Chapter Summaries

Qin He, newly transmigrated into a dangerous job burning mutated corpses, discovered that watching a dead person’s life through a Shadow Play could earn him rewards. After burning a drowned scholar’s corpse and receiving an Abyssal Fruit that greatly increased his strength, he emerged at dawn to learn another Corpse Burner had died.

• Qin He recalled that he had transmigrated into the Great Li Dynasty and become Corpse Burner Number Seven at the Eastern City Marshal's Office.
• A mutated corpse killed Corpse Burner Number Nine, and the officer called for a replacement.
• While burning a scholar’s corpse, Qin He witnessed the scholar’s life and death in a Shadow Play, then saw a Black Robed Man weigh the soul on the Scales of Judgment.
• Qin He received and ate an Abyssal Fruit, which more than doubled his strength.
• At dawn, Qin He heard the officer announce that Corpse Burning Room Number Six was vacant.

After two Corpse Burners died and a Mutated Corpse escaped, Qin He buried Liu Chengji’s ashes and returned to his work at the facility. He demonstrated his new strength at the Grand Canal docks, then began burning a corpse marked with the Three Rivers Gang brand.

• Number Six’s headless body was found after a Mutated Corpse smashed through the roof and fled, and factory agents arrived to track it down.
• Qin He asked Xu Changshou for Liu Chengji’s ownerless ashes, carried them outside the city, and buried them beneath a marker bearing the Scholar’s name.
• At the Grand Canal docks, Qin He lifted a two-hundred-jin stone lock but rejected the Porter Guild’s offer of five coins a day and asked for fifteen.
• Qin He spent his fifteen coins on coarse food, rested through the day, and returned to the Corpse Burning Facility for his night shift.
• Qin He washed and repaired a corpse branded with the Three Rivers Gang mark, recited the Corpse Burner’s ritual words, and placed it in the furnace.

After burning Zhao Si’s corpse, Qin He gained Shadowless Hand and learned that corpses with more extraordinary lives yielded better rewards. He used the skill to make two hundred Corpse-Suppressing Metal Needles, just as the Corpse Burning Facility received a special corpse.

• Qin He watched Zhao Si’s Shadow Play and received the Shadowless Hand skill after the Black Robed Man judged his life.
• Qin He learned Shadowless Hand and tested its speed by rubbing a bamboo tube until it caught fire.
• Over the next four days, Qin He burned four more corpses and gained an Abyssal Fruit, a Golden Wound Pill, Yogurt Making Technique, and Nine Corpse Suppressing Artifacts.
• Qin He studied the nine corpse-suppressing items and realized his new skill let him make the difficult Corpse-Suppressing Metal Needles himself.
• Qin He bought two hundred iron nails and engraved them into Corpse-Suppressing Metal Needles using Shadowless Hand.
• The Corpse Burning Facility received a special corpse shortly after Qin He finished making the needles.

After a mutated corpse escaped from the East City Corpse Burning Facility, constable Xu Changshou discovered he had been installed as a scapegoat. The corpse killed the nephew of the Minister of War's Deputy, and Lord Liu demanded that the victim's bones be preserved, leaving the Corpse Burners at risk of punishment.

• Xu Changshou learned that the other constables and Master Cao had placed him at the Corpse Burning Facility to take the blame if the escaped corpse caused trouble.
• The mutated corpse attacked the Minister of War's Deputy's nephew, killing him and two sedan bearers and destroying their sedan.
• Old Striker witnessed the attack, and West City runners summoned Lord Liu after identifying the victim.
• Lord Liu arrived at the East City Corpse Burning Facility and asked that his nephew's bones be preserved, despite signs that the dead man had become a vicious corpse.
• The crowd realized the body should have gone to the Flying Fish Guard, but Lord Liu's demand put the Corpse Burners in danger of taking the blame.

Qin He volunteered to burn Lord Liu’s nephew, only to discover the corpse was Liu Cang, a century-old Snake Immortal who had faked his death to escape the Flying Fish Guard. Qin He pinned Liu Cang with Corpse Suppressing Nails, burned him, and gained the Corpse Eating Immortal Skill, while Liu Cang’s ties to Great Li’s military secrets remained beyond Qin He’s concern.

• Qin He accepted five taels of silver to burn Lord Liu’s nephew after the other corpse burners refused.
• Qin He discovered the corpse’s wound had begun healing, and Liu Cang revealed his monstrous form.
• Qin He rapidly nailed Liu Cang with two hundred Corpse Suppressing Nails and burned him in the furnace.
• Qin He’s Shadow Play Performance revealed Liu Cang’s Snake Immortal lineage, his service to Liu Changan, and his plan to escape the Corpse Burning Facility.
• Qin He received and learned the Corpse Eating Immortal Skill, which strengthened his teeth and gave him a stomach able to digest gold and iron.
• Liu Cang’s history hinted at possible links to the Great Li army’s defeat, but Qin He remained focused on his life as a corpse burner.

Qin He survived the supernatural incident in Room Seven and discovered that the Corpse Eating Immortal Skill left him ravenously hungry, so he spent most of his silver on food before buying more Corpse Suppressing Nails. That night, he began work on a mysterious woman’s corpse dressed in red.

• Xu Changshou found Qin He alive in Room Seven beside the cremated corpse, steaming bone ash, and a hole in the roof, while Qin He remembered nothing.
• Lord Liu mourned over the ashes and fled after seeing the damaged roof, leaving Qin He’s role in the incident unnoticed.
• Qin He ate more than sixty bowls of noodles at Tang Tiankui’s restaurant before the skill increased his internal strength by five years.
• Qin He bought two hundred Corpse Suppressing Nails, and a mason repaired the hole in Room Seven’s roof.
• At night, Qin He found a woman’s corpse dressed in red waiting in his Corpse Burning Room.

Qin He cremated a woman in red, survived a supernatural presence, and gained ten years of Dao Xing after witnessing her tragic past. A new death at the East City Corpse Burning Facility claimed Horse Butcher, leaving Room Two vacant.

• Qin He cleaned the woman’s face, found a handkerchief tightly clutched in her hand, and placed her corpse in the furnace.
• Qin He saw that the handkerchief had vanished and sensed a presence behind him, but he stayed still until the Yin Energy receded.
• Qin He witnessed the woman’s life: after her family was punished and she was sent to Jiaosifang, Xu Huaien redeemed her, then strangled her after catching her with a retainer.
• Qin He received ten years of Dao Xing for burning the woman’s corpse and resolved to grow stronger.
• A scream sounded nearby, and the duty officer announced that Corpse Burning Room Two was vacant.
• The Corpse Burners watched Horse Butcher’s black-wrapped body leave on a Corpse Transport Cart after dawn.

Xu Changshou invited Qin He to breakfast after Horse Butcher’s death, and brought him to Tang’s Restaurant when Qin refused the food he first suggested. Qin He ate ten huge basins of noodles, leaving Xu Changshou stunned.

• Xu Changshou told Qin He that Horse Butcher had died and his corpse had been burned.
• Xu Changshou invited Qin He to eat with him, partly because he liked Qin’s looks and partly because he no longer trusted his fellow guards.
• Xu Changshou took Qin He to Tang’s Restaurant after Qin asked for mixed-grain steamed buns instead of tofu pudding and fermented mung bean milk.
• Qin He ordered noodles, and Tang Tiankui brought him an enormous basin while promising to make more.
• Qin He ate ten basins of noodles and apologized to Xu Changshou for his large appetite.

Qin He gained ten years of inner strength from breakfast and settled into life at the Corpse Burning Facility amid famine and poverty. That night, Xu Changshou assigned him a dangerous corpse, and Qin He discovered it was Horse Butcher.

• Qin He tested his ten years of inner strength by smashing a stone cattle-hitching post, then fled before anyone caught him.
• At the Corpse Burning Facility, Old Liangtou, Liu Sanjin, and Crippled Li talked with Qin He about food, money, and surviving their grim lives.
• Crippled Li revealed he had saved copper coins to visit the Old Alley Entrance, and Qin He remembered its fifty-copper price.
• As night fell, Xu Changshou warned Qin He to be careful with his corpse and promised him the next day off if he burned it successfully.
• Qin He lifted the shroud and recognized the corpse as Horse Butcher.

Qin He burned Horse Butcher’s corpse, which rose as a fiend before Qin He subdued it with Corpse Suppressing Nails. The Shadow Play Performance revealed how Horse Butcher died and granted Qin He the Flying Needle Technique, while leaving the handkerchief’s origins and connection to the female corpse unexplained.

• Qin He prepared Horse Butcher’s body for cremation, but it transformed into a fiend when the furnace fire rose, so Qin He pinned it down with fifty Corpse Suppressing Nails.
• Qin He burned the fiend corpse, and the Shadow Play Performance revealed that Horse Butcher, whose name was Ma Wu, had survived war and famine before becoming a Corpse Burner.
• The performance showed that a red ghost-head handkerchief had covered Horse Butcher’s face and killed him after he turned around in response to a chill behind him.
• Qin He received the Flying Needle Technique and tested it by flicking iron nails into a roof beam with deadly accuracy.
• Qin He realized Horse Butcher had died from the same handkerchief that had appeared with the female corpse, and he remained uncertain why the Shadow Play Performance had not shown it.

Qin He used his night off to secretly milk a cow and make yogurt, while Xu Changshou and three constables faced a woman who claimed Di Barbarian spies were pursuing her. The chapter ended with the pursuers demanding entry to the Corpse Burning Facility.

• Qin He buried Horse Butcher's ashes beside Liu Chengji and spent his day off considering a visit to Old Alley Entrance.
• Qin He left the Corpse Burning Facility to gather milk from a cow at the cattle market so he could make yogurt.
• Qin He used his Shadowless Hand skill to milk a bowl of milk and returned to the Corpse Burning Room to prepare yogurt.
• A bloodied woman in white stumbled toward Xu Changshou and the three constables, claiming disguised Di Barbarian spies were chasing her.
• Xu Changshou and the constables shut the gate as the pursuers arrived and demanded entry, claiming to be Flying Fish Guards.

Bai Qing'er escaped the Flying Fish Guard and fell wounded into Qin He's Corpse Burning Facility, where he treated her injuries and was poisoned in the process. She nearly killed him after waking, but left after deciding he had saved her without bad intentions.

• Chang Wen found that Bai Qing'er had escaped the Corpse Burning Facility and ordered the constables to follow her blood trail.
• Bai Qing'er fell from the roof into Qin He's facility, gravely wounded and unconscious.
• Qin He removed the dart, sucked poison from Bai Qing'er's wound, and used a Golden Wound Pill to treat her.
• Qin He was paralyzed by the poison, and Bai Qing'er woke with a dagger at his throat.
• Bai Qing'er decided to spare Qin He because he had saved her, then left the facility.

Qin He recovered from the poison while Xu Changshou and his companions chased a Paper Soldier all night, then learned the legend of the Cicada Shell Art. Back at the Corpse Burning Facility, Xu Changshou drank Qin He’s sour milk, while a breeding bull at Miao Yongde’s cattle market suddenly fell ill.

• Qin He fell asleep while slowly recovering from the poison.
• Xu Changshou and the others discovered that the bleeding trail led to a Paper Soldier holding a dead muntjac, not the wanted criminal.
• An old boatman explained that the Paper Soldier used the Cicada Shell Art, a deception rooted in Zhuge Shenji’s secret strategy.
• Xu Changshou and the others returned to the Corpse Burning Facility, found it peaceful, and went to collect their pay before heading home.
• Xu Changshou visited Qin He and drank his bowl of sour milk, which he said was strong but not sour.
• A waiter rushed to Miao Yongde with news that his breeding bull was unwell.

Qin He sought corpses at a Mass Grave after spending most of his money on food, hoping to earn rewards from burning them. He found a newly buried group of bodies, but realized he had no way to burn them there.

• Miao Yongde discovered that his breeding bull had lost its vigor, and veterinarian Ma Tuozi told him it could no longer breed or plow.
• Qin He ate all the buns in a shop, spent more of his silver, and regretted how much food his Corpse Eating Immortal Skill required.
• After seeing a Corpse Transport Cart piled with the bodies of refugees and beggars, Qin He decided Mass Graves were a rich source of corpses.
• Qin He went to a Mass Grave, drove off the wild dogs with his shovel, and found that the dogs had already uncovered most of the old graves.
• Qin He hid as two corpse transport workers buried five bodies, then approached the fresh grave and realized he had no way to burn them.

Qin He fought off wild dogs at the Mass Grave, burned two corpses, and gained the Earth-Digging Technique and Wind-Following Ear. At the Corpse Burning Facility, he learned through the dead men’s Shadow Play how a refugee riot turned the camp into a massacre, with tens of thousands likely dead.

• Qin He gathered firewood, drove a pack of wild dogs away from the Mass Grave, and found two corpses left in the pit.
• Qin He burned the refugee and beggar, whose Shadow Plays earned him the Earth-Digging Technique and Wind-Following Ear.
• Xu Changshou warned Qin He that a riot at the Refugee Camp had left many dead and assigned him no more than two corpses for the night.
• Qin He prepared and burned a refugee and a soldier; when the soldier mutated, Qin He subdued it with Corpse Suppressing Nails.
• Qin He watched the dead men’s Shadow Play and learned that famine, cannibalism, regional violence, and a seizure of the armory had led to a massive riot and slaughter at the Refugee Camp.

Qin He burned the vicious mutated corpse and gained Disguise Technique, while the Refugee Camp’s grim origins and the authorities’ plan to suppress its refugees came to light. By dawn, three more Corpse Burners were dead and three Mutated Corpses had escaped, leaving the survivors shaken.

• Qin He learned that the dead temporary soldier Ma Lai had been a violent criminal and gained Night Concealment Technique and Street Brawl Technique from his corpse.
• Two Corpse Burners died in separate attacks, and a Flying Fish Guard agent brought Qin He the suppressed vicious corpse to burn.
• Qin He burned the corpse, identified it as a Bazong, and gained Disguise Technique, which he used to copy Xu Changshou’s face.
• The Bazong’s Shadow Play revealed that officials had allowed the Refugee Camp to swell, then planned to use a riot and military force to eliminate the refugees.
• At dawn, three more Corpse Burners were reported dead and three Mutated Corpses had escaped, leaving thirteen survivors in the facility.

After the Refugee Camp massacre, Qin He accompanied Xu Changshou to Yang Qiao'er's tofu stall and noticed Xu's strange symptoms. On his way back, Qin He reflected on how the dynasties of this world paralleled his former life, leaving the Great Li Dynasty nearing collapse under pressure from the Di Barbarians and widespread rebellions.

• News spread that the Refugee Camp had been destroyed, with fewer than one in ten refugees surviving and over a thousand officers and soldiers killed or wounded.
• Qin He watched Xu Changshou ogle Yang Qiao'er and her daughter while they ate tofu pudding, then warned him that his breathing seemed abnormal.
• Xu Changshou described a burning sensation below his navel and went to a pharmacy, while Qin He returned alone.
• Qin He compared the dynasties of this world with those of his previous life as he walked beside the Grand Canal.
• Qin He recalled that the Di Barbarians had taken the Liaodong prefectures and that the Great Li Dynasty was faltering amid military defeats, climate hardship, and refugee rebellions.

Qin He used the Mass Grave to gather corpses for burning while learning about Great Li through the dead people's memories. Meanwhile, Bai Qing'er and her senior sister met their Black-robed Master, who warned them to avoid the East City Corpse Burning Facility as a conflict loomed there.

• Qin He learned about Great Li's frontier defenses and the eastern lands from the memories of Bazong and Liu Cang, then returned to the Mass Grave to seize corpses.
• Bai Qing'er and a green-robed senior sister watched the Corpse Burning Facility through a telescope before their Black-robed Master arrived.
• The Black-robed Master praised the Holy Cult's gains from the Refugee Camp riot, questioned Bai Qing'er about her injuries, and told the women to avoid the East City Corpse Burning Facility because Liu Cang had sent Punishment Slaves there.
• Qin He fought the Mass Grave's dog packs, gathered three corpses, and returned to the Corpse Burning Facility after using up his firewood.
• Ling Zhonghai and the other constables mistook Qin He's talk of planting trees for the ramblings of a muddle-headed refugee and decided to assign him just one corpse to burn.
• Qin He stopped at the door of Room Seven and turned around.

Qin He killed three officers with a shovel, burned their corpses, and gained powerful rewards, including a Marrow Cleansing Pill that greatly increased his strength and Dao Xing. Ling Zhonghai and the others assumed Qin He had died in Room Seven, but he emerged alive when they opened the door.

• Qin He pretended to strike the officers by accident, then beat Ling Zhonghai, Li Tie, and Gao Linkun to death with his shovel.
• Qin He burned the three officers’ corpses and gained an Abyssal Fruit, a Marrow Cleansing Pill, a Night Vision Technique, and thirteen years of Dao Xing.
• Qin He learned the Night Vision Technique, swallowed the Marrow Cleansing Pill, and gained thirty-six years of internal strength and twenty years of Dao Xing.
• Qin He ate the Abyssal Fruit and found his strength had increased enough to straighten the bent coal tongs with one squeeze.
• Ling Zhonghai, Li Tie, and Gao Linkun mistook Qin He’s roar for a corpse’s mutation and decided to bury him, but Qin He greeted them alive when they opened Room Seven.

Qin He survived another night at the Corpse Burning Facility and gained a new skill while working at the Mass Grave. Meanwhile, Shen Lian discovered that the Punishment Slaves had crossed the Great Wall and sent a warning to the capital.

• Qin He provoked Ling Zhonghai with a prediction that he would die young, but Li Tie and Gao Linkun dragged Ling away before he could retaliate.
• Qin He safely burned three dangerous corpses, earned the other Corpse Burners’ respect, and encouraged the newcomers with advice about courage and Yang Energy.
• Shen Lian and three Southern Commandery Elite Soldiers found four brutally punished corpses in a ruined village near the Great Wall.
• Shen Lian sent a carrier pigeon to warn the capital that the Punishment Slaves had crossed the border and were heading south.
• Qin He gained Dao Xing and mastered the Shrinking Skill after burning corpses at the Mass Grave.