Chapter Summaries

Qin He gained advanced Bronze Skin Iron Bone Art and Mechanism Art from cremating the dead, and learned the tragic history of White Lotus Sect craftsman Wu Sanhe. Wu Sanhe’s Shadow Play revealed the location of an entrance to a collapsed imperial mausoleum, which Qin He considered exploring.

• Qin He received Intermediate Bronze Skin Iron Bone Art, Mechanism Art, a Power Fruit, a Calm Heart Pill, and an Essence Cultivating Pill from the thirty cremations.
• Qin He learned Intermediate Bronze Skin Iron Bone Art, which let him harden three parts of his body more powerfully than before.
• Qin He learned Mechanism Art and gained extensive knowledge of mechanisms and mechanical engineering.
• Qin He learned that Wu Sanhe had been framed after his father’s execution, escaped the Mausoleum Bureau and the Refugee Camp, and joined the White Lotus Sect.
• The Black Robed Man’s judgment of Wu Sanhe revealed a detailed location for an entrance to a collapsed imperial mausoleum, and Qin He considered searching it for treasure.

Qin He hurried toward Linqing City on a newly strengthened Little Calf, racing across the ice at a reckless speed. After the pair collided with Great Monk and the Daoist, Qin He recognized their voices and ordered Little Calf to flee.

• Qin He tried the Calm Heart Pill and Essence Cultivating Pill, then urged Little Calf to race to Linqing City by morning.
• Little Calf charged across the frozen river at tremendous speed with Qin He and Big Turtle riding along.
• Great Monk and the Daoist reached Linqing after their glider carried them far south and they struggled back on sleds.
• Qin He, Little Calf, and Big Turtle collided with Great Monk and the Daoist on the ice, then continued around a bend.
• Qin He recognized the two men's voices and told Little Calf to run, calling them scammers.

Qin He returned to the Flying Fish Guard’s group at Linqing Wharf after secretly leaving the ship, and Xu Changshou and Li Tie warned him to hide his desertion. When the Flying Fish Guard was barred from entering Linqing City because of a zombie outbreak, Qin He secretly questioned a gate guard and learned that the zombies spread through bites and that the city’s authorities had concealed the news.

• Qin He rejoined Xu Changshou and Li Tie at the wharf, and they told him to claim he had stayed aboard the ship for the whole journey.
• The Flying Fish Guard unloaded its supplies and headed toward Linqing City, planning to rest before setting off for the Jinan front.
• Gong Tianxing and Wei Wu tried to enter the city, but the guards refused them under Governor-General Sun Yuanhua’s order to inspect everyone for wounds.
• Qin He lagged behind and asked a gate guard about the zombies, learning that bites turned people into zombies and that outbreaks had occurred on the front lines and inside the city.
• The guard realized he had revealed secret information without meaning to, while Qin He returned to the group.

At the Flying Fish Guard camp, Qin He reassured the Corpse Burners that they would return alive, only for Xu Changshou to interrupt their pampering with urgent news. Meanwhile, the Great Monk and the Taoist tracked down the Flying Fish Guard after someone had been trampled by a cow twice.

• Qin He used the Odor Purification Technique to clear the smoky tent, then settled in beside the stove.
• The Corpse Burners asked Qin He whether they would survive the journey, and he promised they would all make it back alive, though they might suffer.
• The Corpse Burners eagerly massaged Qin He while he relaxed in the tent.
• Xu Changshou burst into the tent and announced that something had happened.
• The Great Monk identified a cow hoofprint, and the Taoist vowed to confront the Flying Fish Guard for riding a cow into people twice.

Fahai and Wu De confronted the Flying Fish Guard after a cow-riding man had crashed into them, and Gong Tianxing brought Qin He and his cow out for questioning. The chapter ended with Fahai using his Tongue-Tasting Art on the cow and finding that it had no taste.

• Fahai and Wu De shouted at the Flying Fish Guard camp, demanding to speak with the person who had ridden a cow into them.
• Chang Wen recognized Fahai and learned that the pair wanted justice for their collision.
• Gong Tianxing arrived, and Wei Wu suggested that Qin He was the likely rider, so Gong Tianxing ordered Chang Wen to bring Qin He and his cow.
• Fahai recognized Qin He from Fang County, while Qin He denied hitting the monk and Daoist and asked for proof.
• Fahai used his Tongue-Tasting Art on the cow, then wondered why it had no taste.

Qin He used Odor Purification Techniques to hide Little Calf’s scent from the Great Monk’s Tongue Taste Tracing. The test failed repeatedly, and the chapter ended with Little Calf kicking Wei Wu away after he prodded beneath its belly.

• The Great Monk licked Little Calf but detected no scent, while Qin He secretly added more Odor Purification Techniques.
• The Great Monk performed Tongue Taste Tracing and licked Little Calf more than twenty times, but still found no scent.
• Wei Wu suggested testing a stronger-smelling spot and prodded beneath Little Calf with his scabbard.
• Little Calf asked Qin He for permission to turn around, then kicked Wei Wu more than thirty feet away.

Qin He avoided trouble with the Golden Light Temple monk and Lingyun Temple Daoist after Wei Wu was kicked by his cow, while the visitors left to pursue their business elsewhere. That night, soldiers brought five chained carts of corpses to the Linqing Corpse Burning Facility, alarming the three Corpse Burners on duty.

• Wei Wu was knocked down by Qin He's cow, and Gong Tianxing sent him back inside while ordering Qin He to stay in camp.
• Gong Tianxing dismissed the monk and Daoist after they failed to prove Qin He was the person they sought.
• The monk and Daoist concluded Qin He was likely the one they remembered, then left toward the city gate to handle their proper business.
• Qin He returned to his bedding, dismissed the Corpse Burners' questions, and let Crippled Li massage his shoulders.
• Soldiers escorted five large carts of chained corpses into the Linqing Corpse Burning Facility at night, frightening the three Corpse Burners on duty.

Three newly conscripted Corpse Burners faced a mass cremation at the Linqing facility, where one body mutated into a Black-Haired Corpse Monster before they could light the furnace. The centurion sent for Daoist Master Yuan Qing while the monster broke its chains and attacked the men inside.

• The centurion ordered the three Corpse Burners to burn five Black-Haired Zombies before dawn for one tael of silver each.
• The middle-aged Corpse Burner urged his two nephews to work quickly, and they hastily prepared the bodies for cremation.
• One corpse mutated before the fire was lit, growing black hair, claws, fangs, and bone spikes as its Corpse Suppressing Talisman and glutinous rice burned away.
• The monster snapped several chains, and the three Corpse Burners fled and pounded on the iron doors for help.
• The centurion sent a cavalryman to fetch Daoist Master Yuan Qing, while the monster began devouring the Corpse Burners inside.

Daoist Master Yuan Qing arrived at the Corpse Burning Chamber to deal with a corpse outbreak, but the quiet chamber concealed several Black-Haired Corpse Monsters and a powerful Leaping Zombie. As the soldiers and Yuan Qing fled, his bearers sped away with his empty sedan, leaving him behind.

• The centurion summoned Daoist Master Yuan Qing after five Black-Haired Zombies killed the Corpse Burners and the chamber fell silent.
• Yuan Qing accepted four Silver Ingots, then struggled to get his malfunctioning bearers to lower his sedan.
• Yuan Qing opened the chamber and quickly subdued a Black-Haired Corpse Monster with a yellow cloth and a silver Corpse Suppressing Talisman.
• Three more Black-Haired Corpse Monsters emerged, while a spined Leaping Zombie leapt from the roof and killed a soldier.
• The centurion and Yuan Qing tried to flee, but the bearers raced off with the empty sedan and left Yuan Qing behind.

The Black-Haired Leaping Zombie massacred the soldiers and pursued the Squint-eyed Sorcerer, who escaped by dodging its attacks and rejoining the sedan bearers. Fahai and Wu De arrived to confront the zombie, only to discover its companions and flee.

• The Black-Haired Leaping Zombie and four Black-Haired Corpse Monsters slaughtered the soldiers as the centurion ordered the survivors to scatter.
• The Leaping Zombie pursued the Squint-eyed Sorcerer, who repeatedly dodged its pounces and deflected four bone spikes with silver ingots.
• The Squint-eyed Sorcerer caught up with the two sedan bearers, clung to their pole, and urged them to run.
• Fahai and Wu De arrived and charged the Black-Haired Leaping Zombie, but fled when they realized it had brought a group.

Wu De and the Great Monk struggled to hold off a strengthened Leaping Zombie as the Lingyun Town Evil Scripture weakened it and a growing horde of risen corpses converged on them. Tu Baishou and his squad arrived, and Tu Baishou prepared to confront the Leaping Zombie while the others fought the corpse monsters.

• The Leaping Zombie pursued Wu De and the Great Monk with four Black-Haired Corpse Monsters, and they realized it had been strengthened.
• The Great Monk shielded them with his Golden Bell Shield while Wu De chanted the Lingyun Town Evil Scripture, weakening the zombies but leaving the pair on the defensive.
• At the Linqing Corpse Burning Facility, the middle-aged Corpse Burner rose as a Black-Haired Corpse Monster, and corpses across the area began undergoing Corpse Mutation.
• The risen corpses answered the Leaping Zombie's call and gathered into a horde that raced toward the battlefield.
• Tu Baishou led Gong Tianxing, Wei Wu, and the rest of his six-man squad into the city and reached the stalemate.
• Tu Baishou identified the Leaping Zombie as tampered with, ordered his squad to handle the corpse monsters, and moved to fight the Leaping Zombie himself.

Tu Baishou and the others fought a horde of corpse monsters, only to discover that three Leaping Zombies had ambushed them. As Tu Baishou struggled against all three, a mysterious burst of righteous qi devastated the corpses, and Daoist Wu De insisted he had not summoned it.

• Gong Tianxing, Wei Wu, and four other Corpse Burning Hall disciples used the Seven Fiends Corpse Suppressing Scripture to hold off the Black-Haired Corpse Monsters.
• A Leaping Zombie called for help, and two more Leaping Zombies emerged from the darkness.
• The Daoist realized the group was trapped, while Tu Baishou feared the ambush targeted both his party and the men outside the city.
• Tu Baishou unleashed Aura Manifestation and fought the three Leaping Zombies, then called on Daoist Wu De to support him with the Lingyun Scripture.
• Fatty summoned the Mystic Light Golden Bell as Daoist Wu De began chanting, but a vast spiritual light descended and burned the Black-Haired Corpse Monsters and three Leaping Zombies to ash.
• The monk questioned how powerful Wu De's Lingyun scripture had become, and Wu De swore he had not been the one chanting it.

The Lingyun Scripture’s divine sound destroyed the Black-Haired Corpse Monster Swarm and drove the remaining hopping zombies to flee. The zombies reached the city wall, where a man with a shovel confronted them.

• The Daoist and the monk realized the divine sound came from the complete Lingyun Scripture, and the Great Monk wondered whether its return marked a new turn in the world’s fortunes.
• The divine sound reduced the Black-Haired Corpse Monster Swarm to ash and nearly destroyed three hopping zombies, while the entranced fighters gained sudden clarity about cultivation.
• The sound ended with a curse, jolting the listeners awake; the Daoist fell, Wei Wu dropped his club on his toes, and the three hopping zombies escaped.
• The hopping zombies fled toward Linqing City’s wall under the Corpse Soul’s command and found a man carrying a shovel in their path.
• The lead hopping zombie ordered an attack, but the man dodged its pounce and swung his Large Black Shovel at the three zombies.

The Thousand Corpse Ghost Mother prepared to attack Linqing after a failed assault on the Corpse Burning Hall, while Qin He burned the surviving mutated corpses. As Qin He waited at the facility, two synchronized sets of footsteps approached with someone angrily demanding a missing Yellow Wind Scarf.

• The Thousand Corpse Ghost Mother told Jia Kui the Third she would take Linqing within three days, then led the Thousand Corpse Army into the night.
• Qin He collected three surviving hopping zombies and found a spiritually refined yellow cloth at the Linqing Corpse Burning Facility.
• Qin He brought Big Turtle out and ordered him to cremate the monster corpses while Qin He rested.
• Two people approached the facility in synchronized steps as a voice cursed them for running off with a sedan chair and losing a Yellow Wind Scarf.

The Squint-eyed Sorcerer returned to the Corpse Burning Facility to retrieve his Yellow Wind Scarf, but found it missing and encountered Qin He watching from the roof. He ordered his bearers to flee, was flung from the sedan, and was left facing Qin He, who asked why he was running.

• The Squint-eyed Sorcerer realized he had left his Yellow Wind Scarf at the Corpse Burning Facility and returned for it.
• He saw the Corpse Burning Room blazing with flames and black smoke, and suspected that the terrifying scripture-chanting figure had captured the escaped hopping zombies.
• The Squint-eyed Sorcerer reached the entrance and found the Yellow Wind Scarf missing, then told his bearers to lower the sedan and prepared to get out.
• Qin He appeared on the roof, startling the Squint-eyed Sorcerer, who shouted for his bearers to run.
• The bearers sprang away with the sedan and sent the Squint-eyed Sorcerer flying; after he landed, Qin He jumped down and asked why he was running.

Qin He relentlessly pursued Squint-eyed Sorcerer after the man pretended to need a pee, using fires and a sea mine to flush him out of every hiding place. After the mine blasted Squint-eyed Sorcerer out of a well, he surrendered to Qin He.

• Squint-eyed Sorcerer pretended to have a pee emergency, then fled when Qin He let him walk away.
• Qin He repeatedly caught up with Squint-eyed Sorcerer as he ran across the city, urging him to keep going.
• Squint-eyed Sorcerer hid in a water vat, but Qin He lit a fire beside it and forced him to flee.
• After Qin He found and burned him repeatedly, Squint-eyed Sorcerer jumped into an old well to hide.
• Qin He dropped a sea mine into the well, blasting Squint-eyed Sorcerer out, and Squint-eyed Sorcerer surrendered.

Qin He questioned Qian Wuliang, the Squint-eyed Sorcerer, and took his Yellow Wind Scarf before learning more about the Corpse Refining Gate and its Thousand Corpse Leader. He let Qian Wuliang go under the false name Wei Wu, implicating someone from the Corpse Burning Hall.

• Qin He forced Qian Wuliang to identify himself and explain why he had been sneaking around the Corpse Burning Facility.
• Qian Wuliang admitted he was looking for his Yellow Wind Scarf, and Qin He took it after demanding its incantation.
• Qian Wuliang told Qin He that the Black-Haired Zombies were made by the Thousand Corpse Ghost Mother, Ruan Qianning, one of the Corpse Refining Gate’s Four Great Leaders.
• Qian Wuliang explained that the Thousand Corpse Ghost Mother had strengthened the zombies’ Corpse Poison and could command only one thousand Black-Haired Zombies at a time.
• Qin He released Qian Wuliang and claimed his name was Wei Wu of the Corpse Burning Hall in the capital.

Qin He stayed in the Corpse Burning Chamber while Linqing City's city guards arrived to clear the mutated corpses and reclaim the facility. When the centurion demanded entry, Qin He threatened him with a Sea Mine disguised as a firecracker, leaving the guards scrambling as its fuses appeared.

• Qin He returned to the Corpse Burning Facility and told Big Turtle he had gone to blow up fish.
• Linqing City's city guards deployed to clear corpse fragments, and a centurion led a unit toward the Corpse Burning Facility.
• The centurion demanded that Qin He open the chamber, but Qin He refused and warned that he would blow the guards up.
• Qin He brought out a Sea Mine, and Big Turtle realized what he had called a firecracker.
• Qin He claimed to be Wei Wu and lit two fuses; the centurion recognized the danger and screamed for everyone to scatter.

Qin He drove off Cao Yan’s city guards with a Thunderclap Cannon, then used the Shadow Play Performance to witness the lives of three cremated hopping corpses. The story ends with Pang Ren’s unjust death and the Black Robed Man’s judgment, while Qin He received three techniques as rewards.

• Qin He’s Thunderclap Cannon frightened the city guards away from the Corpse Burning Facility, and Cao Yan threatened him before departing.
• Near cockcrow, the three hopping corpses were cremated, and Qin He saw their lives through the Shadow Play Performance.
• Qin He learned that Pang Ren had been a generous scholar whose charity ruined his business, while his cruel elder brother Pang Tian had continued to support him.
• Pang Ren died during the corpse uprising after an old woman with a ghost-head cane pointed at him, despite his lifelong efforts to help others.
• The Black Robed Man judged Pang Ren’s fate with a bitter saying, and Qin He received the Beginner Lightning Strike Technique, Sound Alteration Technique, and Incantation Technique.

After defeating the Black-Haired Corpse Monsters in Linqing, Qin He collected the scholar’s ashes and received three skills. The next day, the Corpse Burning Hall’s groups set out for their assignments, and Qin He’s group reached a burned village near nightfall.

• Qin He gained the Beginner Lightning Strike Technique, Sound Alteration Technique, and Incantation Technique as rewards.
• Qin He told Big Turtle to collect the scholar’s ashes, then stored them in his Armpit Space.
• The Corpse Burning Hall split into groups, and Wei Wu’s group headed north with Flying Fish Guards and poorly equipped soldiers led by Dou Lao Liu.
• Dou Lao Liu cracked his armor while boasting, then accepted a replacement horse and armor and had a ladder tied to his horse to help him mount.
• Wei Wu’s group reached a village burned down after a Black-Haired Corpse Monster attack, where bodies and claw marks covered the ruins.