Chapter Summaries

Qin He defeated the Bat King with his Sparrow Step and Great Iron Shovel, then burned the immobilized demon with Abyssal Fire. After the Bat King turned to ash, a Shadow Play Performance showed Qin He its life.

• The Bat King attacked Qin He, but he dodged with Sparrow Step and struck it repeatedly with his Great Iron Shovel.
• The Bat King demanded that Qin He stop hitting its face, but Qin He struck its crotch instead and broke its fighting spirit.
• The Bat King tried to flee through the locked door, and Qin He pinned it to the door with fifty Corpse Suppressing Nails.
• Qin He split the door for firewood and burned the Bat King with Abyssal Fire.
• After more than two hours, the Bat King turned to ash, and a Shadow Play Performance showed Qin He its life.

Qin He learned how the Bat King and Cao Heizhi caused the Fang County plague, earned the Art of Calling Wind and Rain, and considered turning the scheme into a source of merit. Cao Heizhi returned to find the Bat King dead, while Qin He knew Cao had started the plot and had other plans for him.

• The Bat King's Shadow Play revealed how it gained power and colluded with Cao Heizhi to spread plague, deceive worshippers, and steal merit and money.
• The Black Robed Man awarded Qin He the Art of Calling Wind and Rain, which required merit, and Qin He learned that merit came from fulfilling fervent wishes and vows.
• Qin He realized he might adapt the Bat King's scheme to gather merit on a large scale.
• Cao Heizhi returned to the secret chamber with his men and found Qin He beside the Bat King's burning corpse.
• Cao Heizhi knelt and claimed the Bat Demon had coerced him, but Qin He knew Cao had initiated the collusion and considered what to do next.

Qin He turned the bandits’ treasure into a reward for helping him establish the Great Immortal Green Ox shrine, then left with thousands of merit points. A Great Monk arrived afterward, found the Bat King’s corpse and ox dung, and realized he had found someone he was pursuing.

• Qin He frightened Cao Heizhi and the bandits into surrendering the treasure, then promised it back if they helped him gather merit.
• Cao Heizhi replaced the Bat deity statues with a painting of Qin He and spread the story of the Great Immortal Green Ox.
• Qin He secretly put pills in the temple well, and healed worshippers caused merit to rise to five thousand as Cao Heizhi organized the shrine’s services.
• Qin He left the treasure behind and rode home, while his Qi Gazing Technique showed that the bandits faced death and the treasure carried heavy karma.
• A Great Monk reached the temple, saw the Bat King’s corpse and ox dung, tasted the dung, and declared that he had finally found his quarry.

Shen Lian returned to the Capital City and ordered the second arrest squad to accompany him to Fang County to investigate its bat demon. Back at the temporary Corpse Burning Facility, Qin He tried to hide his encounter with a Great Monk and rallied the corpse burners to deal with the monk, who had tracked him there.

• Shen Lian arrived at the Capital City, received reports of supernatural incidents, and ordered the second arrest squad to accompany him to Fang County.
• Xu Xianchun and Tian Ergeng realized that the Flying Fish Guard had bypassed them and did not treat them as leaders.
• Qin He returned to the temporary Corpse Burning Facility, told Xu Changshou he had been trapped in a ghostly maze, and watched his merit rise to seven thousand.
• Qin He heard the Great Monk confronting an old water deliverer and realized the monk had followed him to Fang County.
• Qin He tried to get the corpse burners to help the old man, then promised that anyone who stayed behind would miss his next feast, prompting them to agree.

Qin He drove off a Great Monk who accused Old Man Ge’s calf of ramming him. At Xianyun Temple, Cao Heizhi tried to escape with stolen silver but was cornered by Shen Lian’s Flying Fish Guard, and a courier reported that the Bat King had been burned to ashes.

• Qin He sided with Old Man Ge, secretly made him fall, and shouted that the Great Monk was beating people until the monk fled.
• Cao Heizhi searched Xianyun Temple for the vanished cow-riding deity, then decided to break their deal and flee with the silver.
• Shen Lian and the Flying Fish Guard surrounded Cao Heizhi and the mountain bandits at the temple.
• Cao Heizhi committed suicide rather than be captured, and Shen Lian ordered him recorded as wanted criminal number one hundred thirty-nine.
• A Flying Fish Factory courier told Shen Lian that the Bat King had been burned into ashes.

Shen Lian’s team investigated the Bat King’s hideout and discovered clues linking a mysterious Great Immortal Green Ox to Wei Wu. Meanwhile, Chang Wen detained Wei Wu and subjected him to Shen Lian’s bizarre questioning procedure, leaving Wei Wu furious and charging at him.

• Shen Lian, Yuwen Jing, and Ji Chenliang examined the secret chamber, where investigators found the Bat King’s remains, cow dung with a finger hole, and a portrait of Great Immortal Green Ox.
• A junior banner officer reported that water from a well healed plague sores, and Shen Lian told the officers to wait for the interrogation results.
• Captured bandits identified the Great Immortal Green Ox as Wei Wu, Tu Baishou’s disciple.
• Wei Yuanji complained to Wei Wu that Qin He was causing trouble, but Chang Wen arrived and took Wei Wu away for questioning.
• Chang Wen questioned Wei Wu about his movements and trivial details, including his interest in cow dung, until Wei Wu erupted and charged at him with his chair.

Qin He took advantage of Wei Wu’s absence to move his furnace away from the Soul-Capturing Lamp and burn several plague corpses, earning a useful technique. The night’s work was interrupted when plague cases broke out among the Corpse Burners.

• Qin He revealed that he had disguised himself as Wei Wu at Xianyun Temple, then moved his furnace beyond the Soul-Capturing Lamp’s reach while Wei Wu was away.
• Qin He hauled away a cart of six corpses, and Xu Changshou persuaded Wei Yuanji that Qin He was mentally unwell.
• Qin He burned two corpses outside the lamp’s range and saw one twitch, confirming that his method worked.
• Qin He received a Power Fruit and the Artifact Polishing Technique, learned the technique, and continued cremating corpses.
• Two Corpse Burners from the Northern City facility collapsed with the plague, followed by three more from the Western and Southern City facilities.

Qin He watched the plague spread through the temporary Corpse Burning Facility as many workers fell ill and Chang Wen led most of the others toward Xianyun Temple. Near dawn, Qin He burned Song Yinglong’s corpse and learned how the County Assistant Official’s son had been fooled into believing he was immune to blades and poison, before the plague killed him.

• Four Corpse Burners collapsed after five others fell ill, bringing the total to nine, and the duty officers isolated them.
• Chang Wen ordered the temporary Corpse Burning Facility to head for Xianyun Temple, while Qin He and Xu Changshou stayed behind with the East City workers.
• Qin He burned Song Yinglong’s corpse and recalled how his father, County Assistant Official Song, had pushed him to study from childhood.
• Song Yinglong rebelled by choosing a swindler as his martial arts master, paid him thousands of taels, and believed he had mastered an invulnerable Iron Cloth Shirt.
• Song Yinglong repeatedly tested his supposed immunity, then visited plague victims to test his poison resistance and died three days later.
• The Shadow Play Performance awarded Qin He the Beast Speech Technique.

Qin He collected rewards while helping contain the plague in Fang County, then gave Little Calf a Beast Strengthening Pill before leaving with the returning convoy. The plague was under control, and Wei Wu returned to the city furious after learning someone had used his face to impersonate him.

• Qin He learned Beast Speech Technique and reflected on Song Yinglong and the many victims of the plague.
• Qin He received years of inner strength and Dao Xing along with a Beast Strengthening Pill after burning six corpses.
• The Flying Fish Guard distributed Qin He's well water, quickly curbing the plague and leaving Qin He with few corpses to burn.
• Qin He gave Little Calf the Beast Strengthening Pill, and Little Calf followed its mother away after the old man repaired the ox cart.
• The Five City Marshal's Office convoy departed for home, while Wei Wu returned to the city and learned that someone had impersonated him at Xianyun Temple.

Qin He returned to the East City Corpse Burning Facility and learned that Di Barbarian spies had killed everyone who had stayed behind. After finding a fresh blade mark on his iron door, he decided the attack was his business and slipped out with the Big Black Shovel.

• Qin He returned from Fang County with the other Corpse Burners, while the Corpse Burners celebrated their hidden stash of white-flour steamed buns.
• Yang Baitu told the group that Di Barbarian spies had attacked the facility and killed every Corpse Burner trapped in the Corpse Burning Rooms.
• The surviving Corpse Burners returned to their rooms in silence, and Qin He went to sleep after dismissing the dead as none of his concern.
• Xu Changshou checked on Qin He, who pretended to be asleep until the door closed.
• Qin He found a fresh blade notch in his iron door, decided the damage made the attack his business, and escaped through the roof with the Big Black Shovel.

Old Striker witnessed a mysterious killer slaughter Di Barbarian spies in Ling'an Alley and reported the incident. At dawn, Shen Lian and the Flying Fish Guard examined the burned ruins and began investigating the killer's overwhelming brute strength.

• Old Striker heard screams and saw pale-red flames erupt in Ling'an Alley during his night patrol.
• A Di Barbarian stumbled out of the alley and was pinned to a wall by a projectile from a blurred figure, who dragged away his body.
• Old Striker hid, escaped through an abandoned house, and reported what he had witnessed to the West City Marshal's Office.
• Flying Fish Guard elites and Five City Marshal's Office soldiers tried and failed to extinguish the fire as it consumed the residence overnight.
• Shen Lian, Yuwen Jing, and Ji Chenliang examined the ruins and learned the dead were Di Barbarian spies and the killer had relied on extraordinary brute force.
• Shen Lian ordered the Hundred-Household Officer to continue investigating and compile the killer's characteristics.

After Qin He destroyed the Di Barbarian spy den, the Capital City buzzed with rumors and the Flying Fish Guard confirmed thirteen agents had been killed. Gantuji and Liu Changan feared the retaliation and sought reinforcements, while Qin He reviewed his rewards from the raid.

• Xu Changshou praised the unknown hero who destroyed the Di Barbarian den, while Qin He ate noodles with him.
• The Flying Fish Guard confirmed that the burned location had been a nest of Di Barbarian spies and that thirteen agents had died.
• Gantuji and Liu Changan discussed the destruction of their den and feared the expert connected to the East City Corpse Burning Facility.
• Liu Changan urged Gantuji to request reinforcements from Lord Aquina, and a carrier pigeon flew north from the Liu Residence.
• Qin He returned to the Corpse Burning Room and reviewed the rewards from the four Elite Bayala Members whose corpses remained intact.

Qin He learned two secret techniques and discovered that feeding the wounded Big Turtle let him communicate with it. After hearing that the turtle was Ao Jiao, the Great King Turtle’s son, Qin He asked whether it could summon its father.

• Qin He learned the Wind-Listening Position-Discernment Technique and Shape-Shifting, then combined the first technique with Wind-Following Ear to detect and strike a centipede through a door.
• Qin He found Big Turtle injured but alive in a water bucket and fed it a steamed bun instead of killing it.
• The Beast Speech Technique activated, allowing Qin He and Big Turtle to speak because Qin He had begun raising it.
• Big Turtle identified itself as the son of Ao Jiao, the Great King Turtle, and threatened Qin He with its father’s wrath.
• Qin He recognized Ao Jiao as the water god of the Tonghui River stretch and asked Big Turtle to summon him.

Qin He forced Big Turtle to summon his father, Ao Jiao, the Great King Turtle, intending to kill and eat him. At the Grand Canal after nightfall, Big Turtle finally cried out for his father to save him.

• Qin He repeatedly urged Big Turtle to summon Ao Jiao, the Great King Turtle, and revealed his eagerness to kill and cook him.
• Qin He threatened Big Turtle with a kitchen knife until Big Turtle disclosed that touching the Grand Canal’s water would summon his father.
• Qin He waited until nightfall, then carried Big Turtle and Big Black Shovel to the Grand Canal.
• Qin He tied Big Turtle near the water and pressed Big Black Shovel onto his shattered shell when he hesitated.
• Big Turtle screamed for Ao Jiao, the Great King Turtle, to save him.

Qin He lured Ao Jiao, the Great King Turtle, onto shore to rescue Big Turtle, but Ao Jiao escaped after Qin He struck him with the Great Iron Shovel. Big Turtle then called for another turtle relative to save him, leaving Qin He intrigued by the other powerful creatures in the canal.

• Ao Jiao, the Great King Turtle, arrived from the Tonghui River but refused to leave the water, and he and Qin He argued over who should approach the other.
• Big Turtle told his father that Qin He had no helpers, prompting Ao Jiao, the Great King Turtle, to charge onto shore.
• Qin He dodged Ao Jiao's water arrow and smashed his head with the Great Iron Shovel, sending him flying and breaking his teeth.
• Ao Jiao, the Great King Turtle, used Earth Escape to return to the river and fled, promising to cultivate for two hundred years before rescuing Big Turtle.
• Qin He set Big Turtle by the water, and Big Turtle called for his Uncle Turtle King next door to save him.

Qin He returned to the Corpse Burning Facility after his fight with Ao Jiao, the Great King Turtle, and safely burned the night’s corpse. Through Shadow Play Performance, he learned how Zhao Qing had made money by using elaborate congratulations to pressure celebration hosts into paying increasingly large sums.

• Qin He examined Big Turtle on the way back and found unusual raised patterns on its shell that it had been born with.
• Qin He returned to the Corpse Burning Facility and tossed the begging Big Turtle into its bucket.
• Qin He burned the assigned corpse without incident and used Shadow Play Performance to discover Zhao Qing’s life story.
• Zhao Qing attended wealthy households’ celebrations and offered auspicious congratulations in exchange for silver.
• Zhao Qing doubled his demanded payment after each congratulatory verse, using the host’s pride and the guests’ cheers to extract more than a hundred taels of silver.

Qin He received Zhao Qing’s endlessly replenishing notebook after Zhao Qing was killed for extorting Master Cao, then went about his day and prepared to cook. The Big Turtle offered to reveal a secret in exchange for its life.

• Zhao Qing extorted more than four hundred taels from Master Cao at his son’s wedding, then was beaten to death and had his tongue cut out.
• The Black Robed Man judged Zhao Qing and rewarded Qin He with a mysterious notebook that never ran out of pages.
• Qin He considered the troubled world’s tangled ideas of right and wrong, then watched Zhao Qing’s ashes wash away when no family came to claim them.
• Qin He bought Coffin Nails from Tie Sanqi and later gathered ingredients to cook himself a spicy meal.
• When Qin He prepared to cut meat, the Big Turtle begged him to put away his knife and offered a secret in exchange for its life.

Qin He learned that a scarred Corpse Burner had searched his belongings, then enjoyed a meal with Big Turtle before visiting Mass Grave. After driving off a huge pack of dogs, he used Qi Gazing Technique to locate and dig up a buried coffin.

• Big Turtle told Qin He that a scarred man dressed like a Corpse Burner had rummaged through his things while he was away.
• Qin He cooked lunch and shared buns and spicy meat with Big Turtle, who praised the meat after learning Qin had burned someone who rejected it.
• Qin He went to Mass Grave, where he fought off a pack of dogs led by a huge dog and claimed the nearby graves as his territory.
• Qin He used Qi Gazing Technique to spot strange streams rising from the ground and began digging at the nearest one.
• After digging for half an hour, Qin He uncovered a coffin.

Qin He uncovered a powerful Corpse Consort beneath the Mass Grave and chased it through the docks and into the city, accidentally igniting a massive gang war. He lost the corpse in the alleys, then vented his frustration by defeating Yuan Sanjiang and the Three Rivers Gang.

• Qin He opened a deeply buried coffin in the Mass Grave, releasing a torrent of Corpse Qi and a fast-moving Corpse Consort.
• Qin He chased the Corpse Consort into a Three Rivers Gang warehouse and repeatedly smashed its boats, supplies, and buildings while gang members pursued them.
• The Corpse Consort fled through the docks and neighboring gang territories, triggering a sprawling battle that alarmed the Eastern City Marshal's Office.
• Qin He lost the Corpse Consort in the Capital City's alleys and returned to the docks after nightfall.
• Yuan Sanjiang confronted Qin He over the destruction, but Qin He defeated him and the Three Rivers Gang members with Street Brawl Technique, calling himself Wei Wu of the Corpse Burning Hall.

Qin He forged a first-rank Merit Golden Body and prepared larger Corpse Suppressing Nails after the Corpse Consort escaped him. Meanwhile, a masked figure learned that Shen Lian had returned to the Capital City, and Shen Lian began investigating the growing mystery surrounding the Corpse in Burial Robes and other disappearances.

• Qin He reviewed his weaknesses, spent more than seventy thousand merit points to forge a first-rank Merit Golden Body, and gained a protective barrier that restrained evil beings.
• Qin He prepared two hundred oversized Corpse Suppressing Nails and resolved to hunt the Corpse Consort after upgrading himself.
• At the Mass Grave, a masked black-robed figure reprimanded a giant wolf for failing to stop an intruder dressed as a Corpse Burner and ordered it to guard the site.
• Yuwen Jing reported to Shen Lian that Wei Wu had chased a Corpse in Burial Robes into the Capital City and that Great Immortal Green Ox had appeared.
• Shen Lian identified the Corpse in Burial Robes as one of the corpses stolen in Sichuan and connected the incident to the missing Punishment Slaves and An Baogu, as well as the Bat King’s unexplained death.