Chapter Summaries

Li Yan reached the Yan family manor and gave Yan Bonian the Fei Yi to treat Madam Yan’s madness. The medicine made her vomit a strange insect with a humanlike face, and Li Yan began examining it.

• The Old Beggar watched Li Yan leave and continued singing, while a middle-aged Confucian scholar followed after him.
• Li Yan used his heightened sense of smell to identify armed martial-world operatives throughout Yichang before reaching the Yan family manor.
• After checking Yan Jiuling’s letter and jade pendant, the servants admitted Li Yan, and Yan Bonian took him to see his wife.
• Li Yan ground a piece of the Fei Yi into powder and had the household feed it to Madam Yan.
• Madam Yan vomited a worm inside an egg sac; Li Yan said it was not a gu, then used incense ash and a needle to reveal the insect’s humanlike face.

Li Yan saved Madam Yan from an evil spell and learned that the Yan family had been targeted because of Yan Jue’s policies opposing the Tuguan system. Madam Yan recovered, and Li Yan found another Chu Shaman Token among Yan Jiuling’s collections before discovering something troubling in the manuscripts.

• Li Yan identified the insect tormenting Madam Yan, burned it with peachwood, and fed its ashes to her, stabilizing her condition.
• The sturdy matron recalled a legend about a cave-dwelling Silkworm Woman, and Li Yan explained that Madam Yan had been attacked through an evil art that used a soul-devouring silkworm.
• Yan Bonian showed Li Yan Yan Jue’s Ten Policies to Pacify the Nation and explained that the policies had angered the Tuguan, who had secretly targeted the Yan family.
• Madam Yan awoke and described dreaming of a yellow woman who turned into moths, while Yan Bonian told Li Yan that Yan Jiuling was taking the palace examination.
• Li Yan opened Yan Jiuling’s collection, found a more complete Chu Shaman Token, and absorbed its Baleful Intent into the Soul Hooking Chain.
• Li Yan examined the remaining Ba-Chu artifacts and then began reading the manuscripts, growing concerned as he turned the pages.

Li Yan studied Yan Jiuling’s theories that the Investiture of the Gods War and the Great Flood had transformed the Arcane Sect and suppressed the ancient gods. At a banquet at the Yan residence, an attack targeting Li Yan began, and Lei Zhen confronted the attackers before the Old Beggar revealed their demand.

• Li Yan read Yan Jiuling’s manuscript, which traced the Arcane Sect to ancient rites and speculated that the Investiture of the Gods War had sealed the gods and that the Great Flood had ended the age of the Emperors.
• Yan Bonian introduced Li Yan to Lei Zhen, the master of Yue Family Fist, and the three shared a banquet.
• Li Yan detected poison in the hall and used the Northern Emperor Mountain Climbing Art to scatter the poisonous mist as Lei Zhen rushed outside.
• Lei Zhen evaded crossbowmen by vaulting over the courtyard wall and killed several attackers with roof tiles.
• Countless poisonous snakes filled the street, and an Old Beggar appeared, demanding that Li Yan hand over something he had taken.
• Lei Zhen attacked the Old Beggar, but the old man turned into smoke and vanished.

Old Ghost attacked the Yan residence while seeking the Thunderbolt Fire Scripture, but Li Yan and Lei Zhen drove him off and captured two of his accomplices. Their investigation linked the attack to the Long Xiang Army and a wider conspiracy, and Li Yan went to the City God Temple the next morning to help with an urgent village matter.

• Old Ghost lured Lei Zhen away, attacked the Yan residence with venomous snakes, and fled after Li Yan and Lei Zhen resisted him.
• Li Yan captured two beggars who revealed that Old Ghost had been called a general by Snake Master, who had ties to the Long Xiang Army.
• Yu Lingzi and the others learned that Snake Master had served in the former-dynasty Long Xiang Army, while Li Yan concealed what he had taken from them.
• Li Yan told Sha LiFei and his companions that they should keep the firearms-related items from the enemy and prepare to defend themselves.
• Li Yan and his companions visited the City God Temple in the rain, where Yu Lingzi asked him to help resolve an urgent village matter.

Li Yan and his companions prepared to investigate the strange crop failures and unrest in Two Stele Bay, while Yichang’s authorities struggled to contain growing chaos. After securing rare Spiritual Materials and meeting a disguised Hundred-Man Commander Yuan, Li Yan questioned villagers from the village and uncovered another clue.

• Yu Lingzi gave Li Yan a dossier describing withered rice seedlings, a Daoist vanishing into the Qu Yuan stone stele, and villagers attacking the City God Temple after rumors blamed the Land God Temple.
• Wang Dao Xuan suggested a Kodama might be responsible, while Li Yan suspected someone had concealed evidence and spread demonic lies.
• Yu Lingzi sold Li Yan mountain spirit fur and Earth Clothes for two thousand taels and arranged for Hundred-Man Commander Yuan to accompany the group.
• Li Yan and his companions saw the Divine Fist Society capture a Greenwood assassin as its members swept through Yichang to restore order.
• Yuan Kejian led Li Yan and the others to Yichang prison, where they questioned Cheng San and uncovered another clue.

Li Yan and his companions investigated reports of villagers dreaming of Sanlü Grand Master, then traveled by boat toward Xiling Gorge while weighing the political forces behind the unrest. As they entered the gorge, a violent disturbance struck the river, and Lu San sensed something approaching underwater.

• Cheng San told Li Yan that villagers had dreamed of a Daoist resembling the statue of Sanlü Grand Master and said corrupt officials in Zigui County had driven people to believe the deity would redress their grievances.
• Hundredhousehold Yuan concluded that the demon's actions at Two Stele Bay were meant to stir up unrest connected to the rebellion.
• Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, Lu San, Sha LiFei, and Hundredhousehold Yuan boarded a wooden boat and headed for Xiling Gorge, where they discussed the Long Xiang Army and the powerful merchant family shielding Zigui County Magistrate Wu Dehai.
• As the boats entered Xiling Gorge, the boatman warned that the Sea Dragon had turned over, and Wang Dao Xuan's compass showed signs of a spiritual disturbance.
• Rocks broke loose from the cliffs and smashed a merchant ship, while Lu San thrust his hand into the water and warned that something was approaching.

A gigantic sturgeon River Monster attacked the boats in Xiling Gorge, and Li Yan and his companions struggled to reach shore and fight it off. The wounded monster retreated briefly before attacking another boat, leaving the river covered in blood as the survivors fled toward Yichang Ferry.

• Lu San sensed a huge cultivated creature underwater, and the sturgeon River Monster smashed a merchant ship apart.
• Li Yan and County Captain Yuan hauled their boat toward shore while Wang Dao Xuan struck the monster with his consecrated Coin Sword.
• After the boat ran aground, Li Yan restrained the sturgeon with the Soul Hooking Chain and wounded its eye, but its bronze tail chain struck him and the monster escaped into the river.
• Lu San warned that the River Monster had not left, and it smashed another boat outside the gorge entrance.
• A new-style firearm wounded the sturgeon, but it continued attacking boats until the surviving vessels fled toward Yichang Ferry.

Li Yan sheltered with his companions in Three Travelers Cave after the River Monster wrecked their boat, then used the storm to gain insight into the North Emperor Black Water Escape and borrowing momentum. The chapter ended with the River Monster pursuing a ship carrying the Old Beggar and other black-clad men from the Long Xiang Army.

• Li Yan helped the boatmen reach Three Travelers Cave, where Deputy Commander Yuan learned that the Tai Xuan Orthodox Sect had previously suppressed a water monster in Xiling Gorge.
• Li Yan returned Wang Dao Xuan's Coin Sword, and he, Wang Dao Xuan, and Deputy Commander Yuan reasoned that the River Monster had broken free of ancient restraints amid a disturbance in the earth qi.
• Deputy Commander Yuan decided to return to Yichang City after the rain, while Li Yan and his companions planned to continue toward Zigui County once the weather cleared.
• Watching the storm, Li Yan understood how to borrow the momentum of the Five Elements and used the Mystic Water Escape Technique to shroud himself and the cave in mist.
• Li Yan realized that borrowing momentum might also let him use an opponent's force in Transformed Strength, a dangerous approach he considered attempting with help from the Great Luo Dharma Body.
• Across the gorge, the River Monster pursued a ship whose black-clad crew repeatedly poured medicinal powder into the river, while the Old Beggar sat at the bow.

The Old Beggar led the Long Xiang Army through the storm to attack Three Travelers Cave, where Li Yan and the others were sheltering. Li Yan fought off their first assaults, but the ambush continued as crossbow bolts rained toward him.

• The Old Beggar rallied the black-clad men by declaring that they fought to escape the low status imposed on them, then learned from Daoist Wen that the River Monster was tied to an ancient tomb and ordered Liu Mei to investigate its origins.
• The Long Xiang Army landed near Three Travelers Cave and climbed the slope in the darkness, while the River Monster disappeared into the Yangtze.
• The Little White Fox sensed danger, and Li Yan and Lu San woke the others and detected armed men and venomous snakes approaching the cave.
• Lu San used his whistle and Beast Controlling Technique to turn the snakes against the attackers, while Li Yan blocked the Old Beggar's surprise attack and struck the sword-bearing woman with his Soul Hooking Chain.
• The Old Beggar rescued the woman and called on Daoist Cheng, whose three Human Skin Puppets attacked the cave as Wang Dao Xuan sent out the Rampaging Soldiers.
• Black-clad men climbed the plank walkway with crossbows and fired a volley of arrows at Li Yan.

Li Yan summoned Netherworld Ghost Soldiers to destroy the Old Beggar’s force after the attackers drove his group into Three Travelers Cave. The survivors searched the dead, and a letter found on the Old Beggar left Captain Yuan furious.

• Li Yan killed one Human Skin Puppet while the Old Taoist used a gong to restrain the others, and the attackers sent poisonous smoke into Three Travelers Cave.
• Li Yan summoned Netherworld Ghost Soldiers with his warrant tablet, and the darkness swallowed the Old Beggar’s men, including Lin SiLang and the Old Taoist, while the female assassin escaped into the river.
• Li Yan and the others emerged after the Yin Soldiers vanished and found the attackers dead across the walkway.
• Li Yan searched the bodies and found the Old Beggar’s erhu, medicine packets, command token, and a letter, while Sha LiFei and Lu San collected poison tubes.
• Li Yan handed the letter to Captain Yuan, who read it and angrily denounced its author for betraying and harming him.

Li Yan negotiated with Chiliarch Yuan over future access to firearms and destroyed the dangerous Gu inheritance found among their spoils. After leaving Yuan behind, Li Yan and his companions traveled through the mountains toward Zigui County, encountered Coal Essence they could not capture, and reached a walled city at dawn.

• Li Yan persuaded Chiliarch Yuan to take credit for the intelligence and keep watch for a chance to obtain permission to use firearms.
• Lu San claimed the Old Beggar’s Erhu, Sha LiFei took the gong and drum, and Li Yan fed the old scholar’s Gu worms to the Poisonous Bee Swarm.
• Li Yan discovered the Plague God Longevity Method in the ledger and burned it after telling his companions about its horrific practices.
• Before dawn, Li Yan and his companions left by the mountain road while Yuan Kejian urged the boatmen to join him and pursue wealth and rank.
• The travelers passed Shadowplay Gorge and Yellow Ox Gorge, where they spotted Coal Essence but could not catch it.
• After crossing the mountains through the night, Li Yan and his companions saw a walled earthen city below them at dawn.

Li Yan and his companions arrived in Zigui County, where a river demon and several other strange occurrences had stirred fear and unrest. After learning that the county magistrate’s son had been targeted by a powerful evil entity, Li Yan recognized the name Midnight Sedan Chair and Ghost Bride.

• Li Yan and his companions watched a Spirit Medium Dance and learned that a river demon had been troubling boats near Zigui County.
• Li Yan decided the group would investigate discreetly and change their identities before going to the village.
• At the city gate, Sha LiFei learned that Young Master Wu was possessed, while Constable Captain Head Luo watched the group with suspicion.
• Li Yan and Sha LiFei questioned an information shopkeeper, who described unrest involving the ChaoShan Society, the river monster, and other strange events.
• The shopkeeper warned that Young Master Wu had been targeted by a powerful evil entity and mentioned the Midnight Sedan Chair and the Ghost Bride, prompting Li Yan to react in shock.

Li Yan learned that the Ghost Bride was the Red Woman, the woman who had killed his father, and split his group to investigate the trouble at Two Stele Bay. He drew attention to himself at the county office while Wang Dao Xuan and Lu San used Chinese Alligators to cross the river, leaving the investigation poised to begin.

• Li Yan learned from the shopkeeper that the Ghost Bride had been sighted across E Prefecture and had attacked Magistrate Wu's son, then recognized her as the Red Woman who had killed his father.
• Li Yan, Sha LiFei, and Wang Dao Xuan discussed the tangled trouble in Zigui County and agreed to split up, with Li Yan and Sha LiFei drawing attention while Wang Dao Xuan and Lu San investigated Two Stele Bay.
• Li Yan and Sha LiFei went with Daoist Feng to meet Magistrate Wu, and Li Yan asked him to summon Danyang Academy instructors for questioning.
• Magistrate Wu agreed to summon the instructors, and Li Yan suspected he wanted to use the inquiry to strike at the academy.
• Wang Dao Xuan and Lu San left the city and, as a riverside ritual blocked their crossing, Lu San summoned Chinese Alligators to carry them across.

Wang Dao Xuan and Lu San crossed the river on Chinese Alligators and investigated the River Monster’s origins while the Danyang Academy confronted Magistrate Wu over inquiries into Two Stele Bay. Bai RuoXu met a surviving swordswoman who reported the Red Woman’s presence, and the chapter ended with Li Yan challenging Headmaster Song at the county office.

• Lu San learned from the Chinese Alligators that the River Monster had first appeared near Zigui County, and Wang Dao Xuan suspected a nearby tomb and asked Lu San to search the forest for a ritual altar.
• Lu San fed the starving Chinese Alligators a wild boar, while Wang Dao Xuan explained that someone had likely arranged a nearby altar to control the Kodama.
• Headmaster Song MingShu led Danyang Academy’s students to the county office after bailiffs came to question them about Two Stele Bay.
• Bai RuoXu found the escaped swordswoman, learned that the Red Woman had cursed the magistrate’s son, and told her to investigate the Red Woman and prioritize the matter at Shennongjia.
• Headmaster Song challenged Daoist Feng and Li Yan at the county office, and Li Yan accused him of making a fuss because he felt guilty.

Li Yan exposed the scholars’ demonic contamination and forced Headmaster Song and Magistrate Wu Dehai to reveal their accusations against each other before Judicial Commissioner Zhou Kai arrived to take charge. The investigation traced the academy’s illness to the Red Pill, and instructor Yuan Feng accused Wu Dehai of arranging its distribution and involving his son.

• Li Yan showed the academy scholars that staring at the court’s plaque made them vomit because they had been tainted by demonic aura.
• Headmaster Song admitted suspecting that the Two Stele Bay incident was linked to the Southwest Rebellion, then accused Wu Dehai of corruption and ties to the Tusi.
• Wu Dehai ordered the arrest of Headmaster Song as angry commoners gathered outside, but Judicial Commissioner Zhou Kai arrived and secured the county court.
• Zhou Kai questioned Li Yan and the academy leaders, who revealed that several scholars had taken a memory-enhancing medicine called the Red Pill.
• Headmaster Song confronted instructor Yuan Feng about supplying the pills, and Yuan Feng accused Wu Dehai and said the Red Pill was connected to Wu Dehai’s son.

Yuan Feng revealed that Wu ShiQing helped him refine and sell demonic Red Pills, prompting Zhou Kai to arrest the corrupt officials and ChaoShan Society members. After Li Yan uncovered a warning plot and the group raided the Wu residence, they returned to find the prisoners and academy scholars murdered and disemboweled; Zhou Kai identified the Great Song Ghost Sect as responsible.

• Yuan Feng confessed that Wu ShiQing had helped him refine Red Pills using an ancient method, and Li Yan confirmed that the pills carried demonic aura.
• Li Yan intercepted a carrier pigeon warning and exposed a ChaoShan Society plot; Zhou Kai's soldiers suppressed the attempted escape and Zhou Kai ordered troops mobilized.
• Song MingShu organized the academy scholars to help secure the city and enlist the Raft Sect's aid while Zhou Kai, Li Yan, and Sha LiFei went to the Wu residence.
• Zhou Kai's party found Wu ShiQing dying with his liver mangled, and Zhou Kai hurried back to protect the people at the county office.
• Li Yan and the others found the captured yamen runner, the scholars, and Song MingShu beheaded and disemboweled; Zhou Kai identified the Great Song Ghost Sect as the killer.

Li Yan and Zhou Kai uncovered signs that the Ghost Sect had infiltrated Gui Prefecture City and began investigating its sacrifices and the Red Pill. Wang Dao Xuan and Lu San tracked a Ghost Sect procession carrying away a charred Kodama, while the search in the city found that ChaoShan Society had helped abduct people for human sacrifices.

• ChaoShan Society members set fires and fought in Gui Prefecture City after soldiers sealed the gates, but the unrest was subdued within an hour.
• Daoist Feng explained the Ghost Sect’s history to Li Yan and warned that its return threatened the region.
• Li Yan and Zhou Kai linked the Red Pill and the Academy victims to the Ghost Sect, then ordered arrests and interrogations to protect the surviving scholars.
• Wang Dao Xuan and Lu San found Ghost Sect members removing a charred Kodama and sent Lu San’s falcon to follow their coffin without alerting them.
• Zhou Kai and Li Yan learned that ChaoShan Society had abducted women and children for the Ghost Sect, and a soldier interrupted them with news of a new discovery.

Li Yan, Sha LiFei, and Daoist Feng investigated the Ghost Sect’s suspected involvement in Zigui County while Prefect Zhou Kai uncovered threats surrounding the county. At Old Official Temple, Li Yan’s tally token heated up and white mist appeared as the group entered the ruined hall.

• Zhou Kai learned that Liu DanQiu had disappeared and discovered that Lu Yuan had forced the Advisor to falsify a reply about the academy’s presiding priest.
• Zhou Kai ordered Li Yan to investigate Gratitude and Filial Piety Temple and Old Official Temple, suspecting the Thousand-Household Office had been infiltrated by the Ghost Sect.
• Zhou Kai studied a map and feared that Zigui County’s position between rebel forces could make it a strategic target.
• Li Yan, Sha LiFei, and Daoist Feng used a secret passage to leave the city and headed first to Old Official Temple.
• The temple’s caretaker told them that mysterious weeping had been heard in the main hall at night.
• Li Yan entered the main hall, where his tally token grew hot and white mist rose around the group.

Li Yan discovered that Huang MoShen had been bound to a Water God Longevity Method and suspected the Ghost Sect was secretly surviving through evil techniques. Investigating Gratitude and Filial Piety Temple, he found murdered monks and signs of a Ghost Cult excavation, then rushed in with Sha LiFei while Daoist Feng hid nearby.

• Li Yan received visions of Huang MoShen’s imprisonment, a coffin beneath the river, and an elderly scholar being drawn into the water, then recognized signs of the Water God Longevity Method.
• Li Yan suspected Danyang Academy Sacrificial Official Liu DanQiu was possessed by the demon and feared Zhao Changsheng was awakening surviving Ghost Sect members across the Divine Land.
• Li Yan, Daoist Feng, and Sha LiFei investigated Gratitude and Filial Piety Temple after noticing its gates were shut and its monks refused visitors.
• Li Yan sent a paper spirit into the temple and discovered headless monks with their livers removed, armed fake monks, and a man climbing out of a well after digging for an ancient tomb.
• Li Yan asked Daoist Feng to alert Prefect Zhou, but Daoist Feng feared the Ghost Cult’s informants and hid in the woods while Li Yan and Sha LiFei charged toward the temple.

Li Yan and Sha LiFei attacked the Ghost Cult bandits at the temple, defeated them, and learned that they were digging for a jade cong in a Chu Tomb. A curse killed the surviving captives before they could reveal more, and Li Yan entered the tomb chamber with the jade cong as the chapter ended.

• Li Yan and Sha LiFei infiltrated the temple, killed the kitchen guards, captured a man climbing from the well, and prepared to ambush the bandits below.
• A swarm of centipedes poured from the well, but Sha LiFei shot the scar-faced Guo Peng as he emerged, and Li Yan knocked him unconscious.
• Li Yan used Thunder Fire Pills to blind and smoke out the tomb diggers, then killed the insect-controlling occultist Ba Lang and subdued Guo Peng.
• Li Yan forced Guo Peng to reveal that he was an Attendant Altar of the Ghost Cult and that the cult sought a jade cong from a Chu Tomb for its leader, Lu Yuan.
• A curse killed Guo Peng and the other captives, leaving black claw marks on their hearts, so Li Yan and Sha LiFei prepared to leave the temple.
• Li Yan recovered the blood-colored jade cong from Ba Lang's pouch, entered the underground tomb, cleared the smoke, and saw an ancient burial chamber.