Recaps

Zhang Lan recruited Mo Hua to help the Dao Court Office locate and capture Bald Ascetic, while Lu Hui pressured Ji Qingbai to join a search for Kong Sheng. After learning how Lu Hui had protected the Kong Family’s crimes, Mo Hua urged Zhang Lan to report him to the Dao Court’s Supervision Office.

• Zhang Lan told Mo Hua that the Dao Court Office would use Mo Hua’s Sinan Parent-Child Compound Array to locate Bald Ascetic, and Mo Hua agreed to help.
• Lu Hui arrived with Qingxuan City officials and accused Ji Qingbai of causing Kong Sheng’s disappearance, then threatened him into joining the mountain search.
• Ji Qingbai explained that Lu Hui had long covered up the Kong Family’s crimes, including the abuse and deaths of a girl and her father.
• Zhang Lan said the Dao Court’s Supervision Office could investigate local offices, and Mo Hua persuaded him to send a report about Lu Hui.
• Zhang Lan warned that Lu Hui was dangerous and said they still needed to locate Kong Sheng and capture the Sinful Cultivators; Mo Hua silently marked Lu Hui as a target.

Mo Hua and the Dao Court Office searched Great Black Mountain for Bald Ascetic and Kong Sheng, then discovered a hidden group of Sinful Cultivators in a valley. The group prepared to attack at dawn while Mo Hua secretly began sealing the only mountain pass with Earth Fire Arrays.

• Zhang Lan led the search party into Great Black Mountain, where the teams spent several days looking for Bald Ascetic without finding any Sinful Cultivators.
• Mo Hua recognized a group of supposed Immortal City Monster Hunters as suspicious, and Zhang Lan's team secretly followed them to a valley.
• Zhang Lan confirmed that Bald Ascetic and the One-Eye cultivator were inside the valley with more than twenty people, so the group planned a surprise attack at daybreak.
• Zhang Lan asked how they could seal the valley's only pass, and Mo Hua volunteered to do it.
• Mo Hua crept to the mountain pass and began drawing Earth Fire Arrays, shocking Lu Hui when he realized Mo Hua was an Array Master.

Zhang Lan’s group attacked the Sinful Cultivators’ valley at dawn, while Mo Hua’s Earth Fire Array trapped those trying to flee. During the fighting, Lu Hui tried to kill Ji Qingbai, and Bald Ascetic escaped after wearing down the array.

• Mo Hua showed Zhang Lan the gap he had left in the Earth Fire Array, and the group prepared to attack at dawn.
• Zhang Lan led the group into the valley, where they killed several Sinful Cultivators before being discovered and drawn into battle.
• Ji Qingbai, Mo Shan, and Lu Hui fought Bald Ascetic, but Lu Hui turned his sword on Ji Qingbai and Mo Shan blocked the strike.
• Zhang Lan confronted Lu Hui, while Mo Shan warned Ji Qingbai that Lu Hui intended to kill him.
• Bald Ascetic used injured Sinful Cultivators to trigger the Earth Fire Array until its Spirit Stones ran out and a gap opened.
• Bald Ascetic fled through the gap, and Mo Hua lowered his hand instead of stopping him with Water Prison Technique.

Mo Hua and Mo Shan pursued Bald Ascetic after he escaped the valley, and Mo Hua secretly used the Water Prison Technique to keep him from fleeing. Bald Ascetic remained trapped in a fight with Mo Shan, realizing his escape technique could no longer save him.

• Mo Hua stopped Mo Shan and Ji Qingbai from pursuing Bald Ascetic together, then chased after him with Mo Shan.
• Mo Hua found Bald Ascetic hiding in the woods and directed Mo Shan to his location.
• Mo Shan wounded Bald Ascetic, who used an Earth Tremor Talisman to force Mo Shan back and try to escape.
• Mo Hua bound Bald Ascetic with the Water Prison Technique whenever he tried to flee, allowing Mo Shan to keep attacking him.
• Bald Ascetic repeatedly failed to escape and grew increasingly afraid as Mo Hua's technique countered his Movement Technique.

Mo Hua, Mo Shan, and Zhang Lan trapped Bald Ascetic, then let him escape so Lu Hui would chase him alone. When Lu Hui finally cornered Bald Ascetic, Mo Hua immobilized Lu Hui at a critical moment, allowing Bald Ascetic to slash him.

• Bald Ascetic realized Mo Hua and Mo Shan were trapping him rather than trying to kill him, and Zhang Lan and Lu Hui arrived to surround him.
• Lu Hui questioned Bald Ascetic about Young Master Kong, and Bald Ascetic admitted that he killed the cultivators he robbed.
• Mo Shan deliberately left a gap in the encirclement, letting Bald Ascetic escape while Lu Hui pursued him; Mo Hua and the others followed from a distance.
• After more than half an hour, Lu Hui caught up with Bald Ascetic and fought him until Bald Ascetic was badly wounded.
• As Lu Hui stepped back to evade Bald Ascetic's final strike, Mo Hua bound him with Spirit Power Chain, and Bald Ascetic's blade cut into Lu Hui's chest.

Mo Hua’s scheme left Lu Hui wounded but alive, so he lured him down a mountain path with Monster-Scented Grass and trapped him with Water Prison Technique. As demon beasts attacked Lu Hui, Mo Hua’s plan to ensure he did not leave Great Black Mountain began to succeed.

• Lu Hui and Bald Ascetic wounded each other in a duel, but both survived, and Zhang Lan’s group rested while Lu Hui tended to his injuries.
• Zhang Lan and Mo Shan bound Bald Ascetic and escorted him with Lu Hui along a mountain path chosen by Mo Hua.
• Mo Hua handed Lu Hui Monster-Scented Grass, which Lu Hui mistakenly believed drove demon beasts away.
• Two demon beasts appeared, and Lu Hui realized the grass attracted them and fled while injured.
• Mo Hua trapped Lu Hui with Water Prison Technique, and a demon beast caught up and bit his shoulder.

Mo Hua, Mo Shan, and Zhang Lan delayed two monsters until Dao Court Office cultivators arrived, then Zhang Lan arranged Lu Hui’s death to appear as a death in the line of duty. The group returned to the valley, where Ji Qingbai learned Lu Hui was dead and thanked Mo Hua on behalf of Qingxuan City’s Rogue Cultivators.

• As Lu Hui was mauled by two monsters, Mo Hua sensed the Dao Court Office cultivators approaching, and Zhang Lan and Mo Shan attacked the beasts to recover Lu Hui’s body.
• Mo Hua used fireworks, Flowing Water Step, and spells to hold off a monster while Zhang Lan and Mo Shan stalled the other until reinforcements arrived and drove both monsters away.
• Zhang Lan shook Lu Hui until he died, then told the Qingxuan City inspectors that Lu Hui had fought bravely and died in the line of duty.
• Zhang Lan ordered Lu Hui’s remains taken to Immortal City for inspection before being sent to Qingxuan City, while Mo Hua and the others returned to the valley.
• Mo Hua, Mo Shan, and Zhang Lan assured Ji Qingbai that they had left no evidence of their involvement, and Ji Qingbai thanked Mo Hua for freeing Qingxuan City’s Rogue Cultivators from Lu Hui.

Chief Administrator Zhou examined Lu Hui’s corpse and accepted Zhang Lan’s account that Bald Ascetic had wounded Lu Hui before demon beasts killed him. In the valley, Mo Hua found a hidden chamber behind an array-protected stone wall and began to dissect its Array Technique to uncover the rest of the stolen goods.

• An Executive Inspector reported Lu Hui’s death to Chief Administrator Zhou, who inspected the corpse and found wounds from Bald Ascetic and demon beasts.
• Chief Administrator Zhou suspected Zhang Lan, Mo Shan, Ji Qingbai, and possibly Mo Hua had arranged Lu Hui’s death, then praised the killing.
• Zhang Lan and the Dao Court Office cultivators searched the Sinful Cultivators’ caves and collected their stolen goods, but found less than expected.
• Mo Hua noticed a hollow stone wall that Zhang Lan’s divine sense had failed to detect.
• Mo Hua identified an Array Technique behind the wall and said he would dissect it rather than risk forcing it open.

Mo Hua dismantled the array protecting a hidden cave, where he and Zhang Lan found stolen goods and evidence of the Sinful Cultivators’ crimes. The cave held no recently stolen Pills from Kong Sheng’s caravan, leaving the group unsure what happened to the caravan or whether Kong Sheng was alive.

• Mo Hua used external array dissection to dismantle the Array Technique on the stone wall.
• Mo Shan punched through the unprotected wall, revealing a cave filled with Spirit Stones, Spirit Artifacts, Pills, and other goods.
• Zhang Lan said they should register the goods to identify their owners and give the families of missing cultivators answers, and Mo Hua declined to take anything.
• Mo Hua noticed that the cave seemed to contain nothing from Kong Sheng’s merchant caravan, which had dealt in Pills.
• Zhang Lan found that the Pills in the cave were old, while Mo Shan noted there had been little blood in the valley, casting doubt on whether the Sinful Cultivators had attacked the caravan.
• Mo Hua, Zhang Lan, and Mo Shan wondered where the caravan had gone and whether Kong Sheng was alive.

Mo Hua found a hidden compartment in Bald Ascetic’s cave containing wind-element manuals and an unfamiliar topographical map. He joined Zhang Lan’s interrogation of Bald Ascetic and revealed that he knew the Water Prison Technique, leaving Bald Ascetic shocked to recognize him.

• Mo Hua discovered a hidden compartment, and Mo Shan broke through the wall to reveal two Dao Method booklets and a topographical map.
• Mo Hua, Mo Shan, and Zhang Lan compared the map with Mo Hua’s maps but could not identify the location, so Mo Hua copied it for later investigation.
• Mo Hua persuaded Zhang Lan to let him observe Bald Ascetic’s interrogation at the Dao Court Office.
• Bald Ascetic stayed silent through Zhang Lan’s questions and torture.
• Mo Hua approached Bald Ascetic, asked about the Water Prison Technique, and formed Spirit Power Chains around him; Bald Ascetic recognized Mo Hua.

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.