Chapter Summaries

Mo Hua assembled an underground team to search for a tomb after Shopkeeper Zhao found a lead from Zhou Jin. At an abandoned village, Mo Hua uncovered a sign identifying it as Little Zhou Village and confronted Zhou Jin about his connection to the place, prompting Zhou Jin to turn hostile.

• Mo Hua asked Shopkeeper Zhao to organize an underground expedition, recruiting Iron Mountain Tiger and his two companions, then choosing Zhou Jin, who had supplied a tomb lead.
• After preparing, Mo Hua said farewell to Bai Zixi and met the team at Shopkeeper Zhao's residence, where he was introduced as the expedition's Grave Leader.
• The group traveled south from Houtu City to an abandoned village, where Zhou Jin said a wealthy family's tomb was hidden nearby but that he had failed to find it.
• Mo Hua located a buried signpost and used Spirit Ink and Divine Thought to restore its writing, which identified the place as Little Zhou Village.
• Mo Hua asked Zhou Jin whether he came from the village, and Zhou Jin's expression changed as Iron Mountain Tiger and the others drew their weapons to protect Mo Hua.

Mo Hua learned that Zhou Jin had returned to Little Zhou Village to find the tomb of Zhou the Wealthy, whose Feng Shui Formation had caused the deaths of Zhou Jin’s family and the villagers. After the tomb hunters found and unearthed a suspicious iron coffin, Mo Hua opened it and absorbed the violent yin energy within.

• Mo Hua stopped Zhou Jin and Iron Mountain Tiger’s group from fighting, then pressed Zhou Jin to explain his connection to Little Zhou Village.
• Zhou Jin revealed that an Earth Master had told him Zhou the Wealthy used a Feng Shui Formation to siphon the village’s health, fortune, and lifespan, killing Zhou Jin’s family and many others.
• Mo Hua agreed to help Zhou Jin find Zhou the Wealthy’s tomb, and Iron Mountain Tiger, Thin Cicada, and Mountain-Piercing Rat located five possible burial sites using their specialized methods.
• The group dug up a deeply buried Refined Iron coffin, but Zhou Jin and Iron Mountain Tiger could not tell whether it belonged to Zhou the Wealthy.
• Mo Hua warned the others that the coffin was dangerous, opened it with a light tap, and stood unharmed as its violent yin energy surged toward him and dissipated.

Mo Hua used an Earth-Seeking Point-Acupoint Array to trace the earth qi and locate Zhou the Wealthy’s hidden tomb after discovering that five nearby coffins held rats used in a Feng Shui formation. The group uncovered the burial passage at a concealed mountain hollow, where pale yellow qi suggested Zhou the Wealthy’s treasure-gathering site.

• Mo Hua and the others opened the first coffin and found it packed with dead rats; Zhou Jin identified the remains as part of a Five-Granary Treasure Gathering Formation that used rat resentment to steal people’s fortune and spread calamities.
• Mo Hua had Iron Mountain Tiger and the others open the remaining four coffins, which also contained dead rats, confirming that Zhou the Wealthy was buried elsewhere.
• After the group scattered to search, Mo Hua tried a Ghost Summoning writ without success, then used a Third-Grade Earth-Seeking Point-Acupoint Array to read the local earth qi and feng shui.
• Mo Hua led the others to a concealed hollow in the Wild Mountains and ordered them to dig, explaining that Zhou the Wealthy’s grave would lie where earth qi gathered.
• Iron Mountain Tiger, Mountain-Piercing Rat, and Zhou Jin dug up a burial passage; inside, pale yellow qi floated instead of Corpse Qi, making the site appear to gather treasure.

Mo Hua led the tomb robbers into Zhou the Wealthy's tomb and helped them break through the Third-Grade Defense Array. After they fought the mutated rat-like corpse, Mo Hua killed it with a single finger, leaving Zhou Jin awestruck by his power.

• Mountain-Piercing Rat spoke carelessly about dying before entering the tomb, but Mo Hua reassured the group and led them onward.
• Mo Hua broke the array on the tomb door, and Zhou Jin followed the others into the Main Tomb Chamber.
• Mo Hua warned that the corpse had changed, then opened Zhou the Wealthy's coffin and revealed a half-golden, half-rotted rat-like corpse.
• Iron Mountain Tiger, Thin Cicada, Mountain-Piercing Rat, and Zhou Jin fought Zhou the Wealthy, who used Thought Power to target Mountain-Piercing Rat and nearly overwhelmed Zhou Jin.
• Mo Hua blasted Zhou Jin out of danger, then killed Zhou the Wealthy with a single pointed finger, astonishing Zhou Jin.

Mo Hua and the tomb raiders defeated Zhou the Wealthy’s corpse demon, recovered his hidden golden rat, and returned to Houtu City. Three days later, Zhou Jin secretly performed a ritual that created an evil ghost from Zhou the Wealthy’s corpse and sent it to seek his descendants.

• Mo Hua killed Zhou the Wealthy’s true body, and the group recovered their senses and searched the tomb for its valuables.
• Mo Hua found a tiny golden rat hidden in Zhou the Wealthy’s coffin and kept it after promising the others a larger share of the proceeds.
• Zhou Jin stabbed Zhou the Wealthy’s corpse eighteen times to avenge his family, then left the village with Mo Hua and the others.
• Mo Hua sealed the tomb and burned the five harmful rat coffins before the group returned to Houtu City and celebrated with Shopkeeper Zhao.
• Three days later, Zhou Jin returned to the tomb and performed a blood ritual that revived Zhou the Wealthy’s remnant soul as an evil ghost.
• Zhou Jin sent the ghost out wearing Dead Man’s Straw Sandals and following blood threads to find Zhou the Wealthy’s descendants.

Zhou Jin sent Zhou the Wealthy’s ghost into Houtu City, where it discovered that its descendants had changed their surname to Wu and abandoned their Zhou lineage. Enraged, the ghost became a Fierce Ghost and began killing them, while Zhou Jin suffered the backlash and neared death.

• Zhou Jin used blood and White Bones to help Zhou the Wealthy’s ghost cross Houtu City’s City God Realm.
• Zhou the Wealthy followed the blood thread to Wu Mansion and recognized his eldest son, who had become Elder Wu and claimed his father had left him nothing.
• Hearing Elder Wu deny his origins and embrace the Wu family, Zhou the Wealthy lost his last trace of Humanity and became a Fierce Ghost.
• Zhou the Wealthy killed Elder Wu by devouring his consciousness, then killed his second son and attacked his third son at Wu Mansion.
• Zhou Jin coughed up blood with each death and began turning into a Fierce Ghost as the backlash overtook him.

Zhou Jin’s Ghost Control ritual was disrupted, and a mysterious golden Sword Intent killed Zhou the Wealthy before it could devour him. Five days later, Mo Hua learned that the person he knew as Zhou Jin was actually Lin Youfang, whose wife had been the real Zhou Jin.

• Zhou the Wealthy prepared to devour its infant grandson, Wu Youwei, but an Array Technique disrupted Zhou Jin’s ritual and severed his control.
• The Fierce Ghost returned to Zhou Jin and attacked him, but golden Sword Intent appeared and destroyed Zhou the Wealthy.
• Five days later, Lin Youfang visited Mo Hua and revealed that she had assumed Zhou Jin’s identity.
• Lin Youfang explained that the real Zhou Jin was her wife and that she had uncovered Zhou the Wealthy’s wrongdoing through feng shui.

Mo Hua learned from Lin Youfang about the suffering of Spirit Farmers in the Great Spirit Field Realm and how that hardship fostered Left Path practices and belief in ghosts and gods. Lin Youfang left to tend his injuries, while Mo Hua grew concerned about Kun Province and quietly questioned Shopkeeper Zhao about a golden mouse.

• Lin Youfang explained that Zhou the Wealthy's Feng Shui formation had stolen Jin'er's fortune and caused her death, prompting Lin Youfang to avenge her and her family.
• Mo Hua gave Lin Youfang a high-grade pill and asked about his Ghost Refining Technique and the practices of Earth Masters and other Left Path cultivators.
• Lin Youfang explained that Left Path disciplines taught ways to use divine sense rather than cultivate it, and that hardship and dense populations made the Great Spirit Field Realm fertile ground for Thought Power, ghosts, and gods.
• Mo Hua urged Lin Youfang to stay alive, offered help if trouble arose, and told him to call him Big Brother before Lin Youfang departed.
• Mo Hua showed Shopkeeper Zhao a golden mouse from a tomb; Zhao claimed he had never seen one and avoided meeting Mo Hua's eyes.

Mo Hua collected his share of the tomb valuables and used Spirit Stones to feed his Twelve-Meridian Taotie Array, then began investigating the Golden Rat and weighing a journey to the Great Spirit Field Realm. At Fortune Pavilion, the chief shopkeeper discovered that one of his Golden Rats had died and its Karma could not be traced, suggesting that someone had broken his Feng Shui Formation.

• Shopkeeper Zhao told Mo Hua that the tomb valuables had sold, and Mo Hua collected five storage pouches containing his share of the Spirit Stones.
• Mo Hua brought treats to Bai Zixi and Xiao Ju, then cultivated with his Spirit Stones to feed the Taotie Array and advanced the third meridian more than halfway.
• Mo Hua realized the Twelve-Meridian Taotie Array might also be a Yin-Yang Array and considered the dangers and difficulties of visiting the Great Spirit Field Realm.
• Mo Hua examined the small Golden Rat in his hand and wondered where it had come from.
• Shopkeeper Zhao reported to Fortune Pavilion's chief shopkeeper, who rewarded him with extra commission while concealing a geomancy disk covered with Golden Rats.
• The chief shopkeeper found a dead Golden Rat, discovered its Karma could not be calculated, and suspected an expert had broken his Feng Shui Formation and erased a Fierce Ghost.

Mo Hua organized two steady but modestly profitable tomb raids as he worked toward filling his third Spirit Skeleton, then visited the Dao Technique Arena to earn the remaining Spirit Stones. There, he heard that a Wu Family in-law household had been slaughtered and its property might be claimed by the clan, leaving him to reflect on where the family’s accumulated wealth ultimately went.

• Mo Hua built a reliable tomb-raiding team around Iron Mountain Tiger, Thin Cicada, and Mountain-Piercing Rat, while Lin Youfang recovered from the backlash of refining Fierce Ghosts.
• Mo Hua led two more tomb raids, where his Earth Array knowledge helped the team avoid danger and earn about five hundred thousand Spirit Stones each despite modest profits.
• Mo Hua visited the Dao Technique Arena to win the remaining Spirit Stones he needed, but Wu Gui, Jin An, and Zhu Xian refused to spar and instead invited him for tea.
• Mo Hua asked about a recent massacre of a Wu Family branch household on Swallow Street, and Jin An explained that the Dao Court Office had found no clues and that the Wu Family might focus on claiming the victims’ property.
• Mo Hua connected the household’s wealth to Zhou the Wealthy’s son, who had married into the Wu Family, and wondered whose hands the wealth ultimately filled.

Mo Hua learned how Houtu City's great clans and Dao Court Office operated, then helped Lin Youfang leave for the Great Spirit Field Realm with money for his recovery. As Mo Hua left Fortune Pavilion, a young man recognized him as Senior Martial Brother, leaving Mo Hua alarmed that he could not identify the supposed junior martial brother.

• Mo Hua questioned Wu Gui, Zhu Xian, and Jin An about sons-in-law in great clans and the Dao Court Office's power, learning that a harsh investigator had recently arrived.
• Mo Hua fought three spell duels at the Sword Discussion Arena and earned one hundred eighty thousand Spirit Stones, which he used to complete his third Spirit Skeleton.
• Mo Hua met Lin Youfang at Fortune Pavilion and urged him to return to the Great Spirit Field Realm before the Dao Court Office investigated him.
• Mo Hua had Shopkeeper Zhao give Lin Youfang his one million three hundred thousand Spirit Stones so he could recover and travel.
• As Mo Hua left Fortune Pavilion, a vermilion-robed youth called him Senior Martial Brother, and Mo Hua worried that he did not recognize the youth.

Mo Hua struggled to identify the junior martial brother who had greeted him at Fortune Pavilion, eventually learning that the youth was Zhu Muchen, the Zhu Family head’s favored youngest son. Zhu Muchen, meanwhile, was hurt that Mo Hua did not recognize him and began to question whether their bond at Void Gate had ever been real.

• At Fortune Pavilion, Mo Hua failed to recognize the jade-crowned youth who called him Senior Martial Brother, and the Black-Robed Elder led the youth away.
• Mo Hua told Bai Zixi that he had thousands of junior martial brothers and could not remember which one the youth was.
• Mo Hua asked Shopkeeper Zhao to investigate, and Zhao identified the youth as Zhu Muchen, the Zhu Family head’s youngest son.
• Shopkeeper Zhao warned Mo Hua that Zhu Muchen’s family status made dealings with him politically delicate, and Mo Hua remained troubled by their encounter.
• At the Zhu Family residence, the Black-Robed Elder told Zhu Muchen to meet influential figures and prepare for marriage discussions, but Zhu Muchen refused to discuss marriage.
• The Black-Robed Elder suggested that Mo Hua had not cared about Zhu Muchen, and Zhu Muchen recalled their distant interactions at Void Gate and grew increasingly disillusioned.

Zhu Muchen’s family tried to distance him from Mo Hua and invited Mo Hua to a banquet to probe him, but Mo Hua revealed nothing and eventually apologized to Zhu Muchen for not recognizing him. The chapter left Zhu Muchen stunned and emotionally stirred after Mo Hua toasted him.

• The Zhu Family Patriarch told the Black-Robed Elder to strengthen Zhu Muchen’s loyalty to the family and invite Mo Hua to a banquet in Zhu Muchen’s name.
• Mo Hua accepted Zhu Muchen’s invitation despite suspecting a scheme, and Bai Zixi told him to return early.
• At the Zhu Family banquet, the Zhu Family Patriarch praised and questioned Mo Hua, but Mo Hua concealed everything the family hoped to learn.
• Zhu Muchen watched Mo Hua entertain the guests and grew convinced that his Senior Martial Brother had changed and their old bond meant little.
• After the Zhu Family Patriarch left, Mo Hua sat beside Zhu Muchen, apologized for failing to recognize him, and raised a toast to him.
• Zhu Muchen clinked cups with Mo Hua and drank, overwhelmed that his Senior Martial Brother had toasted him.

Mo Hua explained to Zhu Muchen why his memories had faded, comforted him about his lackluster performance at the Sword Discussion Assembly, and won his admiration. After leaving the Zhu Family’s banquet, Mo Hua recognized that the province’s aristocratic clans were probing him for weaknesses, while his unease about Kun Province deepened.

• Mo Hua told Zhu Muchen that an injury to his Sea of Consciousness from fighting a Great Demon had caused him to forget some people, and Zhu Muchen expressed concern for him.
• Mo Hua praised Zhu Muchen for competing at the Sword Discussion Assembly and assured him that even one victory had helped Void Gate; Zhu Muchen grew close to his senior martial brother over wine and food.
• The Zhu Family Patriarch returned, saw how attached Zhu Muchen had become to Mo Hua, and tried to interest Mo Hua in a marriage alliance and other dealings with the Zhu Family.
• Mo Hua declined to stay overnight and left for Little Luan Mountain Blessed Land in a Zhu Family carriage, while Zhu Muchen watched him go.
• Mo Hua found hot tea and a medicinal pill prepared by Xiao Ju and Junior Martial Sister, then reflected that the Zhu Family had been testing his weaknesses and that danger was gathering in Kun Province.

Mo Hua reunited with Zhu Muchen, who offered him supplies and promised to seek an array assessment slot from the Zhu Family. After learning that a new Chief Inspector Gu was investigating the Wu Family case and its ties to Fortune Pavilion, Mo Hua wondered whether the inspector was someone he knew.

• Mo Hua met Zhu Muchen at Fortune Pavilion, refused his gifts, and agreed to let him ask the Zhu Family for an array assessment slot.
• Zhu Muchen gave Mo Hua a Mechanical Luan Bird and shared his interest in Mechanism Arts; Mo Hua encouraged him to study it and asked him to teach him its principles.
• After Zhu Muchen left, Mo Hua asked Shopkeeper Zhao about Fortune Pavilion's unnamed chief shopkeeper.
• Shopkeeper Zhao told Mo Hua that the Dao Court Office had traced stolen goods from the Wu Family case to Fortune Pavilion.
• Shopkeeper Zhao revealed that a new inspector surnamed Gu had been assigned to investigate aristocratic-family cases, leaving Mo Hua to wonder whether the man was someone he knew.

Mo Hua continued tomb raiding to fund his Spirit Skeleton, then learned of a four-million-Spirit-Stone bounty for a flying thief named Liu San. The bounty’s connection to Jade Fragrance Pavilion and the mysterious Jade Spring Pavilion left him determined to investigate.

• Mo Hua suspected Chief Inspector Gu might be Uncle Gu but chose not to contact the Dao Court Office, then spent three hundred thousand Spirit Stones nourishing his fourth Hand Yangming Meridian.
• Mo Hua led Iron Mountain Tiger and the others in a successful tomb raid, earning about five hundred thousand Spirit Stones each after the loot was sold.
• At Shopkeeper Zhao’s banquet, Iron Mountain Tiger admitted he had given away his savings at Jade Fragrance Pavilion while pursuing rumors about a wanted flying thief.
• Mo Hua noticed that Iron Mountain Tiger and a local tomb raider had never heard of Jade Spring Pavilion, despite his own earlier leads pointing to it.
• Iron Mountain Tiger gave Mo Hua a covert wanted notice for Liu San, and Mo Hua resolved to investigate its four-million-Spirit-Stone bounty and its possible connection to Jade Spring Pavilion.

Mo Hua investigated the wanted criminal Liu San and the mysterious Jade Spring Pavilion, learning that Houtu City had a hidden world surrounding its brothels. After discussing a visit to Jade Fragrance Pavilion with Bai Zixi, he was surprised when she insisted on going with him.

• Mo Hua showed Shopkeeper Zhao Liu San's wanted poster, and Shopkeeper Zhao warned that the four-million-Spirit-Stone reward suggested the Dao Court Office was hiding something important.
• Mo Hua asked Shopkeeper Zhao about Jade Spring Pavilion, but Shopkeeper Zhao denied knowing it and cautioned him to avoid places like it.
• Mo Hua questioned Bai Xiaosheng, who identified Jade Fragrance Pavilion as Houtu City's largest brothel and said its courtesan queen was Yu Nujiao.
• Mo Hua examined Bai Xiaosheng's portrait of Yu Nujiao and asked to visit Jade Fragrance Pavilion, but Bai Xiaosheng warned him it was dangerous and difficult to see her.
• Mo Hua told Bai Zixi he might need to visit Jade Fragrance Pavilion for serious business, and Bai Zixi said she would go with him.

Bai Zixi insisted on accompanying Mo Hua to the Jade Fragrance Pavilion, so Mo Hua devised a disguise that concealed her appearance, physique, aura, bloodline, and karma. True Person Rong was stunned by the result, and the chapter left her shaken by the possibilities of Mo Hua’s array skills.

• Bai Zixi told True Person Rong she would go with Mo Hua to the brothel, and insisted Mo Hua find a way to conceal her identity.
• True Person Rong warned that Bai Zixi’s bloodline, appearance, and karma could cause upheaval if exposed, but Bai Zixi remained determined to go.
• Mo Hua spent days studying disguise techniques and developed a plan using divine dao arrays to hide Bai Zixi’s presence and karma.
• Mo Hua inscribed a God Fog Array and a Water Stealth Array on a cicada garment, then made a Gold-Threaded Daoist Robe and a lifelike Painted Skin Mask to transform Bai Zixi’s appearance and physique.
• Bai Zixi appeared before True Person Rong in disguise, and True Person Rong failed to recognize her at first.
• After Mo Hua explained the disguise, True Person Rong realized the arrays concealed Bai Zixi’s bloodline and karma and wondered what Mo Hua might accomplish if he reached Feather Transformation.

Mo Hua tested a disguise that concealed Bai Zixi well enough to fool True Person Rong, then persuaded her to let Bai Zixi accompany him to investigate the Jade Fragrance Pavilion. After recruiting Bai Xiaosheng to guide them, Mo Hua and Bai Zixi set off with him, and Bai Xiaosheng began to realize who Young Master Bai really was.

• True Person Rong confirmed that Mo Hua's disguise could fool her, then reluctantly allowed Bai Zixi to leave with Mo Hua after he promised to protect her.
• True Person Rong gave Mo Hua and Bai Zixi protective supplies before they left Little Luan Mountain Blessed Land by carriage.
• On the way, Bai Zixi asked about leaving Xiao Ju behind, and Mo Hua reassured her that they would bring Xiao Ju a treat afterward.
• Mo Hua took Bai Zixi to a Gambling Den and recruited Bai Xiaosheng to guide them to the Jade Fragrance Pavilion by offering to pay for the evening.
• Bai Xiaosheng learned that Young Master Bai shared his surname and was accompanying Mo Hua, then began to suspect that Young Master Bai was Bai Zixi.

Bai Zixi, disguised as Young Master Bai, accompanied Mo Hua and Bai Xiaosheng to Jade Fragrance Pavilion, where they entered a private room. When an attendant tried to touch Bai Zixi, Mo Hua stopped her with his chopsticks.

• Bai Xiaosheng recognized his great-aunt Bai Zixi in the carriage and reluctantly agreed to take her and Mo Hua to Jade Fragrance Pavilion.
• Bai Xiaosheng guided them through a hidden entrance to Drunken Flower Street, where Mo Hua and Bai Zixi bought masks.
• Bai Xiaosheng led Mo Hua and Bai Zixi into Jade Fragrance Pavilion after Mo Hua revealed that True Person Rong was following them in secret.
• Bai Xiaosheng arranged a private room and brought in several women to keep them company.
• When one woman reached for Bai Zixi, Mo Hua caught her hand between his chopsticks and stopped her.