Chapter Summaries

Li Yan and Lu San escaped the ghost city aboard the Flying Wooden Magpie, then Li Yan attended the Shen family funeral and learned that the Dakini Sect’s Black Sky Mingwang had descended to the Lower Realm. The chapter ends with Cheng Jue revealing that the descent succeeded elsewhere, after his group found everyone at the altar dead.

• Li Yan and Lu San guided the fuel-starved Flying Wooden Magpie to the ground with help from Wu Ba, then carried it back to the Shen residence.
• Sha LiFei reported that Zen Master Tong Huan and Cheng Jue had gone to arrest Maitreya Sect followers, and Li Yan gave the Wan Yan meat to be sent to Master Lin.
• Wang Dao Xuan led the Shen family’s funeral rites as they buried Master Shen and the eldest son of the Shen family.
• Cheng Jue told Shen Jinghong that demonic cultivators had killed his uncles and clansmen, and Li Yan agreed to keep the news from the family for now.
• Master Lin received the Wan Yan meat from Li Yan, hoping it might cure his second son.
• Cheng Jue confirmed that the Black Sky Mingwang’s descent had succeeded, though the true descent site was not inside the tomb.

Li Yan and Cheng Jue traced the Maitreya Sect’s failed ritual and concluded that the Black Sky Mingwang had descended, but the Mingwang escaped detection. Li Yan negotiated with Mo Sect Elder Yuan Feng over Lu Ban’s wooden magpie and a reliable supply of gunpowder, leaving their deal tied to the imperial court’s planned Qiankun Academy.

• Cheng Jue explained the tomb’s history and the origins of the Wan Yan and Shi Rou, while Lord Yuan Feng inspected Lu Ban’s wooden magpie.
• Li Yan described the strange white-bearded Daoist to Cheng Jue, and Shen Jinghong identified him as a priest from the Dragon Daughter Temple.
• Li Yan and Cheng Jue found the Maitreya Sect’s altar abandoned, discovered its Branch Master and elders dead, and uncovered a waterway leading to Liangzi Lake.
• A white-haired woodcutter carrying the Black Sky Mingwang in a basket tricked a checkpoint soldier and continued toward Da Tong.
• Li Yan sold the wooden magpie to Lord Yuan Feng in exchange for a chance at a stable gunpowder supply, and Yuan proposed using the planned Qiankun Academy.

Li Yan agreed to serve Qiankun Academy in exchange for access to gunpowder and settled with his companions near Liangzi Lake. Wang Dao Xuan uncovered clues about the Western Xuan Lineage’s origins and its possible connection to the Shangqing Sect, while the group prepared for further cultivation and investigation.

• Yuan Feng explained Qiankun Academy’s plans and offered Li Yan gunpowder in exchange for serving as one of its guards and helping with its work, which Li Yan accepted.
• Yuan Feng recruited Li Yan to help investigate a tomb containing Mo Sect mechanisms and deal with the evil creature Shi Rou alongside Buddhist and Taoist experts.
• Shen Jinghong led Li Yan and his companions to abandoned houses near Liangzi Lake, where they settled and began cultivating.
• Wang Dao Xuan traced the Western Xuan Lineage to Chi Jiangziyu and Pei Xuanren, and revealed that Liu Gang’s books placed its ancestral court near Mao Mountain, raising the possibility of a connection to the Shangqing Sect.
• Li Yan promised to investigate the lineage’s history and led the group in training with firearms and cultivating over the following days.
• After five days, a minor official delivered Yuan Feng’s summons and invited Li Yan down the mountain.

Li Yan joined the gathering of officials and mystical experts preparing to suppress Shi Rou at Liangzi Lake, where they agreed on a plan to retrieve the tomb’s objects before destroying the creature with thunder. After Chiliarch Tian delivered a private letter from Luo MingZi, he revealed that the Commandery Commandant Office had taken over the Zhao Changsheng investigation because the Enforcement Hall had an informant working for Zhao Changsheng.

• Li Yan entered the command tent and learned that Zhang Zhi Ting, Yang Mingqing, and Yu LanShan were coordinating efforts to deal with Shi Rou.
• Yu LanShan proposed using bronze mirrors and a Two Phases Formation to confuse Shi Rou so the team could retrieve the tomb’s objects before striking it with thunder, and Yang Mingqing endorsed the plan.
• Yuan Feng asked Li Yan and Chiliarch Tian to help protect the ritual in the tomb, and Li Yan arranged for Wang Dao Xuan to join the operation.
• Chiliarch Tian told Li Yan that he had come from the capital on Luo MingZi’s behalf and met him privately outside the camp.
• Chiliarch Tian gave Li Yan a letter from Luo MingZi and explained that the Commandery Commandant Office was involved because the Enforcement Hall had an informant working for Zhao Changsheng.

Li Yan helped the Enforcement Hall investigate Zhao Changsheng before joining Cheng Jue’s party to enter the Mo Family Mechanism Tomb. After Feng Shui masters and monks subdued the disturbances around Liangzi Lake, the group cut through Shi Rou and found the tomb chamber, where fireballs suddenly lit the darkness.

• Tian Chiliarch told Li Yan that Zhao Changsheng had outmaneuvered the imperial court and that a spy had infiltrated the Enforcement Hall; Li Yan advised him to track Huang LiuShi.
• Yuan Feng introduced Master Yuan of White Deer Academy and several Ministry of Works mechanism specialists, then Cheng Jue led them underwater to the tomb entrance.
• Cheng Jue’s group found Shi Rou blocking the passage, while Tian Chiliarch’s party arrived and joined them; Master Yuan and the specialists examined the tomb’s carvings.
• Yang Mingqing and Yu LanShan used the Bagua mirror to draw opposing currents of momentum together, while Zen Master Tong Huan’s monks calmed the lake and put Shi Rou to sleep.
• Li Yan realized fire repelled Shi Rou, and he and Tian Chiliarch helped the group cut through its body until they broke into the tomb chamber.
• Tian Chiliarch, Li Yan, Cheng Jue, and the others entered the chamber, where balls of fire suddenly appeared in the darkness.

Li Yan and the others uncovered the Mo Sect inheritance in the tomb, retrieving its texts and a bronze mechanism core before the pottery tower broke apart. The next day, Zhang Zhi Ting began a thunder ritual over Liangzi Lake as the ghost city collapsed and Shi Rou stirred within it, ending with lightning striking the lake.

• Li Yan and the Ministry of Works officials explored the tomb, where a mechanical pottery tower played music and chambers held Mo Sect texts, teaching tools, and two Stone Coffins.
• The tomb plaque explained the Tomb Guardian Beasts, the lost Luban Wooden Magpies, and a hidden invention; the group carried out the texts, artifacts, and coffins while Shi Rou's passage began closing.
• The group tried to move the pottery tower, but it shattered, exposing its mechanisms; a Ministry of Works official used whale oil to activate the bronze core, and Li Yan ordered it taken away.
• The next day, Zhang Zhi Ting and Yang Mingqing's calculations proved accurate as dark clouds gathered over Liangzi Lake and the ghost city began to riot.
• Zhang Zhi Ting performed a thunder ritual on the Three-Layer Altar as the ghost city collapsed and Shi Rou's massive shadow writhed beneath the Yin mist.
• Zhang Zhi Ting cast a Yellow Talisman toward the lake, and lightning struck from the clouds.

After the Shi Rou was destroyed at Liangzi Lake, Li Yan recognized the recovered copper vessel as a device with the potential to transform the mortal world and persuaded Yuan Feng to treat it as a sacred treasure. The group returned to cultivation as unrest spread across the realm, while Yuan Feng carried the vessel toward the capital.

• Li Yan reflected on how the Dragon Tiger Mountain Daoists’ Zhengyi Thunder and Firm Fire had destroyed the Shi Rou, and soldiers recovered more Lu Ban wooden magpies from Liangzi Lake.
• Zen Master Tong Huan identified a glazed meteorite bearing a hollow Ghost Face Dakini as the Divine Embryo, then prepared to take it away while Zhang Zhi Ting departed for Sichuan.
• Li Yan showed Yuan Feng that the recovered copper vessel could power transport, industry, and machinery, prompting Yuan Feng to recognize its importance and establish an altar to venerate it.
• Two days later, after the wooden magpies were salvaged, Yuan Feng headed for the capital with the copper vessel as Li Yan and his companions settled into cultivation near Liangzi Lake.
• News reached Li Yan’s group of demons along the Yangtze, the court’s advances in Yunyang Prefecture, and Tusi forces in western Hunan preparing to challenge the court as autumn arrived.

On the Ghost Festival, Li Yan cultivated the North Emperor Yin Mountain Method in an abandoned Miao burial ground and reached the foundation needed to build his third tower. Meanwhile, the Han River’s grain transport route grew busier, and a boatman discovered that everyone aboard a wrecked ship had died mysteriously.

• At Shen Family Dam Wharf, Wang Dao Xuan performed a Ghost Festival ceremony while Shen Jinghong learned from Sha LiFei that Li Yan and his companions would soon leave and that the Shen family should befriend Ministry of Works officials.
• Lu San collected Dark Wood and other Spiritual Materials from nearby Wild Gods and spirits for Giant Turtle Master, who hoped to exchange them for a treasure on Mount Wudang.
• Li Yan cultivated in an ancient Miao cliff tomb, expanded his Yin Energy sea and divine towers, and reached the standard for building the third tower.
• Li Yan used the North Emperor Calamity Removal Technique to dispel the resentment of the Lonely Souls and Fierce Ghosts gathered outside his cave.
• An Alligator God’s followers rescued grain after two ships collided on the Han River, but a boatman who boarded the other vessel found its crew and passengers dead, with moss growing inside their eyes and mouths.

Li Yan and his companions traveled by Falcon Ship toward Mount Wudang, learning about a plague in Fan City, Xiangyang’s old water spirits, and the local gods that could complicate the Giant Turtle Master’s bid for the Han River’s Water God position. They reached a martial village below Mount Wudang, where Zhang XiaoShan greeted Li Yan.

• Gu Hanzi told Li Yan that a strange plague had broken out in Fan City, killing victims whose internal organs were covered in moss, and that Li FaCheng of the Huang Prefecture Li Family was treating it.
• Gu Hanzi explained that the Camphorwood Great King had been destroyed after a scholar surnamed Lu from Deer Mountain challenged it, and warned that Xiangyang’s Two Jiang Consort Goddesses were its established water gods.
• Li Yan and the others continued upriver, and Gu Hanzi’s disciples of the True Martial Palace met them near Mount Wudang.
• Gu Hanzi said the mountain was closed for the night because of the southwest war, so Li Yan’s group stayed in a nearby village where every villager practiced martial arts.
• Zhang XiaoShan approached Li Yan and greeted him.

Li Yan arrived at Zhang Family Village, where Zhang XiaoShan hosted a banquet and revealed he wanted Li Yan to humble the proud young Zhang disciples. After Wang Jingxiu showed interest in Lu San, Li Yan began testing the disciples and sent Zhang Yingqiong flying with one kick.

• Zhang XiaoShan welcomed Li Yan and his companions to Zhang Family Village and offered to have Wang Jingxiu treat Gu Hanzi’s injuries.
• Wang Jingxiu recognized Wu Ba as a human rakshasa, then praised Lu San as a Xuan Gate prodigy and said he wanted to speak with him.
• Zhang YuFu told Li Yan that Zhang XiaoShan had expelled him from the sect after his involvement with Liu Niang.
• At the banquet, Zhang XiaoShan admitted he wanted Li Yan to teach the young Zhang disciples a lesson, and Zhang Xiaochen explained that they needed to learn humility.
• Zhang Yingqiong challenged Li Yan with Longhua Fist, but Li Yan kicked him out of the hall and called for the next opponent.

Li Yan defeated the Zhang family’s young disciples at Mingxin Hall and impressed Zhang XiaoShan with his growing mastery of boxing momentum. He then met Old Daoist Wang Jingxiu, agreed to gather rare medicinal ingredients, and asked him to help obtain a dragon pearl from Five Dragons Palace.

• Li Yan defeated Zhang YuShan and then overwhelmed the Zhang family’s young disciples in a group fight, demonstrating his use of boxing momentum and the Undying Imprint Method.
• Zhang XiaoShan urged the young disciples to train with firearms and learn from experienced caravan guards, then told Li Yan that Li Xuanzong held the final say over the dragon pearl and that Wang Jingxiu might help.
• Li Yan returned to the courtyard with Lu San, and Gu Hanzi led them to meet Wang Jingxiu, who had asked to see them.
• Wang Jingxiu asked Li Yan and Lu San to collect rare medicinal ingredients from Wushan Mountain and Ailao Mountain, and Li Yan agreed.
• Li Yan asked Wang Jingxiu to help them obtain a dragon pearl from Five Dragons Palace.

Li Yan and Wang Jingxiu brought the proposal to trade a Nation-Protecting Divine Artifact and other treasures for Wudang’s Dragon Pearl to Mount Wudang. They reached the Five Dragons Palace, where Wang Jingxiu went to seek an audience with Yu Longzi, while Lu San decided to wait outside with the frightened animals.

• Li Yan explained the Giant Turtle Master’s offer, and Wang Jingxiu agreed to present it to Wudang’s leaders.
• Li Yan suggested using transparent glass for Wang Jingxiu’s refining work, leaving the Old Daoist absorbed in the idea.
• Li Yan’s group climbed Mount Wudang, where Wang Jingxiu ordered medical disciples and supplies prepared for the wounded on the southwestern front.
• Wang Jingxiu told Li Yan to keep the Dragon Pearl matter quiet until he spoke with his master, and Gu Hanzi departed for the Golden Hall.
• At the Five Dragons Palace, Gu Linzi offered Li Yan guest quarters while Wang Jingxiu went to visit Yu Longzi at Hidden Immortal Rock.
• Lu San chose to stay in the woods outside because the little fox, Rat One, and Rat Two were terrified.

Li Yan and his companions settled near the Five Dragons Palace, where they learned that strict precepts governed access to Mount Wudang’s Profound Realms. Meanwhile, Wang Jingxiu sought help from Yu Longzi and learned that Li Xuanzong, the Iron Toad Old Ancestor, was involved in the decision.

• Gu Linzi sent Lu San’s group to camp outside the palace and explained the tower-building sites, the True Martial Dragon Cave, and its Cave Divinity Five Precepts to Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan.
• Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan ate a silent vegetarian meal, then brought food to Lu San’s camp, where Wu Ba began speaking and repeatedly shouted a curse he had learned.
• At Hidden Immortal Rock, Wang Jingxiu told Yu Longzi about Li Yan and the Black Tortoise Stone Statue, and Yu Longzi agreed the Five Dragons Palace could exchange it for a dragon pearl.
• Wang Jingxiu left to seek help at the Golden Hall, while Yu Longzi returned to ask his master, Li Xuanzong, what to do.

Iron Toad Old Ancestor revealed that the Five Qi Dragon Lord had been reincarnated as Five Dragons Palace's disciples and explained the pact between the Xuan Gate and hidden Earth Immortals. Wang Jingxiu then asked Jade Toad Zi whether the Giant Turtle Master could enter Mount Wudang, and the sect leader refused, leaving him to earn recognition through service in the Southwest War.

• Iron Toad Old Ancestor told Yu Longzi that the Five Qi Dragon Lord had once been suppressed by Sanfeng Zhenren and had reincarnated as Gu Linzi and the other Five Dragons Disciples.
• Iron Toad Old Ancestor spoke with the Earth Immortal sealed behind the mural and explained that the Xuan Gate sheltered hidden Earth Immortals under an old pact, while warning Yu Longzi to purge the Five Qi Dragon Lord if they turned evil.
• Wang Jingxiu visited Jade Toad Zi at the Imperial Scripture Hall and reported that Five Dragons Palace had agreed to exchange for the Alligator Dragon.
• Jade Toad Zi rejected the Giant Turtle Master's bid to enter Mount Wudang, saying he first needed to serve people as a regional water god during the Southwest War.
• After Wang Jingxiu left, Jade Toad Zi wondered whether the transformation of the Human Path had stirred Lord of the Clouds.

Yu Chanzi considered Lord of the Clouds’ plans amid the changing Human Path, while Yu Longzi corrected Gu Linzi’s arrogance and arranged for Li Yan and his companions to enter the True Martial Dragon Cave. Li Yan descended into the cave and entered a dark stone chamber where unseen beasts seemed to watch him.

• Yu Chanzi told the Wudang elders that Lord of the Clouds was likely preparing for the transformation of the Human Path, and said Wudang should offer help without trying to claim him.
• Yu Longzi sent Gu Linzi to give Lu San a command token and invite Li Yan to speak with him after visiting the True Martial Dragon Cave.
• Yu Longzi rebuked Gu Linzi for taking pride in his status, and Gu Linzi admitted his mistake.
• At noon, Li Yan, Sha LiFei, and Wu Ba entered the True Martial Dragon Cave while Lu San stayed outside with the spirit pets.
• Li Yan helped Wang Dao Xuan down the steep stairs, and the three companions each entered a stone chamber.
• Bells rang as Li Yan’s chamber darkened, and he sensed ferocious beasts watching him.

Li Yan endured the True Martial Dragon Cave’s surging Gangsha Energy and used it to master the Undying Imprint Method and glimpse Firm Strength. After the cave’s trial ended, he emerged to learn that five Five Dragons Disciples had experienced a mysterious change, and Lu San recognized a sound from the cave in their bodies.

• Li Yan resisted the cave’s amplified senses, while Sha LiFei, Wang Dao Xuan, and Wu Ba left or struggled; Wu Ba settled into a wild-beast posture after Lu San spoke to him.
• Lu San entered the cave, followed the dragon cries into the Dragon Form Fist, and helped trigger a surge of Gangsha Energy that forced the remaining disciples to flee.
• Outside, the Five Dragons Disciples gathered at five wells and stood motionless, while Yu Longzi said Senior Brother Gu and the others had encountered a destined opportunity.
• Li Yan endured the Gangsha Energy, repaired the damage to his body with the Great Luo Dharma Body, mastered the Undying Imprint Method, and understood the principle behind Firm Strength.
• The Gangsha Energy receded, and Li Yan emerged from the cave to rejoin Sha LiFei and the others.
• Lu San told Li Yan that the five disciples made the same sound he had heard inside the True Martial Dragon Cave.

Yu Longzi explained the Five Dragons Disciples’ past lives and warned Li Yan about Giant Turtle Master, then revealed an old agreement between the Xuan Gate and the Living Underworld Messengers. Li Yan and his companions continued to Purple Cloud Palace, where Wang Jingxiu reported that exchanging items with Giant Turtle Master was acceptable but building him a temple on Mount Wudang was not.

• Yu Longzi told Gu Linzi and the other disciples that they had once been Dragon Vein Essences, and they accepted their human lives and renewed their allegiance to Mount Wudang.
• Yu Longzi warned Li Yan that Giant Turtle Master’s plan to serve the Great Emperor Zhenwu might involve hidden influences, then told him that Yin Changsheng had been a Living Underworld Messenger and that his inheritance might be found near Fengdu.
• Yu Longzi informed Li Yan of an agreement allowing Earth Immortals to remain in blessed grotto-heavens under strict conditions, while permitting Living Underworld Messengers to capture those who descended to cause havoc.
• Li Yan urged Lu San to question Giant Turtle Master about who had suggested his plan and to dissolve their alliance if the matter could not be clarified.
• Li Yan and his companions traveled to Purple Cloud Palace, where Wang Jingxiu told them that exchanging items with Giant Turtle Master was acceptable but building a temple for him on Mount Wudang was impossible.

Li Yan and his companions stayed at Purple Cloud Palace to cultivate while awaiting a thunderstorm that would let them enter the Thunder Fire Refining Hall. Wang Dao Xuan awakened an Eye Mystical Power, and the chapter ended as Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan reached the summit and saw thunderfire rolling across the palace roof.

• Wang Jingxiu brought Li Yan and his companions to Purple Cloud Palace, explained its rules, and arranged for them to stay while they waited for a thunderstorm.
• Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Lu San cultivated beneath the Purple Cloud Divine Lamp; Li Yan gained little, Lu San secured his Second Floor, and Wang Dao Xuan awakened an Eye Mystical Power.
• Wang Dao Xuan's new ability stabilized, allowing him to examine Gangsha Two Qi and observe earth-vein energy.
• Li Yan learned that the Xiangyang epidemic was spreading, demonic cultivators were ambushing imperial troops in Jingchu, and the fighting in Zigui County remained contained.
• When a thunderstorm arrived five days later, Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan climbed Mount Wudang to enter the Thunder Fire Refining Hall and saw lightning turn into a rolling ball of flame atop the highest palace.

Li Yan entered Mount Wudang’s Thunder Fire Refining Hall and used the storm to build his third floor and Gan Si Lian Wan Lv Heavenly Palace. His cultivation provoked a Thunder Punishment phenomenon, and the Wudang Sect Master discovered that lightning was pouring from a Thunder Department mural beside him.

• Several Daoists attempted to meditate in the Golden Hall, but each failed or was injured by the thunderfire.
• Wang Dao Xuan declined to enter, and Li Yan went inside to build his floors despite the Old Taoist’s warning about the violent storm.
• Li Yan arranged his ritual formation and spiritual treasures, then meditated as lightning helped separate the Five Elements and expand his Yin Sea.
• A sea of thunder and ranks of figures appeared in Li Yan’s spirit-concentration space, while the storm outside intensified into a Thunder Punishment phenomenon.
• The Wudang Seven Elders arrived, and Sect Master Yu Chanzi saw lightning enter Li Yan from the thunder hammer depicted in a mural.

Li Yan endured a violent lightning storm while building Gan Si Lian Wan Lv Heavenly Palace, and the lightning transformed his Soul Hooking Chains into thunder dragons. Yu Chanzi recognized a mysterious connection and decided to support Li Yan; the chapter ended with Li Yan emerging from the Golden Hall charred but alive, crackling with electricity.

• Yu Chanzi sensed a connection involving the Great Emperor Zhenwu Statue and Li Yan, then told Wang Dao Xuan that Li Yan was safe and had gained insight.
• Yu Chanzi told Wudang's elders not to investigate Li Yan but to watch over him and help him if needed, then announced he would go to the capital for the New Year.
• Li Yan endured the lightning assault, used innate Geng Metal Qi to rebuild his divine tower, and completed Gan Si Lian Wan Lv Heavenly Palace.
• Li Yan's Soul Hooking Chain multiplied into two chains, then absorbed the lightning and transformed into two thunder dragons as Li Yan struggled to stay conscious.
• After the storm ceased, Li Yan emerged from the Golden Hall charred and staggering, with electric arcs crackling beneath his bare feet.