Chapter Summaries

Li Yan and his companions arrived in plague-stricken Xiangyang to deliver medicine and investigate the outbreak, while Li Yan continued to worry about the strange thunder opportunity he had gained at True Martial Palace. After discovering that a gunman had attacked them and caused an infected corpse to explode, Li Yan climbed toward the shooter’s hiding place.

• Li Yan reviewed Daoist scriptures and considered why the Jade Clarity True King’s lineage had disrupted his cultivation, while examining the thunder-storing powers of his transformed Soul Hooking Chain.
• Li Yan and his companions arrived at Xiangyang with medicinal supplies and learned that the plague had overwhelmed the city and that an expert from the Medicine Saint Li Family had disappeared.
• Wu Maoze explained that infected bodies were being burned, a corrupt official’s household had been executed, and the missing Mr. Li had vanished from the prefectural office.
• Li Yan examined a corpse with purple skin and green moss in its openings, while Wang Dao Xuan and Wu Maoze discussed the unexplained plague and the City God Temple’s unsuccessful investigation.
• A hidden gunman shot at the group and caused the corpse to explode; Sha LiFei and Lu San moved their companions to cover, and Li Yan leaped toward the shooter’s window.

Li Yan captured a Heavenly Saint Sect sorcerer who revealed that Xu San Lang from the Commandery Commandant Office had supplied information, but a plague attack infected Sha LiFei and Wang Dao Xuan. While Li Yan and Lu San sought help from the Giant Turtle Master, they learned it had vanished after pursuing a water demon and had suspected the East Lake Old Ancestor.

• Li Yan and Lu San captured the sorcerer Cheng ZiXing, who identified Xu San Lang as the informant behind the ambush.
• Wu DeGui persuaded Cheng ZiXing to reveal that the Heavenly Saint Sect had stationed operatives in Xiangyang City and ordered them to spread rumors before the plague outbreak.
• Wu DeGui ordered a search for accomplices, while Zhou Zhi and Wu Maoze argued over where Li Yan should stay; Sha LiFei and Wang Dao Xuan then showed signs of plague infection.
• Li Yan and Lu San went to the riverside to consult the Giant Turtle Master, but an Alligator Dragon told them the master had disappeared two days earlier.
• Lu San learned that the Giant Turtle Master had pursued a troublesome water demon and suspected the East Lake Old Ancestor was behind its disappearance.

Li Yan investigated the plague and set a trap at the Xiangyang Commandery Commandant Office, where Wild Gods attacked the imprisoned Heavenly Saint Sect man. He pursued the fleeing attackers while Wu DeGui mobilized troops to support him and raid their lair.

• Li Yan learned that East Lake Old Ancestor had disappeared near Xianshan and told his men to gather information before seeking Giant Turtle Master.
• Li Yan and Lu San encountered unrest in Xiangyang as people tried to flee the plague quarantine, and Master Lu warned that surrounding villages and Miao stockades were at risk.
• Li Yan asked Chiliarch Zhou to secretly bring New Type Cannons to Xiangyang and later waited with Wu DeGui for enemies to attack the prisoner.
• Rat One detected a tampered formation, and Li Yan spotted a petty banner officer placing a Bagua Mirror, revealing an inside accomplice.
• Wild Gods attacked the prisoner, but Li Yan used his Soul Severing Throwing Knife to drive them off and freed the man from their assault.
• Li Yan pursued the Wild Gods with a tracking spell as Lu San sent a falcon after him and Wu DeGui mobilized troops to support the chase.

Li Yan followed Wild Gods to the Ghost Buddha Temple and discovered that it concealed a gathering of Heavenly Saint Sect disciples and the Meishan Three Brothers. He led Wu Dehai’s forces in an ambush, defeated the brothers, and learned that the Ghost Cult had placed a bounty on him before the captured old man died.

• Li Yan tracked the Wild Gods from Xiangyang City to the ruined Zhao De Temple, where Wu Dehai explained its history and Lu San’s animal informants reported that people had been making sacrifices there.
• Li Yan and Wu Dehai arranged an ambush, and Li Yan used the North Emperor Black Water Escape to enter the temple and discover that its objects had become Wild Gods.
• The Meishan Three Brothers and an old man led Heavenly Saint Sect disciples out of the temple, but the old man sensed Li Yan and exposed his hiding place.
• Li Yan shot the old man and several disciples with a New Style Firearm, then defeated the Meishan Three Brothers in a brief fight.
• Wu Dehai’s forces opened fire as the disciples fled, and Li Yan killed the second brother before the old man revealed that the Ghost Cult had placed a bounty on him and died.

Li Yan discovered that Zhao De Temple was a Heavenly Spiritual Treasure inhabited by spirits, and learned that the Camphorwood Great King’s dismembered remains had caused the plague. The temple’s aged camphor spirit revealed the source and gave Li Yan a piece of the corrupted wood, and Li Yan asked whether it would risk everything on one throw.

• Wu DeGui identified Blind Bai as a wanted former Spirit Medium connected to the Ghost Sect, and Li Yan ordered the captured Heavenly Saint Sect disciples interrogated for intelligence.
• Li Yan used a secret art in Zhao De Temple and saw countless divine figures hidden in its ceiling, realizing the ruins were a Heavenly Spiritual Treasure.
• Wu Dehai and Chiliarch Zhou reported rebel plans to incite mountain tribes and seize routes connecting the Han and Yangtze Rivers, while Li Yan proposed burning the temple.
• Chiliarch Zhou used a secret military art to weaken the temple’s spirits, and an aged voice explained that a scholar named Lu had forced the camphor spirit to obey him with its Soul Tablet.
• The camphor spirit revealed that the Camphorwood Great King’s remains were the plague’s source and that vinegar could suppress them, then sent a corrupted piece of wood out of the temple.
• Li Yan had the soldiers wrap the wood in vinegar-soaked cloth and asked the camphor spirit if it dared stake everything on one throw.

Li Yan uncovered the Ghost Sect’s scheme at Xiangyang’s City God Temple, defeated its disguised followers, and exposed a demon god’s attempt to corrupt the City God and control the She Ling Soldiers. With the plague and surrounding uprisings still spreading, reinforcements from Mount Wudang arrived.

• Li Yan ordered Wu Dehai to surround the City God Temple, then broke Daoist Yu Chenzi’s arm and stopped him from resisting as troops sealed the temple.
• Li Yan’s forces captured two fleeing Taoists and discovered that everyone inside the temple had been murdered and their organs removed.
• Li Yan entered the main hall, sensed danger in the City God statues and soul jars, and used the Soul Hooking Chain to destroy the jars and confront the demon god Ran Tong’s statue.
• Li Yan explained that the Ghost Sect had tried to corrupt the City God and control Xiangyang’s She Ling Soldiers, then asked Wu Dehai to summon help from Mount Wudang.
• Reports revealed that plague-stricken villagers had fought the garrison, Spring and Autumn Stronghold had seized the Nanzhang County seat, and a resentful section of Nanmu wood was one plague source.
• Yu Longzi and nearly a hundred Taoists from Mount Wudang arrived at Xiangyang under the Five Dragons Disciples’ leadership.

Li Yan helped the Five Dragons Palace cleanse Xiangyang’s City God Temple, consecrate its statues, and remove the plague’s source while learning more about Lu San’s inheritance. The plague began to recede, but the investigation revealed that Master Lu of Longzhong Academy was a demonic practitioner hiding Doctor Li in Lu Men Mountain.

• Prefect Lu Deqian left his sickbed and resumed government affairs when he heard the Five Dragons Palace had come down from the mountain.
• Li Yan told Yu Longzi how he exposed Demon God Ran Tong and reported that East Lake Old Ancestor had captured the Giant Turtle Master; Yu Longzi agreed to honor Li Yan’s promise to the Old Ghost from Zhao De Temple.
• Gu Linzi told Lu San about three surviving Chu Wu inheritances: the Lord of the Clouds Divine Gate, the Xiang Lord Water Palace, and Mount Wu.
• Yu Longzi and the Five Dragons Disciples cleansed the City God Temple, removed the baleful energy, reconsecrated the City God statue, and burned the rotten camphorwood that carried the plague.
• Yu Longzi sent Gu Linzi to destroy the remaining plague sources and dispatched letters urging the army to attack Shennongjia; Li Yan gave Wang Dao Xuan and Sha LiFei Sweet Dew Disinfectant Pills, which cured them.
• Wu DeGui reported that Yu Chenzi had confessed that Master Lu of Longzhong Academy abducted Doctor Li and was hiding him in Lu Men Mountain.

Li Yan and Wu DeGui’s forces searched Lu Men Mountain for the imprisoned Medicine Saint Li Family, uncovering hidden sentries and a snake-infested trap. As an old ghost emerged from the mist and threatened Li Yan, Li Yan recognized the danger and confronted it.

• Li Yan told Wu DeGui that the plague came from the Camphorwood Great King’s remains and agreed to help rescue the Medicine Saint Li Family before seeking Wu DeGui’s assistance near Xian Mountain.
• Li Yan’s group traveled by warship toward Lu Men Mountain while the Five Dragons Palace Daoists raided hidden Ghost Sect and Heavenly Saint Sect positions on Yu Liang Island.
• The Commandery Commandant Office’s scouts captured two men guarding the mountain, who revealed that Young Master Lu had hired them and was hiding his Five Stone Powder indulgence from his family.
• Lu San used venomous snakes to locate a cave where captives were supposedly held, while Li Yan spoke with a ghost at an old grave and learned the cave was a deadly trap guarded by a snake controller.
• As snakes surrounded the group in the misty bamboo forest, an aged voice and figure appeared and said someone had hired it to kill Li Yan; Li Yan accepted the challenge and called the place fitting for an old ghost.

Li Yan and the Commandery Commandant Office team defeated the hermit An FaDe’s ambush, broke his formation, and rescued Doctor Li. Their search then revealed a Buddhist hall filled with enthralled men and women and a gigantic gecko feeding on them.

• Li Yan kept the Commandery Commandant Office formation intact as An FaDe used snakes, poisonous mist, and ghostly flames to attack them.
• Wang Dao Xuan identified the formation’s hidden objects, and the team burned a small coffin to break the array; Sha LiFei’s shot wounded An FaDe as he fled.
• Li Yan found the wounded An FaDe at his courtyard and provoked him by mentioning Wang Chan Ancestor’s Scripture Forest; An FaDe died before the team could question him.
• Li Yan found a hidden tunnel beneath the thatched hall, and the group followed it to rescue the captive Doctor Li.
• Li Yan opened a rotating wall that led into a Buddhist hall, where the team found people behaving deliriously and a gigantic gecko feeding on them.

Li Yan and the Commandery Commandant Office uncovered a Ghost Sect network in Xiangyang while rescuing the Giant Turtle Master from an ambush on Mount Xian. After the city’s traitors were arrested, Li Yan’s group entered the mountain and learned from Wu Ba that little people might be underground.

• Li Yan killed the giant house lizard controlling the old nun, and Lu San learned that the monster and Young Master Zhao had been accomplices.
• Centurion Cheng arrested Young Master Lu and the other young masters; under interrogation, Qing Yue revealed that the Ghost Sect had planted agents throughout Xiangyang and that An FaDe’s disciple Yu FaLing was on Mount Xian.
• Li Yan’s party found Alligator Dragon hides, armor, firearms, and gunpowder in the Peach Blossom Study’s secret chamber, and Li Yan left Centurion Cheng to handle the arrests while he headed for Mount Xian.
• The Commandery Commandant Office and City God Temple arrested or killed Xiangyang’s hidden agents, while warships sailed toward Mount Xian.
• On Mount Xian, Lu San lost his connection to the Giant Turtle Master, but Wu Ba indicated that little people were beneath the group.

Li Yan and his companions investigated strange signs on Xian Mountain, discovering Jing People and evidence that the mountain’s animals could not contact its god. After Li Yan followed the trail of a shooter into the Han River, he found East Lake Old Ancestor guarding an underwater cave with Gu worms, leaving the group unable to enter the suspected route to Wang Chan Ancestor’s Scripture Repository Forest.

• Wu Ba found a tiny cave used by Jing People, and Wang Dao Xuan identified the little creatures as spirits associated with a mountain god.
• The group found an abandoned temple where monks had been taken, but Lu San’s attempt to contact the mountain god was interrupted by the sound of a qing.
• Wang Dao Xuan used Qi Observation and said they would need to wait until Zi Hour to detect demonic energy, but a gunshot struck Lu San’s hawk near the Han River.
• Li Yan reached the riverbank, found blood and footprints leading into the water, and used Black Water Escape to pursue three men carrying a corpse into an underwater cave.
• East Lake Old Ancestor emerged from the cave, covered in rune-carved iron pillars and guarded by a swarm of Gu worms, forcing Li Yan to flee back to shore.
• As garrison warships arrived, Li Yan warned everyone to fall back.

Li Yan tried to stop East Lake Old Ancestor and its Gu worms, but Qin Yuner surfaced with the demon and threatened the captive Giant Turtle Demon before sealing the underwater cave. With the entrance blocked and the Ghost Sect still hidden, Li Yan summoned spirits for help and encountered the Han River Goddess.

• Li Yan raced to the garrison fleet, drove back East Lake Old Ancestor’s white threadworms, and helped the sailors escape the scout boat.
• Chiliarch Zhou withdrew the fleet after Li Yan warned him about East Lake Old Ancestor and learned that Five Dragons Palace could not assist.
• Li Yan rejected Lu San’s plan to sacrifice fish and climbed down the cliff to summon Yin Bureau soldiers, but East Lake Old Ancestor attacked and Qin Yuner threatened to kill the captive Giant Turtle Demon.
• Qin Yuner ordered East Lake Old Ancestor to retreat and collapse the cave entrance, leaving Li Yan’s group unable to pursue the Ghost Sect.
• Li Yan opened a ritual altar and used the North Emperor God Control Method to summon aid, but the Han River Goddess appeared.

Li Yan used the North Emperor God Control Method and received a vision from the Han River Goddess, learning that Xian Mountain held hidden passages. He led Lu San and Wu Ba through a misty valley and a horde of reanimated dead into the Fuxi Ancient Cave, then continued deeper into its passage.

• Li Yan summoned the Han River Goddess, saw Xian Mountain’s hidden apertures, and assigned Wang Dao Xuan and Sha LiFei to meet the Garrison Navy while he entered the mountains with Lu San and Wu Ba.
• Li Yan told Lu San and Wu Ba that the valley concealed the Fuxi Ancient Cave and described clues linking Xing He Pu to the hidden forest of steles.
• Li Yan, Lu San, and Wu Ba fought through walking corpses and a fallen army near a Heavenly Saint Sect flag as Lu San searched the mountain wall for the passage.
• Li Yan used the thunder stored in the Soul Hooking Chain to repel the corpses, and Lu San found the concealed entrance by striking the wall until it rang like bells and stone chimes.
• Wu Ba pushed open the bell-shaped stone door, and Li Yan, Lu San, and Wu Ba entered the cave and headed down its dark, man-made passage.

Li Yan and Lu San discovered a vast Fuxi settlement beneath the mountain and learned that Qin Yuner’s group was gathering jade congs and capturing its inhabitants. Li Yan entered the underground river to try to free Giant Turtle Master, while Lu San and Wu Ba prepared to distract the enemy, but Little White Fox appeared carrying a panicked little person.

• Li Yan identified murals depicting the Four Fiends and inferred that Chang Sang Jun and Bian Que had captured and studied a Qiongqi.
• Li Yan sent a Chuling Paper Figure through the narrow passage and discovered Qin Yuner’s group gathering jade congs while Giant Turtle Master and East Lake Old Ancestor were under their control.
• Li Yan and Lu San decided to rescue Giant Turtle Master, with Li Yan going underwater and Lu San and Wu Ba creating a distraction.
• Li Yan explored the ancient Fuxi settlement and found eighteen sacrificial temples whose depressions appeared designed to hold the jade congs.
• Li Yan entered the underground river as Lu San and Wu Ba crawled out of the cave, where Little White Fox appeared carrying a frightened little person.

Lu San discovered that the ancient ruins were built inside a gigantic primordial clam and joined Li Yan’s ambush against Qin Yuner and the demons. A Fire Caltrop blast disrupted the battle, leaving Li Yan underwater beside Giant Turtle Master as he struck at the Bronze Coffin’s black hair with his Soul Hooking Chain.

• Little White Fox caught a spying Jingren, and Lu San learned from it that the ruins held a hidden Jingren settlement.
• Li Yan hid underwater near the stone platform and saw Giant Turtle Master and East Lake Old Ancestor deliver jade congs to the shore; East Lake Old Ancestor signaled that it wanted to rebel.
• Lu San followed the Jingren through a concealed passage and saw murals revealing that the ruins were inside a giant clam and depicting the Fuxi Clan’s use of a huge pearl and jade congs.
• Lu San and Wu Ba attacked the demons with a Fire Caltrop just as Li Yan leaped onto Giant Turtle Master, and the explosion scattered Qin Yuner’s group and sent the turtle into the water.
• Li Yan was caught by the Bronze Coffin’s black hair, then used his Soul Hooking Chain to burn it away and shatter the film over Giant Turtle Master’s eyes.

Li Yan escaped Huang San Lang’s attack only to sink with the Bronze Coffin into a strange cavern beneath the river. Above, East Lake Old Ancestor gathered all eighteen jade cong and began a sacrifice as Giant Turtle Master fought it, while Lu San and Wu Ba waited anxiously for Li Yan.

• Li Yan killed Huang San Lang inside the Bronze Coffin, but the coffin sank with him to the riverbed.
• Qin Yuner’s Gu head exploded near Lu San and Wu Ba, and East Lake Old Ancestor emerged, swallowed Qin Yuner, and gathered all eighteen jade cong.
• Yu FaLing led the surviving demons in placing the jade cong and sacrificing more than twenty abducted monks.
• East Lake Old Ancestor attacked Lu San and Wu Ba, but Giant Turtle Master arrived and fought it underwater, disrupting the sacrifice.
• Li Yan struggled beneath the Bronze Coffin, was sucked through the riverbed, and found a cavern filled with corpses and Wang Chan Ancestor’s Scripture Forest.

Li Yan discovered that the Great Luo Dharma Realm was a divine realm shaped by mortal sacrificial rites, then found himself transported to an ancient world inside a giant clam. As Lu San and the others arrived as sacrifices, the realm’s inhabitants attacked them, and the Gou Register in Li Yan’s arms began to heat up.

• Li Yan read the central steles and learned that the Great Luo Dharma Realm contained the Celestial Court and Underworld, and that gods and immortals were God Ascenders.
• Dense mist engulfed Li Yan, while his physical body walked into a cave and sat down without breathing.
• Giant Turtle Master wounded East Lake Old Ancestor as Lu San shot out one of its eyes, while Yu FaLing completed the sacrifice and the jade cong absorbed blood.
• Blue light spread through the ruins, causing the hidden Jing people and the assembled fighters to lose focus as Li Yan emerged into a spotless grotto.
• An Old Taoist told Li Yan he had reached the immortal realm and led him to Gui Mountain, where the Old Taoist identified Gui Mountain Immortal Lord as an ancient Fuxi Clan member.
• Lu San, Wu Ba, and the others appeared as sacrifices, prompting the Old Taoist and the other inhabitants to transform into Qiongqi-like monsters and attack; the Gou Register began to heat up.

Li Yan uncovered the history of the Orb Grotto-Heaven and helped the Underworld seize its Qiongqi inhabitants before the pearl was destroyed. He escaped the collapsing ruins with Giant Turtle Master and the others, while the Jingren remained behind and turned toward a mysterious presence in the river.

• Li Yan learned that the grotto had sheltered blood-sacrificing cultivators and Qiongqi shapeshifters, then accepted capture tasks from the Stone Well and bronze well.
• The Underworld's yin soldiers overwhelmed the Qiongqi, destroyed the pearl, and presented Li Yan with a choice of rewards; Li Yan took all five small flags.
• Li Yan escaped the collapsing crystal cavern with help from Giant Turtle Master, while Lu San and the others survived the Underworld's seizure of the Heavenly Saint Sect demonfolk.
• Giant Turtle Master exposed East Lake Old Ancestor's Gu-infected liver, and Li Yan found Three Talents Demon Suppressing Coins among the coins in his body.
• Li Yan led Giant Turtle Master and the others through an underground waterway as the ruins collapsed behind them.
• The Jingren watched the ruins collapse, then heard a woman's giggle from the river and began kneeling toward it.

Li Yan and his allies helped reopen Xiangyang's dock, cured the Giant Turtle Master's Jiao Gu, and uncovered signs that hidden forces inside Lord of the Clouds Divine Gate were manipulating events. Li Yan then went to Ghost Buddha Temple to investigate nightly disturbances and began sorting the spoils from Xian Mountain, where he recognized the Five Directions Fengdu Banner.

• Daoists performed a Sending the Plague Boat ritual in Xiangyang, and the Giant Turtle Master's Alligator Dragons escorted the burning boat downstream as the dock reopened.
• Li FaCheng made Jiao Gu Pills from the East Lake Old Ancestor's liver, and Lu San's Poisonous Bee Swarm devoured the worms forced out of the Giant Turtle Master.
• Lu San explained that the Giant Turtle Master had obtained suspicious, recently written Chu Bamboo Slips inside Lord of the Clouds Divine Gate, and Li Yan warned it to avoid contact with the hidden Old Ghosts and pursue the Han River water-god position.
• Li FaCheng left to travel with the army against the Gu-spreading forces, while Li Yan declined a banquet with Xiangyang officials and rode to Ghost Buddha Temple.
• Li Yan met the guards at Ghost Buddha Temple, learned that candles and sutra chanting had appeared there at night, and began examining the spoils from Xian Mountain.
• Li Yan gathered eighty-one Three Talents Demon Suppressing Coins and discovered that his hook tally had released five flags, revealing the Five Directions Fengdu Banner.

Li Yan crafted the Five Directions Fengdu Banners and investigated the Ghost Buddha Temple after it lit up at midnight. He uncovered treasure hunters restraining the old ghost with a Soul Tablet, and learned that people from Tangya Tusi City had sent them to retrieve a treasure.

• Li Yan used Three Talents Demon Suppressing Coins to weave five ritual banners and refined them to nourish the Five Camps of Netherworld soldiers and horses.
• Li Yan saw lights and Yin mist at the Ghost Buddha Temple and entered to investigate, ordering his allies to surround it if he gave a signal.
• Li Yan found treasure hunters measuring the temple beams and learned they had come to fell the nanmu Old Ghost using a Soul Tablet.
• Li Yan took the Soul Tablet from the treasure hunters, triggering the Old Ghost to seal the temple and frighten them with a ghostly display.
• Li Yan calmed the Old Ghost and questioned the treasure hunters, who revealed that people from Tangya Tusi City had commissioned them.