Chapter Summaries

Li Yan consulted Dragon Girl about Black Scale Lord and learned that the key from Bai Gong’s belly matched a gate inside Shennong Peak. After Zou Yu gathered the mountain’s beasts and spirits, Li Yan’s group reached the peak as the Heavenly Saint Sect attacked the imperial army and the True Martial Palace’s ritual altar.

• Li Yan used the Dragon Pattern Jade Tablet to contact Dragon Girl, who showed him a bronze gate inside Shennong Peak with eight keyholes matching the key from Bai Gong.
• Zou Yu recovered, became the remaining mountain god after Bai Gong’s death, and led Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, Sha LiFei, Lu San, and others toward Shennong Peak with an army of beasts and spirits.
• Xiao TianXiong ordered the Heavenly Saint Sect to assault the imperial army, and its Demon Army’s hand cannons blasted a gap in the imperial formation.
• Yu Longzi and Gu Linzi defended the True Martial Palace’s ritual altar against Xiao TianXiong, Huang LiuShi, and the Five Dragons Disciples as miasma spread across the battlefield.
• Li Yan led his companions through a hidden cave into Shennong Peak, entering the Yang Aperture while the Heavenly Saint Sect’s resurrection site lay in the Yin Aperture.

Li Yan and his companions discovered that Wang JiEn’s men had damaged the Dragon Suppression Stakes, and the leaked dragon qi triggered Black Scale Lord’s dragon walk and catastrophic floods. They rushed to the lake, where Zou Yu’s beasts attacked the Heavenly Saint Sect disciples as Li Yan prepared to face what was rising from the water.

• Li Yan opened the bronze door and found a dragon cave containing destroyed Dragon Suppression Stakes and the remains of Daoists killed by powerful Gu worms.
• Li Yan read a letter linking Wang JiEn to a plot to destroy the stakes, and he concluded that a Mystical Arts Sect expert had killed the saboteurs and stationed the Shen Kui Tribe to guard the site.
• After Li Yan’s group sealed the cave and left, Black Scale Lord began the dragon walk, bringing torrential rain and floods across Shennongjia.
• Imperial troops and the Wudang Daoists retreated uphill, while the Short and Stout General and Gu Linzi ordered a Dragon Slaying Platform built at the summit.
• Li Yan’s group reached the lake and found Heavenly Saint Sect disciples preparing a ship; Zou Yu and the beasts attacked them as Li Yan watched the churning water and Zou Yu sent a wave toward shore.

Li Yan and his companions faced Black Scale Lord as Dragon Walking unleashed a flood, then took a huge ship downstream to pursue the jiao and rescue people. The ship neared Baokang County while Yu Longzi launched the Dragon Slaying Water Monster Ritual against Black Scale Lord.

• Li Yan, Zou Yu, and the others fought off Black Scale Lord’s tail and jiao Gu, but retreated from the rising lake water as the jiao’s roar attacked their souls.
• Heavenly thunder scorched the jiao Gu, and Black Scale Lord broke through the canal into the Ju River, sending floodwaters downstream.
• Li Yan chose to ride the huge ship to help flood victims, while Zou Yu returned to Shennongjia and the ship followed Black Scale Lord toward Baokang County.
• Li Yan refused to rescue the Heavenly Saint Sect members who had attacked them, and Sha LiFei and Lu San shot two of their protectors as they tried to reach the ship.
• The imperial troops recognized Li Yan’s signal and prepared to intercept the Heavenly Saint Sect, while Yu Longzi launched the Dragon Slaying Water Monster Ritual with the Five Dragons Flying Sword.

Li Yan and his companions sailed through the flood around Baokang County, where demons and cursed objects attacked survivors and the General Yang Si Temple. As a Dragon Slaying Water Monster Ritual struck the Black Jiao, Li Yan entered a vision and helped slay it; the flood subsided, and he went to retrieve the Jiao’s remains.

• Li Yan rescued stranded commoners from Baokang County and returned to the ship as it sailed into the flood.
• Li Yan killed an ordinary water demon and found a Yansheng Curse, while a turtle demon and an old wood spirit attacked fishing boats nearby.
• Wang Dao Xuan identified the Dragon Slaying Water Monster Ritual and realized water demons were trying to destroy the General Yang Si Temple and help the Black Jiao.
• The ship was drawn toward the Black Jiao as it endured lightning strikes, and Li Yan absorbed lightning with his Soul Hooking Chain before falling into a Spirit Communication Art vision.
• Li Yan received an underworld mission to slay the Jiao and drove the Treasure Sword deeper into it, after which lightning decapitated the Black Jiao and the flood calmed.
• Lu San spotted the Jiao’s horn and jaw beside the ship, and Li Yan saluted General Yang Si Temple before leaping into the water.

Yu Longzi completed the flood-dragon ritual, ending the rain, while Li Yan and his companions continued toward Yunyang with the dragon’s treasures and learned that a major army was heading south. The Heavenly Saint Sect’s fleeing remnants were pursued and then confronted by Wudang’s Yu Chanzi, forcing their leaders to flee.

• Yu Longzi used the Five Dragons Flying Sword to slay the flood dragon, and Gu Linzi confirmed that the rain had stopped before Yu Longzi fainted.
• Li Yan refused to keep the Dust-Avoiding Pearl and Flood Dragon Horn without first settling the spoils with True Martial Palace.
• Centurion Wang told Li Yan that the army was heading south to join the campaign against the Heavenly Saint Sect, and Li Yan chose to return to Yunyang for his reward.
• The Yunyang army and its allies pursued the Heavenly Saint Sect remnants as they fled toward Tusi City.
• Yu Chanzi appeared before Heavenly Saint Duke and the fleeing leaders, and Huang LiuShi and the others escaped rather than face him.

Mount Wudang ambushed the fleeing Heavenly Saint Sect with troops, killing Huang LiuShi and driving Xiao TianXiong away, while revealing that Chen Yangzi had impersonated Yu Chanzi. Yu Chanzi then exposed a spy’s attempt to steal Blood Jade Cong and confronted an Earth Immortal connected to Zhao Changsheng, as a boat carrying an unknown master departed.

• The three True Martial Palace men unleashed Mount Wudang’s troops, scattering the Heavenly Saint Sect and capturing or killing its members, while Protector Wang escaped.
• Huang LiuShi and Xiao TianXiong attacked a troop altar, but Yu Chanzi’s arrival forced Xiao TianXiong to transform into Qiongqi and flee.
• The false Sect Master revealed himself as Chen Yangzi, who killed Huang LiuShi and told Gu Linzi that Mount Wudang’s trap was meant to expose Zhao Changsheng’s high-ranking spy.
• A bewitched Daoist stole a box of fake Blood Jade Cong and sent it to a white-haired ape, but the ape’s cave-dwelling master recognized the stones as imitations.
• Yu Chanzi confronted the Earth Immortal in the cave, who admitted Zhao Changsheng had offered him a chance to ascend to godhood, while a fishing boat turned away from Mount Wudang.

Li Yan returned to Yunyang as the Southwest War continued and prepared for his journey to Shu while avoiding the Cao Gang’s attempt to recruit him. At the City God Temple, the True Martial Palace arranged to reward him for the Dust-Avoiding Pearl and dragon horn, before Yu Chanzi revealed that he had set a trap for Zhao Changsheng but failed to catch him.

• Yunyang recovered its prosperity after the army departed, while locals discussed the continuing battles and the imperial court’s plans for Miao territory.
• Chiliarch Huang warned Li Yan that the army’s advance would reopen the Yangtze route but that the King of Chengdu and the Commandery Commandant Office in Bashu might pose dangers.
• Li Yan declined Chen Jizu’s invitation to a merchant banquet, avoided being drawn into the Cao Gang’s plans against the Raft Sect, and left the Jiangzhe Merchant Guild with his treasures.
• Chen Yuanqing told Chen Jizu that the emperor’s real target was the powerful southern clans and explained that he was supporting the Cao Gang to pledge allegiance early.
• Li Yan met the True Martial Palace leaders at the City God Temple, where Yu Longzi offered to arrange a formation for the Dust-Avoiding Pearl and have the dragon horn forged into a magical artifact.
• Yu Chanzi told Li Yan that he had set a trap for Zhao Changsheng, but Zhao Changsheng had escaped.

Yu Chanzi told Li Yan that Zhao Changsheng was active behind the E Prefecture disaster and urged him to kill the Ghost Sect Leader if they met. After the rebellion ended and Mount Wudang held its Double Ninth temple fair, Li Yan and his companions left by boat, while a woodblock print of him slaying a jiao appeared at the fair.

• Yu Chanzi revealed Zhao Changsheng’s origins and schemes, then asked Li Yan to suppress and kill him if he got the chance.
• Yu Chanzi told Yu Longzi that Li Yan had slain a jiao in his dream and was a Living Underworld Messenger.
• Li Yan asked Wang Jingxiu to deliver a Divine Kui corpse to Qiankun Academy and provided a mold of the Severing Dust Blade for a new artifact.
• The imperial army defeated the E Prefecture Tusi forces, captured Tangya Tusi City, and ended the rebellion as firearms gained prominence.
• Li Yan and his companions attended the Double Ninth temple fair at Mount Wudang, collected their medicine, and boarded Fast Boat Zhang’s boat to leave.
• The rescued Woodblock Print Artisan sold a New Year picture depicting Li Yan fighting an Evil Jiao, leaving Li Yan to wonder who had revealed the story.

Li Yan and his companions reached Peng Lao Hai’s mountain inn in Badong during a storm, where they learned about the recent deaths and the region’s troubled past. The next morning, as they prepared to leave, they heard that the dangerous Guest in the Mist had appeared again.

• Fast Boat Zhang explained that his brother Zhang LinSheng had sought treasure in the mountains and that something unknown had followed him home.
• Li Yan’s party arrived at Peng Lao Hai’s inn, where an attendant admitted them after confirming they were not ghosts.
• The travelers learned that Peng Lao Hai was away arranging funerals for two disciples killed while fighting Japanese pirates on the coast.
• Li Yan reviewed his plans to attend the Living Underworld Messenger gathering, investigate the Jiang God Great Lord’s seal at Dujiangyan, and refine magical artifacts at Qingcheng Mountain.
• The next morning, the party ate mutton noodles, and the attendant warned them to wait for the fog to clear because the Guest in the Mist had appeared again.

Li Yan and his companions reached Jin Yang Ping to investigate the deaths in Fast Boat Zhang’s family, where each victim bore a child-sized black handprint. Tu Laoshi Xie Chengzu identified the culprit as Huang WaZi, but when Zhang Si Bei showed him the Chinese angelica root his father had dug up, Xie Chengzu recognized it as a divine coffin and fled.

• Li Yan’s group traveled through the strange fog with a Tujia opera troupe and learned they were both heading to Jin Yang Ping.
• Fast Boat Zhang discovered that his brother had died the night before, and Zhang Si Bei explained that two other family members had also died after being marked with black handprints.
• Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan found no unusual aura on the corpse, while Tu Laoshi Xie Chengzu identified Huang WaZi as a vengeful Chinese angelica root spirit.
• Xie Chengzu warned that the family might appease Huang WaZi by returning and replanting the herb, but said the spirit’s origins made a rash attack dangerous.
• Zhang Si Bei brought out the enormous golden Chinese angelica root his father had dug up, and Xie Chengzu called it a divine coffin—the coffin of a mountain immortal—and urged them to prepare for a funeral.

Li Yan and his companions learned that Zhang LinSheng had taken a Du Huo Divine Coffin from the Guest in the Mist, whose return had brought danger to the Zhang family. After discovering the Snake Spirit was not the culprit, they learned the Guest in the Mist’s lair lay at an Ancient Ba People salt-making ruin twenty li northwest.

• Xie Chengzu covered the Du Huo with a Heavenly Spiritual Treasure and prepared a one-hundred-and-eight-knife Nuo Opera ritual to face the danger.
• Zhang Si Bei explained that Zhang LinSheng had secretly brought the Du Huo back from the mountains and that steward Hu Cen had died after making offerings in the rear mountains.
• Li Yan opened Hu Cen’s coffin and captured a Mountain Breeze Snake, while Lu San questioned it and learned that it had helped Zhang LinSheng find the Du Huo.
• Lu San revealed that the Guest in the Mist had returned after Lingyun Temple was destroyed, enslaved Huang WaZi, and sent it to the Zhang family for revenge.
• Wang Dao Xuan warned that the Guest in the Mist might be too dangerous to destroy, and Lu San identified its lair as an Ancient Ba People salt-making ruin twenty li northwest.

Li Yan and his companions prepared the Zhang residence for Guest in the Mist while Xie Chengzu performed a White Tiger ritual to protect the Zhang family. As the mist engulfed the village, Wang Dao Xuan recognized the threat as a Sheng God and called for the ritual to stop.

• Li Yan learned that Guest in the Mist’s lair lay in ancient Ba salt grounds and decided to help the Zhang family before investigating further.
• Li Yan bought Xie Chengzu’s God Covering Cloth, used it to strengthen the Great Luo Dharma Body, and found a strange insect inside the Du Huo Divine Coffin.
• Wang Dao Xuan turned the insect into a curse trap, while Li Yan and the others prepared defenses around the Zhang residence.
• Xie Chengzu began a White Tiger ritual and led a possessed disciple onto the Knife Mountain as the villagers watched from the Zhang residence.
• White mist rolled over Jin Yang Ping, and Wang Dao Xuan identified the approaching threat as a Sheng God and urged everyone to stop the ritual.

Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan defended the Zhang residence from the Azure Omen’s possession and dispelled the demonic fog, but the village was already empty when the fog cleared. Li Yan then discovered that Zhang Si Bei had been lured away into the darkness.

• Li Yan disrupted Xie Chengzu’s ritual as the Azure Omen’s fog possessed Xie Chengzu and his disciples, then used the Soul Hooking Chain and North Emperor Yin Thunder Palm to rescue two of them.
• Wang Dao Xuan activated the formation and Five Directions Fengdu Banner to shield the Zhang residence while Li Yan retreated inside and learned that Xie Chengzu was pleading with the Saltwater Goddess.
• Li Yan opened the ritual altar and used the North Emperor Calamity Removal Technique with the Yin soldiers to disperse the fog.
• Li Yan and Lu San found the village deserted, with tiptoe footprints leading from a villager’s home toward the mountains.
• Li Yan heard a child’s laughter and rushed back to find Zhang Si Bei walking away from the residence with vacant eyes, as though something were dragging him.

Li Yan and his companions tracked Guest in the Mist to an ancient saltworks, where they faced possessed villagers and salt-encrusted zombies while Wang Dao Xuan used a curse to draw out the evil. The chapter left Li Yan searching the ruins for the creature’s source as Wang Dao Xuan and Lu San confronted a renewed swarm and numerous strange figures in the mist.

• Li Yan freed Zhang Si Bei from Huang WaZi’s enchantment, and Wang Dao Xuan said Zhang Si Bei would recover after resting.
• Fast Boat Zhang led the group to the Salt Gang’s hidden route, where Wang Dao Xuan planned to curse Guest in the Mist and Li Yan and Wu Ba went to raid its lair.
• Lu San set up a mountain ghost restriction while Wang Dao Xuan began the Seven Arrows Secret Curse, provoking a piercing scream and a surge of mist and insects.
• Li Yan and Wu Ba entered the valley, fought through possessed villagers, and found a vast ancient saltworks filled with brine and salt-covered zombies.
• Wang Dao Xuan struck the straw effigy with a second arrow, scattering the swarm briefly before it gathered again with strange figures emerging from the mist.

Li Yan and the others fought the Guest in the Mist while Wang Dao Xuan used the Seven Arrows Secret Curse and Li Yan searched the valley for the source of the evil. They destroyed the salt-covered corpse sustaining the Black Evil Omen, sealed the entity, and Wang Dao Xuan suspected the ruins belonged to the Saltwater Tribe.

• The insects and salt dust attacked the group, but Li Yan’s Five Directions Fengdu Banner held them back while Lu San used the Cloud Thunder Divine Drum to scatter the ghostly figures.
• Wang Dao Xuan drove the third Magic Arrow into the straw effigy, weakening the Guest in the Mist, but the entity gathered the insects into a towering monster and forced the group to keep fighting.
• Li Yan found a sandstone coffin in the valley and ordered Wu Ba to smash it; the exposed salt-covered corpse released the Black Evil Omen from its disguises.
• Li Yan trapped the Black Evil Omen with his Soul Hooking Chains as Wang Dao Xuan drove in the final Magic Arrow and scattered the consciousness within it.
• Wang Dao Xuan sealed the Black Evil Omen in a Black Altar, then recognized the ruins as possibly belonging to the Saltwater Tribe.

Li Yan rescued the twins Wu Chao Yun and Wu Xing Yu, whose names and Phoenix Gold Ornament linked them to the Chu shaman organization and Mount Wu. As he traveled with them toward DaChang City, the Sichuan Salt Gang ambushed his party on the DaNing River.

• Li Yan found Wu Chao Yun and Wu Xing Yu bound in a cave among the salt-pond ruins and helped save them.
• Li Yan identified the Phoenix Gold Ornament as a Chu Shaman Token and suspected the twins could lead him to the shamans of Mount Wu.
• Wu Chao Yun and Wu Xing Yu said they lived with their Granny in Dachang County, and Wang Dao Xuan recognized their names as those of the Goddess of Mount Wu.
• Li Yan and his companions continued by boat toward DaChang City, while Fast Boat Zhang announced that he planned to retire in Xiangyang.
• Fast Boat Zhang spotted two boats following them, and Li Yan's party discovered a large boat blocking the river with iron chains stretched across it.
• Fast Boat Zhang recognized the blockade as the work of the Sichuan Salt Gang.

Li Yan’s party was ambushed by the Sichuan Salt Gang, who demanded the two girls aboard their boat. A mysterious swarm and a qin-playing sorcerer drove the gang away, and Aunt Long reclaimed the girls before inviting Li Yan to the Bai residence in eastern DaChang City.

• Wu Ba knocked the Salt Gang’s leader into the river and fought the gang members attacking the pleasure boat.
• Lu Jiu recognized Li Yan, demanded that he hand over the two girls, and threatened the party with firearms and a cannon.
• Liu Mei escaped by jumping into the water as a swarm of Yellow-Headed Hornets attacked the Salt Gang’s boats.
• A concealed qin player disrupted the swarm, and Lu Jiu withdrew his men after an old woman ordered them to go.
• Aunt Long arrived along the iron chain and took the two girls back into her arms.
• Li Yan raised the Phoenix Gold Ornament, and the old woman invited him to meet her at the Bai residence in eastern DaChang City.

Li Yan and his companions reached DaChang City and met Bai Huan, the Life Controller Society’s leader, who offered Lu San a chance to complete his Mountain Ghost inheritance at Goddess Peak. When Li Yan asked what divine energy the Phoenix Gold Ornament contained, the women reacted with alarm.

• Li Yan and his companions left the Gu Cult women behind and traveled through the gorges toward DaChang City.
• A veiled woman brought Li Yan and his companions to the Bai family residence, where Bai Huan welcomed them.
• Bai Huan confirmed that she belonged to the Life Controller Society and offered Lu San a chance to seek the ancient Chu shaman inheritance at Goddess Peak.
• Li Yan asked Bai Huan what divine energy the Phoenix Gold Ornament contained, and the women around them changed color.

Li Yan and his companions learned why the Bai family had been targeted and agreed to escort Old Woman Bai Huan and her granddaughters away from Mount Wu. Before leaving, they planned to retrieve the girls’ life plaques from the people on the mountain, and the group prepared to ascend as storm clouds gathered.

• Old Woman Bai Huan’s guards mistook Li Yan and his companions for Salt Gang agents, but she stood them down after Li Yan showed his soul warrant.
• Bai Huan explained that divine firmament energy came from deities and revealed that Wu Chao Yun and Wu Xing Yu possessed it, making them targets in a scheme involving the Salt Gang and the Goddess of Mount Wu.
• Long Yan'er recounted how Wu Hai Shan and Bai Huan’s daughter had been killed or lost while trying to protect the girls from being used as pawns, and Bai Huan said the family had lost its protection on Mount Wu.
• Bai Huan asked Li Yan’s group to escort her family to Qingcheng Mountain in return for access to a secret repository, and they agreed.
• Bai Huan planned to use the coming annual pilgrimage to retrieve the girls’ life plaques and leave Mount Wu, while Li Yan agreed to reveal his Living Underworld Messenger identity to deter the Mountain Immortals.
• After two days of preparations in DaChang City, thunderclouds gathered as the group prepared to climb Mount Wu.

The Life Controller Society left DaChang City by boat to worship the Goddess of Mount Wu, while Lu Jiu sought help from Wang MengSheng to stop them. As the party struggled through the stormy mountain, a Buddhist apparition blocked their path and Li Yan's tally began to heat.

• Bai Huan led the women of the Life Controller Society through farewell rites and departed DaChang City with Li Yan and his companions on a flower boat.
• The boat passed through Wushan County as locals prayed to the Goddess of Mount Wu, while Lu Jiu watched from a teahouse and decided to pursue the travelers.
• Lu Jiu and his men visited Wang MengSheng at Jing Huang Cave and urged him to seize the women, but Wang MengSheng refused after learning a Living Underworld Messenger might be with them.
• Wang MengSheng warned that the travelers had powerful backing and proposed another plan to Lu Jiu, while Yu Mo told him the group would have to handle the matter themselves.
• Bai Huan led the travelers through the rain-soaked mountain, where she identified unseen laughing spirits as Mountain Infants and asked Master Lian to let them pass.
• A phantom Buddhist nun appeared in the mist and told the travelers to turn back, while the tally in Li Yan's arms grew hot.