Chapter Summaries

Chen Zhengyang warned Fang Yuan about the danger and secrets surrounding Luoshui Village, then set out with Luo Sihai, Liu Ting, and several others to investigate. Fang Yuan watched them leave, worried and determined to grow stronger, while Chen Yin asked when her father would return.

• Chen Zhengyang warned Fang Yuan not to trust everything County Lieutenant Wu had said about Luoshui Village and told him not to come after him if he failed to return.
• Fang Yuan offered to accompany Chen Zhengyang, but Chen Zhengyang refused and urged him to stay behind with Chen Yin and little Douding.
• After Chen Zhengyang left, Fang Yuan trained through the night, driven by the belief that he needed to reach Fourth Rank to face the danger ahead.
• The next morning, Chen Zhengyang, Luo Sihai, Liu Ting, and several companions gathered with their followers at Qinghe County's city gate and gave instructions to those staying behind.
• Chen Zhengyang, Luo Sihai, and Liu Ting rode north toward Luoshui Village, leaving Fang Yuan and Chen Yin watching them go.
• Chen Yin asked Fang Yuan when her father would return.

After Chen Zhengyang and the others left, Fang Yuan stayed behind and faced two strangers from the Five Tiger Sect and Carefree Sect. Li Hanshan challenged him to a saber exchange and attacked, and Fang Yuan met the strike head-on.

• Fang Yuan told Zhao Tie to take Chen Yin and the others back to the city, then watched them leave alone.
• Fang Yuan noticed a martial artist and a daoist watching him near the city gate and confronted them.
• Li Hanshan introduced himself as a member of the Five Tiger Sect, while Xu Feng identified himself as being from the Carefree Sect.
• Li Hanshan recognized Fang Yuan's saber skill and abruptly drew his saber to strike at him.
• Fang Yuan drew his own saber and charged forward with a direct cleaving strike.

Fang Yuan fought Li Hanshan and impressed the Five Tiger Sect expert with his strength and saber skills. After questioning Fang Yuan about Zhang Shun and finding no reason to pursue him, Li Hanshan invited him to visit the sect in the county city.

• Fang Yuan clashed with Li Hanshan in a saber duel and held out through more than twenty exchanges, though Li Hanshan cut his robe and left his hands bleeding.
• Li Hanshan praised Fang Yuan's talent, while Xu Feng showed displeasure that the duel had not subdued him.
• Xu Feng and Li Hanshan questioned Fang Yuan about Zhang Shun and whether he had seen an aged piece of cowhide.
• Fang Yuan claimed he had once seen Zhang Shun trade a booklet in the Black Market but had not noticed any cowhide or met him again.
• Xu Feng accepted Fang Yuan's account, and Li Hanshan invited him to seek him out at the Five Tiger Sect in the county city.

Fang Yuan defused Xu Feng’s suspicions about his movement technique with Li Hanshan’s help, then resolved to grow strong enough to earn a place in the Five Tiger Sect at the Qinghe Arena. As Fang Yuan left for the commandery city, a monk secretly judged him a promising candidate for Buddhism.

• Xu Feng questioned Fang Yuan about using the Carefree Sect’s Treading Snow Without Trace, and Fang Yuan claimed he had bought the technique in the Black Market.
• Li Hanshan vouched for Fang Yuan, and Xu Feng agreed to let the matter go while warning him to be careful.
• Li Hanshan urged Fang Yuan to perform well at the upcoming Qinghe Arena if he wanted the Five Tiger Sect to recruit him.
• After Xu Feng and Li Hanshan departed, Fang Yuan reflected that strength had earned their restraint and set his sights on the Arena, the commandery city, and the Five Tiger Sect.
• A monk in yellow robes watched Fang Yuan leave and decided that his resilience and wisdom made him a promising Buddhist candidate.

Fang Yuan returned to Zhengyang Martial Arts School and learned that Black Heart Tiger had advanced to the Fourth Rank and would soon return to Qinghe County. Miss Green Vine, sent by the Prefect’s wife, tried to enlist Fang Yuan against him, but Fang Yuan remained wary of her motives.

• Huining finished distributing porridge and disappeared into the crowd before the woman preparing his meal could stop him.
• A gatekeeper told Fang Yuan that a threatening woman was waiting for him, and Fang Yuan ordered the disciple to bring her inside.
• Miss Green Vine introduced herself as a first-rank maidservant serving Prefect Zhao’s wife and announced that Black Heart Tiger had broken through to the Fourth Rank Realm.
• Fang Yuan asked why Black Heart Tiger’s breakthrough concerned him, and Green Vine warned that the man would likely target him upon returning.
• Green Vine explained that her mistress had sought capable people with grudges against Black Heart Tiger, and Fang Yuan suspected they wanted to use him as bait.

After Green Vine warned Fang Yuan that Black Heart Tiger was seeking him, Fang Yuan realized the Prefect's wife wanted to use him to kill or weaken the newly promoted Fourth-Rank martial artist. He decided to pursue an alliance with the Five Tiger Sect, then resolved to take the initiative rather than wait for Li Hanshan to contact him.

• Fang Yuan rejected Green Vine's warning and told her to leave, then warned her not to threaten his family.
• Green Vine revealed that her mistress would keep Black Heart Tiger in the prefectural city for a while, and Fang Yuan inferred that the Prefect's wife wanted to use him as a weapon against Black Heart Tiger.
• Fang Yuan considered how rare Fourth-Rank resources were and suspected Black Heart Tiger had taken a resource quota that angered the Prefect's wife.
• Fang Yuan decided that strengthening his connection with the Five Tiger Sect through Li Hanshan was his most practical path to advanced saber techniques and cultivation knowledge.
• Fang Yuan regretted that he had not asked where Li Hanshan was staying, then resolved not to wait passively for another chance to meet him.

Fang Yuan advanced his saber training and noticed a fleeting figure around the Old Scholar Tree, but found no evidence when he investigated. As he left the tree to join Liu Wanwan and Little Bean Sprout for dinner, a silent, disheveled man appeared beneath it and watched him.

• Fang Yuan trained with his saber, took a Nourishing Origin Pill, and saw that his technique had reached its second advancement with the Severing Gate trait.
• Fang Yuan reflected on his clash with Li Hanshan and his desire to reach the Fourth Rank.
• Liu Wanwan called Fang Yuan to dinner, and Fang Yuan noticed a blurry figure dart behind the Old Scholar Tree.
• Fang Yuan searched the tree and its surroundings, then cut down a branch, but found nothing unusual.
• As Fang Yuan turned away from the tree to join Liu Wanwan and Little Bean Sprout, a muddy, tattered man appeared beneath it and watched him.

Fang Yuan noticed Little Bean Sprout feared the Old Scholar Tree, while the tree watched his home from within its trunk. After an intimate night with Liu Wanwan, she told him that Chen Yin seemed to have feelings for him.

• Fang Yuan returned home and noticed Little Bean Sprout seemed unhappy during dinner.
• Liu Wanwan asked why Little Bean Sprout had stopped playing beneath the Old Scholar Tree, and the child said it was scary.
• Fang Yuan comforted Little Bean Sprout, who quietly agreed to attend Private School once Qinghe County settled down.
• Fang Yuan drew Liu Wanwan to bed, while a pair of eyes in the Old Scholar Tree silently watched them.
• Afterward, Liu Wanwan told Fang Yuan that Chen Yin had been looking at him strangely and called it Maiden's Springtime.

Fang Yuan learned that Liu Wanwan had noticed strange activity in their home, including a door opening by itself and an unseen presence watching the family. He resolved to uncover and eliminate whatever was threatening his family.

• Liu Wanwan suggested that Fang Yuan speak with Chen Yin, but he dismissed her teasing and became concerned by the eerie shadow of the Old Scholar Tree outside.
• Fang Yuan asked Liu Wanwan whether she had sensed anything wrong in the house, and she confirmed that the courtyard had felt strange lately.
• Liu Wanwan said the courtyard door repeatedly opened after she shut it, despite her watching it and ruling out Little Purple Sable.
• Liu Wanwan revealed that she often felt a fifth presence watching the household, especially Little Bean Sprout, who had stopped playing beneath the Old Scholar Tree.
• Fang Yuan realized Liu Wanwan had faced these fears alone and resolved to find and sever the threat to his family.

Fang Yuan confronted a growing supernatural presence that had followed his family home and appeared to enter their bedroom. After he struck at its shape beneath the quilt, the white shadow escaped through a closed door at nearly impossible speed.

• Fang Yuan realized the strange occurrences had begun after his family moved into the courtyard assigned by Zhengyang Martial Arts School and feared the entity was growing stronger.
• Little Bean Sprout cried out after seeing someone outside her open window, and Fang Yuan stayed with her when she begged him not to leave.
• Little Bean Sprout said a tall, dark figure from the big tree had followed them home, and Fang Yuan spotted a human-shaped bulge beneath the quilt on the outer-room bed.
• Fang Yuan told Liu Wanwan to retreat and slashed the bed, but a blurred white shadow burst from the bedding and passed through the shut door into the night.

Fang Yuan fought off a ghostly intruder that trapped him and his family in an illusion of absolute darkness and silence. He rescued Liu Wanwan and Little Bean Sprout, but the attacker escaped through the roof, leaving Fang Yuan wary of the Old Scholar Tree.

• Fang Yuan chased a fleeting white figure outside, then realized the lamp and moonlight had vanished and rushed back to protect his family.
• Fang Yuan entered the darkness with his saber and nearly approached a false Liu Wanwan, but Little Purple Sable's cries alerted him to danger.
• Fang Yuan thrust at the ghostly beggar, then struck it with an upward saber sweep, forcing it through the roof and out of sight.
• Fang Yuan found Liu Wanwan and Little Bean Sprout trapped in the same illusion and revived them by pressing snow to their foreheads.
• Liu Wanwan and Little Bean Sprout clung to Fang Yuan in terror as he watched the roof and the Old Scholar Tree with suspicion.

After a mysterious presence attacked Fang Yuan’s home, he kept watch through the night and began to suspect the Old Scholar Tree was connected to the apparition and the Cold Case in Luoshui Village. The chapter leaves him resolved to investigate cautiously and find greater strength and better ways to defend against the terrifying opponent.

• Fang Yuan questioned Little Bean Sprout, who said the person inside the big tree had appeared after Fang Yuan grew stronger and had watched him during dinner.
• Little Bean Sprout told Fang Yuan the shadow had blown above his head, while the Jade Pendant from Li Wuhen cracked after apparently protecting him from harm.
• Fang Yuan lit the inner room and spent the night guarding Liu Wanwan, Little Bean Sprout, and Little Purple Sable with his Ghost Head Saber.
• After breakfast, Fang Yuan considered chopping down the Old Scholar Tree but stopped himself because he did not understand the threat.
• Fang Yuan linked the tree, the apparition, and the Cold Case in Luoshui Village, and concluded he needed more information, strength, and effective means to fight the presence.

Wang Fugui told Fang Yuan that eerie disturbances and deaths had struck the Canal Gang and Green Wood Gang after their leaders became involved in the Luoshui Village case. Fang Yuan summoned Sun Meng and Sect Leader Hu to the Martial Arts School to question them, and the chapter left them gathered in a tense, closed hall.

• Wang Fugui described strange disturbances at the Wang Family residence and reported that several Canal Gang and Green Wood Gang members had died or been left terrified.
• Fang Yuan connected the incidents to the Luoshui Village investigation and asked Wang Fugui to bring Sun Meng and other informed leaders to the Martial Arts School.
• Fang Yuan told Wang Fugui to investigate the dead men’s bodies, suspecting that fear alone had not killed them.
• Wang Fugui returned with Sun Meng and Sect Leader Hu, and Fang Yuan met them in the Martial Arts School’s Main Hall.

Fang Yuan questioned Sun Meng about the deaths at the Canal Gang docks and learned that the victims had discussed Luoshui Village before dying in terror. Sect Leader Hu revealed that the Green Wood Gang had also mentioned Luoshui Village, and their dead were found with their hearts missing.

• Fang Yuan had Wang Fugui serve tea to calm Sun Meng and Sect Leader Hu before asking them to recount what happened.
• Sun Meng said three Canal Gang brothers vanished from their watch shed, then were found hanged with expressions of extreme terror.
• Sun Meng recalled that the brothers had joked about Luoshui Village and the gang leader’s return from it while drinking.
• Fang Yuan connected the deaths to the discussion of Luoshui Village, and Sect Leader Hu said the Green Wood Gang had also discussed it.
• Sect Leader Hu recounted finding Old Wu dead after a terrifying scream, and said the coroner discovered that the victims’ hearts were missing despite their intact bodies.

After learning that men from the Green Wood Gang and Canal Gang had been found with their hearts gouged out, Fang Yuan linked the killings to the Beggar phantom and Luoshui Village. He announced that he would investigate the village in an hour, leaving Sun Meng and Sect Leader Hu to decide whether they would join him.

• Fang Yuan heard that three Green Wood Gang brothers and an equal number of Canal Gang members had died with their hearts removed, matching the Beggar phantom's attack on him.
• Fang Yuan concluded that the threat came from Luoshui Village and urged Sun Meng, Sect Leader Hu, and Wang Fugui to help uncover its weakness.
• Fang Yuan warned Sun Meng and Sect Leader Hu not to spread news about the village, fearing that attention and fear might strengthen the phantom or widen its reach.
• Fang Yuan told Sun Meng and Sect Leader Hu to meet him at the Qinghe County city gate in one hour if they wanted to investigate, then declined Wang Fugui's offer to accompany him.
• Sect Leader Hu said he would consult the gang and investigate further before deciding, while Sun Meng remained uncertain about going.

Fang Yuan sent his loved ones and Wang Fugui to safer places before setting out for Luoshui Village to confront the strange threat. On the road to the North City Gate, he was stopped by a monk named Huining from Formless Temple.

• Sun Meng chose to head to the Canal Gang docks while Sect Leader Hu decided to investigate the danger first.
• Fang Yuan saw Liu Wanwan, Little Bean Sprout, and Chen Yin off toward the Wang Family Estate, and Wang Fugui toward an inn.
• Fang Yuan warned Wang Fugui to avoid the Wang Family Old Residence and stay in the city with plenty of silver.
• Fang Yuan packed his supplies, mounted the jujube red horse, and rode toward Luoshui Village.
• A monk suddenly appeared in the road, forcing Fang Yuan to stop, and introduced himself as Huining of Formless Temple on Green Snail Mountain.

Fang Yuan rode toward Luoshui Village despite Monk Huining’s warning that it was a Great Ominous Forbidden Land. Sun Meng joined him, determined to uncover what happened to his brothers and avenge them.

• Monk Huining warned Fang Yuan that the place he sought was deadly and forbidden, but let him pass and promised to explain more if he returned safely.
• Fang Yuan rode through the North City Gate and found neither Sun Meng nor Sect Leader Hu waiting there.
• Sun Meng caught up with Fang Yuan, apologized for his earlier fear, and said he would brave Luoshui Village to learn why his brothers had died and avenge them.

Fang Yuan, Sun Meng, and Sect Leader Hu rode from Qinghe County toward Luoshui Village to investigate the ghostly danger there. As they crossed increasingly barren land, the journey grew more ominous, and they continued toward the distant mountains.

• Sun Meng waited for Sect Leader Hu, who joined Fang Yuan and Sun Meng on the journey to Luoshui Village.
• Fang Yuan, Sun Meng, and Sect Leader Hu rode north from Qinghe County as onlookers guessed their destination.
• Fang Yuan noticed the worsening famine and wondered whether the village’s mystery and the Heart-Plucking Ghost Shadow were linked to the troubled times.
• Sun Meng estimated they would reach the mountains before dusk, while Sect Leader Hu warned that Luoshui Village was wicked.
• The three riders crossed rugged, deserted country where signs of life grew increasingly scarce.

Fang Yuan, Sun Meng, and Sect Leader Hu discovered that a strange force near Luoshui Village kept sending them back to the same tree and horse-resting place. As darkness approached, Fang Yuan privately suspected one of them was affected by something, while Sect Leader Hu proposed that they split up.

• Fang Yuan noticed the mountains had fallen unnaturally silent, and the three realized the village ahead resembled one they had already passed.
• Sect Leader Hu marked a roadside tree with a cross, but after riding onward for a quarter of an hour, the group found the same mark and knew they had circled back.
• Fang Yuan calmed his exhausted horse and led Sun Meng and Sect Leader Hu on foot to inspect the road more carefully.
• The three again returned to the marked tree, where Fang Yuan confirmed his secret scratch remained and privately wondered whether someone among them was being influenced.
• With night approaching, Sun Meng feared they would have to stay in the mountains, and Sect Leader Hu suggested that they split up.

Fang Yuan, Sun Meng, and Sect Leader Hu traveled through a looping road in the Great Ominous Forbidden Land, encountering several eerie figures who tried to lure them away. After night fell, they heard someone in the grass and found a frightened farmer from Xiahe Village, whose shadow suggested he was human.

• Sect Leader Hu suggested splitting up, but Sun Meng objected, and the group continued together.
• An iron-faced old man with no shadow offered the three a shortcut, then vanished around a bend.
• The group passed a pale woman and two unnaturally red-cheeked children, avoiding their invitations.
• After darkness fell, Hu San said they needed to camp, and Fang Yuan agreed they could not keep wandering blindly.
• Fang Yuan drew his blade when he heard rustling, and a terrified farmer from Xiahe Village crawled out of the grass.
• Seeing the farmer's faint shadow, Fang Yuan sheathed his blade but remained wary as he studied him.