Chapter Summaries

Mo Hua investigated Ye Jin’s death and learned that her self-immolation may have been an attempt to become a Fierce Ghost. After Hua Qianqian described nightmares among Ye Jin’s former companions, Mo Hua struggled to find a way to investigate Hundred Flowers Valley and reluctantly reconsidered disguising himself in its robes.

• Mo Hua asked Hua Qianqian to retrieve Ye Jin’s recent Library Pavilion loans, then found a passage in Hundred Taboos of Cultivation about resentful deaths producing vicious ghosts.
• Mo Hua questioned Sword Bone, who explained that a cultivator who died in extreme pain and resentment could become a powerful Fierce Ghost.
• Mo Hua suspected Ye Jin had burned herself alive to become a Fierce Ghost and feared she might already be possessing someone in Hundred Flowers Valley.
• Hua Qianqian told Mo Hua that Ye Jin’s close companions had nightmares in which Ye Jin appeared in flames and complained that things were dirty and she could not go on living.
• Hua Qianqian offered to sneak Mo Hua into Hundred Flowers Valley if he wore its daoist robes, but he refused and asked her to gather the sisters who had nightmares.
• After realizing he could not confront the ghosts or investigate their source from outside the valley, Mo Hua messaged Hua Qianqian to ask whether he could really enter in disguise.

Mo Hua agreed to disguise himself as a Hundred Flowers Valley disciple and investigate Ye Jin’s suspicious death, which Hua Qianqian feared might have involved her turning herself into a Fierce Ghost. With Murong Caiyun’s support, Mo Hua and Hua Qianqian sneaked into the valley, where a mysterious woman noticed them.

• Hua Qianqian eagerly prepared Hundred Flowers Valley robes for Mo Hua, then dragged him into her Cave Abode when he tried to leave; Murong Caiyun arrived and misunderstood their tussle.
• Mo Hua told Hua Qianqian and Murong Caiyun that Ye Jin may have died deliberately to become a Fierce Ghost, and Murong Caiyun agreed to take responsibility if their investigation was exposed.
• Hua Qianqian disguised Mo Hua as her junior martial sister and talked their way past the mountain gate, then led him toward Ye Jin’s Disciple Quarters.
• A mysterious woman in a Hundred Flowers Daoist Robe watched the Heavenly Mystery Disk and spotted Mo Hua walking through the valley with Hua Qianqian.

Mo Hua entered Hundred Flowers Valley with Hua Qianqian to investigate the room where Ye Jin had died, only to discover and destroy the vengeful ghost haunting it. After making a karmic promise to kill Ye Jin’s enemies, he tried to hide his presence, but a cultivator arrived and Mo Hua recognized her from a marriage portrait shown by Elder Gu Hong.

• A mysterious woman sensed Mo Hua in Hundred Flowers Valley but lowered her hand instead of exposing him, unsettled by a familiar trace in his aura.
• Mo Hua and Hua Qianqian reached Ye Jin’s sealed, scorched residence, where Mo Hua quickly dismantled the Second-Grade Array on its door.
• A Fierce Ghost possessed Hua Qianqian and attacked Mo Hua, who subdued her, sealed her Sea of Consciousness, and lured the ghost into his own.
• Inside his Sea of Consciousness, Mo Hua trapped the ghost as it began transforming into a Fierce Ghost, then destroyed it after promising to kill the people Ye Jin wanted avenged.
• Mo Hua found Hua Qianqian unconscious and placed magnolias by Ye Jin’s ashes, but a Shadow-Revealing Array prevented him from concealing himself when a cultivator approached.
• Mo Hua recognized the heavily made-up woman at the doorway as the potential marriage match whose portrait Elder Gu Hong had shown Uncle Gu.

Mo Hua helped Hua Qianqian leave Ye Jin’s room safely after dispersing much of the ghostly resentment, while the mysterious woman overseeing Hundred Flowers Valley noticed the valley’s decline had slowed. Back at Void Gate, Mo Hua suspected Instructor Hua Ruyu was connected to Ye Jin’s death and persuaded Gu Changhuai to investigate her by going on a blind date.

• Mo Hua disguised himself as a Hundred Flowers Valley disciple and convinced Hua Ruyu that Hua Qianqian had fainted from grief while paying respects to Ye Jin.
• Hua Qianqian awoke, played along with Mo Hua’s explanation, and left with him after Hua Ruyu warned her not to return to Ye Jin’s death site.
• The woman watching from the lofty pavilion saw that the Hundred Flowers Withering configuration had slowed and the dark filth on the flowers was fading as Mo Hua left the valley.
• Mo Hua returned to Qianxiang Residence, told Hua Qianqian and Murong Caiyun that Ye Jin’s room had been cleared of most resentment, and advised Hua Qianqian to recover and watch for spiritual disturbances.
• After returning to Void Gate, Mo Hua concluded that Ye Jin’s death likely involved Hua Ruyu and messaged Gu Changhuai to investigate her through a blind date.
• Gu Changhuai reluctantly agreed to meet Hua Ruyu, and Mo Hua sent him a list of suspicious details before waiting for news.

Mo Hua learned that Gu Changhuai’s matchmaking date with Instructor Hua had failed, but persuaded him to meet her again to investigate Ye Jin’s death. Meanwhile, Elder Gu Hong’s attempts to tie a red thread for Mo Hua repeatedly failed, and the chapter left his future marriage fate shrouded in mystery as he returned to Monster Refining Mountain with his fellow disciples.

• Mo Hua questioned Gu Changhuai and Elder Gu Hong about his failed matchmaking date, learning that he had interrogated Instructor Hua and that Elder Gu Hong found her manner suspicious.
• Elder Gu Hong began searching the Gu Family genealogy for a match for Mo Hua, but ordinary red threads snapped and a Gold Jade Fate thread burned away when it reacted to a direct-line Gu Family girl.
• Mo Hua persuaded Gu Changhuai to ask Instructor Hua out again and look for clues connected to Ye Jin’s death.
• Void Gate moved its monster-hunting course forward after discovering that Mo Hua’s cohort already had extensive experience hunting in Monster Refining Mountain.
• Mo Hua reunited with Ouyang Mu and Linghu Xiao, shared Sword Casting insights with Ouyang Mu, and began calling Linghu Xiao “Xiaoxiao.”

Mo Hua investigated signs of a mole in Chongxu Gate and learned that Ouyang Mu had received cultivation pills from Senior Brother Ma. After Song Jian secretly admitted that his family had treated him as expendable, Mo Hua persuaded him to become a covert ally, leaving their public rivalry intact.

• Linghu Xiao told Mo Hua that Elder Shangguan suspected disciples and elders within Chongxu Gate of leaking information, while Ouyang Mu recalled receiving pills from Senior Brother Ma that his brother had taken to investigate.
• Mo Hua encountered Song Jian and his Duanjin Gate attendants, and Song Jian challenged him to a private duel over the destroyed sword embryo.
• In the forest, Song Jian admitted he could not beat Mo Hua, thanked him for saving his life, and revealed his fear that his family had been willing to abandon him.
• Mo Hua convinced Song Jian to cooperate secretly by exchanging information and helping each other, without betraying their sects or families.
• Mo Hua and Song Jian staged a fierce fight for the disciples waiting outside, then parted while keeping their agreement secret.
• Mo Hua reflected that Song Jian was now a mole he had planted within Duanjin Gate and wondered if he might someday become its sect master.

Mo Hua and Gu Changhuai investigated Hua Ruyu’s suspicious rouge-buying trips, which led them to Yanshui City and the possibility that she was recruiting young women for Hundred Flowers Valley. Following her carriage route yielded no clues until Mo Hua used Derivation Calculation and realized the road itself was wrong, so the group turned back.

• Mo Hua learned that Hua Ruyu regularly visited Hundred Fragrances Pavilion before traveling through several cities, including Yanshui City, and persuaded Gu Changhuai to take him there during the ten-day break.
• Mo Hua, Gu Changhuai, Gu An, and Gu Quan traveled to Yanshui City and gathered information about Hua Ruyu’s visits to the Water Fragrance Pavilion.
• Two female Executive Inspectors learned that Hua Ruyu approached beautiful young women at the shop and sometimes recommended them for admission to Hundred Flowers Valley.
• Gu Quan reported that a Hundred Flowers Valley carriage stopped at the shop before leaving town and traveling upstream along the Yanshui River.
• The group followed the route toward Yunshui City but found no suspicious traces, so Mo Hua used Derivation Calculation and concluded that something was wrong with the road they had taken.
• Mo Hua told Gu Changhuai that they should turn back because a small segment of Karma’s thread had been severed.

Mo Hua and Gu Changhuai uncovered a hidden relay station used by bandit cultivators, captured its occupants, and questioned them with Mo Hua’s torture boards. Their revelations pointed to a mysterious leader called Water Yama and a concealed Flower Boat, leaving Mo Hua convinced he had found Water Yama’s weak spot.

• Mo Hua led Gu Changhuai, Gu An, and Gu Quan to a remote relay station where bandits attacked them with poisoned hidden weapons.
• Gu Changhuai and the others subdued the bandits, while Mo Hua stopped their leader from escaping with a Water Prison Technique.
• Mo Hua brought out his Array Torture Boards and persuaded the captives to answer questions by promising to spare anyone who spoke.
• The bandits revealed that their leader had ordered them to operate the station and promised them Spirit Stones and a night aboard a Flower Boat.
• Mo Hua deduced that the bandits’ true leader was Water Yama, and the scar-faced cultivator confirmed it.

Mo Hua and Gu Changhuai uncovered a hidden mechanism inside Hua Ruyu’s carriage and used it to follow its compass array to an unknown destination. The carriage stopped beside a boat, where a man outside sensed something was wrong and released a murderous aura that suggested he might be Water Yama.

• Gu Changhuai questioned a Bandit Cultivator and learned that Water Yama ordered the gang to hide whenever Hua Ruyu’s flower carriage arrived.
• Mo Hua dismantled the carriage’s eighteen-pattern door lock array and opened it, finding traces of several women but no passengers.
• Mo Hua discovered a mechanism-driven compound array with a Primal Magnetism Compass Array beneath the carriage floorboards.
• Mo Hua modified the array and powered the carriage, then Gu Changhuai and the others rode it toward its destination.
• The carriage stopped near a boat, and a man outside questioned why people had arrived before the fifteenth.
• The man sensed that the carriage’s occupants were silent, released a murderous aura, and made Mo Hua suspect he was Water Yama.

Mo Hua and Gu Changhuai confronted Water Yama at a remote ferry, where a failed ambush turned into a fierce battle. Water Yama suddenly incapacitated Gu Changhuai, Gu An, and Gu Quan, leaving Mo Hua to evade his deadly attacks alone.

• Mo Hua and Gu Changhuai masked their identities before Water Yama attacked and destroyed their carriage near a ferry.
• Mo Hua tried to distract Water Yama while secretly setting an Earth Prison Array, but Water Yama detected it and partly escaped.
• Gu An and Gu Quan attacked Water Yama, who wounded both with his poisonous Water Punishment Whip, while Gu Changhuai fought him to a standstill.
• Water Yama abruptly fled toward the river and used an unknown ability that left Gu An, Gu Quan, and Gu Changhuai dazed.
• Mo Hua dodged Water Yama's ambush with Flowing Water Step, and Water Yama pursued him with an elusive movement technique.

Mo Hua and Gu Changhuai fought Water Yama, who escaped into the Yanshui River after Mo Hua resisted his baleful pupil technique. Back at Void Gate, Mo Hua discovered that the Water Prison Sect had been destroyed centuries earlier and began suspecting a connection between its history and Water Yama’s techniques.

• Water Yama attacked Mo Hua with his Water Punishment Whip and Baleful-Dissolving Pupil Technique, but Mo Hua avoided the whip and resisted the Killing Intent entering his Sea of Consciousness.
• Gu Changhuai arrived and struck Water Yama, who escaped Mo Hua’s Water Prison Technique and recognized it as the Water Prison Sect’s orthodox spell before fleeing into the Yanshui River.
• Gu Changhuai and Mo Hua returned to Qingzhou City with Gu An, Gu Quan, and the captured bandit cultivators, and Gu Changhuai agreed to keep investigating Water Yama and the Hundred Flowers Valley instructor.
• After returning to Void Gate, Mo Hua read the Merit Record and learned that the Water Prison Sect had been destroyed after falling to demonic corruption, while its Water Prison Technique was recorded much later.
• Mo Hua suspected that Water Yama’s abilities were connected to the Water Prison Sect and grew eager to learn Water Yama’s movement and pupil techniques.

Mo Hua learned that the Water Prison Technique came from a sect destroyed by the Dao Court, then traced its surviving inheritance to the Yu Family Water Stronghold, which Water Yama had exterminated. He visited Small Fishing Village to investigate Old Yu’s family and, as the chapter ended, noticed that Xiao Shun and Xiao Shui had unusually advanced cultivation and strange auras.

• Mo Hua asked Elder Yi about the Water Prison Sect, and Elder Yi explained that the Dao Court had imprisoned its surviving disciples and sealed its core inheritances after discovering their cultivation method corrupted them.
• Elder Yi relayed that True Person Yi had received an authentic Water Prison Technique inheritance from a cultivator he rescued near the Yanshui River, close to a water stronghold.
• Mo Hua suspected the stronghold was the Yu Family Water Stronghold that Water Yama had destroyed and wondered whether Old Yu’s family was connected to it.
• Mo Hua checked with Gu Changhuai about danger near Small Fishing Village, then traveled there during his break and found the village unharmed.
• Mo Hua asked Old Yu about the Yu Family Water Stronghold, and Old Yu revealed that his family had once been related to it but that his grandfather had been cast out.
• Mo Hua noticed that Xiao Shun and Xiao Shui had advanced unusually quickly and sensed something strange in their auras.

Mo Hua discovered that Xiao Shun and Xiao Shui had secretly been learning an unnamed cultivation art and spell from an injured stranger in a mountain cave. After the stranger detected his stealth, Mo Hua surrounded the cave with Kill Arrays and prepared to question him.

• Mo Hua visited Old Yu and asked whether Xiao Shun and Xiao Shui had suffered any unusual effects since they had been taken away, but Old Yu reported no problems.
• After leaving the village, Mo Hua secretly followed Old Yu's family and saw Xiao Shun and Xiao Shui catch Seedling Fish to grill for him.
• Mo Hua watched Xiao Shun and Xiao Shui leave home at midnight and follow a riverbank to a cave on a barren mountain.
• Xiao Shun and Xiao Shui met an aged stranger who taught them an unnamed spell and warned them to keep his teachings secret.
• The stranger sensed Mo Hua outside the cave and called for him to reveal himself, so Mo Hua laid Kill Arrays around the entrance before agreeing to talk.

Mo Hua confronted the wounded Yu Canghai, uncovered his connection to the Water Prison Sect, and learned that Guishui Gate had allegedly hunted the sect’s descendants and destroyed Yu Family Water Stronghold. The chapter ended with Yu Canghai accusing the Dao Court Office of enabling the persecution and massacre.

• Mo Hua forced the cave’s occupant, who claimed to be Zhao Hai, to emerge into his surrounding kill arrays.
• When Mo Hua identified him as a Water Prison Sect member, Yu Canghai attacked, but Mo Hua dodged and restrained him with Water Prison Technique.
• Mo Hua offered to help Yu Canghai, who revealed his real name and accused Guishui Gate of hiring Evil Cultivators to hunt Water Prison Sect descendants.
• Yu Canghai explained that he had returned to Gan Province seeking surviving Yu family descendants and found Yu Family Water Stronghold, whose people were later exterminated.
• Mo Hua asked whether Guishui Gate had destroyed the stronghold, and Yu Canghai suggested that the Dao Court Office had helped expose and track the survivors.

Mo Hua learned from Yu Canghai that Guishui Gate and the Dao Court Office were tied to the Yu Family’s destruction, then found Yu Canghai under attack and helped kill all eight assailants. He discovered that one dead attacker carried an Executive Inspector Token marked with the Xiao Family’s character and urgently warned Gu Changhuai, who was shocked.

• Yu Canghai told Mo Hua that Guishui Gate had colluded with the Dao Court Office to destroy the Yu Family and asked him to protect the Water Prison Sect’s inheritance and keep his whereabouts secret.
• Mo Hua confirmed that Xiao Shun and Xiao Shui were safe, told Gu Changhuai about Yu Canghai and the Yu Family, and arranged to meet him in Small Fishing Village.
• When Mo Hua returned to Yu Canghai’s cave, he found it empty and tracked signs of pursuers into the mountains, where seven or eight masked cultivators were attacking Yu Canghai.
• Mo Hua lured four pursuers into the cave and detonated its Kill Arrays, then joined Yu Canghai to kill the remaining attackers.
• Mo Hua searched the dead cultivators and found an Executive Inspector Token marked with the character “Xiao,” indicating that one attacker belonged to the Xiao Family of the Dao Court Office.
• Mo Hua messaged Gu Changhuai that he might have killed an executive inspector from the Xiao Family, and Gu Changhuai reacted with alarm.

Mo Hua helped Yu Canghai survive an ambush, and Gu Changhuai concealed the dead Xiao Family Inspector’s identity while sheltering the Water Prison Sect elder. After hearing Yu Canghai’s account, Mo Hua gained a sudden insight into the Heavenly Dao and learned why his Water Prison Technique could not restrain superior Water Prison Sect inheritances.

• Gu Changhuai left the Dao Court Office despite Inspector Xiao’s warning and hurried to meet Mo Hua at Wild Mountain.
• Mo Hua explained that he had helped Yu Canghai fight masked assassins, and Gu Changhuai found an Executive Inspector Token bearing the Xiao character among the dead.
• Gu Changhuai declared the dead men to be murderous bandits, then arranged for the corpses to be removed and brought Yu Canghai to the Gu Family residence.
• Yu Canghai described Water Yama’s attack on the Yu Family Water Stronghold and explained why his cultivation restrictions had made the Second-Grade State Boundary safer than the Third-Grade State Boundary.
• Mo Hua reflected on how the Heavenly Dao’s restraints limited calamities and experienced an insight into the Dao he sought.
• Yu Canghai explained that the Water Prison Sect’s inheritances had ranks, and ordinary Water Prison Technique could not restrain superior methods.

Mo Hua learned from Yu Canghai about Water Prison Sect’s graded spell inheritance and the lost Sword Intent tradition of Void Gate. After quickly improving his Water Prison Technique, he returned to Void Gate wondering what power its ancient sect might have held before the Three Sects split.

• Yu Canghai explained that Void Gate once guarded an ancient Sword Intent inheritance, while Water Prison Sect divided its spells into grades that restrained lower-ranked practitioners.
• Yu Canghai described how Water Prison Technique grew stronger with additional Spirit Locks and revealed the superior Water Prison Art, which could overcome Golden Body defenses.
• Mo Hua quickly practiced the technique and increased its Spirit Locks from three to six, stunning Yu Canghai.
• Yu Canghai hinted that Water Prison Sect also possessed forbidden arts but said he did not have the Water Prison Art inheritance.
• Mo Hua returned to Void Gate and wondered what sword inheritance might emerge if Ta'e Gate, Chongxu Gate, and Void Gate were reunited.

Mo Hua learned that Void Gate’s fate might depend on the strength of his Divine Consciousness, then investigated the Xiao Family’s links to the Yanshui River crimes. When Hao Xuan was enticed by a Guishui Gate acquaintance to visit a mysterious pleasure spot, Mo Hua agreed to go with him and two fellow disciples, but their host objected because Mo Hua looked too young.

• Elder Xun refused to name Void Gate’s ancient predecessor but warned Mo Hua that Ganxue Prefecture’s turmoil could determine the sect’s survival, making stronger Divine Consciousness a form of protection.
• Gu Changhuai told Mo Hua that Xiao Tianquan had handled both Ye Xiu’s registration and the case against River-Crossing Dragon, while the Xiao Family had longstanding ties to Guishui Gate and had helped bury suspicious cases.
• Mo Hua concluded that the Xiao Family, Guishui Gate, Water Yama, and Hundred Flowers Valley formed a network around the Rouge Boat, but he could not yet find a safe way to act against them.
• Hao Xuan reported that his childhood friend Wang Chen from Guishui Gate had invited him to a mysterious place of earthly pleasures, so Mo Hua told him to accept and invite Cheng Mo and Situ Jian as well.
• Mo Hua, Cheng Mo, Situ Jian, and Hao Xuan traveled to Guishui City and met Wang Chen, who objected to bringing Mo Hua because he looked too young for the place.

Mo Hua and his companions investigated Guishui Gate, then followed a carriage from Hundred Flowers Valley and abducted Wang Chen to question him. Wang Chen revealed that the Dao Court had sent investigators from above, leaving Mo Hua to wonder what was happening inside Guishui Gate.

• Wang Chen refused Mo Hua entry to Linshui Restaurant, so Hao Xuan and the others went inside while Mo Hua explored Guishui City.
• Hao Xuan and the others left the restaurant after Guishui Gate canceled their plans, and they told Mo Hua that a senior brother had intervened.
• Mo Hua spotted a Hundred Flowers Valley carriage leaving Guishui City, followed it to Hundred Flowers Valley, and saw several women enter the sect without Hua Ruyu.
• Mo Hua decided to investigate Wang Chen, and Hao Xuan knocked him unconscious, bound him, and helped question him that night.
• Wang Chen said Guishui Gate had closed the venue because investigators had arrived from above, then identified them as people from the Dao Court.

Mo Hua learned that the Central Dao Court had entered Ganxue Prefecture to investigate Guishui Gate after the Valley of Ten Thousand Demons incident, and decided to use its intervention to help capture Water Yama. The chapter ended with Mo Hua urging Gu Changhuai to build a connection with Inspector Xia.

• Mo Hua questioned Wang Chen about the pleasure boat and persuaded him to consider helping, with Hao Xuan vouching for him.
• Mo Hua visited the Dao Court Office and met Inspector Xia, then left with Gu Changhuai after joking that the Gu Family was arranging a matchmaking date for him.
• Gu Changhuai explained that Inspector Xia belonged to the powerful Xia Family and that the Valley of Ten Thousand Demons had given the Dao Court an opening to intervene in Ganxue Prefecture.
• Mo Hua revealed that he knew the Valley of Ten Thousand Demons and learned that the Central Dao Court's intervention might extend beyond temporary oversight.
• Mo Hua decided to use the Dao Court's investigation of Guishui Gate to help capture Water Yama and sent Gu Changhuai a message urging him to contact Inspector Xia.