Chapter Summaries

Mo Hua forced Bald Ascetic to answer questions by threatening to make him a laughingstock, then learned that Bald Ascetic had no connection to Kong Sheng or the caravan that carried Pills. Bald Ascetic explained that the Topographical Map had belonged to a friend he murdered, though he had never discovered what it showed.

• Mo Hua taunted Bald Ascetic with the prospect of public ridicule until he agreed to answer questions, impressing the Executive Inspectors and Zhang Lan.
• Bald Ascetic admitted that he had robbed caravans carrying a few dozen bottles of Pills, but denied knowing Kong Sheng or having dealings with the Kong Family.
• Mo Hua showed Bald Ascetic the Topographical Map, and Bald Ascetic realized that Mo Hua had found the hidden compartment and dismantled the Array Technique guarding it.
• Bald Ascetic said the map had belonged to a fellow Sinful Cultivator whom he poisoned and killed to steal it, but he had spent decades studying it without understanding its purpose.

After Bald Ascetic’s interrogation, Mo Hua received an external-staff Dao Court Office Waist Token for helping capture him. Zhang Lan explained how the token turned favors into recorded merit and let Mo Hua exchange rewards, while leaving him free to refuse the Office’s calls.

• Zhang Lan said Bald Ascetic had told a mixture of truth and lies, then promised to question One-Eye and arrange Mo Hua’s reward.
• A few days later, Zhang Lan gave Mo Hua a bronze Dao Court Office Waist Token for external staff.
• Zhang Lan explained that Mo Hua could use the token to earn merit and exchange it for resources, and that capturing Bald Ascetic had earned him Grade B merit worth about one thousand Spirit Stones.
• Zhang Lan advised Mo Hua to save his merit for hard-to-find supplies available through the Dao Court Office warehouse.
• Zhang Lan assured Mo Hua that the token only let the Office call on him, not command him, and Mo Hua accepted it as a way to obtain resources without becoming an official cultivator.

Mo Hua sought a Concealment Array to compensate for the flaws in his Concealment Technique, but Mr. Zhuang told him he needed more Divine Sense first. After Mo Hua left, Mr. Zhuang and Old Kui discussed how long it might take him to reach the required level and wondered whether his progress could be accelerated.

• Mo Hua set aside the Topographical Map and decided to focus on learning the Concealment Technique and finding an array to strengthen it.
• Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi told Mo Hua that Concealment Arrays were rare, and Bai Zixi explained that the Concealment Technique required a single Water Spirit Root and scarce inheritance.
• Mo Hua promised to have his mother make Flower Full Moon pastries for Bai Zixi and rabbit meat for Bai Zisheng.
• Mr. Zhuang told Mo Hua that the Concealment Array required more Divine Sense than an ordinary nine-pattern array and that Mo Hua would need to learn the nine-and-a-half-pattern Reverse Spirit Array first.
• After Mo Hua left, Mr. Zhuang told Old Kui that Mo Hua might need five to ten years to reach Foundation Establishment-level Divine Sense, and Old Kui asked whether there was a way to speed his growth.

Mo Hua continued practicing the Reverse Spirit Array while waiting for clues about the topographical map. Zhang Lan revealed that Great Black Mountain might shelter desperate Sinful Cultivators, and the chapter ended with a cryptic phrase about a ritual that could show them the way.

• Mo Hua brought flower pastries and rabbit meat to Bai Zixi and Bai Zisheng, then continued studying the Reverse Spirit Array and the topographical map.
• Zhang Lan told Mo Hua that One-Eye had confessed the map depicted Great Black Mountain and that Sinful Cultivators had long rumored that desperate criminals could enter the mountain.
• Zhang Lan explained that neither One-Eye nor the Bald Ascetic knew what awaited those who entered Great Black Mountain, though One-Eye had once overheard Sinful Cultivators vanish there after fleeing the Dao Court Office.
• Zhang Lan shared the phrase One-Eye had heard: when Black Mountain's fog rose, it could hide Yuan-Su, and at midnight, a Submission-for-Entry Ritual could ask the way.

Mo Hua suspected that a map left by a group of Sinful Cultivators pointed to the forbidden Deep Mountain of Great Black Mountain, where people had vanished for centuries. After hearing Elder Yu’s account of past disappearances and a Qian Family elder’s death, they concluded that demon hunters might have been captured and taken there by a hidden bandit lair.

• Mo Hua searched Great Black Mountain for the map’s marked location and realized it might lie in the Deep Mountain.
• Mo Hua asked Elder Yu about the Deep Mountain, and Elder Yu explained that people who entered had long failed to return, including a Qian Family Foundation Establishment Grand Elder whose corpse was found near its edge.
• Mo Hua showed Elder Yu the map and shared the sixteen words connected to Bald Ascetic and the Sinful Cultivators.
• Elder Yu considered the history of disappearances and concluded that demon hunters may have been captured or killed and carried into the Deep Mountain rather than entering willingly.

After Mo Hua uncovered the hidden killings in Deep Mountain, Elder Yu warned the Demon Hunters, who searched for clues without success. Mo Hua followed the Bald Ascetic’s map to a cliff at the boundary of Inner Mountain and Deep Mountain but found no entrance, then turned to his next goal: learning the Concealment Array from Mr. Zhuang.

• Elder Yu agreed with Mo Hua’s suspicions about the Sinful Cultivators and spread the warning among the Demon Hunters.
• The Demon Hunters searched Great Black Mountain for clues and map locations, but found nothing.
• Mo Hua compared the Bald Ascetic’s map with Inner Mountain terrain and found a place that partly matched it.
• Mo Hua reached a vast cliff, tested its depth with a boulder, and found no visible path into Deep Mountain.
• After several more days of fruitless searching, Mo Hua set the search aside and planned to ask Mr. Zhuang to teach him the Concealment Array.

Mr. Zhuang taught Mo Hua about the Concealment Array and the ten-pattern Reverse Spirit Array, explaining that the latter could dissolve arrays quickly and even cause them to collapse. Mo Hua left to study, while Mr. Zhuang promised to teach him the array’s deeper uses if he mastered it.

• Mr. Zhuang gave Mo Hua the Concealment Array diagram and the complete ten-pattern Reverse Spirit Array diagram, explaining how difficult it was to reach the spiritual sense needed to learn the latter.
• Mo Hua worried about how long it would take, and Mr. Zhuang advised him to focus on what he could do without letting expectations or opportunities disturb his state of mind.
• Mo Hua asked whether the Reverse Spirit Array had uses beyond unraveling arrays, and Mr. Zhuang explained that it could dissolve an array’s core far faster than dismantling its patterns one by one.
• Mr. Zhuang revealed that the Reverse Spirit Array could also control an array’s collapse, unleashing immense spiritual power, though mastering that use required exceptional skill.
• Mo Hua called the array a bit like chicken ribs, and Mr. Zhuang said he would explain its intricacies if Mo Hua learned it.

Mo Hua mastered the Concealment Array and combined it with the Concealment Technique to hide himself from everyone he tested it on. He sneaked into Elder Yu’s home to test it against a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but Elder Yu noticed him and teasingly asked if he was having fun.

• Mo Hua studied the Concealment Array and mastered it after three days of practice.
• He sewed array-bearing cloth into his Daoist robe and combined the array with the Concealment Technique to hide completely, even from Liu Ruhua’s spiritual awareness.
• Mo Hua tested the concealment on Mo Shan, Zhang Lan, Bai Zisheng, and Bai Zixi, and none of them could detect him.
• Mo Hua secretly entered Elder Yu’s home to see whether his concealment could fool a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
• Elder Yu looked up and asked Mo Hua if he was having fun.

Mo Hua tested his Concealment Technique with Elder Yu, who confirmed that Mo Hua’s layered concealment could fool ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators. On the way home, Mo Hua suddenly wondered whether the cliff and abyss might be hidden by a Concealment Array.

• Mo Hua asked Elder Yu how he had detected him, and Elder Yu explained that he had heard his movements and then used divine sense to find him.
• Elder Yu and Mo Hua went to the woods outside Immortal City to test Mo Hua’s concealment, and Elder Yu found him only after searching carefully.
• Elder Yu praised the Concealment Technique but warned that stronger Foundation Establishment cultivators might still detect Mo Hua.
• Mo Hua explained that he combined a flawed Concealment Array with a half-learned Concealment Technique to become invisible.
• As Mo Hua walked home, he remembered Elder Yu’s question about concealment and wondered whether a Concealment Array hid the cliff and the abyss beneath it.

Mo Hua discovered that a toppled mountain peak concealed by an Array formed a secret bridge across the abyss to Deep Mountain. To avoid alerting the Sinful Cultivators or risking the Monster Hunters and Dao Court Office, he decided to investigate alone and began crossing the hidden path.

• Mo Hua searched the cliffs with his divine sense and found a concealed stone bridge spanning the abyss.
• He realized an expert Array Master had hidden the bridge with a Concealment Array and the surrounding mountain miasma.
• Mo Hua weighed reporting his discovery against the danger of warning the Sinful Cultivators and exposing others to an ambush.
• He chose to sneak across and assess the enemy's strength before returning to make a plan.
• Mo Hua confirmed the bridge with Spirit Ink and pebbles, concealed himself, and carefully began crossing toward Deep Mountain.

Mo Hua crossed into the Deep Mountain, traced the hidden Mist Arrays through the fog, and followed two suspicious cultivators to a meeting place. After one murdered the other and used his head to reveal the entrance to Black Mountain Stronghold, Mo Hua learned where the Sinful Cultivators were hiding.

• Mo Hua discovered that hidden Mist Arrays had thickened the fog and used their positions to navigate deeper into the Deep Mountain.
• Mo Hua planted South-Pointing Needle Stone Needles along the route and hid in a tree when two cultivators approached.
• Mo Hua followed the fat and thin cultivators to a tree stump, where they waited for midnight's third watch to seek refuge.
• The fat cultivator confessed that he had killed six people, while the thin cultivator admitted to killing four, including a child.
• The fat cultivator killed the thin cultivator and threw his severed head at a mountain wall, revealing the gate to Black Mountain Stronghold.

Mo Hua watched a ruthless cultivator enter Black Mountain Stronghold through its hidden gate, then studied the stronghold’s arrays and found a way inside. He secretly dismantled part of the defenses, dug through the wall, and slipped into the stronghold unseen.

• Mo Hua saw the fat cultivator use the severed head of his companion as a Submission Token to enter Black Mountain Stronghold.
• Mo Hua examined the concealed gate and the defensive and warning arrays along the stronghold’s walls.
• Mo Hua found a weak spot and dissected the warning and defensive arrays without alerting the cultivators inside.
• Mo Hua dug a small hole beneath the wall with a dagger and crawled into Black Mountain Stronghold under concealment.

Mo Hua infiltrated Black Mountain Stronghold and discovered that its residents were Evil Cultivators who drained captives of blood and Lingli. He entered the more guarded Rear Stronghold to investigate whether a Foundation Establishment Evil Cultivator was present, but a brute sensed his gaze.

• Mo Hua secretly dug through the wall and surveyed Black Mountain Stronghold, finding captives imprisoned in cages.
• He watched Evil Cultivators drain captives' blood and Lingli and realized the stronghold was a lair of hundreds of Evil Cultivators.
• Mo Hua decided to investigate the stronghold's strength and determine whether any Foundation Establishment Evil Cultivators were inside.
• After studying the arrays, Mo Hua slipped from the Front Stronghold into the more heavily guarded Rear Stronghold.
• Mo Hua hid on a beam while two cultivators spoke below, but the bloodshot-eyed brute sensed him and demanded to know who was there.

Mo Hua stayed hidden in Black Mountain Stronghold, learned the routines of two Foundation Establishment evil cultivators, and discovered that the stronghold had at least four leaders. He overheard that Third Leader studied a diagram, leaving Mo Hua wondering whether it was a Visualization Diagram.

• A Foundation Establishment Array Master and a bloodthirsty burly cultivator failed to discover Mo Hua, who remained concealed on a roof beam and later learned to avoid them.
• Mo Hua observed the two cultivators’ routines and decided to stay in Black Mountain Stronghold to map it and gather intelligence.
• Mo Hua overheard Scarface and Pale-Faced Man discuss the stronghold’s leaders and realized the burly cultivator was Fourth Leader, meaning the stronghold had at least four Foundation Establishment evil cultivators.
• Scarface said Third Leader spent time drawing Array Techniques or studying a diagram, and Mo Hua wondered if it was a Visualization Diagram.

Mo Hua gathered information about Black Mountain Stronghold’s leaders while mapping the stronghold and secretly observing its guards. He noticed the Pale-Faced Man’s Fireball Technique seemed unusually powerful and wondered what was behind it.

• Mo Hua overheard Scarface explain that Black Mountain Stronghold had four leaders, describing their strengths and noting that the Second Leader had left to kill people elsewhere.
• Mo Hua concluded that he mainly needed to avoid the Third and Fourth Leaders, while remaining uncertain how powerful the elusive First Leader was.
• Mo Hua began mapping the stronghold’s roads, buildings, prisons, and array formations, using the arrays to infer the purpose of sealed-off areas.
• Mo Hua secretly listened as Scarface and the Pale-Faced Man argued over their cultivation techniques and then fought.
• The Pale-Faced Man used Fireball Technique against Scarface, and Mo Hua noticed his fireballs were more powerful than expected.

Mo Hua discovered that the Pale-Faced Man drained a captive cultivator called a Spirit Slave to strengthen himself and carried a special Fireball Technique manual. While continuing his map work in Black Mountain Stronghold, Mo Hua overheard that the fat cultivator was delivering food to a young master, possibly the one from the Kong Family.

• Mo Hua followed the Pale-Faced Man and saw him drain a Spirit Slave’s Lingli before meditating to refine it.
• Mo Hua spotted the word “Fireball” on the manual the Pale-Faced Man studied, but could not take it.
• Mo Hua pitied the Spirit Slave and resolved to grow strong enough to defeat the fiends of Black Mountain Stronghold.
• Mo Hua kept working on the Topographical Map and ate wild fruit and pastries from the stronghold’s kitchen.
• Mo Hua overheard the cook tell the fat cultivator to deliver food to a young master and wondered if it was the young master from the Kong Family.

Mo Hua secretly watched Kong Sheng beg a Black Mountain Stronghold cultivator to carry a ransom message, then heard Kong Sheng blame others for his own downfall and vow revenge. After two days of mapping the stronghold, Mo Hua realized he had eaten pastries meant for the Third Leader and considered killing the fat cultivator who threatened whoever stole them.

• Mo Hua followed the fat cultivator to Kong Sheng’s room and listened as Kong Sheng offered Spirit Stones and a Jade Pendant in exchange for a message to his father.
• Kong Sheng urged his father to destroy Black Mountain Stronghold, while the fat cultivator pocketed the Jade Pendant and pretended to agree.
• Mo Hua secretly watched Kong Sheng rage against the Ji father and son, Fu Lan, and the Evil Cultivators, then decided Kong Sheng should remain in the stronghold.
• Two days later, Mo Hua ate pastries in the kitchen and learned they had been prepared for the Third Leader.
• The fat cultivator threatened to kill whoever stole the pastries, and Mo Hua considered killing him first.

Mo Hua secretly fed a chained tiger demon and weakened the Demon-Binding Chain’s array, letting the beast break free and attack the fat cultivator. After assessing the cultivator’s strength, Mo Hua prepared to trap him with the Water Prison Technique and feed him to the tiger.

• Mo Hua watched the fat cultivator and discovered he delivered small meals to a chained tiger demon.
• Mo Hua secretly fed the hungry tiger demon dried meat, and the clever beast hid how much strength it had regained.
• While the fat cultivator pondered the missing kitchen food, Mo Hua used a brush to undo the array patterns on the Demon-Binding Chain.
• The tiger demon broke free and attacked the fat cultivator, who dodged its strikes and threatened to torture it once it was recaptured.
• Mo Hua assessed the fat cultivator’s abilities and began preparing to use the Water Prison Technique to trap him for the tiger demon.

Mo Hua secretly helped the chained Tiger Monster kill the fat cultivator and recovered Kong Sheng’s Jade Pendant. He recognized the beast as the Cat Monster he had once fed, then hid as Evil Cultivators arrived and revealed that the Fourth Leader kept it for its blood.

• The fat cultivator realized someone had fed and freed the Tiger Monster, tried to flee, and was trapped by Mo Hua’s spells before the beast killed him.
• Mo Hua took Kong Sheng’s Jade Pendant from the fat cultivator’s Storage Bag and kept the other items untouched.
• Mo Hua recognized the Tiger Monster as the Cat Monster he had fed and released into Great Black Mountain, then gave it dried meat.
• Hearing Evil Cultivators approach, Mo Hua concealed himself while the Tiger Monster returned to its chains and feigned weakness.
• Two Evil Cultivators found the fat cultivator’s corpse, and the short one warned that the Fourth Leader kept the Tiger Monster for its blood.

Mo Hua learned that Scarface had deceived and abused a captive woman whose husband he had killed, then watched her take her own life. He resolved to kill Scarface before leaving Black Mountain Stronghold.

• Two Evil Cultivators noticed the Demon-Binding Chain's Array Technique looked dim, but dismissed their concerns and continued cleaning after seeing the Tiger Monster subdued.
• Mo Hua decided he had gathered enough intelligence to return, though he still regretted failing to steal the Pale-Faced Man's Fireball Technique manual.
• While eavesdropping, Mo Hua heard Scarface admit that he had threatened a captive woman with her husband's life, then killed the husband anyway.
• Mo Hua found the battered woman imprisoned alone and told her that Scarface had killed her husband.
• The woman took her own life, and Mo Hua resolved to kill Scarface before returning home.