers in a fight that showed the vast gap between their realms.
• Fu Leisheng explained the Six Harmonies stage after Chen Shi asked about a cultivator whose presence he could not sense, then advised him to know when to fight and when not to.
• Chen Shi spent the night preparing talismans and incense before entering True King's Tomb and copying the Tianpeng Demon Subduing Great Law from its stele.
• Chen Shi studied the technique and achieved minor success after practicing for a day, then traveled to Lei County with Black Pot and a herd of pregnant livestock.
• At Xuanwu Pavilion, Chen Shi invoked the Tianpeng Demon Subduing Great Law, grew three heads and six arms, and smashed through the gates as he announced that he would send the magistrate on his way.

Chen Shi stormed the Xuanwu Pavilion and slaughtered the Yan family disciples who tried to stop him. Yan Rong retreated into the pavilion with the survivors, but Chen Shi stayed outside and hurled the giant water wheel at the building.

• Yan Rong and three other Yan family disciples confronted Chen Shi at the Xuanwu Pavilion, but Chen Shi killed Yan Zheng, Yan Wu, and Yan Fang in rapid succession.
• Yan Rong fled through the Myriad Scrolls Hall and Xiexiu Tower as Chen Shi killed more disciples and maidservants, then led him toward the Dragon Rearing Pool instead of the back courtyard.
• Chen Shi endured attacks at the Dragon Rearing Pool and along the mountain steps, killing Yan family disciples and maidservants as he advanced toward the pavilion.
• Yan Rong and the surviving disciples retreated into the talisman-covered Xuanwu Pavilion and waited for Chen Shi to enter.
• Chen Shi lifted the giant water wheel behind the pavilion and sent it flying toward the building.

Chen Shi attacked the Yan family at the Xuanwu Pavilion, but discovered that Yan Jingsi was absent and left to confront him later. He encountered Yan Jingsi on the road and killed him after using the ewe’s cry to trap his Nascent Soul in her womb.

• Chen Shi smashed into the Xuanwu Pavilion with a watercart and killed Yan Qing, Yan Rong, and other Yan family disciples with flying wooden shards and sword techniques.
• Chen Shi learned that Yan Jingsi had left for the provincial capital, then asked Yan Jingsi’s wife to tell him to come to Huangpo Village when he returned.
• Chen Shi left Lei County with Black Pot and a herd of livestock, then stopped to help the pregnant animals give birth.
• Chen Shi sensed that the apparently occupied carriage ahead had no human aura inside and realized Yan Jingsi was concealed within it.
• Chen Shi activated his talismans and attacked the carriage, then used the ewe’s bleat to send Yan Jingsi’s Nascent Soul into her womb and pierced Yan Jingsi’s glabella with sword light.

Chen Shi killed Magistrate Yan Jingsi after Yan's family’s divine dragon Shangshan had killed many people, then arranged for the newborn livestock to be given to Huangpo Village. After recovering at Mirror Lake Manor, Chen Shi met Madam Huali, an old acquaintance of his grandfather who recognized him despite his missing memories.

• Chen Shi used an inducement talisman to bring Yan Jingsi into the world as a lamb, and the frightened crowd stoned and burned him.
• Chen Shi and Black Pot delivered the newborn livestock to Granny Sha, who later helped the people of Huangpo Village take the animals home.
• Fu Leisheng heard that Yan Jingsi had been killed and believed a West Capital emissary had handled the matter.
• Granny Sha learned that Chen Shi had killed Yan Jingsi without anyone protecting him and worried about the danger he had faced.
• After spending two days recovering in a coffin at Mirror Lake Manor, Chen Shi emerged and met Madam Huali and her maid Ding Ding.
• Madam Huali asked after Chen Shi’s grandfather and wondered whether water-and-fire refining could reverse life and death; Chen Shi invited Ding Ding to stay in his village.

Chen Shi took Ding Ding into his home, then used a Peach Blossom Talisman to attract customers and accepted a dangerous job in Fei County. Meanwhile, Li Xiaozheng tried to board the Great Ming Treasure Ship and was turned to stone, throwing the Li residence into chaos.

• Chen Shi brought Ding Ding to Huangpo Village, where Black Pot cooked and helped them settle in for the night.
• Chen Shi and Ding Ding traveled to Xinglong Town in Fei County, where Chen Shi sold Peach Blossom Talismans after Ding Ding used one.
• A green-robed scholar hired Chen Shi to deal with evil spirits in his village after three talisman masters had died, and Chen Shi agreed to the job for twenty liang of silver.
• Li Xiaozheng told Xia Weiyin that the Cabinet had replaced the magistrates Chen Shi killed and that the Li family was focusing on the Great Ming Treasure Ship.
• Li Xiaozheng led a group to the Great Ming Treasure Ship, and that evening the Li residence learned he had been turned to stone.

Xia Weiyin failed to keep news of Li Xiaozheng’s petrification secret as powerful families contacted her. Meanwhile, Chen Shi, Ding Ding, and Black Dog entered Sanhe Village to confront the evil Godmother and found its people trapped in a deadly opera; Ding Ding was ordered onto the stage as Chen Shi prepared talismans.

• Xia Weiyin received inquiries from Xia Chuming and a Zhang Family sister, then contacted the Quanzhou Li Family about Li Xiaozheng’s petrification.
• Chen Shi learned that Sanhe Village’s Godmother had become an evil Sui who killed performers by plucking off their heads.
• Chen Shi and Ding Ding entered the silent village, where residents knelt in prayer beneath tall black hats and incense smoke filled the streets.
• Chen Shi’s group found a strange opera audience beneath a giant jujube tree, and the heads turned toward Ding Ding when she spoke.
• Chen Shi calmed the audience by asking the troupe to continue, but a vine tore the young scholar’s head off and sent it into the crowd.
• Chen Shi began drawing talismans backstage while Ding Ding was summoned to perform onstage with her pipa.

Chen Shi discovered that the people of Sanhe Village had been killed and parasitized by a new kind of evil Sui, then used talismans to destroy them and the Sui-transformed Date Tree Godmother. After saving Ding Ding, he confronted the Green-robed Scholar, who admitted to knowing about Chen Shi’s talisman texts and threatened to stop him from leaving.

• Ding Ding played Madam Huali’s Urgent Rain pipa for the shadowy audience, and its powerful notes drew the Date Tree Godmother’s attacks.
• Chen Shi caught an unusual crawling head beneath the cart and found a bug inside its hollow skull, realizing the villagers had been parasitized and were already dead.
• Chen Shi sent talismans across Sanhe Village, killing the parasitized villagers and crushing the Date Tree Godmother while Ding Ding’s Golden Core weakened.
• Chen Shi cleared the village’s cyan vapor with a wind talisman and told the Green-robed Scholar that the villagers’ incense could not sustain the Godmother because they had become evil Sui.
• Chen Shi accused the Green-robed Scholar of releasing the Thread-Pulling Worms, and the scholar revealed that he knew Chen Shi had taken his talisman texts and threatened to prevent him from leaving.

Chen Shi fought the Green-robed Scholar, who had been hired to draw out Chen Yindu, and drove him from Sanhe Village despite the scholar’s strange ability to survive dismemberment. Ding Ding then revealed that Chen Shi’s grandfather may have founded both the Northern and Southern Schools of talisman arts, leaving Chen Shi stunned by how much his grandfather had concealed.

• Ding Ding suspected that someone had planted thoughts in her mind while the Green-robed Scholar explained that he had been hired to lure out the supposedly dead Western Capital Butcher by threatening Chen Shi.
• Chen Shi attacked the Green-robed Scholar with his fists, kicks, and Sword Qi, breaking through the scholar’s talismans and severing his legs.
• The Green-robed Scholar transformed his lower body into a many-limbed worm and escaped into the sky after Chen Shi cut off part of his body.
• Chen Shi asked Black Pot to track the Green-robed Scholar, but Black Pot could not follow the scent trail into the sky.
• Ding Ding told Chen Shi that his grandfather had used the names Five Lakes Rogue Cultivator and Ganyang Mountain Person, and that he had founded both schools of talisman arts.
• Chen Shi learned that his grandfather had taken him to a Rogue Cultivator Gathering ten years earlier and wondered what else his grandfather had kept from him.

Chen Shi subdued Date Tree Godmother and discovered that its righteous qi greatly accelerated his cultivation. After reviving the date tree with barehanded talismans, he learned the tree's tragic history and found that its spirit had begun cooperating with him.

• Chen Shi imprisoned the wounded Date Tree Godmother in his small temple, where righteous qi weakened its evil qi and strengthened his cultivation.
• The Three Ghost Kings returned to the other ghost kings after being released, then used its newfound strength to take the chief ghost king's position.
• Chen Shi drew Spring Rain and Rejuvenation Talismans barehanded, summoning rain and causing a new date tree sapling to sprout from the old roots.
• Date Tree Godmother remembered how it had protected and played with generations of villagers before the green-robed scholar's influence drove it mad and turned it into a sui.
• Date Tree Godmother climbed onto the divine shrine and willingly absorbed righteous qi, increasing the small temple's power and Chen Shi's cultivation speed.