Chapter Summaries

Lu Zheng and Lin Wan escaped a helicopter crash and returned safely to Phi Phi Island, where the hotel waived their fees rather than investigate the incident. As they watched the sunset, Lin Wan learned that Lu Zheng’s martial arts were extraordinary and decided to trust him without prying into his secrets.

• Ronnie abandoned the helicopter, and Lu Zheng cursed him before he and Lin Wan escaped through a door Lu Zheng kicked off.
• Lu Zheng used the cabin door as a floating platform to bring Lin Wan safely across the sea as the helicopter sank.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan returned to the resort, where staff and the coast guard accepted their implausible account and the hotel waived their accommodation fees.
• Lin Wan asked Lu Zheng whether his Mountain Carrying Eighteen Forms were ordinary National Arts, and he admitted they were not.
• Lu Zheng told Lin Wan that mastering the forms with Lingzhi Wine could make her formidable, and they watched the sunset together.

After returning from a ten-day trip with Lin Wan, Lu Zheng went back to ancient times and learned that Shen Ying was gaining Incense Luck from Peach Blossom Shrines elsewhere, bringing her closer to becoming a Peach Blossom Fairy. Liu Qingyan returned from visiting her relatives, and Lu Zheng learned about the Huangfu Family’s new standing before her Red Pill affected him; the chapter ended with someone calling for him at the door.

• Lu Zheng returned to ancient times, gave Uncle Li pastries, and learned that Liu Qingyan had gone to Wanfu County with her family.
• Shen Ying told Lu Zheng that his poem had linked her to other Peach Blossom Shrines and that growing Incense Luck could help her attain the Dao and stay by his side.
• Lu Zheng and Shen Ying celebrated her progress, then shared a flight through the clouds.
• Liu Qingyan returned with Liu Qingquan and told Lu Zheng that demons had flocked to the Huangfu Family after Leng Jian’s death, while she had urged the family to demand that demons treat humans kindly.
• Liu Qingyan’s Red Pill released its effects while she was moved, leaving Lu Zheng startled by its aphrodisiac power.
• After dinner, Lu Zheng returned home and heard a woman call to him at the door in a trembling voice.

Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan traveled to Yizhou City ahead of the prefectural examination. On the road, Lu Zheng killed a gang of bandits with peanuts after they attacked their carriage.

• Lu Zheng agreed to travel to Yizhou City with Liu Qingyan and planned to meet Zhu Yushan after the examination.
• Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan set out with Old Huang in a comfortable carriage, eating and playing Go along the way.
• Old Huang spotted armed men dragging a woman toward the woods beside the road, and Lu Zheng watched as the carriage approached.
• The bandits attacked the carriage, and Lu Zheng killed them by striking them with peanuts that shattered their hearts and internal organs.

Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan encountered Luo Yun beside a dead scholar and discovered that she was a Corpse Ghoul. After Lu Zheng’s spells failed to finish her off, Liu Qingyan destroyed her with a single claw and gained twelve strands of Light of Luck.

• Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan stopped their carriage and found Luo Yun beside the corpse of a scholar named Brother Li.
• Liu Qingyan detected that Luo Yun was not alive, and Lu Zheng decided to confront her because she had planned to kill the scholar.
• Lu Zheng used an Evil Expelling Spell and revealed Luo Yun’s true form as a Corpse Ghoul.
• The Corpse Ghoul survived Lu Zheng’s attacks as black smoke and tried to attack Liu Qingyan.
• Liu Qingyan shredded the Corpse Ghoul with a claw, earning twelve strands of Light of Luck, then nervously glanced at Lu Zheng.

Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan waited for Zhu Yushan after the Prefecture Exam, only to discover he had missed it again. Li Hanyu explained that Zhu Yushan had forgotten the date while secluded in cultivation, leaving him and his friends laughing over his bad luck.

• Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan arrived in Yizhou Prefecture and spent two days exploring the city together.
• Lu Zheng waited outside the prefectural academy for Zhu Yushan after the Prefecture Exam, but Zhu Yushan did not appear with the other examinees.
• Zhu Yushan and Li Hanyu arrived after the exam had ended, and the academy servants mocked Zhu Yushan for missing it again.
• Lu Zheng invited Zhu Yushan and Li Hanyu to join him and Liu Qingyan at a nearby wine shop.
• Li Hanyu explained that Zhu Yushan had entered secluded cultivation half a month earlier and forgotten the examination date.
• Lu Zheng joked that Zhu Yushan had choked on rain from his bad luck, making Liu Qingyan and Li Hanyu laugh.

Lu Zheng and his companions toured the mountains near Yizhou Prefecture with Zhu Yushan, where they encountered Duan Xian and a rude scholar. The next morning, constables surrounded them at the inn and told Zhu Yushan he was involved in a case.

• Lu Zheng reassured Zhu Yushan about missing the examination and agreed to tour the mountains with him and their companions.
• Zhu Yushan showed the group the White Stone Screen Wall and the mountain scenery outside Yizhou Prefecture.
• At the screen wall, Lu Zheng recognized Duan Xian, while Scholar Liu mocked Zhu Yushan for missing the examination again.
• The group viewed the inscriptions, climbed to a summit overlooking the prefectural city, and returned to the Yue Lai Inn.
• The next morning, guests fled the inn’s main hall as constables arrived and told Zhu Yushan that a case involved him.

After the constables suspected Zhu Yushan and Li Hanyu of murdering four scholars, Lu Zheng proved their identities and learned the men had died in the mountains. The group went to the morgue to investigate, where You Che identified Liu Zhongling as the killer and said Liu had been silenced.

• The lead constable questioned Lu Zheng, Zhu Yushan, Li Hanyu, and Liu Qingyan about their identities and Zhu Yushan’s disappearance.
• Lu Zheng showed his White Cloud Temple credentials and explained that the group had only crossed paths with the four dead scholars.
• Zhu Yushan revealed that Li Hanyu was the daughter of the Lu River River God, forcing the constables to abandon their suspicions.
• Li Hanyu decided to investigate the murders, and the four went to the prefectural constables’ morgue.
• You Che of the Demon Suppression Division said Liu Zhongling had killed the other three scholars and had then been silenced.

You Che and Lu Zheng traced the murders to Liu Zhongling’s use of the Devouring Spirit Art and identified Feng Jin as the likely killer through a comparison of the academy students’ essays. You Che confronted Feng Jin about where he learned the art, but Feng Jin denied knowing it.

• You Che explained that Liu Zhongling had used a pared-down Devouring Spirit Art to absorb victims’ spirits and memories, likely under the murderer’s guidance.
• Constable Jin learned that Liu Zhongling often visited two brothels and Fame-Raising Academy, and You Che ordered the academy to assign essays for comparison with students’ past writing.
• Lu Zheng suggested the essay test, and You Che invited him to join the Demon Suppression Division, but Lu Zheng refused.
• An academy teacher identified Feng Jin’s writing as containing techniques associated with Liu Zhongling, and the headmaster summoned him.
• You Che asked Feng Jin where he had learned the Devouring Spirit Art, and Feng Jin pretended not to know what it was.

You Che exposed Feng Jin’s cultivation of the Devouring Spirit Art, and Feng Jin blamed the technique on Ai Weng and his daughter, Lady Heng. After Feng Jin was taken into custody, You Che and Lu Zheng’s group decided to investigate the Ai estate that night.

• You Che revealed the Devouring Spirit Art imprint in Feng Jin’s mind and ordered Constable Jin to arrest him.
• Feng Jin charged at Li Hanyu, but she used a pearl to immobilize him and demanded an explanation.
• Feng Jin said Ai Weng and Lady Heng had taught him the Devouring Spirit Art after he failed the Autumn Examination, and claimed Lady Heng had urged him to keep cultivating it.
• You Che ordered Constable Jin to take Feng Jin away, then departed with Lu Zheng’s group from the academy.
• You Che identified Ai Weng and Lady Heng as wandering souls or wild ghosts and agreed to visit their estate that night, with Lu Zheng, Zhu Yushan, Li Hanyu, and Liu Qingyan joining him.

Lu Zheng and his companions investigated Ai Weng’s manor, saw through its illusion, and confronted Ai Weng and Ai Heng. Their conversation revealed that Feng Jin had lied about the ghosts choosing him as their son-in-law, leaving Lu Zheng suspicious of what had really happened.

• Lu Zheng and his companions accepted lodging at Ai Manor, where they recognized the manor as an illusion concealing a mass graveyard.
• The group explored the grounds and encountered Ai Heng, who challenged them for wandering without permission.
• Lu Zheng revealed that they knew Ai Weng and Ai Heng were ghosts and said Feng Jin had told them about staying at the manor.
• Ai Heng excitedly asked whether Feng Jin had sent them, while Ai Weng denied agreeing to make Feng Jin his son-in-law.
• Lu Zheng compared their reactions and realized Feng Jin had lied about his relationship with Ai Heng’s family.

Lu Zheng heard Ai Weng and Ai Heng’s account of how Feng Jin stole the Devouring Spirit Art and later killed four Scholars, then agreed to relay their testimony to the Demon Suppression Division. After learning Feng Jin already had a wife, Ai Heng was devastated, and Lu Zheng’s Jade Seal gained more than twenty strands of Light of Luck before he and his companions left the manor.

• Lu Zheng repeated Feng Jin’s accusations to Ai Weng and Ai Heng, prompting the ghosts to reveal their true forms and test the strength of his group.
• Ai Weng said Feng Jin had stolen the Devouring Spirit Art after winning Ai Heng’s trust, and Lu Zheng told them Feng Jin had killed four Scholars.
• Lu Zheng said he would pass their testimony to the Demon Suppression Division, and Ai Weng gave him a copy of the Yin-Yang Harmonization Spirit-Nourishing Method.
• Lu Zheng told Ai Heng that Feng Jin already had a wife in Yizhou Prefecture, and the Jade Seal in his mind produced more than twenty strands of Light of Luck.
• The next morning, Lu Zheng and his companions gave Constable Jin both sides’ testimony and warned him about Ai Weng and Ai Heng’s strength before leaving East Township.

Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan visited the Lu River River God Residence, where they were warmly welcomed and stayed for three days. After they returned to Tonglin County, Hu Zhou arrived worried that his saber practice had awakened a strange, violent power within him.

• Lu Zheng gave Zhu Yushan the Nourishing Spirit Method and accepted Li Hanyu's invitation to stay at the River God Residence.
• The carriage traveled along the riverbed to the Water Mansion, where Lu Zheng introduced Liu Qingyan to Deputy Prefect Luo Wensheng and the River God’s family.
• The River God's Wife took a liking to Liu Qingyan, and Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan stayed at the residence for three days before traveling on to Tonglin County.
• Hu Zhou told Lu Zheng that a scorching, violent breath activated when he wielded his saber and stirred violent thoughts.
• Lu Zheng gave Hu Zhou a saber and asked him to perform a routine so he could examine the problem.

After Hu Zhou awakened a fierce demonic aura while practicing the Tiger Roar Saber, Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan brought him home to ask Mother Hu about his father. She began recounting how, when she was sixteen, she secretly treated an injured talking tiger that later transformed into a person.

• Hu Zhou's saber strike summoned a moonlit tiger phantom and unleashed a domineering Demon Qi that alarmed Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan.
• Lu Zheng suspected Hu Zhou's aura came from his father's bloodline, and he, Liu Qingyan, and Hu Zhou went to ask Mother Hu about it.
• Mother Hu confirmed that Hu Zhou's father was likely connected to the power awakened in him, then invited them inside to explain.
• Mother Hu recalled living in a mountain village at sixteen, where she found an injured striped tiger hiding in her woodshed.
• Mother Hu treated the tiger's wounds and kept it company until it recovered and transformed into a person before her eyes.

Hu Zhou learned that his father was a Tiger Demon and that his awakened Demon Qi came from his bloodline. Lu Zheng took him to the City God Temple so he could train with General Xin’s forces in the Netherworld.

• Mother Hu told Hu Zhou that his father had been a Tiger Demon who left to settle a matter, promised to return, and never came back.
• Lu Zheng reassured Mother Hu that Hu Zhou was not a demon and explained that his Tiger Demon bloodline had awakened through his saber practice.
• Lu Zheng told Hu Zhou to learn to control and conceal his Demon Qi, then proposed that he spar with the Netherworld soldiers under General Xin.
• Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan took Hu Zhou to the City God Temple, where they learned that Xin Zhanting was drilling troops in the Netherworld.
• Deputy General Liu had Duan Zhong open the Yin-Yang Road, and Lu Zheng led Liu Qingyan and Hu Zhou into the Netherworld.

Lu Zheng visited Xin Zhanting at Nightfall Mountain, where he watched a border battle and arranged for Hu Zhou to train with the City God Temple soldiers. As Lu Zheng and his companions departed, an unseen threat ominously declared that none of them would live to see Hu Zhou’s progress.

• Xin Zhanting told Lu Zheng that the court had reinforced Nightfall Mountain and that his troops regularly fought ghosts from Broken Blade Mountain and Chaos Corpse Pool.
• Lu Zheng asked Xin Zhanting to let Hu Zhou train with the City God Temple soldiers so he could master his strength and control his Demon Qi, and Xin agreed.
• When Ghost Soldiers from Broken Blade Mountain crossed the border, Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan watched the battle from the central army, and Hu Zhou joined the fighting.
• Hu Zhou drove back three ghosts before a fourth wounded him, and Lu Zheng praised him for retreating safely.
• After the battle, Lu Zheng arranged Hu Zhou’s training and warned him not to enter the Netherworld until he could defeat a City God Temple deputy general within ten moves.
• As Lu Zheng, Liu Qingyan, and Hu Zhou departed, an unseen speaker said that Hu Zhou and the others would not live to see that day.

Lu Zheng and his companions encountered Bai Yuqing, the Gorgeous Corpse, who tried to kill Hu Zhou for his Tiger Demon power. Lu Zheng revealed his Dao and martial abilities and struck Bai Yuqing hard, though the fight remained unresolved.

• Bai Yuqing appeared from a strange tree and trapped Lu Zheng, Hu Zhou, and Liu Qingyan in a fog-shrouded formation.
• Bai Yuqing attacked Hu Zhou to absorb his Tiger Demon power, but Lu Zheng took Hu Zhou's blade and fought her.
• Lu Zheng immobilized Bai Yuqing with a spell and nearly cut through her neck, but she broke free and counterattacked with a flying sword.
• Bai Yuqing used an illusion and concealed golden threads to try to slice Lu Zheng apart, but Lu Zheng countered with his own illusion.
• Lu Zheng dodged Bai Yuqing's nails, struck her with a spell, and sent her flying while she spewed black qi.

Lu Zheng defeated and killed Bai Yuqing after she tried to reach Hu Zhou, then sent her corpse to the Netherworld Bureaucracy. Liu Qingyan and Lu Zheng discovered that Bai Yuqing’s fingernails could transform into swords, and the chapter ended with them examining the weapons.

• Bai Yuqing used her fingernails to attack Lu Zheng, but he ambushed her with the Earthwalk Technique and repeatedly attacked her as she tried to reach Hu Zhou.
• Bai Yuqing unleashed all ten fingernails and charged Hu Zhou, but Lu Zheng wounded her true spirit with the Nine Heavens Golden Palace Insight Transformation Divine Method.
• Bai Yuqing fled, but Lu Zheng trapped her with Illusion Techniques and mental attacks, then shattered her formation and severed her head.
• Lu Zheng destroyed Bai Yuqing’s weakened true spirit, and the Jade Seal in his mind received seventy-five strands of Light of Luck.
• Lu Zheng gave Bai Yuqing’s corpse to the Netherworld Soldiers for General Xin, while Hu Zhou promised to practice his saber at the City God Temple.
• Liu Qingyan showed Lu Zheng Bai Yuqing’s fingernails, and they discovered that both Demon Qi and true qi could transform them into three-foot swords.

After sharing Bai Yuqing’s transforming nails with his companions, Lu Zheng learned about the three paths of sword cultivation and tested a Red Jade Sword, but found it weak without Sword Qi. He suspected Bai Yuqing’s former Cave Residence might hold a sword cultivation method and considered using Earthwalk Technique to search for it.

• Lu Zheng gave the transforming nails to Liu Qingyan, Liu Qingquan, and Hu Zhou, and Liu Qingyan named hers the Red Jade Sword.
• Shen Ying tried the Red Jade Sword, worried over Lu Zheng’s trip to the Netherworld, and explained the sword arts, Sword Pellets, and flying sword paths of sword cultivation.
• Lu Zheng returned to Tonglin County and used the Moving Skill to control a Red Jade Sword, but found it weaker than the Embroidered Spring Blade without Sword Qi.
• Lu Zheng wondered whether Bai Yuqing had left a sword cultivation method in her Cave Residence and considered using Earthwalk Technique to reach her belongings.

Lu Zheng encouraged Lin Wan’s martial arts training and discovered that Lingzhi Wine and Stalactite Essence might help her condense Blood Qi. When they rescued people from an overturned car, Lin Wan revealed extraordinary strength, leaving them to deal with the witnesses and recordings.

• Lu Zheng told Lin Wan that continued training and Lingzhi Wine could help her develop Blood Qi, and promised her a gift when she did.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan agreed to attend Sanders’s summer cocktail party that weekend.
• Lu Zheng and Lin Wan rushed to help after a car overturned on the sidewalk, and Lin Wan warned the crowd not to flip it over.
• Lin Wan tore the deformed car door off and rescued the passenger before firefighters arrived to free the trapped driver.
• Lin Wan and Lu Zheng fled as emergency crews arrived, and Lu Zheng joked that her strength was perfectly scientific.

After Lin Wan was questioned about her viral feat of tearing open a car door, Lu Zheng comforted her and encouraged her to cultivate Martial Path Blood Qi. He then infiltrated Chaos Corpse Pool in the Netherworld and approached the graves that served as its leaders’ homes, hoping to find Bai Yuqing’s belongings.

• Lin Wan told Lu Zheng that her superiors had tested her strength after she claimed she was strong from working out and practicing martial arts.
• Lin Wan decided to keep her cultivation and Lu Zheng’s rare gifts secret so she could remain a police officer.
• Lu Zheng crossed into the Netherworld without using the City God Temple’s Yin-Yang Road and traveled toward Chaos Corpse Pool.
• Lu Zheng learned from Xin Zhanting that Giant Corpse Du He and Water Corpse Mo Xuanzi would be dangerous to face together.
• Lu Zheng found that Chaos Corpse Pool’s leaders lived in graves around the pool and headed to alluring corpse Bai Yuqing’s grave to search for her belongings.