Chapter Summaries

Qin He fought through a corpse horde in Copper Drum Village, then overheard Shen Lian and Ji Chenliang discuss the possibility that the outbreak was connected to the Shiju. Shen Lian sensed an old acquaintance nearby, but Qin He disappeared into the fog as they went deeper to search for the zombie.

• Qin He smashed more than a hundred vicious corpses with his Great Iron Shovel after the horde attacked him.
• A muffled roar made the remaining corpses flee, and Qin He heard fighting elsewhere before moving toward it.
• Ji Chenliang and Shen Lian defeated another corpse horde, and Shen Lian said Copper Drum Village had been destroyed.
• Shen Lian identified the possible threat as the Shiju from Case file Number 107, The Vanished Shiju, and said they were trapped inside its formation.
• Qin He overheard their discussion and vanished into the fog, while Shen Lian sensed an old acquaintance and continued searching for the zombie with Ji Chenliang.

Qin He overheard An Zhongjiu and Feng Jingyu’s factions joining Ermahun’s scheme to eliminate Shen Lian, and decided to disrupt it while pursuing the Shiju. He disguised himself as An Zhongjiu and entered the mist to confront Ermahun.

• An Zhongjiu killed Shiju and admitted he would pursue their corpse cores despite realizing Ermahun was using him against Shen Lian.
• Qin He marked An Zhongjiu and his followers as they disappeared into the mist.
• Feng Jingyu and his black-cloaked master arrived, recognized An Zhongjiu’s tracks, and agreed to cooperate with Ermahun to remove Shen Lian.
• Qin He concluded that Ermahun’s scheme had to be disrupted and that he could potentially ally with Shen Lian and An Zhongjiu against the Shiju.
• Qin He altered his face and physique to resemble An Zhongjiu, then entered the mist to find Ermahun.

Qin He met Ermahun in the mist and pretended to accept his offer of a corpse pill and an alliance against Shiju and Shen Lian. He attacked Ermahun, killed his hunting falcon, and sent Ermahun fleeing, while An Zhongjiu mistook the distant shouting for a call and went to investigate.

• Ermahun emerged from the mist and invited Qin He to join King Di in dividing the realm, offering a corpse pill and proposing that they eliminate Shiju and Shen Lian.
• Qin He pretended to agree, then struck Ermahun across the face with his overwhelming inner force.
• Ermahun's hunting falcon attacked Qin He, who killed it with a flick before Ermahun escaped into the mist.
• Ermahun shouted that he and An Zhongjiu were irreconcilable, and the real An Zhongjiu heard the voice from afar.
• An Zhongjiu followed the shouting with his two followers, believing Ermahun was calling for him.

Qin He used the alias Ermahun to lure An Zhongjiu and Xu Hong into accepting King Di’s offer to divide the realm, then slapped them and escaped into the fog. Shen Lian and Ji Chenliang heard the clashes and realized several of their acquaintances were nearby.

• Ermahun approached An Zhongjiu with a corpse-core offer and an invitation to join King Di, then struck him and sent him flying.
• Qin He killed An Zhongjiu’s two attendants with his shovel and looted them before escaping into the fog.
• The black-cloaked man and Feng Jingyu heard An Zhongjiu’s roar and went to investigate, where Qin He appeared as Ermahun.
• Qin He praised Feng Jingyu and invited Xu Hong to divide the realm with King Di, then slapped Xu Hong and escaped while Feng Jingyu fled.
• Shen Lian and Ji Chenliang heard brief, furious clashes from different directions, and Shen Lian noted that several acquaintances were in the fog.

Qin He searched for Shiju, found an empty coffin, then cooked and ate part of Ermahun’s falcon at a coal storehouse. He followed the sounds of fighting and watched An Zhongjiu and Ermahun clash, with neither man backing down.

• Qin He found the empty stone coffin at the dock and saw that its carvings seemed intended to nurture a corpse.
• Qin He discovered a coal storehouse, subdued two vicious corpses, and roasted the falcon corpse he had brought with him.
• Qin He ate half the falcon, then used his Marking Technique and Wind-Listening Position-Discernment Technique to follow An Zhongjiu and Ermahun’s fight.
• An Zhongjiu and Ermahun traded powerful attacks, and Ermahun nearly severed An Zhongjiu’s neck before both men pulled back to recover.
• An Zhongjiu accused Ermahun of killing his attendants, while Ermahun demanded his falcon back, and they charged at each other again as Qin He kept eating.

After burning the Chen Brothers’ corpses, Qin He learned how their suffering and revenge had led them to become brutal servants of An Zhongjiu. His reward was Gale Technique, which he tested until he could stack it for a burst of speed, then used it on An Zhongjiu as Ermahun and Xu Hong pursued him nearby.

• Qin He watched Ermahun flee with Xu Hong and An Zhongjiu chasing him, then returned to the coal shed and burned the Chen Brothers’ bodies.
• Shadow Play Performance revealed how corrupt officials destroyed the Chen family, how An Zhongjiu saved the Chen Brothers, and how they later took revenge before committing further atrocities for the Corpse Refining Gate.
• The Soul-Snatching Shadow Lamp awarded Qin He a Power Fruit and a copy of Gale Technique.
• Qin He discovered that Gale Technique had to be cast on both feet and could be stacked to reach roughly triple speed.
• Ermahun, An Zhongjiu, and Xu Hong passed nearby, and Qin He cast Gale Technique on An Zhongjiu.

Shen Lian wondered why An Zhongjiu, Xu Hong, and Ermahun had appeared in the fog and turned on one another. Elsewhere, Great Monk captured Wei Wu and Little Calf, then prepared to make Wei Wu pay him back for the cow dung humiliations.

• An Zhongjiu suddenly accelerated, caught up to Ermahun, and chased him into the fog with Xu Hong.
• Ji Chenliang identified Ermahun as a Di Barbarian general, and Shen Lian questioned why the three men were fighting over a corpse pill.
• Great Monk caught Wei Wu after Little Calf returned to him, sealed Wei Wu's acupoints, and tied Little Calf to a tree.
• Great Monk confronted Wei Wu about twice making him poke cow dung during Flying Fish Guard interrogations.
• Little Calf produced fresh dung, and Great Monk threatened Wei Wu with his own Wolf Tooth Club until Wei Wu tried to negotiate.

Qin He witnessed the Shiju form from the ferocious corpses and drew it into battle with An Zhongjiu, Shen Lian, and Xu Hong. As the group fought the regenerating monster, Ermahun used a talisman to escape the fog, but Qin He pulled him back with Shape-Shifting.

• Qin He watched the Shiju gather the ferocious corpses into a towering, regenerating monster, which chased him through the fog.
• The Shiju found An Zhongjiu and Xu Hong, and Qin He used Gale Technique to double its speed and prevent them from escaping.
• An Zhongjiu fought back but was overwhelmed, then called for help as the Shiju drove him into a desperate retreat.
• Shen Lian joined the battle and cut the Shiju's thigh, then An Zhongjiu attacked alongside him and Xu Hong came to their aid.
• Qin He found Ermahun using a talisman to pass through the fog, then used Shape-Shifting to pull him back.

Ermahun tried to escape Shiju with a precious talisman, but Qin He’s intervention trapped him in the mist. Qin He returned to the corpse-burning camp and then aided the fight against Shiju, which still raged on as a new presence arrived.

• Ermahun used the Fox Clan’s Obstacle Breaking Talisman to flee the mist, but Qin He’s trick sent him back inside and left him roaring helplessly.
• Qin He returned to the corpse-burning camp disguised as Wei Wu and learned that six corpses remained to be burned.
• Qin He loaded the six corpses into two furnaces and suppressed them so they burned without stirring, then left Wei Yuanji to handle the rest.
• Qin He returned to the battlefield, where Ermahun had joined Shen Lian, An Zhongjiu, and Xu Hong against Shiju.
• Qin He cast the Gale Technique on the four fighters, helping them gain the upper hand, but Shiju kept regenerating until a new presence appeared nearby.

Ji Chenliang and the chief disciple of Lingyun Temple struggled to find a way to defeat the Shiju until a monk fell from the sky. Qin He gathered his team and watched the Shiju get struck down, then pursued Ermahun, who had fled with it.

• Ji Chenliang asked the chief disciple of Lingyun Temple for a way to defeat the Shiju, but the Taoist said they needed a monk from Golden Light Temple.
• A monk crashed into the mist, and Qin He explained that he had kicked him there after assembling his team outside.
• Qin He rode Little Calf around the mist and waited as a golden war blade struck the wounded Shiju amid heavenly lightning.
• Ermahun and another figure fled the mist, and Qin He pursued them after sensing that Ermahun had taken the Shiju to claim its spoils.

Qin He repeatedly used Gale Technique to help An Zhongjiu fight Ermahun while teaching Little Calf a simplified Night Concealment Technique. After An Zhongjiu killed Ermahun, Qin He accelerated only one of An Zhongjiu’s legs, and the corpse vanished beneath a strange set of invisible legs.

• Qin He cast triple Gale Technique on An Zhongjiu, who chased Ermahun while Qin He watched from atop Little Calf.
• Qin He spent most of his Merit teaching Little Calf a simplified Night Concealment Technique, which concealed its body but left its four legs visible.
• When An Zhongjiu’s Gale Technique wore off, Ermahun fled, so Qin He cast another triple Gale Technique on An Zhongjiu.
• An Zhongjiu caught Ermahun just before the Gale Technique expired and killed him with a heavy punch, then moved toward the Corpse Bag holding the Shiju’s original body.
• Qin He cast a one-leg Gale Technique on An Zhongjiu, whose left leg accelerated and injured him as he approached Ermahun’s corpse.
• Hooves sounded, and Ermahun’s corpse disappeared as four disembodied-looking legs moved away, leaving An Zhongjiu frightened.

Qin He returned to the Corpse Burning Facility with two stolen corpses and began cremating them, while his coworkers worried that his increasingly erratic behavior needed treatment. He learned more about the Shiju and left Big Turtle to keep burning it, only to discover that the Beast Strengthening Pill had made Big Turtle hungrier.

• Qin He raced back to the Corpse Burning Facility with Little Calf after taking Shiju and Ermahun, leaving An Zhongjiu behind.
• Ling Zhonghai and the others wondered whether Qin He’s behavior was worsening and decided Xu Changshou would take him to a fortune teller who might treat madness.
• Qin He used a Soundproofing Technique while cleaning the corpses, and Big Turtle identified the strange corpse as a Shiju that feared heavenly lightning.
• Qin He found that Ermahun’s corpse burned normally but the Shiju burned very slowly, so he told Big Turtle to keep working on it over multiple nights.
• Big Turtle’s stomach growled, and it told Qin He that the Beast Strengthening Pill made it hungry more often.

After the Copper Drum Village incident, Shen Lian investigated what the group had overlooked and learned that snow had begun falling as northern threats gathered. Qin He treated the Corpse Burners to celebrate the first snowfall, then Xu Changshou took him to an old blind fortune-teller for an assessment of his strange behavior.

• Shen Lian ordered Ji Chenliang to bring back the monk who had fled when the mist formation broke and discussed the worsening northern crisis and grain supplies.
• Snow fell over the land, and Qin He treated the Corpse Burners to food and wine as promised.
• Xu Changshou urged Qin He to save his money, then took him to a fortune-teller in Changling Alley.
• Xu Changshou listed Qin He's many peculiar habits for the old blind man, who judged that Qin He's illness was serious.

Qin He warned the fortune-teller not to calculate his fate, but Iron Mouth Divine Calculation ignored him and was struck by heavenly lightning. Qin He then blamed the man for his own misfortune before complaining that his Candied Hawthorn Skewers tasted wrong.

• Qin He denied being sick and exposed the old man’s poor eyesight by pulling down his trousers, prompting Xu Changshou to leave.
• After Qin He left, the old man noticed his unusual fate and secretly calculated that Qin He was no longer among the living.
• Qin He returned and warned the old man that calculating his fate would bring terrible bad luck.
• Iron Mouth Divine Calculation used coins and a tortoiseshell to investigate Qin He’s fate, and heavenly lightning destroyed his fortune-telling stall.
• Qin He watched from a distance, said the old man had been warned, and complained about his Candied Hawthorn Skewers; the hawker said radishes had gone up in price.

Qin He discovered that Liang Shijie had broken his promise to fund a temple, leaving Laifu to establish the shabby Immortal Green Ox Temple himself. Back at the Corpse Burning Facility, Qin He learned that officials’ salaries had been suspended and was invited to join the others in skimming coal.

• Qin He saw Liang Shijie's grand procession and learned from Laifu that Liang Shijie had denied promising money for a temple and thrown Laifu out.
• Laifu showed Qin He the dilapidated Immortal Green Ox Temple he had patched together and explained that he had spent his own money on it.
• Qin He left Laifu a bag of white flour, then returned to the Corpse Burning Facility for a meal with his coworkers.
• Ling Zhonghai told Qin He that the Nine Borders were under pressure and the emperor had suspended officials’ salaries, while prices kept rising.
• Ling Zhonghai, Li Tie, and Gao Linkun proposed skimming coal to support their families and told Qin He he had to join them.

Qin He burned Ermahun’s corpse and gained the Sound Listening Technique, then spent several quiet days in the Corpse Burning Room. The chapter ended with Qin He learning that Lady of Sacred Reverence would leave the palace the next day and watching the Imperial Forest Guards rush a heated crate toward the city.

• Qin He burned Ermahun’s corpse and saw how the former slave rose to become a powerful Di Barbarian commander before Shen Lian killed him.
• The Black Robed Man awarded Qin He the Sound Listening Technique, which let him sense prayers and the joys and sorrows of living beings.
• Qin He burned two more corpses, received two Power Fruits, and gave them to Big Turtle and Little Calf.
• Qin He spent the following snowy days drinking, eating, and staying mostly inside the Corpse Burning Room.
• Qin He watched Imperial Forest Guards escort a heated wooden crate from the docks and heard that Lady of Sacred Reverence would leave the palace to pray at Guangyuan Temple.

Lady Ke left the Imperial Palace in a lavish procession and received a desperate petition from Li Zhongyang, who begged for disaster relief in famine-stricken Valley County. After promising to pass along his blood letter, her handsome attendant lured Li Zhongyang and the refugees away and killed them for their faces.

• Lady Ke’s procession entered the city as officials scrambled for her Promotion Beans.
• Li Zhongyang and several dozen refugees stopped the phoenix carriage and pleaded for relief from the famine in Valley County.
• Lady Ke accepted Li Zhongyang’s blood letter and promised to pass it on, while her handsome attendant silently signaled agreement.
• The attendant led Li Zhongyang and the refugees to a secluded place sealed off by soldiers, then revealed that he wanted their faces.
• The attendant used ghost-painted handkerchiefs to turn Li Zhongyang and the refugees into Faceless Corpses, and ordered the soldiers to bury them.

Lady Ke secretly bathed in Human Medicine produced by the handsome man’s Soul Ghost to preserve her youth, then set out from Guangyuan Temple. Qin He ambushed her procession, and the chapter ended as he struck at a eunuch with his great shovel.

• Lady Ke arrived at Guangyuan Temple to pray for the Emperor, the people of Great Li, and peace across the realm.
• Lady Ke met the handsome man in private and learned that he had arranged everything, then ordered him to provide Human Medicine monthly and promised to help him become commander of the Flying Fish Guard.
• The handsome man used his Soul Ghost to add Human Medicine to Lady Ke’s bath, and she bathed before the two became intimate.
• Lady Ke left the temple in her palanquin, but Qin He used Dream Weaving Art to approach her procession unseen by its guards.
• Three gray-haired eunuchs and the handsome man moved to protect Lady Ke, while one eunuch attacked Qin He.
• Qin He seized the attacking eunuch, weakened his wandering dragon with a Merit Golden Body, and swung his great shovel at him.

Qin He attacked Lady Ke’s escort, defeated the Dragon Guard Eunuchs, and pursued King Yu and Lady Ke toward the palace. He immobilized King Yu’s Soul Ghosts and cornered Lady Ke, while King Yu escaped.

• Qin He struck down the Dragon Guard Eunuchs protecting Lady Ke’s carriage and used Shape-Shifting to reach her.
• Qin He caught up with King Yu near the Imperial Palace, where King Yu summoned two Soul Ghosts and a ghost domain.
• Qin He used the Thirty-Six Spirit Suppressing Forms to immobilize the first Soul Ghost, while King Yu threw Lady Ke aside and tried to flee.
• Qin He struck King Yu with Corpse Suppressing Nails, then subdued the second Soul Ghost and destroyed both ghosts.
• Lady Ke begged Qin He for her life and offered him power and wealth, but he refused and prepared to kill her.

King Yu fled the Capital City after the assassin destroyed his plans and took a Soul Devouring Pill to escape pursuit. He reached an abandoned temple seeking help, but two Herb Gathering Pawns killed him after mistaking his words for a familiar trick.

• Qin He killed Lady Ke, packed her corpse into a yellow cloth sack, and left the Ermahun token behind.
• King Yu escaped the Capital City while gravely wounded, knowing the assassin and Shen Lian would pursue him.
• King Yu swallowed a Soul Devouring Pill, expelled the Corpse Suppressing Nails, and raced toward an abandoned temple outside the Capital City.
• King Yu found two Herb Gathering Pawns in the temple and claimed he was one of them.
• The two pawns attacked King Yu with ghost-faced handkerchiefs and killed him, still wary after being tricked by someone who had used the same words.