Chapter Summaries

Chen Shi brought the demonized Yutian City back to the Red Mountain Hall and reasoned that Chan Master Kuzhu had released a demon to fake his death while seeking a new body. Kuzhu escaped Chen Shi’s Sea of Consciousness and chose Li Tianqing as a second vessel, but Chen Shi anticipated the possession and prepared to attack him.

• After Kuzhu fled Chen Shi’s Sea of Consciousness, Yutian City transformed into a rabbit and nearly attacked Chen Shi before Chen Shi calmed him by calling him Hall Master Yu.
• Chen Shi speculated that Kuzhu had targeted exceptional scholars, including Chen Shi and Li Tianqing, to obtain a new body, and that Kuzhu had secretly released a demon to conceal his survival.
• Chen Shi brought Yutian City to the Red Mountain Hall and used his divine shrine to refine the evil nature in Yutian City’s Primordial Spirit.
• Kuzhu returned to Daxing Zen Temple injured and decided to target a second vessel after failing to seize Chen Shi’s body.
• Five days later, Kuzhu entered the Red Mountain Hall and possessed the apparent Li Tianqing, but the figure was actually Chen Shi in disguise; the real Chen Shi struck at him with sealing talismans.

Chen Shi and Li Tianqing’s attempt to trap Chan Master Kuzhu ended with a mysterious hand restraining him inside Chen Shi’s Sea of Consciousness, though the demon domain remained. As the city starved and the mushroom plague worsened, Chen Shi set out with Li Tianqing and Black Pot to find food, only to encounter Kuzhu’s young disciple.

• Chen Shi’s sealing talismans began to fail until a bony hand appeared beneath his forehead and pulled Chan Master Kuzhu back, leaving everyone unsure whether the Great Ascension monk had died.
• Granny Sha and the others speculated that Kuzhu might have reincarnated before and wondered whether someone in Xijing had told him about Chen Shi and Li Tianqing.
• Chen Shi realized Kuzhu was not the demon seed because the demon domain still surrounded Gongzhou City, and he hoped the rogue cultivators gathering nearby would help defeat the true demon seed.
• As food ran short and mushroom giants overran the city, Chen Shi decided to seek food at the Cao Lao Association with Li Tianqing and Black Pot.
• A young monk stepped out in front of the boys and asked whether his master, who had tried to seize their bodies, had died at their hands.

Wuchen revealed how Kuzhu had forced his disciples through deadly trials before Chen Shi and Li Tianqing continued to the Cao Lao Association’s main altar. There, they discovered Gongzhou’s officials planned to eat Granny Minjiang, and Cao Yunshen’s attempt to help her escape ended with his death.

• Chen Shi tricked Wuchen into kneeling, and Wuchen celebrated his freedom before recounting Kuzhu’s lethal trials and his own survival.
• As mushroom giants surrounded Wuchen, he used a Golden Body Buddha to fight them off, while Chen Shi and Li Tianqing escaped and continued to the Cao Lao Association.
• Chen Shi and Li Tianqing ate in the main altar’s back kitchen, then tried to carry a giant fish out while Black Pot clouded Governor-General Yan’s suspicions.
• Chen Shi and Li Tianqing overheard Cao Yunshen reluctantly agree to let the officials eat Granny Minjiang after Fei Tianzheng and the other leaders threatened him.
• Cao Yunshen warned Granny Minjiang to flee and called for the floodgates to open, but Fei Tianzheng crushed him and led the officials away to feast.

Chen Shi rescued the wounded Granny Minjiang by hiding her in a bowl, but Xia Luoying’s border troops discovered him and nearly killed him. Monk Wuchen arrived in time to defeat Xia Luoying and the soldiers, then left after declaring his debt to Chen Shi repaid.

• Fei Tianzheng killed Cao Yunshen, while Granny Minjiang fled toward the Minjiang River and was pursued by Xia Luoying’s border troops.
• Chen Shi used a Fish Summoning Talisman and a Taotie Devouring Heaven Talisman to conceal Granny Minjiang inside a porcelain bowl and carry her away.
• Xia Luoying recognized Chen Shi, ordered him to break the bowl, and attacked when he saw the black fish’s image remained intact.
• Chen Shi fought off several soldiers but was gravely wounded by their firearms and nearly struck by another pellet.
• Monk Wuchen blocked the pellet, defeated Xia Luoying, killed the firearm-wielding soldiers, and left after saying he had repaid his debt to Chen Shi.

Chen Shi escaped with Granny Minjiang after the garrison discovered Xia Luoying’s death, but an old beggar trapped him and his allies in a vast sea. Granny Sha and the Five Lakes Rogue Cultivator’s brothers intervened, freeing them and sending the beggar crashing into the mushroom forest before the Golden Body Buddha.

• Chen Shi left the site of the battle with Granny Minjiang, while the garrison found Xia Luoying dead and reported the loss to General Xia.
• Governor-General Yan discovered that mushroom infection had spread among officials and soldiers, and he saw his household execute infected servants even as he secretly removed a mushroom from his own head.
• An old beggar attacked Chen Shi with his broken bowl, trapping him and the people from Red Mountain Hall in a sea where Granny Minjiang’s true form appeared.
• The old beggar captured Li Tianqing and the others in the sea, but Granny Sha and the Five Lakes Rogue Cultivator’s brothers attacked him and took his bowl.
• Chen Shi used a new bowl and the Taotie Devouring Heaven Talisman to draw Granny Minjiang back inside, while the old beggar was thrown into a mushroom forest and confronted by the Golden Body Buddha.

The old beggar fought the Golden Body Buddha demon at Daxing Zen Temple while the Green-robed Musician and Prince Xiao watched from Gongzhou City. Back at Red Mountain Hall, Chen Shi rescued Granny Minjiang and used a talisman to shrink Red Mountain Empress’s true form, then realized talismanry might be cast as spellcraft.

• The old beggar battled the Golden Body Buddha, was injured, and watched his tattered bowl break when it failed to stop the demon.
• Granny Sha, the Green Goat, and the bearded man feared the demon would grow into a true Demom God, while the Green-robed Musician declined to intervene.
• Prince Xiao entered Gongzhou City’s demonic domain, rented a room, and watched the battle as Sky Listener Apostles monitored him.
• Chen Shi rescued Granny Minjiang, who mourned Hall Master Cao and recalled watching him grow up and leave for the provincial capital.
• Chen Shi used Black Pot’s blood and a Taotie Devouring Heaven Talisman to shrink Red Mountain Empress’s Blood Taisui form into a basin.
• Yutian City asked whether Chen Shi could cast talismanry as a spell, and Chen Shi glimpsed a new path.

Chen Shi discovered how to turn talismans into spells, while Yutian City arranged for Li Tianqing and Wok to take Red Mountain Empress and Granny Minjiang away from Red Mountain Hall. As they escaped the city, the demonic mutation intensified, and the Golden Body Buddha transformed Gao Canghai and members of the Gao family into mushrooms.

• Chen Shi pondered whether talismans could be cast as spells, then tested fire and water spells that grew more powerful but became difficult to control.
• Yutian City decided that Li Tianqing and Wok should escort Red Mountain Empress and Granny Minjiang away, while he drew the city’s pursuers after himself.
• Red Mountain Empress and Granny Minjiang hid inside their true forms in Wok’s monstrous carriage, and Wok guided it out of Red Mountain Hall with Li Tianqing and Chen Shi aboard.
• Yutian City lured giant mushrooms and ravenous people away, allowing the carriage to leave the main altar unnoticed.
• Li Tianqing witnessed a Golden Body Buddha attack near the Moon-Gazing Tower and instantly seize and transform Gao Canghai.
• The Golden Body Buddha transformed the Gao family’s cultivators into mushroom creatures and gathered them into a halo as the demonic mutation accelerated.

As the Golden Body Buddha transformed Gongzhou City’s survivors into mushrooms, Chen Shi practiced talisman-derived spells by the Minjiang River and mastered techniques resembling the noble families’ cultivation arts. More than ten days later, the Buddha began to ripen ahead of schedule, and Granny Sha and her companions realized the rogue immortals were waiting for it to become a demon.

• The Golden Body Buddha turned people across Gongzhou City into mushrooms, while officials and troops fled or were transformed.
• Li Tianqing took Chen Shi and Black Pot outside the city to a village on the Minjiang River, where Granny Minjiang recognized Cao Yunshen’s old hometown.
• Chen Shi practiced water spells with Granny Minjiang’s help and learned to control the river, then demonstrated spells resembling the five noble families’ arts.
• Chen Shi tried the Taotie Swallowing Heaven Method, but his vital blood ran short and a tree stump buried him before Li Tianqing rescued him.
• After more than ten days, the Golden Body Buddha stopped hunting survivors, spread white hyphae underground, and vented colorful streams from its mushroom head.
• Granny Sha and her companions watched the Buddha ripen early, and the Green Goat said the rogue immortals were waiting for it to become a demon.

As spores spread through Gongzhou, the Golden Body Buddha’s mushroom Pure Land began to rot, while Chen Shi appointed Granny Minjiang as the Minjiang Dragon King to secure food. The starving group hid inside a snail shell when Tianmu Association members and Gongzhou officials arrived to search for them.

• The Green-robed Musician and other free cultivators watched the Golden Body Buddha as its spores filled Gongzhou and the demon seed began absorbing nourishment from the rotting mushroom Pure Land.
• Chen Shi, Li Tianqing, and Black Pot found that their food and the local wildlife had turned to stone, leaving them desperately hungry.
• Chen Shi used the West King's Jade Seal to appoint Granny Minjiang as the Minjiang Dragon King, granting her command over the river and its aquatic life.
• Granny Minjiang summoned fish from the Minjiang, allowing Chen Shi and his companions to cook and eat their fill.
• Tianmu and Wu Daozheng led Tianmu Association members to the village, where they discovered the group's meal remains and began searching.
• Chen Shi used the Taotie Swallowing Heaven Method to hide himself, his companions, and the wooden cart inside a snail shell as Fei Tianzheng and Xia Chuli arrived.

Chen Shi and his companions escaped the officials’ village and rescued Granny Minjiang from Tianmu and Wu Daozheng’s attack. As the demonic domain vanished and the mushroom Pure Land collapsed, Fei Tianzheng killed Wu Daozheng and ordered the officials to cover up their crimes.

• Chen Shi overheard Fei Tianzheng and the other officials decide to eliminate the Tianmu Association, the Cao Lao Association, the Yan Lao Association, and the Red Mountain Hall, then escaped the village with help from Yan Hao.
• Chen Shi and his companions found Granny Minjiang fighting Tianmu, Wu Daozheng, and three incense masters, and Red Mountain Empress and Chen Shi’s group joined the battle.
• Granny Minjiang and Red Mountain Empress defeated Tianmu, while Chen Shi and Li Tianqing killed the three incense masters.
• The mushroom Pure Land collapsed, the demonic domain began to vanish, and Fei Tianzheng killed the injured Wu Daozheng before declaring that the officials had to cover up their crimes.

The rogue cultivators discovered that the Golden Body Buddha had been hollowed out and used as nourishment by an immature demon that escaped underground. As Chen Shi fled toward Gongzhou City, the demon revealed herself as Ying Rumeng and left with Monk Wuchen, warning him that something inside Chen Shi was terrifying.

• The Golden Body Buddha rotted and collapsed after the green goat punctured it, revealing that its body had been consumed by fungal threads leading underground.
• The child in the book case and the Green-robed Musician inspected the Buddha and learned that the demon had escaped through a tunnel toward the Minjiang River.
• Madam Huali explained that the demon was immature and would travel the mortal world to absorb demonic nature, while the rogue cultivators scattered to pursue it.
• The green goat collected Chan Master Kuzhu’s empty skin, and Madam Huali left with Ding Ding after the goat teased her as Young Master Chen’s little sister-in-law.
• Chen Shi fled toward Gongzhou City on Granny Minjiang’s head as Black Pot assessed whether it could stop the officials pursuing them.
• Ying Rumeng departed with Monk Wuchen, revealed that she feared the thing inside Chen Shi, and erased a spell cast at them before urging him to hurry away.

Granny Sha and the others fought off Gongzhou’s officials to protect Chen Shi, but an old beggar abducted him and killed him. Chen Shi’s death released the being sealed inside his body, who broke the old beggar’s neck and unleashed a hundred-mile demonic domain.

• Granny Sha used her bamboo basket and Eight Trigrams Formation to delay Gongzhou’s officials, then dragged Fei Tianzheng and three others into the Underworld and escaped with Chen Shi’s pursuers close behind.
• Yutian City, the Green Goat, and Hu Xiaoliang joined the fight to protect Granny Minjiang and the others, but Granny Sha discovered that Chen Shi had vanished from Granny Minjiang’s back.
• Granny Sha tracked Chen Shi’s soul with green smoke, but the trail disappeared, and she concluded that Chen Shi was dead.
• An old beggar revealed that he had abducted Chen Shi and struck between his eyebrows, causing Chen Shi to collapse and die.
• The being inside Chen Shi’s body awoke after his death, snapped the old beggar’s neck, and unleashed demonic energy that darkened the sky across a hundred miles.

A demonic presence emerging from Chen Shi’s body invaded Gongzhou, causing practitioners to lose control of their instincts and unleashing a slaughter along the Minjiang. After devouring the city’s officials and overpowering the Heavenly Sun Child, “Chen Shi” faced a gathering of rogue cultivators who prepared to attack together.

• Granny Sha hurried Prince Xiao toward Black Pot as the demonic influence awakened the bearded man’s beastly instincts and sent him chasing Yutian City.
• Granny Sha ignited the fire lotus in Yan Jiuling’s heart, but “Chen Shi” tore out and destroyed his heart, devoured his banner’s souls, and swallowed his Primordial Spirit after the underworld emissary failed to save him.
• “Chen Shi” drained the souls from the Myriad Souls Banners and killed the Gongzhou high officials, while the underworld emissary rescued Gu Ping’an’s Primordial Spirit.
• The Heavenly Sun Child attacked “Chen Shi,” was sent crashing into the city wall, and had his three lifetimes exposed as the green-robed musician and rogue cultivators joined the fight.
• Dao Qianqiu announced that the rogue cultivators would unite against the demon, but “Chen Shi” struck him away for reciting poetry.

“Chen Shi” overwhelmed the rogue cultivators trapped in his demonic domain while Granny Sha used the Underworld map to locate Chen Shi’s soul and sent Black Pot to rescue him. The chapter ended with Black Pot racing across the Underworld toward the soul’s location.

• Wuchen and Ying Rumeng watched a vast demonic domain spread over Gongzhou, and Ying Rumeng warned that a powerful demon resided inside Chen Shi.
• “Chen Shi” attacked the rogue cultivators, swallowed Han Gongwang’s primordial spirit, and forced Daoist Cao, Duke Changping, and Rogue Cultivator Yuanshan into desperate fights.
• Feng Feihua, Liu Santong, and Luan Haozhi tried to pierce “Chen Shi” with Feng Feihua’s golden needle, but he evaded it and flicked it away.
• Heavenly Sun Child tried to flee the demonic domain but was dragged back into Gongzhou as the rogue cultivators suffered mounting casualties.
• Granny Sha and Prince Xiao found Li Tianqing and Black Pot, then Granny Sha used Chen Shi’s clothes and the Ram Horn Heavenly Spirit Lamp to locate his soul in the Underworld.
• Black Pot leaped through the flames into the Underworld and galloped across a marsh toward Chen Shi’s soul.

After Chen Shi died, he was swept into a marsh in the underworld, where he discovered white lotuses strengthened souls and were being harvested by living children. He escaped the giant ghost guarding the marsh with Black Pot, while Little Dingxiang was punished at Taiping Gate for giving him a lotus and resolved to try rescuing him again.

• Chen Shi wandered through the underworld marsh, met the dead Wu Daozheng, and watched living boys and girls descend in skiffs to gather white lotuses.
• Little Dingxiang gave Chen Shi a white lotus before she was hauled back to the Yang World, and a giant ghost appeared after a child fell into the marsh.
• Chen Shi ate the lotus and then gathered and ate many more, strengthening his soul and discovering talismanic scripts within his brow that resembled the seals on Uncle Xiao Wu.
• The giant ghost caught Chen Shi stealing its lotuses, but Black Pot charged in and drove it away before carrying Chen Shi off.
• At Taiping Gate, a woman whipped Little Dingxiang for giving away a Soul-Returning Lotus, and Little Dingxiang wondered whether she could rescue Chen Shi on her next trip to the underworld.

Chen Shi’s first demon was subdued by Rogue Cultivators Hanshan and Qianke, but they discovered that over a hundred more demons were hidden in his Sea of Consciousness. Granny Sha and Chen Shi’s consciousness drove out another demon and sealed it, while the remaining demons still threatened to escape.

• Chen Shi’s possessed body defeated Feng Feihua and the other fighters until Hanshan and Qianke arrived and battled the demon.
• Qianke used the Demon Shaking Heavenly Seal to drive the demon out of Chen Shi, and Hanshan trapped it in the Soul Searching Bag.
• Chen Shi’s second demon awakened, and the demons inside his Sea of Consciousness began fighting to seize his body and crawling out through a fissure.
• Hanshan and Qianke prepared to sacrifice themselves against the emerging demons, but Granny Sha rushed in and threw a brazier at Chen Shi.
• Granny Sha and Chen Shi’s consciousness pulled the demon from his body, and Hanshan sealed it in his Soul Searching Bag as the Green Goat arrived carrying Granny Sha’s replica.

Chen Shi revived Gongzhou’s petrified people, and the Cold Mountain Rogue promised to help restore the city’s provincial examination. In Xijing, Zhang Fuzheng learned about the demons inside Chen Shi and ordered that Chen Shi be named Gongzhou’s Jieyuan to appease him.

• Chen Shi woke beside Granny Sha, then helped the Red Mountain Empress restore the petrified people and living things of Gongzhou.
• The Cold Mountain Rogue restored Yutian City and offered to petition the Grand Secretariat so Gongzhou’s scholars could still take their examinations.
• Chen Shi and Li Tianqing paid the Cold Mountain Rogue to teach them parts of his paper-crane spell, while the Migrant Rogue stopped him from revealing its deadly third technique.
• Created Being Xiao Wu intercepted the Cold Mountain Rogue’s letter, read it, and sent it onward to Xijing with his own spirit inside the crane.
• Zhang Fuzheng and the grand councilors discussed Chen Shi and the demons in his head, then decided to grant Gongzhou’s surviving scholars Juren status and name Chen Shi its Jieyuan.

At the rogue cultivator gathering on Mist Ridge, Chen Shi strengthened his heart and mind through Cold Mountain Rogue’s training and learned that his reach had reached the Golden Core Realm’s hundred-mile limit. When Ren Hang tried to pressure him into sharing the Water-Fire Tempering Art, Heavenly Sun Child and the other rogue cultivators rushed to defend him, leaving Chen Shi with powerful allies at the gathering.

• In the cabinet, Zhang Fuzheng secured agreement to reward Chen Shi, then questioned the ministers about who had taken the Innate Dao Embryo.
• Cold Mountain Rogue taught Chen Shi and Li Tianqing to tether their heart and minds to animals, and both youths mastered the technique and reached a hundred-mile mental range.
• Cold Mountain Rogue brought Yutian City, Chen Shi, and Li Tianqing to the rogue cultivator gathering at Mist Ridge, where Chen Shi heard a description of Mazu that resembled the Red Mountain Empress.
• Ren Hang confronted Chen Shi and demanded that he share the Water-Fire Tempering Art so others would stop coveting it.
• Heavenly Sun Child struck Ren Hang, and the Musician, Feng Feihua, Duke Changping, Rogue Cultivator Yuanshan, Liu Santong, Daoist Cao, and others joined in beating him.
• Heavenly Sun Child and the other rogue cultivators promised to protect Chen Shi, while Granny Sha, Green Goat, and the bearded man watched in astonishment.

Chen Shi practiced Cold Mountain Rogue’s Heart Control and Fleeting Form, discovering that he could turn true qi into lifelike, long-lasting flying creatures. While exploring Taiping Gate as a lark, he found its disciples sending poor children into the Underworld to harvest white lotuses and located the girl who had once saved him, gravely ill and near death.

• Chen Shi reflected on the rogues’ kindness, then practiced Heart Control and Fleeting Form by turning a paper crane into an immortal crane.
• Chen Shi reasoned that reversing Fleeting Form could preserve true qi for a distant attack, then transformed the small knife Grandpa had left him into a lark.
• Chen Shi flew past Sky Listeners and villages protected by godmothers before following a primordial spirit to Taiping Gate.
• Chen Shi watched Taiping Gate’s disciples send children through openings into the Underworld to harvest Soul-Returning Lotuses.
• Chen Shi searched Taiping Gate for the girl who had given him a white lotus and found her in the back mountains, gravely ill and near death.

Chen Shi secretly healed Little Dingxiang and the other discarded children with Soul-Returning Lotuses and food, then learned Taiping Gate had acquired its child servants through the Tianmu Association. He armed himself, prepared talismans, and unleashed a deadly spell at Taiping Gate, leaving his attack’s outcome unresolved.

• Chen Shi used a lark to bring Soul-Returning Lotuses to Little Dingxiang and the sick children, then sent food and medicine by fairy crane until they recovered.
• Chen Shi noticed the dead children’s ghost fires around the back mountain, while Taiping Gate cultivators repeatedly failed to catch the lark.
• Cold Mountain Rogue and Migrant Rogue praised Chen Shi’s kindness as he continued delivering food to the children.
• Chen Shi visited Taiping Gate under the pretense of buying Soul-Returning Lotuses and learned that the Tianmu Association supplied its child servants.
• After seeing Little Dingxiang and the others being taken back to pick lotuses, Chen Shi bought weapons, prepared talismans, and returned to Taiping Gate.
• Chen Shi exhaled a breath of true Qi and declared that he would exterminate Taiping Gate’s entire house.