Chapter Summaries

Tu Shan Jun shared food with travelers sheltering from the rain, including a wounded soldier escorting a mother and daughter. The temple was surrounded by Luo Sect pursuers, and Cheng Gui stood to defend the marshal’s family as the attackers threatened them with talismanic strongmen.

• Tu Shan Jun entered the ruined temple, helped Zou Li start a fire, and shared spiritual wine and bear meat with the scholar, Chen Guangda, Wu Shu, and two little beggars.
• Tu Shan Jun learned that Zou Li was bound for the capital and that Chen Guangda and Wu Shu belonged to the Iron Sword Sect.
• Cheng Gui arrived with a mother and daughter and said he had served Marshal Qin Zongshi in the Far East, where he had killed thirteen spirits.
• After an hour, Chen Guangda sensed approaching pursuers, and Tu Shan Jun realized they had surrounded the temple.
• The pursuers demanded that Cheng Gui hand over Qin's family and threatened him with Luo Sect talismanic strongmen, but Cheng Gui drew his saber and blocked the entrance.

Luo Sect followers attacked a stormbound temple to capture Qin Zongshi’s wife and daughter, and their talisman warrior overwhelmed Cheng Gui. Chen Guangda stepped in to protect the family, but as his junior sister cried out, a short blade was about to strike his neck.

• Chen Guangda explained that the powerful Luo Sect backed widespread rebellions and was rumored to have an immortal sect behind it.
• Cheng Gui fired arrows at the attackers, then fought fiercely until Yu Peng summoned a talisman soldier that beat him down and left him bound by hooked chains.
• Chen Guangda asked his junior sister to lead Tu Shan Jun, the scholar, and the beggars away while he stayed to protect Qin Zongshi’s family.
• Yu Peng found Madam Qin and her daughter inside the temple and threatened them into surrendering; Chen Guangda challenged him to stop the capture.
• Yu Peng sent A-Qi to attack Chen Guangda and ordered the other followers to kill everyone else; Chen Guangda was wounded while trying to protect Tu Shan Jun, and a short blade closed in on his neck.

Tu Shan Jun saved Chen Guangda and the Qin family from the Luo Cult, killing its members and turning their souls into vicious ghosts. After Chen Guangda refused his offer to become a disciple, Tu Shan Jun offered to take the Qin family girl as one, but accepted her family’s reluctance and gave up.

• Tu Shan Jun froze Yu Peng’s attackers, killed one cultist to refine a vicious ghost, and seized the Luo Cult’s talisman soldier.
• Yu Peng tried to bargain with Tu Shan Jun, but Tu Shan Jun summoned his soul banner and killed nearly sixty Luo Cult members, refining their souls into vicious ghosts.
• Chen Guangda thanked Tu Shan Jun for saving him, but refused his offer of discipleship and explained that he had no spiritual root and planned to lead the Iron Sword Sect.
• Tu Shan Jun gave Chen Guangda two Meridian-Opening Pills to help him reach first-class martial strength.
• Tu Shan Jun asked the Qin family girl to become his disciple, but Madam Qin objected and Tu Shan Jun chose not to force the matter.

Tu Shan Jun arrived in Huaifeng after leaving the temple and discovered that the city had no active cultivators or Evil-Suppressing Office. He decided to stay and seek a promising person to train, then overheard news of an Innate martial artist connected to the local yamen.

• Chen Guangda and his junior sister treated the soldiers after Tu Shan Jun vanished, and Chen Guangda admitted he had refused Tu Shan Jun's offer because he had been afraid.
• Tu Shan Jun reached Huaifeng, passed through the city gate's suspended artifact formation, and noticed a bounty for two man-eating bears in Yinwind Valley.
• Tu Shan Jun asked Li San about cultivators in the city and learned that the Evil-Suppressing Office had been abandoned, then paid Li San to find him a place to stay.
• Tu Shan Jun settled into an inn, sealed the remaining mana in the Pig-Dragon's body, and decided to stay in Huaifeng and find someone to train.
• Tu Shan Jun overheard the innkeeper's son describe a strange creature caught by the yamen and praise Brother Han, an Innate grandmaster, whom Tu Shan Jun considered a promising seedling.

Tu Shan Jun stopped a ghost from reaching Zhou Qiang, then met Huaifeng’s chief constable, Han An, and discovered he was a Qi Refiner with unusual abilities. Tu Shan Jun tried asking Han An to become his disciple, but dropped the idea when Han An hesitated.

• A ghost crept into Zhou Qiang’s room to retrieve Han An’s token, but Tu Shan Jun pressed it to the floor with his divine sense.
• Zhou Qiang woke and drew his saber, then Han An entered and released the ghost into a talisman.
• Han An used the Spirit Official Dharma Eye on Tu Shan Jun and sensed a terrifying ghost domain around him.
• Han An explained that the ghost was his subordinate and that it had come for the token Zhou Qiang had forgotten to return.
• Tu Shan Jun learned that Han An was a low-level Qi Refiner, asked if he would take him as a master, and abandoned the offer when Han An began to accept.
• After Han An and Zhou Qiang left, Tu Shan Jun wondered whether he had been alone so long that he had forgotten how to talk to people.

Tu Shan Jun settled in Huaifeng City and opened a stall offering services such as finding lost items and dealing with ghosts. A young tomb explorer dismissed Tu Shan Jun’s warning about a bloodstained jade pendant and returned to his companions, who planned to set out that night.

• A sect spellcaster failed to summon Helmsman Yu’s soul, was struck by black mist, and collapsed; the sect members decided to take him back and stop searching for Yu’s soul.
• Li San helped Tu Shan Jun rent a two-courtyard residence for three taels a month.
• Tu Shan Jun set up a service stall near the inn, while Han An told Zhou Qiang to watch him without provoking or offending him.
• Ma Yuan showed Tu Shan Jun a bloodstained jade pendant, but dismissed Tu Shan Jun’s warning that it would bring disaster.
• Ma Yuan returned to his burly companion, bragged about the Daoist’s warning, and heard that they would set out that night.

As refugees overwhelmed Huai Feng City and an army of rebels approached, Tu Shan Jun prepared to leave after months of suppressing ghosts. Before departing, he gave Li San the chance to gain bear-like strength and seek revenge on Yin Mountain Stronghold, then waited as someone arrived at his courtyard.

• Huai Feng's officials discussed the approaching rebel army and asked Chief Constable Han to seek help from the Evil Suppression Office and local temples.
• Zhou Qiang brought wine to Tu Shan Jun, who reflected on his work in the city and the strain his weakening crocodile body placed on his magical power.
• Li San begged Tu Shan Jun to help him kill the chief of Yin Mountain Stronghold, which had slaughtered his village six years earlier.
• Tu Shan Jun performed the Nightmare Pattern Spirit Attachment rite and transformed Li San into a powerful bear-man, warning him to return before sunset.
• After Li San left for Yin Mountain Stronghold, Tu Shan Jun noted a bloody omen and waited at home until a visitor entered his courtyard.

Han An asked Tu Shan Jun to help defend Huaifeng from the Luo Sect's immortal masters, but Tu Shan Jun refused and predicted an ally would arrive. Li San returned transformed after slaughtering the bandits responsible for his family's deaths, then agreed to help defend the city while Han An remained uncertain about Tu Shan Jun.

• Han An told Tu Shan Jun that rebels backed by the Luo Sect would soon reach Huaifeng and begged him to stop their immortal masters, but Tu Shan Jun urged him to seek help from the Myriad Laws Sect.
• Tu Shan Jun predicted that Han An would soon gain an ally, and Li San arrived at sunset concealed inside a bear's hide.
• Tu Shan Jun released Li San from the bearskin, returned it to him, and warned him not to use it for evil.
• Li San recounted how he entered Yin Mountain Stronghold and killed the bandits who had murdered his family.
• Han An told Li San about the threat to Huaifeng, and Li San agreed to help defend the city while declining to speculate about Tu Shan Jun's motives.

Han An sought Tu Shan Jun's help against the Luo Sect's Demon Cultivators, who were slaughtering villagers to build a ritual platform and threaten Huaifeng. After admitting he lacked the mana to fight, Tu Shan Jun revealed the Soul Banner and asked Han An to carry it to the enemy, but Han An suspected Tu Shan Jun was no different from the demons he opposed.

• A band of rebels massacred a village and assembled its victims into a ritual platform, where a gray-robed cultivator used Baleful Intent to create a fiendish ghost.
• Han An woke from the memory and told a woman that the massacre had truly happened before going to meet Tu Shan Jun about Huaifeng's danger.
• Tu Shan Jun explained that his remaining mana could barely sustain his body and that he could not activate his protective Dharma treasure.
• Tu Shan Jun revealed the Soul Banner, identified it as a Dharma treasure, and said Han An could use it to break the Luo Sect's forces outside the city.
• Han An accused Tu Shan Jun of staying to gather vengeful souls for his demonic treasure and questioned whether Tu Shan Jun was a demon himself.

Han An accepted the Soul Banner after Tu Shan Jun vanished, then discovered that rebel cultivators were preparing an assault on Huai Feng with fiend soldiers and ghost generals. As the supernatural army advanced under dark clouds, Han An warned the city with a signal flare.

• Han An lowered his sword and admitted he could not take the Soul Banner from Tu Shan Jun, then revealed that he was Huai Feng’s great locust tree.
• Tu Shan Jun told Han An he had no interest in why Han An helped the city, and Han An took the Soul Banner as Tu Shan Jun turned to ash.
• Han An returned to Ying Ji, admitted he had thoroughly lost, and showed her the now-harmless-looking banner.
• Seven days later, rebel cultivators raised a blood-and-bone altar and summoned hundreds of evil ghosts as fiend soldiers for an attack on Huai Feng.
• Han An used his Dharma Eye to spot the dark clouds gathering over Huai Feng and identified the approaching force as summoned fiend soldiers and ghost generals.
• Han An set off a signal flare as the supernatural army arrived.

As Huaifeng was engulfed by a freezing fog, powerful ghosts attacked the city and killed those who fought them. Han An gathered the city's fighters and soldiers at Great Locust Street, where he summoned four generals and prepared to face an army of over a thousand ghosts.

• A Green-Faced Ghost killed a young swordsman who had claimed he would protect Huaifeng, and its attack sparked panic across the city.
• Li San rescued the injured Liu Yi from a White-faced Evil Ghost and directed him to Great Locust Street.
• Han An gathered Huaifeng's strange talents and selected soldiers after realizing the ghost soldiers were targeting people with inner force.
• Han An used the great locust tree and an incense ritual to transform a hundred soldiers into a formation led by four generals.
• Over a thousand ghost soldiers assembled at Great Locust Street, and Han An identified them as Five Rampant Spirits formed from yin souls.

Han An led Huaifeng’s soldiers and fighters against the ranked ghost army, but a far more powerful Ghost King emerged from the enemy’s banner. The Four Direction Generals failed to stop it, leaving Huaifeng’s defenders facing an overwhelming threat.

• Han An activated a ritual array that empowered a hundred selected soldiers, then ordered them to charge the ghost army on Great Locust Street.
• The soldiers’ formation clashed with the ghosts, binding and impaling many of them while Han An directed the battle.
• A halberd-wielding ghost general broke through the shields, but Liu San transformed into a giant bear and drove it back.
• The ghost general used the banner to summon the Ghost King of Huaifeng, while a distant chief ritualist ordered his side to use a new weapon.
• Han An recognized the emerging entity as a Ghost King and sent the Four Direction Generals against it, but it struck them from the sky.

Han An used the Soul Banner to stop Tan Lin’s Foundation Establishment Ghost King from destroying the defenders of Huai Feng City. The banner seized and swallowed the Ghost King, leaving Tan Lin wounded and fleeing.

• The Ghost King shattered the soldiers’ formation, and the other extraordinary fighters fled, leaving Li San the Bear to fight beside Han An and Ying Ji.
• Han An used his blood to empower the spiritual generals, while Ying Ji joined them and wounded the Ghost King with the wooden sword.
• Tan Lin revealed that the Ghost King had used only a fraction of its strength, then empowered it with a talisman and unleashed its oppressive fog.
• Li San urged Han An to use what the Daoist had left him, and Han An activated the Soul Banner, which suppressed the Ghost King’s supernatural phenomena.
• Tan Lin ordered the Ghost King to kill Han An, but a blue-black hand emerged from the banner and dragged the Ghost King inside, causing Tan Lin to spit blood and flee.

Han An used the Soul Banner to defeat the ghost army, but its power nearly shattered his spirit-body. In a dreamlike meeting, Tu Shan Jun learned that Han An’s strength came from a damaged City God seal, then sent black mist to kill the Luo Sect Qi Refiners outside the city.

• Tan Lin fled the ghost fog, but Tu Shan Jun dragged him back and killed him.
• Han An shook the Soul Banner and collected the ghost general and ghost soldiers, worsening the cracks in his spirit-body.
• Han An drew pale yellow power from the surviving soldiers to restore himself, then waved the banner again and entered Tu Shan Jun’s dreamlike divine realm.
• Tu Shan Jun questioned Han An about his power, and Han An produced a cracked seal bearing the title Ghost Abundant City God.
• Tu Shan Jun returned the seal to Han An and sent black mist toward the Luo Sect Qi Refiners outside the city.

Tu Shan Jun destroyed the Luo Sect cultivators and forced the rebel army to withdraw, but Han An died and Ying Ji entered the Soul Banner after him. Days later, Li San guarded the banner beneath the locust tree as Chen Qing and Zha Lianfu returned to seize it.

• Tu Shan Jun killed the remaining Luo Sect cultivators, destroyed their altar, and left Cultivator Liu's corpse before the rebel commander, who ordered the army to withdraw.
• Han An thanked Tu Shan Jun before his body shattered into starlight and his yin soul entered the Soul Banner; Ying Ji refused reincarnation and plunged into the banner after him.
• Huaifeng City survived the threat, and Li San stayed beneath the locust tree to guard the Soul Banner.
• Several days later, Chen Qing and Zha Lianfu demanded the Soul Banner from Li San, who refused and prepared to defend it.

Li San defended the Soul Banner from people trying to seize it, while everyone who touched it was consumed by its Baleful Intent. After Juefa grasped the banner, Tu Shan Jun accepted him as a new banner master.

• The Prefect considered attacking Li San for the black-banner treasure, but his advisor warned that Li San could kill him before the military formation could help.
• Chen Qing and five others attacked Li San, trapped him with Blood Talismans and a Demon-Binding Net, and tried to take the Soul Banner.
• The Soul Banner stripped Chen Qing of his flesh and blood, and Li San broke free and killed the remaining attackers.
• Li San stayed to guard the banner as rumors branded him a demon; Huang Man lost an arm when he tried to seize it and fled.
• Juefa arrived seeking a demon, identified the banner as a Soul Banner, and grasped it after the bones around it crumbled.
• Tu Shan Jun asked whether to bind Juefa as the new banner master, and accepted him when he recognized him as a cultivator.

Juefa traveled through the mountains, delivered ghosts at Yucheng Temple, and continued trying to free the souls trapped in the Soul Banner. Tu Shan Jun emerged from the banner and spoke with Juefa, who began carving the stone fruit left behind by the delivered ghost.

• Juefa gave Li San a Heart Sutra mnemonic and left him behind as he traveled through the mountains, delivering lingering souls along the way.
• Juefa reached Yucheng Temple and was confronted by a green-robed ghost who tried to eat him.
• Juefa restrained the ghost with his Buddhist beads and delivered it by reciting scripture, leaving a black stone fruit in his hand as the temple crumbled into ruins.
• Juefa used his beads to form an array around the Soul Banner and chanted, prompting Tu Shan Jun to emerge from the banner and introduce himself.
• Tu Shan Jun confirmed that he had inscribed Li San's technique, while Juefa carved the black stone fruit into an irregular pearl.

Juefa traveled with Tu Shan Jun while seeking demons and replenishing his Dharma implements, eventually entering a ghost market in the Nether Ghostlands. When Juefa froze at the price of a rare Nether Epiphyllum, Tu Shan Jun used his Dharma power to pay for it.

• Tu Shan Jun spent time with Monk Juefa, polishing a bone prayer bead and discussing whether the dead should be delivered or recruited into the Soul Banner.
• Juefa explained that he traveled to practice his cultivation and seek demons, but Tu Shan Jun had already dealt with the powerful creatures he had planned to hunt.
• Juefa entered a ghost market in disguise, while Tu Shan Jun urged him to seize its many ghosts and was refused.
• Tu Shan Jun spotted a two-thousand-year-old Nether Epiphyllum and asked Juefa to buy it, promising to repay the Spirit Stones.
• When Juefa hesitated over the price, Tu Shan Jun used his Dharma power to take out Juefa's Storage Talisman and pay the deer demon.

Tu Shan Jun and Jue Fa explored the Ghost Market, where Jue Fa bought Bone Bodhi beads and Tu Shan Jun discovered that a shrine’s Ghost King statue held a fragment capable of absorbing tainted incense power. After the market closed, Tu Shan Jun punished the ghost who had cheated Jue Fa, but found Jue Fa surrounded by robbers when he returned.

• Jue Fa inspected Tu Shan Jun’s vast store of Spirit Stones and explained how desire could arise even in a monk.
• Jue Fa bought four Bone Bodhi beads from a green-eyed ghost after the seller repeatedly raised the price, settling at fifteen hundred Spirit Stones.
• Tu Shan Jun sensed a pull toward a shrine and discovered that its Ghost King statue held a fragment that gathered incense power tainted by the worship of ghosts and demons.
• Jue Fa was driven out of the shrine after refusing to pay incense money, and Tu Shan Jun decided not to risk collecting its incense power.
• After the Ghost Market closed, Tu Shan Jun sent a Foundation Establishment Yin God to beat the green-eyed ghost for cheating Jue Fa.
• The Yin God returned to find Jue Fa surrounded by ghosts, monsters, and an evil cultivator demanding his Ghost Market purchases and Spirit Stones.

Tu Shan Jun and Jue Fa confronted the demons and ghosts who tried to rob them at the Hugu Mountain Ghost Market, then learned that the Luo Sect was preparing for corpse refinement. Tu Shan Jun unleashed Wen Yue and the other Foundation Establishment Yin Spirits to seize the market and destroy its temple, while Jue Fa continued warning him about the evil of his actions.

• Jue Fa killed the snake ghost and trapped the remaining demons and ghosts beneath his Dharma net while Tu Shan Jun watched.
• Tu Shan Jun captured a Luo Sect cultivator, searched his memories, and learned that the sect was preparing ghost soldiers and corpses on orders from an upper-sect envoy.
• The Market Lord arrived with ghost soldiers and threatened Jue Fa, so Tu Shan Jun summoned Wen Yue and three other Foundation Establishment Yin Spirits.
• Wen Yue killed the Market Lord and led the Yin Spirits in defeating the ghost soldiers and storming the Hugu Mountain Ghost Market.
• Wen Yue shattered the Ghost King statue, took the fragment hidden inside it, and destroyed the temple with a drop of ghost blood.
• Tu Shan Jun and Jue Fa watched the market’s inhabitants flee as the Yin Spirits returned to the Soul Banner, while Jue Fa continued admonishing Tu Shan Jun.