Chapter Summaries

Red Mystic was saved from the tiger demon when a Yin Spirit descended from the Soul Banner and took control of his body. The spirit fought alongside the others and helped trap the demon, ending the chapter with a talisman explosion engulfing it in flames.

• The banner officer and the others fought the tiger demon, but it wounded the banner officer and drove the group into danger.
• The scholar used his jade token to restrain the tiger demon, and the open-robed swordsman struck one of its wounds before his sword broke.
• The tiger demon charged Red Mystic, whose spirit talisman failed, but a Yin Spirit descended from the Soul Banner and moved his body out of harm's way.
• The Yin Spirit used Red Mystic's body to evade the tiger demon and strike its wounds while the banner officer and Old Dan helped distract it.
• The banner officer trapped the tiger demon with spirit talismans and attacked its neck, but the demon's Baleful Intent blocked his sword.
• The Yin Spirit slapped a spirit talisman onto the tiger demon's face and detonated it, engulfing the demon in scarlet flames.

Scarlet Xuan survived the tiger demon battle, returned to Crimson Ram Temple with two Spirit Stones, and discovered that his soul banner produced pills from captured ghosts. Three years later, as he swallowed a pill, someone awakened inside the banner and decided to speak with him.

• Scarlet Xuan learned that his talismans and the banner officer Chang Xun's sword strike had killed the tiger demon, then received two Spirit Stones and declined to join the Demon Suppression Bureau or sell Crimson Ram Temple's lineage.
• On his way back to Crimson Mountain, Scarlet Xuan spent his loose money feeding the starving beggars of Ji City.
• At the temple, Scarlet Xuan used mana on the soul banner and watched it produce a mysterious black bead.
• Over the next three years, Scarlet Xuan discovered that captured ghosts caused the banner to produce pills; swallowing one raised his cultivation to the Qi Refining Second Layer.
• When Scarlet Xuan swallowed another pill, a powerful being awakened inside the soul banner, recognized the pill, and looked toward him to begin a conversation.

Chi Xuan used his growing cultivation and reputation to rescue a starving youth and infant, then arranged for Old Chen to care for them. On the road back toward Crimson Mountain, he encountered bandits attacking Young Master Yang and prepared to kill them for a fee.

• Chi Xuan considered leaving Ji County to hunt demons but decided to keep searching for ghosts nearby while cultivating and helping the poor.
• Chi Xuan stopped retainers from beating a youth, then gave him a steamed bun and learned that his father had starved to death and that he was carrying an infant.
• Chi Xuan brought the youth and infant to Old Chen, paid him five taels of silver to feed them, and left after the youth promised to repay him.
• Chi Xuan found bandits attacking Young Master Yang, killed the bandit called Fourth, and charged Yang two taels for each bandit he killed.

Chi Xuan killed a band of escaped imperial soldiers and refined their leader into a ghost, while Tu Shan Jun learned the soldiers had fled after a sealed creature rampaged near Longqiu. After Chi Xuan broke through to the third level of Qi Refinement, the Soul Banner drained his spiritual power and brought him to Tu Shan Jun’s temple, where they finally met.

• Chi Xuan recognized the armed men as routed soldiers and killed them with his peachwood sword and fire talismans after their leader revealed they had been escorting something that went berserk.
• Tu Shan Jun used Chi Xuan’s spiritual power to turn the dead minor leader into a vicious ghost, which Chi Xuan subdued and exchanged for a Yin Soul Pill.
• Tu Shan Jun searched the ghost’s memories and learned that the Great Cang Dynasty’s soldiers had fled after a creature broke loose from a talisman-sealed prison cart near Longqiu.
• Tu Shan Jun considered the world’s strong incense and prayer power, then cast Blood Curse Soul Tracking using Chi Xuan’s blood.
• Chi Xuan swallowed the Yin Soul Pill, broke through to the third level of Qi Refinement, and lost control as his spiritual power flowed into the Soul Banner.
• The Soul Banner brought Chi Xuan to Tu Shan Jun’s Taoist temple, where Tu Shan Jun greeted him beneath a locust tree.

Tu Shan Jun summoned Chi Xuan through the Soul Banner and offered him pills, cultivation methods, and guidance in exchange for helping him reach the Golden Core stage and return beyond this realm. Chi Xuan woke with the promised pill and scripture, but suspected Tu Shan Jun was a sealed Devil Lord.

• Tu Shan Jun met Chi Xuan over wine and asked what wish he wanted fulfilled.
• Chi Xuan said he wanted to make Red Ram Palace renowned, take disciples, and leave a legacy, then assumed Tu Shan Jun meant to kill him or bargain for his help.
• Tu Shan Jun offered Chi Xuan a Yin Soul Pill and the Annotations on the Fire Scripture, promising further resources and cultivation guidance if Chi Xuan helped him return beyond this realm.
• Tu Shan Jun told Chi Xuan his name was Tu Shan Jun and that he could also be called True Person Soul Banner, then sent him away.
• Chi Xuan woke beside the Soul Banner with the pill and scripture in hand and suspected its occupant was a sealed Devil Lord.

Chi Xuan aided famine victims in Ji City while questioning the suffering around him, and Tu Shan Jun investigated the city’s strange spiritual forces. The chapter ended with Magistrate Hu receiving a secret task from an imperial envoy.

• Chi Xuan limited the medicinal power of his pills and explored the Soul Banner, concluding that its inhabitants lacked conscious intelligence.
• Chi Xuan bought cheaper herbs and spent his resources feeding disaster victims and treating the sick as grain prices rose and families sold their children.
• Tu Shan Jun challenged Chi Xuan’s concern for the people, and Chi Xuan recalled how his master had chosen him over a more talented heir.
• Tu Shan Jun appeared to Chi Xuan in a weak clone and revealed that incense and wish power gathered at the county yamen, while he examined the Great Black Mountain Seal for clues about their location.
• An imperial envoy questioned Magistrate Hu about falling collections, then gave him a secret court task that vanished into ashes after he read it.

Chixuan found a strange illness spreading among the people in the city and used evil-dispelling talismans to ease Master Zhao’s symptoms. He left to investigate the illness and began treating other afflicted people with talisman-infused rice gruel.

• Wang Shun received a demand for virgin boys and girls from the lord in the carriage and was ordered to gather them for next month.
• Chixuan saw a notice seeking physicians because an epidemic had appeared in the city.
• Zhao Zhen asked Chixuan to examine his father, Master Zhao, whose arm was covered in spreading cyan patterns.
• Chixuan’s evil-dispelling talisman drew black qi from Master Zhao’s arm and eased his fear, so Master Zhao bought fifteen talismans.
• Chixuan found that more people needing relief had contracted the illness and dissolved evil-dispelling talismans into rice gruel for treatment and prevention.

After Old Chen reported that the boy had vanished, Chi Xuan rushed to the tavern and searched Ji City’s trafficking dens for him. He found no trace of the child, and Magistrate Hu used his authority to stop Chi Xuan from pressing the county yamen for help.

• Old Chen told Chi Xuan that the boy had disappeared three days earlier, and Chi Xuan hurried to the tavern to question Old Chen and Madam Chen Li.
• Chi Xuan refused Tu Shan Jun’s offer of help and went to Trafficker Alley, where the Beggar Gang named several places associated with abducting children.
• Chi Xuan distributed the boy’s portrait and searched every trafficking den in Ji City, but none of the traffickers admitted taking him.
• Chi Xuan went to the county yamen and told Magistrate Hu he suspected the child had been taken out of the city.
• Magistrate Hu rebuked Chi Xuan and used his incense power to pin him in place, then ordered him to leave.

After failing to find Zhang Xincheng through the county office, Chi Xuan accepted Tu Shan Jun’s help to track the missing child. He left Ji City with a blood-colored falcon and a talisman robe, following the falcon into Long County as it began to fracture.

• Chi Xuan admitted that he blamed himself for failing to protect the child, and Tu Shan Jun agreed to help him search.
• Tu Shan Jun used a strand of the younger child’s hair and Chi Xuan’s mana to create a blood-colored soul-chasing falcon.
• At Ji City’s gate, a military officer tried to make Chi Xuan return to help with the epidemic, but Chi Xuan refused and criticized the imperial court for shifting its responsibility onto him.
• Outside the city, Chi Xuan released the falcon and used Tu Shan Jun’s flight talisman robe to follow it.
• After flying into Long County, Chi Xuan learned he was close to the child, but the falcon’s spreading cracks showed that the child was in grave condition.

Chi Xuan traced the missing child Zhang Xincheng to a secret cavern beneath Long County’s yamen, where cultivators were processing incense ash and keeping children near death. When a powerful green-robed cultivator discovered him, Chi Xuan summoned Tu Shan Jun to descend into his body, and Tu Shan Jun faced the enemy.

• Tu Shan Jun warned Chi Xuan that Old Chen and his wife might not want Zhang Xincheng returned, but Chi Xuan continued searching for the child.
• The blood-curse hawk led Chi Xuan to Long County’s yamen, where he used Tu Shan Jun’s concealment talisman to investigate.
• Chi Xuan found a bronze cauldron used to brew incense offerings into ash and overheard an imperial envoy discussing routed soldiers and events in nearby counties.
• Tu Shan Jun guided Chi Xuan underground with an Earth Escape Talisman, and Chi Xuan discovered cages of unconscious children and a lake holding children close to death.
• A green-robed cultivator detected Chi Xuan, so Chi Xuan summoned Tu Shan Jun, who took control and confronted the cultivator.

Chi Xuan and Tu Shan Jun defeated Ran Fu and uncovered how the Great Cang Dynasty used children to contain incense offerings. Chi Xuan summoned Zhang Xincheng’s soul back to him, and the chapter ended with Zhang Xincheng weeping as Chi Xuan apologized for arriving too late.

• Tu Shan Jun used talismans to defeat Ran Fu, killed him, and collected his soul with the Soul Banner.
• Tu Shan Jun searched Ran Fu’s soul and learned that the court recruited cultivators to process incense offerings gathered using children as vessels.
• Chi Xuan searched the cavern for Zhang Xincheng, rescued surviving children from the golden lake, and could not find Zhang Xincheng among them.
• Tu Shan Jun told Chi Xuan that something had seized Zhang Xincheng’s soul, so Chi Xuan performed a blood-curse ritual using a strand of the boy’s hair.
• Zhang Xincheng’s soul followed the summoned path back to Chi Xuan, recognized him, and broke down crying as Chi Xuan apologized for arriving too late.

Chixuan escaped Long County after using talismans to destroy the underground cavern and its incense offerings, while Tu Shan Jun revealed that the Great Cang Dynasty fed on them. Chixuan left determined to make the county magistrate pay and condemned the dynasty’s claim to Heaven’s mandate.

• Chixuan let Zhang Xincheng’s soul enter the Soul Banner, then abandoned the trapped children after Tu Shan Jun told him they could not be saved.
• Chixuan accepted Tu Shan Jun’s rebuke, planted talismans throughout the cavern, and fled as they brought down the underground chambers beneath the county yamen.
• The Long County magistrate searched the ruins for the vanished incense offerings, while Chixuan evaded the burly imperial envoy who tried to stop him.
• Chixuan asked Tu Shan Jun about the incense offerings and learned from Ran Fu’s memories that the Great Cang Dynasty consumed them according to officials’ ranks.
• Chixuan looked back toward Long County and declared that the blue sky deserved to die.

Chi Xuan changed his cultivation method with Tu Shan Jun’s help, advancing to Qi Refining Fifth Level before setting out for Ji City to check on the child and explain his absence to Old Chen. The chapter left Old Chen answering a knock at his gate as plague restrictions tightened and Zhang Xin Cheng remained missing.

• Chi Xuan told Tu Shan Jun he wanted to change the murky age, and Tu Shan Jun urged him to cultivate well.
• Tu Shan Jun brewed medicinal liquid for Chi Xuan, who spent his Spirit Stones restoring mana until Tu Shan Jun gave him a Spirit Stone formation to use.
• Chi Xuan entered the cauldron and cultivated for six days, changing his method and advancing to Qi Refining Fifth Level.
• Tu Shan Jun gave Chi Xuan protective Dharma artifacts, and Chi Xuan headed down the mountain toward Ji City to see Old Chen and confirm the child’s safety.
• Old Chen worried about the missing Daoist and Zhang Xin Cheng while caring for a baby; as plague restrictions spread, someone knocked at his gate.

Chi Xuan recovered the child’s soul but could not free it from the Soul Banner, then tried to leave Ji City as the epidemic worsened. The county office accused him of causing the outbreak and attacked him, but he discovered the county commandant was a jackal demon, while Tu Shan Jun revealed that the county magistrate was a fox.

• Chi Xuan told Old Chen he had found the child’s soul but could not bring him back, and he left Old Chen Evil-Warding Talismans and warned him to leave Ji City.
• Chi Xuan arranged for the grain shop to distribute porridge in his name, then hurried to the city gates before curfew.
• The county commandant accused Chi Xuan of spreading the epidemic and surrounded him with soldiers and constables, while Tu Shan Jun explained that the authorities wanted a scapegoat.
• Chi Xuan refused to surrender and fought through the arrows, then killed the county commandant on the gate tower.
• Chi Xuan saw the commandant transform into a jackal, and Tu Shan Jun drew out its soul and revealed that the county magistrate was also a demon.

Chi Xuan killed County Commandant Guo in self-defense after discovering that local officials were supernatural creatures who risked becoming incense demons. Chang Xun ruled the killing lawful and invited Chi Xuan to join the Demon Subjugation Office, leaving Chi Xuan to consider a path beyond the county.

• Chi Xuan realized that the county commandant was a wolf demon and questioned the imperial court’s practice of appointing supernatural creatures as officials.
• County Magistrate Hu arrived, accused Chi Xuan of murdering an imperial official, and threatened him with charges of rebellion.
• Chang Xun appeared and told Chi Xuan that the Demon Subjugation Office was made up of human cultivators who opposed demons.
• Chang Xun declared that County Commandant Guo had succumbed to incense madness and that Chi Xuan’s killing of him was lawful self-defense.
• County Magistrate Hu withdrew his troops after Chang Xun challenged him to enforce the law, and Chang Xun took Guo’s corpse away.
• Chang Xun offered to vouch for Chi Xuan if he joined the Demon Subjugation Office.

Chi Xuan refused Chang Xun’s invitation to join the Demon Subjugation Office and learned that County Magistrate Hu had targeted him for disrupting a court plan to harvest incense offerings. Chi Xuan killed Hu in a duel and dragged his monstrous body toward Red Mountain, while Tu Shan Jun sensed an unexplained threat and used a blood-curse soul pursuit.

• Chi Xuan declined Chang Xun’s renewed invitation to join the Demon Subjugation Office and returned toward Red Mountain.
• County Magistrate Hu confronted Chi Xuan and admitted the court had arranged a strange illness to harvest incense offerings, which Chi Xuan’s talisman water had disrupted.
• Chi Xuan fought County Magistrate Hu, using his talismans and flying sword despite his inexperience and serious injuries.
• Chi Xuan killed County Magistrate Hu, whose body revealed his fox form, then dragged him toward Red Mountain.
• Tu Shan Jun sensed an ominous disturbance connected to himself, drew a drop of blood, and cast Blood Curse Soul Pursuit.

Tu Shan Jinghong and her protectors traveled toward the Ten Thousand Dharma Sect market after escaping their pursuers, while she weighed whether to return to Great Black Mountain and avenge her father. Just after their spirit ark departed, Du Gong attacked them and summoned his domain, the Ancient Valley of Ten Thousand Poison Gu.

• Faceless Ghost told a black-robed cultivator to follow the elder’s orders and gave him prepared items before leaving the teahouse.
• Ma Lu and the others accompanied Tu Shan Jinghong to the market, where they boarded a spirit ark bound for the Ten Thousand Dharma Sect.
• Tu Shan Jinghong reflected on her father’s death and resolved to grow stronger before seeking revenge.
• As the ark departed, Tu Shan Jinghong sensed an attack and rushed onto the deck, where Ma Lu was struck down.
• Du Gong faced Tu Shan Jinghong and the three Golden Core cultivators, then invoked his Ancient Valley of Ten Thousand Poison Gu domain.

Du Gong trapped Tu Shan Jinghong inside his domain and tried to force her to swallow a pill, but she awakened the power hidden in her black Daoist robe and broke free. After Tu Shan Jun’s phantom protected her from Du Gong’s final attack, Tu Shan Jun considered the Sacred Spirit Sect’s pursuit and decided Chi Xuan needed to grow stronger.

• Du Gong isolated Tu Shan Jinghong in his domain, overwhelmed her defenses, and approached with a pill meant to be swallowed.
• Ma Lu, Miss Long'er, and Ye Ling attacked the domain while Ma Lu asked a Myriad Dharma Sect cultivator to summon help.
• Tu Shan Jinghong used her black robe to take on a powerful ghostly form, tore apart Du Gong’s centipede, and struck him hard enough to shatter the domain.
• Du Gong tried to attack the exhausted Tu Shan Jinghong, but Tu Shan Jun’s phantom blocked him and shattered the talisman-pill; Du Gong fled after losing a hand.
• Tu Shan Jun sensed that Tu Shan Jinghong was safe, suspected the Sacred Spirit Sect wanted the Black Mountain seal, and resolved to devise a plan to raise Chi Xuan’s cultivation.

After killing Ji County’s magistrate, Chi Xuan left Red Ram Palace to avoid his enemies and grow stronger. Two years later, he returned to the sealed temple with greatly improved cultivation, unfazed by the people inside.

• Chi Xuan decided to leave Ji City after Tu Shan Jun warned that staying would leave them vulnerable to their enemies and the plague’s source.
• Chi Xuan packed his belongings, posted a notice that he had gone traveling, paid his respects at Red Ram Palace, and headed into the mountains.
• The county deputy sent Constable Lao to find Chi Xuan, but Lao found the temple sealed with a notice saying its master was traveling.
• Two years later, Chi Xuan returned to Red Ram Palace after enduring intensive cultivation and repeated dream battles under Tu Shan Jun’s guidance.
• Chi Xuan tore down his wanted portrait, removed the seals, and entered the dusty temple, where he knew other people were present.

Chixuan returned to Red Ram Palace and found plague-stricken villagers whose bodies were changing into monstrous forms. After learning the plague’s source lay in Long County, he protected the villagers with incense power and set out to investigate, while Zhou Hui began plotting rebellion.

• Chixuan found Zhou Hui and other infected villagers sheltering at Red Ram Palace, where Old Yang was close to death.
• Chixuan treated the villagers but learned their transformation could not be reversed; Zhou Hui explained how the court had exploited the plague and arrested survivors.
• Tu Shan Jun explained that the infected could become vessels for incense power and identified Long County as the plague’s source.
• Chixuan used Tu Shan Jun’s seal to grant the villagers incense protection and promised to return after going to Long County.
• After Chixuan left, Zhou Hui urged the villagers to gather more infected people and secretly embraced the prospect of overthrowing the county yamen and imperial court.