Recaps

Li Yan and his companions survived the Earth Centipedes on Immortal Ascension Platform and waited for Dipper Mother Palace to arrive. The sect’s Old Taoist uncovered a burial chamber and broke open its black jar, but Li Yan used his warrant to arrest him as the Yin Offender.

• Li Yan used the Cloud Thunder Divine Drum to scatter the Earth Centipedes while Red Yaksha escaped with his letter for Yu LinZi.
• Sha LiFei fired the Netherworld Fire Musket, setting the centipedes ablaze and forcing the survivors underground.
• After Wang Dao Xuan emerged from seclusion, Li Yan led the group away from Immortal Ascension Platform and waited for Dipper Mother Palace’s troops.
• Dipper Mother Palace arrived with Red Yaksha and a white-bearded Old Taoist, who agreed that the sect would not interfere with Underworld law enforcement.
• The Old Taoist found a hidden Blessed Grotto-Heavens burial chamber, where the group uncovered a huge black jar surrounded by copper coins and red cords.
• The Old Taoist smashed the jar and forced the creature inside back into it, then Li Yan placed his warrant on the Old Taoist and arrested him as the Yin Offender.

Yu LinZi warned Li Yan about the Longevity Immortal Treasury and its blood-sacrificial longevity arts, while Li Yan and his companions reached Chang'an after celebrating the winter solstice with Red Yaksha in Shili Village. At the city gate, Guan WanChe recognized Li Yan and pointed him out to a hostile-looking Daoist nun.

• Yu LinZi told Li Yan that the Longevity Immortal Treasury contained seventy-two cruel techniques tied to blood sacrifices, including the arts practiced by his Martial Uncle and the Maitreya Sect's Branch Master.
• Liang LaoHan brought winter-solstice dumplings to Red Yaksha's home, where Li Yan, Sha LiFei, Wang Dao Xuan, and the children shared a lively meal.
• Li Yan asked Red Yaksha to introduce him to Li Shiqing, a Dao Physician Sect senior renowned for Pigua Palm, and she agreed to try.
• Li Yan and his companions joined Red Yaksha on the journey to Chang'an, where Li Yan privately considered seeking clues about the Maitreya Sect's role in his father Li Hu's downfall.
• Guan WanChe spotted Li Yan at Chang'an's city gate and identified him to a middle-aged Daoist nun carrying a longbow, who watched him with an icy gaze.

Li Yan and his companions arrived in Chang'an and settled at Phoenix Inn, where Red Yaksha reunited with its owner, Feng FeiYan. The chapter ended with Feng FeiYan telling Red Yaksha that an extraordinary discovery had been unearthed near the ruins of Ancient Zhou Haojing City.

• Li Yan greeted Guan WanChe and his sister, Daoist Zi Yuan, then learned from Red Yaksha that she had encountered Zi Yuan among a secluded sect of Talisman Arrow archers on Tai Bai Mountain.
• Li Yan chose to stay at a jianghu inn, and Red Yaksha brought the group to Phoenix Inn in Yong'an Ward to meet its owner, Feng FeiYan.
• Feng FeiYan welcomed Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Sha LiFei, then arranged for them to stay in a quiet courtyard behind the inn.
• Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan left to visit the City God Temple, while Sha LiFei went to look for a residence; Feng FeiYan watched them depart and remarked on Li Yan's skill.
• Feng FeiYan told Red Yaksha that something extraordinary had been unearthed near the ruins of Ancient Zhou Haojing City.

Li Yan obtained a black Dao Certificate in Chang'an and explored the city with Wang Dao Xuan, while Red Yaksha learned that the Noon Demon Slayer Sword had surfaced and made inquiries. The next day, Red Yaksha led the group to Renxin Hall to seek instruction from Senior Li.

• Boss Feng told Red Yaksha that tomb robbers had recovered the Noon Demon Slayer Sword from an ancient Zhou fangshi's tomb, and Red Yaksha murmured about her master.
• Li Yan received his black Dao Certificate at the Chang'an City God Temple and learned it offered greater privileges and privacy than other certificates.
• Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan explored Chang'an's former West Market and abandoned palace ruins, where Wang Dao Xuan described the city's Ghost Market.
• Sha LiFei told Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan that Red Yaksha had left to investigate something and planned to take Yan XiaoGe to meet a master the next day.
• Red Yaksha returned the next day and led Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Sha LiFei to Renxin Hall, where Senior Li was seeing patients.

Li Yan met Li ShiQing at Renxin Hall, where he helped treat a grave robber suffering from corpse poison and agreed to recommend a master to teach Li Yan Pigua. Li Yan began training under Li ShiQing’s wife, Lady Li, and the chapter ended as Li KongQing said he could no longer continue working as a study companion at Chang'an Prince Manor.

• Li Yan and his companions found Li ShiQing treating a corpse-poisoned grave robber while two of the man's associates threatened him.
• Li ShiQing's disciple defeated the two grave robbers, and Li ShiQing's treatment purged the patient's corpse poison before constables took the men away.
• Li ShiQing recognized Li Yan as the man who had recovered the Divine Tiger Token and learned that Li Yan had killed the traitor who attacked Chen Yuan.
• Li ShiQing agreed to help Li Yan learn Pigua and sent him to his wife, Lady Li, who began teaching him the Black Dragon Coiling Strike.
• Li Yan used his Great Luo Dharma Body to endure the dangerous windlass exercise and quickly improved his technique under Lady Li's guidance.
• During lunch, Li KongQing told Lady Li that he could no longer continue his study-companion job at Chang'an Prince Manor.

Li Yan advised Li KongQing to understand the political value of his study companion position, then learned that Red Yaksha had been forced into a Heavenly Origin Game over her sect’s Noon Demon Slayer Sword. He set out to find allies for the duel, scheduled seven days later at the Old Daming Palace Site.

• Lady Li and Li KongQing listened as Li KongQing complained about the Young Lord, and Li Yan argued that remaining at the Prince’s residence was valuable.
• Li KongQing offered to help Li Yan find an empty mansion to live in.
• Red Yaksha told Li Yan that Liu WenChen possessed her sect’s Noon Demon Slayer Sword and had challenged her to a Heavenly Origin Game.
• Feng FeiYan explained that Liu WenChen could draw on Heretical Art Practitioners and the Fire Bear Gang, while the Tai Xuan Orthodox Sect was barred from intervening.
• Li Yan agreed to find allies for the duel, which would take place in seven days at Zi Hour at the Old Daming Palace Site, and left while watched by Fire Bear Gang spies.

Li Yan secured two powerful Xuan Gate allies through Daoist Luo MingZi to help with the coming duel of arts, while learning more about the strengths and limits of his warrant. He returned to Phoenix Inn and remained wary of Feng FeiYan despite her praise.

• Li Yan evaded his followers in the crowded Heavenly Street and met Daoist Luo MingZi, who agreed to help him prepare for the duel of arts.
• Daoist Luo MingZi explained that Li Yan's warrant could summon ghost soldiers and introduced two formidable allies from the Xuan Gate People.
• Li Yan visited Shen SanYou, the Night Crying Man, who agreed to attend the duel after reading Daoist Luo MingZi's letter.
• Li Yan delivered Daoist Luo MingZi's letter to the pawnshop appraiser, the former assassin known as Shadow, who also agreed to help but refused compensation.
• Li Yan returned to Phoenix Inn and told the others he had recruited two masters, while privately remaining suspicious of Feng FeiYan.

Li Yan learned the North Emperor Chuling Technique while preparing for the coming ritual combat and discovered that Feng FeiYan was secretly connected to the Commandery Commandant Office. The chapter left him watching her covert identity from afar as the ritual combat drew near.

• Li Yan finished studying Pigua under Lady Li, who gave him her father’s Pigua General Outline before he left to avoid involving her in his jianghu troubles.
• Sha LiFei reported that the Fire Bear Gang was searching Chang’an for Lu, while Wang Dao Xuan prepared for the ritual combat and Li Yan began studying the Chuling Technique.
• After repeated failures, Li Yan successfully created seven Chuling Paper Figures and tested their ability to fly and scout through the inn.
• Li Yan sent a paper figure toward Feng FeiYan’s room and saw her emerge in dark robes bearing the emblems of the Commandery Commandant Office.

Feng FeiYan and Li Yan prepared for the duel and traveled with their allies through a blizzard to the ruins of Daming Palace. There, they met the Fire Bear Gang’s delegation, and Li Yan noticed that its leader wore a powerful warding artifact.

• Feng FeiYan recalled the Commandery Commandant Office’s power struggle and hid her uniform after sensing a watcher, while Li Yan withdrew his technique and learned about her background.
• Li Yan studied and made a pair of Jia Ma, then prepared more than a hundred Chuling Paper Figures for the coming duel.
• Feng FeiYan, Red Yaksha, Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Sha LiFei left Chang'an in carriages arranged by the Chang Sheng Carriage Guild, whose workers cleared their route through the snow.
• The group reached the ruins of Daming Palace and met Tie ShiGu, Mister Lu, and Hall Master Bai, who discussed the Fire Bear Gang’s likely plans.
• After a Signal Arrow marked the opposing camp, the group crossed the palace ruins and faced the Fire Bear Gang delegation, led by a burly man wearing a powerful jade Eight Trigrams disc.

Li Yan and Red Yaksha faced Liu WenChen’s group over a magical artifact, and the dispute became a five-match contest. Wang Dao Xuan entered the first match against the Snake Hag, and the chapter ended as both prepared their ritual altars.

• Li Yan challenged Liu WenChen’s claim to Red Yaksha’s magical artifact, and Liu WenChen proposed a contest in which each side would send five fighters and the first to win three matches would take it.
• The Snake Hag stepped forward for Liu WenChen’s side, and Red Yaksha recognized her as a child-killing witch who specialized in Gu poison and witchcraft.
• Wang Dao Xuan identified the Snake Hag as the woman who had abducted and mutilated a child in Luo Family Village, then volunteered to fight her.
• Li Yan gave Wang Dao Xuan the Hook Writ, and Wang Dao Xuan used the Thousand Gold Body Protection Incantation to immobilize and kill the Snake Hag’s venomous snakes.
• The Snake Hag and Wang Dao Xuan set up their ritual altars, with Wang Dao Xuan unsealing Rampaging Soldiers and preparing a straw figure with a Yellow Talisman.

Wang Dao Xuan defeated the Snake Hag with the Seven Arrows Secret Curse, then captured the infant ghosts and returned to the gathered guild leaders. As a mysterious Shang Mountain Dharma Lineage fighter approached, Shen SanYou arrived to face him and was identified as the Night Crying Man.

• Venerable Lu recognized Wang Dao Xuan's preparations as the Seven Arrows Secret Curse, while the Snake Hag divined that she was in great danger.
• The Snake Hag unleashed infant ghosts against Wang Dao Xuan, but he blocked them with his Yin soldiers and cursed her until her altar shattered and she died.
• Wang Dao Xuan collected the infant ghosts in a Wandering Soul Jar, while Xiong BaoDong's men burned the Snake Hag's body and he called on a veiled Shang Mountain Dharma Lineage fighter.
• Venerable Lu warned Wang Dao Xuan's allies not to challenge the approaching fighter, whom he believed could have reached Dao Progress Third Floor.
• Shen SanYou arrived with a Soul-Calling Banner, said another ally was killing the ambushers, and went to face the Shang Mountain fighter.
• Liu WenChen recognized Shen SanYou as the Night Crying Man as he began singing amid the wind and snow.

Shen SanYou defeated Luo Faqing in the second duel, exposing the Shang Mountain lineage’s use of ghost deities and warning that its methods had strayed from the orthodox Way. With Shadow still missing and reports that he had slaughtered his attackers, Xiong BaoDong struggled to find anyone willing to fight the third match.

• Liu WenChen explained that Shen SanYou was the Night Crying Man, a Netherworld Sect master whose family had been slaughtered and who had once taken revenge on the Guanzhong Forts.
• Venerable Lu told Li Yan that the Netherworld Sect and Shang Mountain lineage shared a long-running feud over their competing claims to the Qin secret-prayer tradition.
• Luo Faqing summoned three ghost deities with Inverted Law Banners, but Shen SanYou repelled them with his Soul Calming Bell and funeral song, shattering Luo Faqing’s altar and leaving him unconscious.
• Shen SanYou criticized the Shang Mountain lineage for using harmful arts without following the orthodox Way, then left after arranging to drink with Li Yan.
• A bloodied survivor reported that Shadow’s attackers were dead, but Shadow did not arrive, and Xiong BaoDong demanded a volunteer for the third match while the Fire Bear Gang practitioners avoided his gaze.

Li Yan entered the arena to face Yao San, a swordsman rescued and employed by Xiong BaoDong, after the Fire Bear Gang’s other fighters refused to challenge him. Yao San disarmed Li Yan with his twin sabers, and Li Yan prepared to continue the fight with his fists.

• Xiong BaoDong avoided Tie ShiGu’s challenge and urged his followers to fight Li Yan, but none volunteered until he sent Yao San wearing his jade warding disk.
• Tie ShiGu and Sha LiFei recognized Yao San as a Greenwood swordsman with Peak of Hidden Strength, while Wang Dao Xuan trusted Li Yan’s abilities and the Arrest Writ.
• Li Yan faced Yao San, who revealed that Li Yan’s father had destroyed his bandit stronghold ten years earlier, though he denied seeking revenge.
• Yao San attacked Li Yan with his Qiankun Double Slash Blades and used his superior strength and treasured sabers to knock the Guanshan Knife from Li Yan’s hand.
• Yao San invoked Li Yan’s father’s words about surviving deadly clashes, and Li Yan raised his fists and declared he would teach him those words again.

Li Yan defeated Yao San in the magical duel and helped force the Fire Bear Gang to admit defeat, while a mysterious ally called Shadow appeared to deter Xiong BaoDong. The next day, Li KongQing found Li Yan and his companions a rent-free courtyard in Pingkang Ward to guard, leaving them with a new base in Chang'an.

• Li Yan used the Soul Hooking Chain concealed within his Sleeve Blade technique to immobilize Yao San, kill him, and break the Bagua Jade Plate.
• Xiong BaoDong demanded the shattered Jade Pendant, but Tie ShiGu blocked him, and Shadow appeared with a bloodied sword and drove off the threat.
• Liu WenChen returned the long package, and Xiong BaoDong led the Fire Bear Gang away after admitting defeat.
• Lady Li heard of Li Yan's victory and worried that his new fame would attract trouble, while Li ShiQing celebrated his success.
• Li KongQing took Li Yan, Sha LiFei, and Wang Dao Xuan to a vacant two-courtyard estate in Pingkang Ward, where they could live rent-free in exchange for guarding it.

Wang Dao Xuan and Li Yan purified their new courtyard, then helped Zheng Xian’s son recover from an animal-fetus possession caused by a frightened soul entering a rat’s nest. The boy awakened the rare Ghost God Yin Yang Eyes, and Li Yan headed for Flower Calyx Tower as snow fell over Chang’an.

• Wang Dao Xuan and Li Yan performed the Five Grains House Purification Technique and settled into the Wang family courtyard.
• Li Yan’s Cloud Thunder Divine Drum helped Zheng Xian’s sick son fall asleep, prompting Zheng Xian to ask Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan for help.
• Wang Dao Xuan diagnosed the boy as having entered an animal fetus, and Li Yan tracked the fishy odor to a rat’s nest in Zheng Xian’s woodshed.
• Zheng Xian killed the young rats while Wang Dao Xuan summoned the boy’s soul back, restoring the child to his senses.
• The recovered boy revealed he could see the Divine Tiger Token and the old tiger beside Li Yan, awakening the rare Ghost God Yin Yang Eyes.
• After Zheng Xian took his son to the City God Temple, Li Yan walked through snowy Pingkang Ward toward Flower Calyx Tower.

Li Yan met Shen SanYou at Flower Calyx Tower, where Shen promised a spectacle before discussing Chang'an’s mystic sects and martial world. The chapter ended as a troupe performer used the Tong Shen Art to wield a four-hundred-pound blade, revealing that a ghost soul had possessed him.

• Li Yan entered Flower Calyx Tower and found Shen SanYou waiting among the guests.
• Shen SanYou refused to move to a private room and told Li Yan to watch a performance before discussing Chang'an’s underworld.
• The masters of the Wu Family Troupe and Yang Family Troupe announced a three-round contest for the right to perform at Flower Calyx Tower for the coming year.
• A performer from the Yang Family Troupe challenged the audience’s expectations by presenting a four-hundred-pound Spring and Autumn Great Blade.
• The performer used the Tong Shen Art to swing the blade, and Li Yan recognized that a ghost soul had possessed him.

At Flower Calyx Tower, Li Yan watched the Wu Family Troupe defeat the Yang Family Troupe and spoke with Shen SanYou about the Xuan Gate and the Dao. Shen SanYou revealed that reaching the Fourth Floor might let Li Yan learn what a God Ascender was, and the chapter ended with Sha LiFei arriving to announce a major job and urge them to leave.

• The Wu Family Troupe used possession, Mystical Powers, and an elaborate Ascension Platform illusion to defeat the Yang Family Troupe at Flower Calyx Tower.
• Hua Niang concealed Li Yan and Shen SanYou behind a formation so they could speak privately about the Xuan Gate.
• Shen SanYou explained that the Xuan Gate contained many paths, then warned Li Yan that seeking immortality could bring hardship and said reaching the Fourth Floor might reveal what a God Ascender was.
• The next morning, Li Yan reflected on the term God Ascender and on Shen SanYou’s choice to abandon the pursuit of the Dao for brief pleasures.
• Sha LiFei burst into the courtyard and told Li Yan and the Daoist to pack because he had secured a major job.

Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Sha LiFei went to GuoDu Town to investigate the possession of Landlord Du’s grandson, but found the Du family in mourning and the case apparently settled. After Li Yan sensed something foul and used a signal to get the group admitted, they discovered Luo Faqing at Landlord Du’s side, and Du demanded they explain why they had come.

• Sha LiFei told Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan about a lucrative job from Hall Master Bai, and they rode with Zhao Jiu to GuoDu Town to investigate Landlord Du’s possessed grandson.
• Wang Dao Xuan identified the Du manor’s setting as a Dripping Marrow Formation, while Li Yan sensed a faint rotten smell and suspected something was wrong.
• Du family servants tried to turn the group away, but Li Yan signaled Wang Dao Xuan and Sha LiFei to persuade Steward Wang to take them inside.
• Steward Wang returned with a red palm print and led the group into the manor, where they found a mourning hall for Madam Du rather than the possessed grandson.
• Li Yan and his companions met Landlord Du and Luo Faqing, who had lost the recent battle of magic, and Du threatened them unless they explained themselves.

Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan traced the Du Family’s curse to a corrupted Dripping Marrow Formation and learned that the family’s ancestors had been buried near the Ancient Zhou Tomb. As the curse struck the Du Family again, a terrifying shadow appeared in the room where Landlord Du’s granddaughter lay ill.

• Li Yan revealed that the Register of the Gods had shown him a corpse-like old man inside a jade bowl, while Wang Dao Xuan realized the Du Family’s formation had been corrupted.
• Wang Dao Xuan explained that explosives used to rob the Ancient Zhou Tomb had disturbed the Du Family’s nearby ancestral graves, unleashing resentment that brought a bloodline curse upon their descendants.
• Steward Wang confirmed that Landlord Du’s grandson had vanished after falling ill, his granddaughter had become comatose, and Landlord Du’s first wife had died of fright.
• Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Sha LiFei decided they could not resolve the curse and planned to tell Landlord Du to seek help elsewhere.
• Luo Faqing visited the ill Wan Er and heard Landlord Du lament his past, then saw a huge birdlike black shadow with a pale human face appear behind him.

Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Luo Faqing stopped a bird-shaped Rakshasa Spirit from attacking the Du residence and learned that Landlord Du’s family had been manipulated into creating a dangerous formation. After finding that Du’s wife’s corpse had been consumed from within, Wang Dao Xuan concluded the evil had to be suppressed by breaking open the tomb.

• Luo Faqing fought the black shadow, but it repeatedly recovered until Wang Dao Xuan used a rooster’s crow to disperse it.
• Li Yan and the others used Six Geng Talismans to calm the servants, while Landlord Du begged them to save his family.
• Landlord Du revealed that he had killed his father and followed a feng shui master’s instructions to hide his father in the Great Ancient Zhou Tomb and establish the Marrow Drip Formation.
• Wang Dao Xuan identified the shadow as a Rakshasa Spirit or Calamity Spirit and suspected that the feng shui master had deliberately set up Landlord Du.
• Li Yan opened Landlord Du’s wife’s coffin, revealing that her brain and lungs had turned into black water, and Wang Dao Xuan urged them to break open the tomb and suppress the evil.

Wang Dao Xuan explained that the Du family had to suppress the demon calamity rather than destroy it, and he and Li Yan prepared paper figures to take the family’s place. The three men left for the ancestral tomb in a snowstorm, and reached a hillside where a huge crack revealed its entrance.

• Wang Dao Xuan told Landlord Du that the family’s bloodline curse could be stopped by locating the ancestors’ coffin and suppressing the demon calamity, though the Du family would lose its inherited fortune.
• Du An and Landlord Du agreed to give up prosperity to protect the family, and Wang Dao Xuan ordered paper figures to be made for every member of the household.
• Wang Dao Xuan’s attempt to imbue the paper figures with spirit failed, but Li Yan used the North Emperor Chuling Technique to make them take on the family members’ auras.
• Wang Dao Xuan instructed the Du family to leave the residence at night, burn the paper figures at noon, and seek help from the City God Temples while he, Li Yan, and Sha LiFei departed for the tomb.
• In the snow near Ancient Haojing, Sha LiFei recognized the route from the Dirge Scroll and led the group to the burial mounds, where they found a huge crack in a hillside.

Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Sha LiFei discovered that the Du family tomb had been altered with Wa Country seals and its corpse stolen, while Luo Faqing tracked the sorcerer behind the curse. The chapter ended with the group learning that the sorcerer’s lair was in a valley south of Xiangji Temple, at the site of an old battle.

• Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Sha LiFei entered the Du family tomb and found a torii, Wa Country charms, and carvings of demons including the Yin Mo Luo Ghost.
• Li Yan discovered a hidden passage behind the tomb chamber, but the trail ended in a snow-covered mountain hollow where the group could not follow it.
• At the Du residence, Luo Faqing fought off the Du family’s dead son, who had become a Walking Corpse, and drove him into the night.
• Luo Faqing used his ritual instruments to locate the sorcerer’s lair and waited for Li Yan and the others to return.
• After Li Yan and the others returned, Landlord Du denied knowing any Japanese, and Luo Faqing revealed that the lair lay in a valley near Xiangji Temple.

Li Yan and his companions pursued the Du Family’s corpse and its handlers to an Ancient Battlefield cave, where they captured Lu Gongyuan before an explosion sealed the passage. Li Yan interrogated Lu Gongyuan, who revealed the Maitreya Sect’s plans and that Li Yan’s father had been killed for investigating Vice Sect Leader Zhao Changsheng, leaving Li Yan wondering why his father had asked about him.

• Luo Faqing explained how the Ancient Battlefield had nearly destroyed the Shangshan lineage as the group tracked the Walking Corpse to a hidden cave.
• Li Yan killed the Du Family’s transformed grandson, then fought a skilled swordsman while Sha LiFei and Luo Faqing helped him identify and subdue Lu Gongyuan.
• Li Yan noticed the enemies’ gunpowder trap, and the group escaped the collapsing cave with Lu Gongyuan while the corpse handlers fled with the Ancestor of the Du Family’s body.
• Li Yan used his Soul Hooking Chain to force Lu Gongyuan to reveal that Hui Qing and Zhao Changsheng were behind the operation and were trying to raise a Rakshasa Bird.
• Lu Gongyuan said Luan HongEr had killed Li Hu because Li Hu was investigating Zhao Changsheng, leaving Li Yan confused about his father’s motives.

Li Yan and his allies learned that Maitreya Sect remnants were hiding within Xiangji Temple and climbed the mountain to stop them from moving cursed corpses. At the temple, Li Yan received a mission involving a foreign Returning Yang One, discovered the monks had been poisoned, and entered a hidden cavern to confront the enemy.

• Wang Dao Xuan explained the Buddhist sects and their ties to the Maitreya Sect, while Lu Gongyuan revealed that seven remnants, including Hui Qing, were hiding at Xiangji Temple.
• Luo Faqing recounted how Zhao Changsheng had led the Maitreya Sect toward rebellion, and Li Yan questioned whether Zhao had secretly planned events near Chang'an years earlier.
• Lu Gongyuan said he did not know Zhao Changsheng's origins or why Li Yan's father had investigated him, and Luo Faqing described Luan HongEr as a dangerous former Maitreya Branch Master.
• Li Yan's ghost warrant showed him a foreign Onmyoji possessing a monk as a Returning Yang One, and he realized that an urgent mission had appeared.
• Li Yan and his companions broke into Xiangji Temple and found its monks dead from poisoning; Li Yan then split the group so Sha LiFei and Wang Dao Xuan could destroy the enemy's formation.
• Li Yan and Luo Faqing killed the Maitreya remnants hiding in the woodshed, then Li Yan entered the cavern beneath it and told Luo Faqing to summon Ghosts and Spirits.

Li Yan and Luo Faqing entered the cavern to confront the strange Japanese monk, whose ritual and Buddhist Treasure had kept a Rakshasa Bird demon contained. Li Yan killed the monk and captured the demon, gained three Celestial Decrees, and absorbed the Buddhist Treasure’s power before footsteps approached the cavern.

• Luo Faqing summoned three ghosts and spirits to draw the Yin Offender’s attention while Li Yan followed them into the cavern.
• Li Yan attacked the monk’s torii barrier, but the monk shot him with a Flintlock Pistol and revealed his plan to refine the Ancestor of the Du Family’s corpse into a Yin Mo Luo Ghost.
• Sha LiFei and Wang Dao Xuan broke the hemp ropes binding the Buddha statue, weakening the torii and disrupting the monk’s ritual.
• The monk used a Buddhist Treasure containing sariras to suppress the corpse, but Li Yan burned the monk and the corpse, freeing the Rakshasa Bird demon.
• The monk absorbed the demon’s black smoke, but Li Yan used his Gou Die to bind and kill him, capturing the demon and earning three Celestial Decrees.
• Li Yan absorbed the Buddhist Treasure’s power, strengthening his Great Luo Dharma Body, then took the sariras and Flintlock Gun when he heard footsteps outside.