Chapter Summaries

Fang Yuan, Sun Meng, and Sect Leader Hu encountered a villager who claimed to be from Xiahe Village and agreed to follow him through a hidden mountain path. Fang Yuan remained suspicious as the group entered the darkness, leaving them to discover where the path led.

• Sect Leader Hu recalled that Xiahe Village was a remote settlement north of Luoshui Village, and suggested following the villager to find a way out.
• Fang Yuan questioned the villager about the village, and the man gave hesitant answers that seemed plausible to Sect Leader Hu and Sun Meng.
• The villager warned that the mountains were dangerous at night but refused to explain why, and Fang Yuan agreed to go with him.
• Sect Leader Hu paid the villager five taels of silver, and the man eagerly offered rooms at his ancestral house.
• The villager led the three men and their horses onto a concealed path into a dark mountain hollow, while Fang Yuan followed with his hand near his blade.

Fang Yuan, Sun Meng, and Sect Leader Hu followed Wang Laogen to Xiahe Village and accepted shelter in his courtyard. They chose the empty East Side Chamber instead of waking Wang Laogen’s wife and child, and the chapter ended as they considered how to arrange themselves in its large but filthy room.

• Wang Laogen led Fang Yuan, Sun Meng, and Sect Leader Hu along a hidden mountain trail to the lights of Xiahe Village.
• Sun Meng blurted out that they had made it out, then covered his words when Wang Laogen questioned him.
• Wang Laogen brought the group to his courtyard and explained that his wife and child had gone to sleep hungry.
• Sect Leader Hu stopped Wang Laogen from waking his family, and Fang Yuan and Sun Meng agreed to stay in the side chambers.
• Wang Laogen showed them the dusty, moldy East Side Chamber and asked how they wanted to arrange their lodging.

Fang Yuan, Sun Meng, and Sect Leader Hu spent the night in Wang Laogen's side chamber, uneasy about the village's unnatural silence and planning to investigate the main house later. When Sect Leader Hu went to relieve himself, Fang Yuan insisted on going with him.

• Fang Yuan searched the side chamber with Sun Meng and Sect Leader Hu but found nothing unusual.
• Sun Meng questioned whether they should continue to Luoshui Village, while Sect Leader Hu refused to retreat.
• Fang Yuan noted the village's unnatural quiet, and Sun Meng suggested sneaking into Wang Laogen's main house after the household fell asleep.
• The three agreed to take turns keeping watch, though Fang Yuan planned to stay alert all night.
• Sect Leader Hu got up to relieve himself, and Fang Yuan stopped him and said he would go along.

Fang Yuan discovered that completing the Basic Health Preservation Method had unlocked Five Tigers Regulating Viscera, which quietly healed hidden injuries and strengthened his organs. After Sect Leader Hu and Sun Meng returned from a suspicious trip outside, Fang Yuan kept watch while resting, until Sun Meng whispered to him.

• Fang Yuan inspected the panel and found the Basic Health Preservation Method had reached completion and unlocked Five Tigers Regulating Viscera.
• Fang Yuan sensed the effect circulating through his organs, repairing hidden injuries and easing the strain of his martial training.
• Sect Leader Hu and Sun Meng returned from the courtyard, and Sun Meng acted nervous while Sect Leader Hu took the first watch.
• Fang Yuan lay down with his Ghost Head Saber nearby and continued monitoring the room while studying the new effect.
• Sun Meng quietly asked Fang Yuan whether he was asleep.

Sun Meng warned Fang Yuan that Sect Leader Hu had no shadow, prompting Fang Yuan to watch him during the shift change. Hu avoided the moonlight, leaving Fang Yuan and Sun Meng without proof, and openly asked why they were staring at him.

• Sun Meng told Fang Yuan that he had seen Sect Leader Hu standing without a shadow near the latrine.
• Fang Yuan recalled another shadowless man and prepared his Ghost Head Saber while waiting for Hu to change shifts.
• Sun Meng positioned himself in the moonlight and urged Hu to come rest as they had agreed.
• Sect Leader Hu walked around the moonlit patch and settled in a dark corner without entering the light.
• Hu noticed Fang Yuan and Sun Meng watching him and asked whether they thought he was a wraith, while Sun Meng nervously denied it.

Fang Yuan listened as Sect Leader Hu accused Sun Meng of secretly meeting Wang Laogen and urged him to test Sun Meng by leaving him alone. When moonlight returned, Fang Yuan saw that Sect Leader Hu’s corner remained shadowed, and Hu announced he was going to the latrine again.

• Sect Leader Hu secretly moved beside Fang Yuan and asked whether Sun Meng had said anything to him.
• Hu claimed he had seen Sun Meng whispering with Wang Laogen beneath the main house window and argued that Sun Meng was acting suspiciously.
• Hu proposed that he and Fang Yuan leave the room to see whether Sun Meng would make a move, and Fang Yuan agreed.
• The moonlight revealed Fang Yuan’s shadow but left Sect Leader Hu’s corner dark.
• Sect Leader Hu stood up and said he needed to visit the latrine again, prompting Sun Meng to turn alertly toward him.

Fang Yuan accompanied Sect Leader Hu outside and witnessed Sun Meng stretch his neck through a window, revealing himself as something inhuman. Fang Yuan concealed his suspicions of Sect Leader Hu and claimed to believe him.

• Fang Yuan went outside with Sect Leader Hu, while Sect Leader Hu locked Sun Meng inside the side chamber.
• Fang Yuan noticed Sect Leader Hu had no visible shadow and considered attacking him while he watched Sun Meng through the window.
• Sun Meng stretched his neck unnaturally through the window and called out to Fang Yuan, then snapped his head back into place.
• Fang Yuan used the effects of Five Tigers Regulating Viscera to steady himself after seeing Sun Meng's monstrous transformation.
• Sect Leader Hu asked whether Fang Yuan believed him, and Fang Yuan said he did, praising Sect Leader Hu's vigilance.

Fang Yuan distrusted Sect Leader Hu but agreed to investigate Wang Laogen’s main house after arranging for Hu to stay outside. Inside, he found spirit tablets and an empty, dusty bedroom, confirming that Wang Laogen had lied about his family and where they were.

• Sect Leader Hu urged Fang Yuan to investigate Wang Laogen’s main house, and Fang Yuan grew more suspicious of him despite noticing that Hu had a shadow.
• Hu offered to scout ahead, but Fang Yuan insisted that Hu guard the courtyard while he entered the main house alone.
• Fang Yuan opened the main house door with his saber and slipped into the darkness as Sect Leader Hu watched from outside.
• Fang Yuan found spirit tablets in the main hall and searched the bedroom, which held only an empty, dusty bed.
• Fang Yuan realized Wang Laogen had lied about going to sleep with his wife and children.

Fang Yuan discovered that the ancestral tablets in the main house could transform, revealing that Wang Laogen’s tablet had become Sun Meng’s. After his attempts to burn and destroy it provoked a supernatural backlash, Fang Yuan fled toward the door as shadowy figures gathered in the darkness.

• Fang Yuan examined the ancestral tablets and saw the tablet bearing Wang Laogen’s name change to Sun Meng’s.
• Fang Yuan found no tablets bearing his own name or Hu San’s, but Hu San urgently warned him that Sun Meng was outside, smashing at a door.
• Fang Yuan splashed lamp oil on the tablets and threw his Fire Starter at them, but the flame went out and the altar began to shake.
• Fang Yuan struck Sun Meng’s tablet with Severing Gate, but the blade barely marked it and the darkness filled with shadowy figures.
• Fang Yuan retreated and slammed his shoulder into the main house door.

Fang Yuan escaped the dark main house and found himself caught between the suspicious Sect Leader Hu and Sun Meng. When Wang Laogen appeared and asked how many people had entered with them, Fang Yuan sensed that answering incorrectly could trigger a deadly threat.

• Fang Yuan smashed through the main house door and emerged safely, then questioned Sect Leader Hu about his surprise at the escape.
• Sect Leader Hu and Sun Meng each accused the other of being dangerous and urged Fang Yuan to take their side.
• Fang Yuan avoided starting a fight, fearing it would force one of them to reveal an inhuman form.
• Wang Laogen wandered into the courtyard, and Sect Leader Hu and Sun Meng both reacted to him with suspicion and hostility.
• Wang Laogen asked Fang Yuan how many people had come in with them, and Fang Yuan realized the question might be a deadly trap.

Fang Yuan faced Wang Laogen’s dangerous demand to count how many people were present and chose to answer “three” by recalling Wang Laogen’s greeting on the road. Wang Laogen then claimed that he saw only two people in the courtyard, leaving Fang Yuan unsure whom to trust.

• Sun Meng and Sect Leader Hu both urged Fang Yuan to answer Wang Laogen, despite their accusations against each other.
• Fang Yuan reasoned that Wang Laogen’s question might distinguish those who had arrived from those still present, and suspected either Sun Meng or Sect Leader Hu—or both—had changed.
• Fang Yuan answered “three,” using Wang Laogen’s earlier greeting, “Gentlemen, come with me,” as his reasoning.
• Wang Laogen paused, then said that he saw only two people in the courtyard.
• Fang Yuan rejected the idea that Wang Laogen’s count proved one of the other two was human and suspected another attempt to divide them.

Fang Yuan survived Wang Laogen’s test by insisting that there were still three people, though the encounter unleashed a terrifying force inside the main house. At dawn, the courtyard gate opened and Fang Yuan and Sun Meng escaped on horseback, leaving Sect Leader Hu trapped behind.

• Fang Yuan told Wang Laogen that there were still three of them, triggering a violent Yin wind and a terrifying disturbance behind the main house door.
• Wang Laogen stared at Fang Yuan, then returned to the main house, and the cold and strange noises ceased.
• A boom swung open the village gate, and a rooster crowed as daylight appeared.
• Fang Yuan and Sun Meng untied their horses and headed for the open gate while Sect Leader Hu remained unable to move.
• Fang Yuan and Sun Meng rode out, and Fang Yuan looked back at the courtyard threshold with a soft sigh.

Fang Yuan left Luoshui Village while Sun Meng was trapped and transformed into a Sinister Entity. At the village entrance, Fang Yuan discovered the village’s true identity and saw that its residents and Luo Sihai had also been transformed, but Chen Zhengyang was nowhere to be seen.

• Fang Yuan ignored Sun Meng’s pleas and rode away, promising to look after Sun Meng’s family.
• Sun Meng could not cross the courtyard threshold, and Sect Leader Hu’s words awakened his buried awareness before he became a Sinister Entity.
• Fang Yuan realized that Sun Meng and Sect Leader Hu had likely been corrupted at different points after entering the village.
• At the village entrance, Fang Yuan saw that the stele now read “Luoshui Village,” not “Xiahe Village.”
• The village gates opened, revealing rows of lifeless villagers, including Luo Sihai, but Fang Yuan did not find Chen Zhengyang.
• Fang Yuan concluded that he could not stay and mounted his horse to leave.

Fang Yuan escaped the supernatural Luoshui Village and returned to Qinghe County, where he learned that seven days had passed and that Hu San and Sun Meng had not survived. He asked Wang Fugui to find and support Sun Meng’s family.

• Fang Yuan saw the Beggar beneath the Old Scholar Tree as the village road cleared, then rode out of Luoshui Village while the Beggar’s hateful gaze followed him.
• Fang Yuan looked back from the mountain road and found that Luoshui Village had vanished into the mist, then hurried toward Qinghe County.
• Fang Yuan rode through Qinghe County’s North City Gate, and the guards let him pass when they recognized Master Fang.
• Wang Fugui told Fang Yuan that seven days and seven nights had passed since he entered Luoshui Village, though Fang Yuan had experienced only one night.
• Fang Yuan confirmed that Hu San and Sun Meng had not returned, then asked Wang Fugui to find Sun Meng’s relatives and arrange support for them.

After returning from Luoshui Village, Fang Yuan learned that Wang Fugui’s strange experiences had stopped and that Black Heart Tiger had likely reached the Fourth Rank and gained ties to Prefect Zhao through his daughter. Fang Yuan brought Liu Wanwan, Little Bean Sprout, and Chen Yin to Zhengyang Martial Arts School, where he took on greater responsibility and resolved to recover before acting to break the stalemate.

• Fang Yuan asked Wang Fugui whether anything strange had happened during his absence, and Wang Fugui said the disturbances at the inn had stopped.
• Wang Fugui reported that Black Heart Tiger had likely broken through to the Fourth Rank and that his daughter was Prefect Zhao’s concubine.
• Fang Yuan and Wang Fugui concluded that Prefect Zhao’s First Madam had tried to use Fang Yuan against Black Heart Tiger, and Fang Yuan decided to wait for her next move.
• Fang Yuan warned Wang Fugui to keep a low profile, then returned to Zhengyang Martial Arts School with Liu Wanwan, Little Bean Sprout, and Chen Yin.
• Fang Yuan accepted the burden of leading the unsettled school and resolved to restore his condition before taking the initiative.

Fang Yuan discovered that his Five Tigers Regulating Viscera had advanced, and he focused on recovering from the lingering Yin Cold after surviving Luoshui Village. The next morning, a monk in an Apricot Yellow Monk Robe arrived, and Fang Yuan hurried to meet him, suspecting he was Huining.

• Fang Yuan checked that no one remained in his room and resolved to stay vigilant while recovering and dispelling the Yin Cold.
• Fang Yuan discovered that Five Tigers Regulating Viscera had advanced, and he suspected his encounters with Yin Evil Qi had tempered it.
• After a peaceful night of Breath Regulation, Fang Yuan found the advanced warm current had suppressed the Yin Cold and was nourishing his body more effectively.
• A servant told Fang Yuan that a monk in an Apricot Yellow Monk Robe had come to see him about an important matter.
• Fang Yuan told the servant to bring the monk to the Training Ground and went to meet the guest, suspecting he was Huining.

Fang Yuan recounted his escape from Luoshui Village to Monk Huining and pressed him for answers about the village and his missing master. Huining began explaining the deeper origins of Martial Dao, leaving the connection to Luoshui Village just as he was about to reveal it.

• Monk Huining arrived at the Wang Family residence and observed that Fang Yuan had recovered and made progress despite his ordeal.
• Fang Yuan described his investigation of Luoshui Village, its supernatural events, and his escape at dawn.
• Huining praised Fang Yuan’s fortune and spiritual insight but asked him to consider how Martial Dao had first been discovered.
• Fang Yuan questioned whether Martial Dao had been created solely through human exploration and asked how its origins related to Luoshui Village.
• Huining began to explain the connection but had not yet revealed it.

Huining explained to Fang Yuan that Black Calamities were supernatural forces strengthened by the stories and fear spread about them, and that Fang Yuan had escaped one without being marked as its follower or prey. Huining concluded that Fang Yuan was the fated person he had long sought.

• Fang Yuan asked Huining whether gods and Buddhas existed and whether the Martial Dao came from them.
• Huining explained that Black Calamities opposed the order represented by gods and Buddhas, but admitted he did not know why divine prayers sometimes went unanswered.
• Huining told Fang Yuan that Black Calamities drew strength from people spreading their stories and fearing them.
• Fang Yuan realized he needed to warn Senior Brother Wang and the Luoshui Village survivors not to discuss what had happened there.
• Huining reassured Fang Yuan that he had escaped the Black Calamity without becoming its source of nourishment, and declared him the fated person he had sought.

Huining explained that Black Calamities were contained through isolation, strict controls, and cleanup, and warned Fang Yuan not to discuss Luoshui Village. After examining Fang Yuan’s health cultivation, Huining recognized it as resembling the Five Tiger Health Cultivation Method and revealed that it held a hidden danger.

• Fang Yuan asked whether Martial Dao could counter Black Calamities, and Huining said fifth-rank strength was not enough to resolve them.
• Huining explained that the Imperial Court isolated regions affected by Black Calamities to limit their spread and warned Fang Yuan to keep silent about Luoshui Village.
• Huining praised Fang Yuan’s composure during his ordeal, while Fang Yuan reflected on the harsh measures used to contain calamities.
• Huining examined Fang Yuan’s pulse and recognized his cultivation method as resembling the Five Tiger Health Cultivation Method.
• Huining told Fang Yuan that his cultivation method contained a hidden danger.

Huining warned Fang Yuan that the Five Tiger Health Cultivation Method likely came from the White Lotus Sect and secretly harvested practitioners’ vitality. He explained that a rare martial Intent could harm the Black Calamity, leaving Fang Yuan suspecting that his Door-Breaking Effect was a form of Blade Intent.

• Fang Yuan told Huining that his master had passed down the Five Tiger Health Cultivation Method but did not know its origins or dangers.
• Huining said the method likely originated with the White Lotus Sect and described similar practitioners who had suddenly withered and died after reaching a certain level.
• Fang Yuan suspected the County Lieutenant had given the method to Chen Zhengyang as part of a sinister scheme.
• Huining explained that stillness-based cultivation could help people resist the Black Calamity’s fear but could not usually harm it directly.
• Huining revealed that a martial artist’s Intent could interfere with or injure the Black Calamity and explained how Intent arose from mastery of a martial art.
• Fang Yuan realized that his Door-Breaking Effect might be a manifestation of Blade Intent.