Chapter Summaries

Qin He’s teachings strengthened the Corpse-Burning Squad, but the squad’s progress came to a halt when over twenty thousand White Lotus Army soldiers surrounded them in Liu County. The chapter left Chang Wen, Wei Wu, Dou Lao Liu, and their three hundred comrades trapped inside the besieged town.

• Wei Yuanji arrived late to worship Great Immortal Green Ox and knocked his head against the ground ninety-nine times, while Qin He clarified that sincere worship did not require self-harm.
• The morning worship earned Qin He more than eighteen hundred Merit, and he continued bestowing teachings on the squad over the following days.
• The three-hundred-man Corpse-Burning Squad grew to include around one hundred sixty or seventy internal-force experts, with Chang Wen and Dou Lao Liu surpassing fifty years of internal force.
• Near Liu County, the squad defeated about five hundred White Lotus Demon Army troops and learned that the Imperial Army had suffered a crushing defeat and Jinan City was in danger.
• Chang Wen, Wei Wu, and Dou Lao Liu led the squad into Liu County for shelter, but more than twenty thousand White Lotus Army soldiers surrounded the town.

Chang Wen and Wei Wu organized Liu County’s defenses against the White Lotus Demon Army, but the assault began when Ghost Foot Three led the charge. As Ghost Foot Three overwhelmed Chang Wen and Dou Lao Liu, a watcher on the gate tower prepared to intervene.

• Chang Wen and Dou Lao Liu gathered soldiers, civilians, and clan guards to defend Liu County, while negotiations with the White Lotus Demon Army failed.
• The White Lotus Demon Army attacked, and Ghost Foot Three of the Ghost Saber Sect led the assault up the city wall.
• Chang Wen dodged Ghost Foot Three’s opening strike but was driven back when their weapons clashed.
• Dou Lao Liu joined Chang Wen against Ghost Foot Three, but the two men were gradually suppressed despite fighting together.
• A person watching from the gate tower decided to step in and used the One-Leg Gale Technique.

Qin He secretly helped Chang Wen and Dou Lao Liu overcome Ghost Foot Three, whose leg inexplicably malfunctioned during the fight. Dou Lao Liu killed the enemy commander with a hammer, leaving Qin He furious that he had smashed the man’s head.

• Ghost Foot Three’s left leg suddenly malfunctioned, interrupting his attack on Chang Wen and Dou Lao Liu.
• Ghost Foot Three tried to counterattack, but his leg flung him face-first to the ground, and Chang Wen and Dou Lao Liu seized the opening.
• Ghost Foot Three stood still under their blows and boasted that his men would soon take the battlements.
• Qin He used Gale Technique to increase Chang Wen and Dou Lao Liu’s speed, letting Dou Lao Liu smash Ghost Foot Three’s head with his hammer.
• The Flying Fish Guards and soldiers cheered the victory, while Qin He cursed Dou Lao Liu for smashing Ghost Foot Three’s head.

Qin He helped the defenders repel the White Lotus Demon Army’s first assault on Liu County, then brought the fallen attackers to the Corpse Burning Facility. After hearing of the defeat, the White Lotus Protector sent Venerable Yang Wei to attack the city.

• Dou Lao Liu and the defenders killed Ghost Foot Three and more than a dozen Ghost Saber Sect members, sending the rest fleeing from the battlements.
• The White Lotus Demon Army’s disordered charge collapsed under stones thrown from the walls, and the attackers retreated.
• Qin He hauled the corpses to the Liu County Corpse Burning Facility and prepared to burn them, setting aside bodies whose heads had been smashed.
• The Ghost Saber Sect survivors reported the defeat to the White Lotus Protector in the army’s main tent.
• Venerable Yang Wei volunteered to attack Liu County, and the White Lotus Protector promised to seek him official recognition.

After Venerable Yang Wei died fighting the defenders of Liucheng, the White Lotus Protector led his forces to the city wall and called for revenge. A beggar-clad unorthodox cultivator rushed ahead to challenge the enemy generals.

• The unorthodox cultivators considered earning titles and merit in the White Lotus Sect, which promised enfeoffment and a chance to seize territory.
• A White Lotus soldier reported that Venerable Yang Wei had been defeated and killed by an enemy general wielding a great hammer.
• The White Lotus Protector declared that the army would take Liucheng and avenge Yang Wei and the other fallen general.
• After hearing that Yang Wei had initially held his own against the two defenders, a beggar-clad cultivator charged toward the city wall to fight them.

Beggar Seven volunteered to fight the enemy generals, initially drove them back, then was overwhelmed and killed. Protector Yan blamed the enemy for ganging up and offered formal recognition to four cultivators who would attack them together.

• Protector Yan accepted Beggar Seven's offer and promised recognition to anyone who beheaded an enemy general.
• Yu Balang tried to pledge his loyalty to Protector Yan, but his stutter kept him from finishing before the battle began.
• Beggar Seven used his Dog Beating Staff to push Dou Lao Liu and Chang Wen back on the city wall.
• Beggar Seven suddenly faltered, was beaten by the two generals and their men, and died after an iron hook pinned him to the battlements.
• Protector Yan ordered four unorthodox cultivators to attack the two enemy generals together and promised them formal recognition.

Protector Yan selected four unorthodox cultivators to attack the defenders on the city wall, where Dou Lao Liu and Chang Wen had been gaining confidence after defeating stronger opponents. The four White Lotus Fiends arrived and overwhelmed everyone except Chang Wen and Dou Lao Liu, surrounding them atop the wall.

• Protector Yan chose the hooked-nosed youth, the bearded brute, the sallow-faced woman, and another cultivator to attack the city wall after Yu Balang failed to speak up.
• Dou Lao Liu celebrated defeating three powerful opponents, while Chang Wen and Wei Yuanji also took pride in their victories and Wei Wu felt left behind.
• Chang Wen warned that four White Lotus Fiends were advancing, and the defenders realized the enemy had doubled the number of attackers.
• The four White Lotus Fiends leaped onto the wall and released their auras, blasting back everyone except Chang Wen and Dou Lao Liu.
• The four White Lotus Fiends surrounded Chang Wen and Dou Lao Liu as the others watched, unable to resist their overwhelming pressure.

Chang Wen and Dou Lao Liu faced the Four Evils of White Lotus until a Deepwater Thunderclap Cannon suddenly landed among them. The blast killed one of the four and left the others gravely wounded, while Chang Wen and Dou Lao Liu escaped.

• The Four Evils of White Lotus confronted Chang Wen and Dou Lao Liu, and the hook-nosed man threatened to slaughter the descendants of the Qi Family Army.
• A smoking sack fell between the six, and the hook-nosed man cut it open with his iron fan.
• The group discovered a lit Deepwater Thunderclap Cannon and tried to flee.
• The Four Evils of White Lotus injured themselves while running, delaying their escape, while Chang Wen and Dou Lao Liu got away.
• The cannon exploded, destroying part of the city wall, killing the sallow-faced woman, and badly wounding the other three.

After the White Lotus Fiends were killed in Liucheng, Qin He collected their corpses and prepared them for cremation. Outside the city, Protector Yan suspected an enemy expert was responsible for the deaths and sought someone to investigate, but no one volunteered.

• The crowd attacked the fallen White Lotus Fiends until Qin He arrived, stopped them, and collected the bodies.
• Protector Yan saw the explosion and realized the Four Evil Path Experts had likely been killed, suspecting Liucheng had a powerful expert defending it.
• Protector Yan offered official status to anyone willing to enter the city as an envoy, but the assembled fighters stayed silent.
• Protector Yan called on Yu Balang to go, but Yu Balang stammered that he could not.
• Qin He and Big Turtle processed and cremated the corpses, including the bodies of several Ghost Saber Sect disciples and Beggar Seven.

The chapter revealed how Gai Changsheng became Beggar Seven, tracing his journey from a sheltered family’s heir to a bitter wanderer driven by revenge. After learning that Chen Dilong had already been killed, Gai Changsheng lost his purpose and came to the Lu Region in response to the White Lotus Sect leader’s call.

• Gai Changsheng left home at fourteen to seek the martial world, and Liang Shanyou taught him some traveling experience and half a set of staff techniques.
• Gai Changsheng saved a carriage full of people from Chen Dilong’s gang, exposing Chen Dilong’s crimes to the authorities and the Flying Fish Guard.
• Chen Dilong tracked Gai Changsheng to the Gai family home and slaughtered its hundred-odd members while Gai Changsheng was away.
• Gai Changsheng spent thirty years as Beggar Seven seeking revenge, then learned from Chen Dilong’s dying family that the Flying Fish Guard had killed Chen Dilong years earlier.
• After drifting without purpose, Gai Changsheng went to the Lu Region when he heard that the White Lotus Sect leader was recruiting heroes.
• The Black Robed Man recited a verse about the perils of the martial world, and the chapter awarded the Dog Beating Staff Technique.

Qin He learned several martial arts and spells from the burned corpses, including Illusory Shadow, which he mastered as a divine ability capable of creating and swapping among lifelike copies. After testing it, he turned his attention to the Buddhist secret art left by the curly-bearded man.

• Qin He learned the Beggar Sect’s Dog Beating Staff Technique as its thirty-six forms and final move became clear to him.
• Ghost Foot Three, Venerable Yang Wei, the iron-fan young man, and the sallow-faced woman contributed martial arts and spells as their corpses were burned.
• Qin He learned Illusory Shadow and created three copies, startling Big Turtle and Little Yellow Ox when he revealed he could swap out his real body.
• Qin He filled the Corpse Burning Chamber with dozens of copies, dismissed them, and noted that they could not use spells or mana to fight.
• Qin He examined the curly-bearded former monk’s reward, the Buddhist secret art Great Majestic Heavenly Dragon.

Qin He learned the Great Majestic Heavenly Dragon art and gave Big Turtle a Form Transformation Pill. He decided to remain in Liucheng while Big Turtle transformed, then considered which valuable targets to burn during the three days.

• Qin He mastered the Great Majestic Heavenly Dragon art and examined the items obtained from the Ghost Saber Sect's fighters.
• Qin He gave the Form Transformation Pill to Big Turtle and the Beast Strengthening Pill to Little Yellow Ox.
• Big Turtle learned that the pill could help it transform and eagerly began cleaning the Corpse Burning Furnace before its transformation.
• Qin He agreed to stay in Liucheng for three days and wondered which high-value targets he should burn while Big Turtle was occupied.

After the defenders established a temple to Great Immortal Green Ox, Wei Wu secretly left his tent despite rejecting the faith, and Qin He discovered that Wei Wu had made a sincere wish. Qin He decided to reward him, but the chapter ended before he chose what to give.

• The defenders and townsfolk built a Great Immortal Green Ox Temple from an abandoned City God Temple and carved its statue from a captured battering ram.
• Wei Yuanji urged Wei Wu to worship Great Immortal Green Ox, but Wei Wu condemned kneeling to a false god.
• After Wei Yuanji fell asleep, Wei Wu took a prepared cloth bundle and slipped out of the tent.
• Qin He checked believers' wishes in the Mysterious Little Notebook and planned rewards for those who had worshipped sincerely.
• Qin He was surprised to find Wei Wu's name recorded and began considering a reward for him.

Qin He infiltrated the White Lotus Army camp, forced the central camp gate commander to reveal Protector Yan’s location, and killed Yan without alerting the guards. He rewarded the commander with an Inner Strength Pill, leaving the man eager to help him again.

• Qin He entered the White Lotus Army’s central camp, where the gate commander ordered his men to seize him.
• Qin He used his power to incapacitate the guards and threatened the gate commander into answering questions.
• The gate commander revealed that Protector Yan had moved to the twelfth soldiers’ tent east of the central command tent and that the command tent held a decoy.
• Qin He vanished, killed Protector Yan, and returned carrying his corpse without raising an alarm.
• Qin He rewarded the gate commander with an Inner Strength Pill, and the commander eagerly asked whether he would return.

After Protector Yan was killed, the old man in blue took command of the leaderless army and ordered it to hold its position until reinforcements arrived. Qin He burned Protector Yan’s corpse, confident that the powerful sect elder would yield a good result.

• Demonfolk and heterodox experts discovered Protector Yan’s shattered weapon, his body’s imprint in the tent floor, and several companions trapped in an illusion.
• Yu Balang refused to lead and directed the gathered experts to the old man in blue, who eagerly recommended himself as supervising commander.
• The army accepted the old man in blue’s appointment, and he moved the command’s supplies and Holy Maidens into his tent before ordering the army to tighten its defenses and await reinforcements.
• Yu Balang put away his packed bags after seeing that the army would stay put while reinforcements rode toward them.
• Qin He tossed Protector Yan’s corpse into the Corpse Burning Furnace and went to sleep while it burned.

As Great Immortal Green Ox bestowed teachings on Liucheng, Wei Wu flew into a rage over receiving “Postpartum Care for Sows” and took it out on the furnishings and his fellow Corpse Burning Officials. Qin He arrived to find a crowd watching Wei Wu’s outburst, while Wei Yuanji happily appreciated the powerful saber art he had received.

• Great Immortal Green Ox’s teachings brought joy to many people in Liucheng, but Wei Wu smashed his tent after receiving “Postpartum Care for Sows.”
• Wei Yuanji admired the sixth-grade Ghost Blade Art that the Great Immortal had imprinted directly into his mind.
• Wei Wu learned that Wei Yuanji had received the saber art, then went to the neighboring tent and resumed smashing things while threatening the Corpse Burning Officials.
• Onlookers gathered and speculated that Wei Wu had gone mad because he refused to worship the Immortal.
• Qin He arrived, heard the crowd’s account, and blamed the trouble on unscrupulous spectators egging things on.

Qin He visited a tavern in besieged Liucheng and shared plum wine with its elderly shopkeeper, whose family had fled the epidemic. After discovering the shopkeeper’s grandson and granddaughter-in-law were dead, Qin He reassured him that someone would remain to care for him.

• Qin He entered a nearly empty tavern and ordered wine and food from the old shopkeeper.
• Qin He tasted the shopkeeper’s last pot of plum wine and learned drought had destroyed the plum trees.
• The old shopkeeper told Qin He that an epidemic had emptied Liucheng and that his grandson and granddaughter-in-law had fled.
• Qin He promised the old shopkeeper that his family would return and used his face-reading claim to give him hope.
• Qin He left the tavern and, using the Qi Gazing Technique, realized the grandson and granddaughter-in-law were dead, though someone would still see the old shopkeeper through his final days.

Qin He used the Shadow Play Performance to learn how Yan Yan rose from an illicit salt merchant’s son to a powerful Lotus Sect leader after rescuing Ku Pu and becoming his disciple. Yan Yan’s forces later gathered in the Lu Region, but his banners fell at Liucheng, where a judgment awarded Qin He one wisp of Chaos Qi.

• Qin He returned to the Corpse Burning Chamber and saw Yan Yan’s life through the Shadow Play Performance.
• Yan Yan rescued the wounded Ku Pu and smuggled him out of a besieged city, hoping to gain a cultivation guide.
• Ku Pu made Yan Yan his disciple, taught him his skills, and brought him into the Lotus Sect’s Incense Sect branch.
• After the Flying Fish Guard executed Yan Yan’s relatives, Yan Yan raided imperial resources and rose to become one of the Incense Sect’s three great leaders.
• Yan Yan recruited more than ten thousand troops in the Lu Region and became the Lotus Sect’s Left Protector, but his forces fell at Liucheng.
• The Black Robed Man delivered a judgment on Yan Yan and awarded Qin He one wisp of Chaos Qi.

Qin He received a wisp of Chaos Qi, found it impossibly heavy and difficult to control, and stored it away before consuming pills and Power Fruits to strengthen himself. At Jinan City, the Lotus Sect learned that Yan Yan and his force had been destroyed in Liucheng, and the Cult Leader ordered the Thousand Corpse Ghost Mother to investigate Great Immortal Green Ox while the sect prepared to attack Jinan.

• Qin He discovered that the wisp of Chaos Qi weighed ten thousand jun and passed through his hand when he tried to apply force, so he stored it in his Armpit Space.
• Qin He burned Yan Yan's remains, then swallowed more than a dozen Power Fruits and several Marrow Cleansing Pills to improve his strength.
• A fast rider told the Lotus Sect's leaders that Yan Yan had vanished and that his force had lost its experts in Liucheng, ruining the planned surprise attack on Linqing.
• Xu Hong learned that the Corpse Burning Team in Liucheng had been worshipping Great Immortal Green Ox and recalled the figure's connection to the failed uprising in the Capital City.
• The Lotus Sect Cult Leader ordered an all-out assault on Jinan City that night and sent the Thousand Corpse Ghost Mother to investigate Liucheng from a distance.

Qin He patrolled the Lotus Sect camp, killing a murderous bald man and collecting his corpse before seeking out the camp’s strongest figures. He entered Li Yao’s tent and found the Flying Corpse King questioning the adviser about what had happened.

• Qin He used two fingers to catch the bald man’s cleaver, struck him with the Great Black Shovel, and swallowed him into the Corpse Bag.
• Qin He continued patrolling and asked gatekeeper Ding Zong to identify the strongest people in the camp.
• Ding Zong told Qin He that the new Dharma Protector Military Supervisor, Li Yao, and Yu Balang were the camp’s strongest figures.
• The Flying Corpse King ate most of a Holy Maiden’s corpse and asked Li Yao to explain what had happened.
• Qin He entered Li Yao’s tent and greeted him and the Flying Corpse King.