Chapter Summaries

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

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

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

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

Li Yan and his companions climbed Mount Wu to seek an opportunity at the Goddess Palace ruins while trying to recover the two Girls’ life tablets. Lu San gained a chance to advance, but Bai Huan’s enemies appeared and a Salt Gang underling pointed Li Yan out to them.

• Bai Huan talked past Xin Lian, then explained that the nun opposed the Goddess’s return and helped children’s souls become Mountain Infants.
• As the group climbed through the storm, a tiger demon and a woman riding a white deer saluted Zhao Yun and Xing Yu, while other immortals watched and escorted them.
• At the Goddess Palace ruins, Bai Huan and the women performed a worship ceremony, and the group tried to dreamwalk into the palace’s past.
• Li Yan heard a voice call “Li” and woke; Long Yan’er identified the voice as the Li God, also known as the White Emperor in Guanzhong.
• Lu San was surrounded by Innate Gangsha Energy and began building another floor, while Sha LiFei failed to obtain an opportunity.
• Bai Huan’s enemies accused her of betraying the sect, and a Salt Gang underling arrived and pointed Li Yan out to them.

Li Yan used the Soul-Reaping Writ and an underworld decree to kill the Tiger Demon after the Life Controller Society cursed Wu Chao Yun and Wu Xing Yu. Lu San awakened after reaching Dao Progress Third Floor and revealed that he had brought a Blood Jade Cong out of the Goddess Palace.

• The Salt Gang's young man brought the Life Controller Society's threat to Bai Huan, and Li Yan ordered Wu Ba to capture him.
• The Society cursed Wu Chao Yun and Wu Xing Yu, so Li Yan threatened the mountain's hidden powers and accepted a Soul-Reaping Writ mission against the nearby Tiger Demon.
• Li Yan summoned underworld soldiers, who seized the Tiger Demon; the Society then threatened to hunt Li Yan, while Wang Dao Xuan's attempt to trace its curse failed.
• Bai Huan explained that Lu San's Beast-Taming method and Spirit Wood Secret Art had been completed, and she suggested the Goddess Palace might hold a clue to his opportunity.
• Lu San awoke at Dao Progress Third Floor and described entering the Goddess Palace, where a voice directed him to find the Mountain Ghost Inheritance and build a tower.
• Lu San revealed that he had brought a Blood Jade Cong out of the Goddess Palace.

Li Yan and his companions followed Lu San’s plant-sensing ability to search Mount Wu’s hidden spiritual apertures, while the Mount Wu factions maneuvered against them. After the group entered an apparently empty cavern, the Three Sisters of the Life Controller Society arrived with Lu Jiu, whose trap ended with his own men killing themselves.

• Li Yan concealed another Blood Jade Cong, and Lu San used the Orchid and Iris Scripture to sense several spiritual apertures through the plants and trees.
• Li Yan’s group approached a sealed aperture beneath a boulder, pressured its hidden occupant into revealing a path, and continued down the mountain.
• Wang MengSheng confronted Zhu and said Mount Wu’s fortune was ending, then invited her to leave with him for the King of Shu.
• Lu San found a hidden hollow behind a waterfall, where Bai Huan’s Sesame Gu revealed a mechanism leading into an empty cavern.
• The Three Sisters of the Life Controller Society arrived with Lu Jiu, whose pink dust made several Salt Gang members slash their own throats.

Lu Jiu witnessed the Life Controller Society’s Old Women unleash the Water Tigers, while Li Yan and his companions fought their way into a secret chamber and sealed the monsters behind them. Inside, they found ranks of terracotta warriors resembling the Qin Emperor Terracotta Army.

• The Old Woman explained that she intended to free the ancient Water Tiger and used jade tablets and a Nuo Dance to awaken the creatures in the pond.
• Lu San led Li Yan and the others to a cavern, where Water Tigers attacked and an explosion sealed their entrance.
• Bai Huan’s family used flute music to suppress the Water Tigers while Wu Ba and Sha LiFei opened a secret chamber with explosives.
• Li Yan fought off the Water Tigers with his chains, blade, and thunder techniques, then entered the chamber and helped seal the passage.
• Li Yan and his companions found rows of terracotta warriors armed with halberds inside the chamber.

Li Yan and the others escaped through the Terracotta Army formation and discovered that the true Goddess Palace lay beneath a sealed Stone Platform. After Li Yan broke the seal, they fled through an underground waterway while the Goddess manifested on Goddess Peak, and a deadly miasma began pursuing them.

• Wang Dao Xuan explained that the Terracotta Army contained Innate Geng Metal Qi, and Li Yan moved the figures aside so the group could cross while Water Tigers were ground apart behind them.
• The group reached a dead-end grotto, where Li Yan found a letter and alchemy bottles beside a skeleton; Wang Dao Xuan revealed that the Stone Platform sealed the true Goddess Palace and covered a waterway to the Yangtze River.
• Li Yan shattered the Stone Platform, unleashing wind and rain from the cavern and causing a storm to gather over Goddess Peak.
• Fast Boat Zhang waited aboard his ship as officials inspected vessels on the river, while Lu Jiu blasted open the cave entrance and the Three Sisters of the Life Controller Society entered.
• One of the Three Sisters was shredded by the Terracotta Army's remaining Geng Metal Qi, and the escaped demonic miasma consumed the other two after the formation's power ran out.
• Li Yan used Profound Water Escape to bring the group out through the waterway, then ordered Fast Boat Zhang to collect the others and sail toward Shu.

Li Yan and his companions escorted the Bai family out of Wushan while Wang Dao Xuan revealed that ancient alchemists Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng had schemed to capture the Nine Cauldrons. After destroying the record and passing through Qutang Pass into Shu, the group approached White Emperor City, where rival parties were fighting over a temple.

• Wang Dao Xuan divined that Zhao Yun and Xing Yu were free of their curse, easing Bai Huan’s worries.
• Fast Boat Zhang warned Li Yan that the Salt Gang might ambush them at Kui Gate, while Lu San’s hawk found no attackers along the cliffs.
• Wang Dao Xuan told Li Yan that Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng had sought the Nine Cauldrons and explained their links to Goddess Palace and the Lord of the Clouds Divine Gate.
• Li Yan ordered Wang Dao Xuan to destroy the Bamboo Strips and watch for news of Lu Sheng, and Wang Dao Xuan swore to hunt him down.
• The group passed through Qutang Pass using Li Yan’s credentials and continued toward Qingcheng Mountain with the Bai family.
• At White Emperor City, Fast Boat Zhang’s disciple reported that two groups were fighting over a temple.

Li Yan and his companions broke through a Salt Gang blockade at Kuimen, while Lu Jiu and Wang MengSheng plotted to trap them in Wanzhou and seize the divine qi they sought. After passing Fengjie, Li Yan encountered Tian Chiliarch again as the ship approached Wanzhou.

• Li Yan learned that the fighting at White Emperor City concerned a shrine dispute, but Lu Jiu’s Salt Gang boats surrounded his ship and demanded he surrender the girls traveling with him.
• Li Yan refused Lu Jiu’s offer and used the Cloud Thunder Divine Drum to stun the Salt Gang men and overturn the boats blocking their way.
• Lu Jiu consulted Wang MengSheng and the Palace Dress Woman, who revealed that the King of Shu wanted the girls’ divine qi to search for the Elixir of Immortality; Wang MengSheng proposed trapping Li Yan’s group in Wanzhou and making it his burial ground.
• Fast Boat Zhang told Li Yan they had passed Fengjie and would reach Wanzhou soon, then a pursuing boat arrived with Tian Chiliarch aboard.

Li Yan learned that Zhao Changsheng had last appeared at the Shu King Residence and that the Sichuan Salt Gang was seeking the ancient Wu Xian Kingdom’s Elixir of Immortality. At the crowded Wan County wharf, he suspected the salt gang had blocked the river and stopped when he heard Cui Song mention the Gray-robed Mad Monk.

• Tian Chiliarch told Li Yan that Zhao Changsheng’s trail led to the Shu King Residence and linked the Sichuan Salt Gang’s plans in Wuxi to the search for the Elixir of Immortality.
• Tian Chiliarch gave Li Yan a bronze token for contacting his hidden agents in the salt gang, then departed.
• Li Yan and his companions reached Wan County and learned that river bandits had overturned merchant boats to block the waterway.
• Li Yan detected traces of Yin Energy among people at the wharf and suspected the salt gang had arranged trouble there.
• Li Yan recognized a young woman’s Serpent Form steps as Emei’s Serpent Form Fist.
• Li Yan stopped listening to Cui Song when he heard that Cui had met the Gray-robed Mad Monk, a disciple of Xing He Pu.

Li Yan heard Cui Song’s account of a Gray-robed Mad Monk’s warning about a Drought Demon beneath Wan Prefecture Tiansheng City, then agreed to help him search for it while preparing for a possible Salt Gang ambush. The three men reached a ruined mountaintop across the river, where they began looking for the demon.

• A Chengdu merchant recounted his family’s deadly encounter with the Gray Monk, and Cui Song revealed that the monk had warned him a Drought Demon would cause three years of drought in Eastern Sichuan.
• Li Yan introduced himself to Cui Song and agreed to help locate the Drought Demon, while Cui Song promised to share everything he knew if they found nothing.
• The Chengdu merchant joined them, and Li Yan suspected he might be a Salt Gang spy, so he returned to his ship and arranged a defense before leaving with Cui Song.
• Cui Song took Li Yan and the merchant across the river toward the mountain, while his junior sister stayed behind on the boat.
• The three men climbed to a misty mountaintop and found ruins among the wild grass, with exposed skeletons and rusted arrowheads nearby.

Li Yan and Cui Song investigated an Ancient Battlefield, where they found a Drought Demon that an unknown expert had destroyed with a silver pellet. After the mysterious Chengdu merchant disappeared, Li Yan dreamed of a three-eyed divine general, and the party reached Fengdu City.

• Li Yan and Cui Song searched the abandoned Heavenly Born City, where battlefield spirits and Yin energy gathered.
• The Chengdu merchant secretly fired a silent silver pellet into the fog and left, while Li Yan and Cui Song found and destroyed the Drought Demon's corpse-raising ground.
• Li Yan recognized that an unknown expert had used the pellet to destroy the Drought Demon before it could fully form, and he and Cui Song discovered the merchant had vanished.
• Cui Song recounted a tale about the Gray-robed Mad Monk told by Song Tiezui, and Li Yan later dreamed of a three-eyed general before waking with the silver pellet in hand.
• After two days without a Salt Gang attack, Li Yan and the others continued upriver and reached Fengdu City at dusk.

Li Yan encountered the Living Underworld Messengers’ rules in Fengdu and accepted a test requiring him to spend a night on the famous mountain. After Old Woman Bai Huan secured protection for the group with Wei Wuchang’s token, Li Yan left them in Fengdu and sailed toward the mountain, asking the old man about Yin Changsheng.

• Li Yan’s Gou Document turned cold when an old man with a Ghost Eye approached aboard a small boat and criticized Li Yan for breaking the Living Underworld Messengers’ rules at Wushan.
• The old man told Li Yan he could join the organization by spending a night on the famous mountain, but leaving would mean losing its protection.
• Old Woman Bai Huan used a token from Wei Wuchang to secure the group’s protection in Fengdu, then explained that she planned to bring her disciples to Qingcheng Mountain under the Queen Mother Hall.
• Li Yan left Wang Dao Xuan and the others at Nostalgia Tower and boarded the old man’s boat for the North Bank and Ghost Gate Pass.
• On the boat, Li Yan saw the sickly Ku WaZi in the cabin and asked the hostile old man whether he knew Yin Changsheng.

Li Yan entered Famous Mountain to undergo the Yellow Springs Road trial after learning about Yin Changsheng and the Living Underworld Messengers. He reached the fog-shrouded path beyond the Reception Hall, where the Heng Ha Two Generals appeared and the trial proved different from what he had been told.

• An old man explained that Famous Mountain was tied to Yin Changsheng and Wang Fangping, then revealed that the Living Underworld Messengers belonged to the Yellow Springs and asked Li Yan to leave Fengdu after the night’s events.
• The old man admitted that he had once practiced ghost arts and that his grandson’s weak soul and Ghost Qi came from his son’s cultivation; Li Yan promised to leave quickly and entered the mountain.
• A black-robed man told Li Yan to complete the Yellow Springs Road trial, warned him not to stray from the path or look back, and reacted with surprise when Li Yan said he cultivated the Luo Feng Scripture.
• Li Yan paid his respects at Fengdu Hall and passed through the empty Reception Hall into thick fog.
• The Heng Ha Two Generals appeared in the fog and roared at Li Yan, who realized the trial differed from the black-robed man’s account.

Li Yan struggled through Fengdu’s supernatural mountain path, overcoming divine trials and discovering that the Five Directions Fengdu Banner could protect him from the Netherworld Supervising Censor. As he continued toward the mountain’s higher halls, a terrifying presence also reached Fengdu from the river below.

• Li Yan resisted the Heng Ha Two Generals’ cries by using the Great Cloud Thunder Sound, and the struggle helped him grasp martial momentum.
• After passing Ghost Gate Pass, Li Yan encountered bloodied visions and chaotic Buddhist and Taoist sounds along the Yin Yang Boundary.
• At Nine Pythons Hall, the Soul Hooking Chain turned cold until the Five Directions Fengdu Banner’s power drove off the Netherworld Supervising Censor’s influence.
• Li Yan blasted apart Wang Lingguan’s incense-powered attack with heavenly thunder and hurried onward toward the higher divine halls.
• A monster formed from the remnant soul of the Goddess of Mount Wu’s priestess and a demonic aberration immobilized the old man and his disciples on their boat before disappearing.
• The old man sent word that an evil demon had entered Fengdu as Li Yan faced another palace and smelled an overwhelming stench of blood.

Li Yan endured a succession of supernatural trials on the famous mountain, then encountered Yin Changsheng’s phantom and recovered two jade pieces that fitted into the Goudie. After learning a powerful demon had attacked Fengdu City, he returned to Fengdu Wharf and recognized the demonic miasma from beneath Goddess Peak.

• Li Yan avoided the bloody shortcut at Blood River Hall, resisted the Child-Giving Hall’s incense, and passed through the illusions at Thousand Hands Hall.
• Li Yan endured the trials at Ox King Hall, Wealth Deity Hall, Three Officials Hall, and Ten Kings Hall, then ignored the voices tempting him into the Yellow Springs.
• Li Yan passed the remaining halls and reached the Looking-Home Platform, where he saw Yin Changsheng’s phantom speak of the Great Dharma Realm before it vanished and left two jade carvings.
• Li Yan fitted the jade carvings into the Goudie and fled after a Daoist mistook him for a thief.
• A Daoist told Li Yan that a powerful demon had attacked Fengdu City and killed people at the dock, so Li Yan returned to Fengdu Wharf by ferry.
• Li Yan recognized the demonic miasma from the cave beneath Goddess Peak as he stepped off the boat.

Li Yan’s group arrived in Fengdu and learned that the Water Tiger’s demonic calamity had followed them, while the Salt Gang and local officials seemed to be setting a trap for them. They decided to wait for Yellow Springs to investigate the crisis and planned to disguise themselves as a WuYang Divine Opera troupe to travel overland to Chengdu.

• At the dock, Li Yan saw corpses drained and shriveled by the Water Tiger’s demonic calamity, and the yamen runners carried them into Fengdu despite the crowd’s protests.
• Li Yan told his companions about the mountain, and Wang Dao Xuan and Bai Huan concluded that the Water Tiger’s calamity had changed and spread beyond its usual territory.
• Centurion Liu Gan ordered Li Yan’s group not to leave Fengdu, and Li Yan and Sha LiFei suspected the Salt Gang had arranged the restriction as a trap.
• Meng ChangGui revealed that Liu Gan had been bought off by the Salt Gang, warned Li Yan not to confront it, and said Yellow Springs would handle the calamity and investigate Azure Ox Temple.
• Sha LiFei proposed traveling to Chengdu by land in disguise, and Bai Huan suggested they pose as a WuYang Divine Opera troupe wearing Nuo masks.
• Li Yan agreed to the plan, and Fast Boat Zhang agreed to sell the boat when they reached the Chongqing docks.

Li Yan learned that his upgraded tally could detect Yin Criminals and other tallies over a much greater distance, while the Salt Gang and Azure Ox Temple closed in on his group in Fengdu. Chongxu Zi left the inn after threatening to kill anyone who tried to leave, and Li Yan recognized his attack as an Emei martial art.

• Li Yan used his upgraded tally to detect that someone from the Yellow Springs was still nearby, then spotted two men watching the inn.
• Rat One relayed the Salt Gang spies’ conversation to Li Yan, who decided to wait and learn what they wanted before striking back.
• Liu Gan warned Magistrate Guo Zhengshan to handle the matter impartially while denying any connection to the Salt Gang or the King’s Residence.
• Chongxu Zi and the Azure Ox Temple Taoists examined the corpses, detected a demonic omen, and planned a ritual to suppress it that night.
• Chongxu Zi went to Nostalgia Tower Inn, cut a deep scar into the street, and threatened to kill anyone who left before he returned; Li Yan identified his technique as Emei’s Heavenly Star Finger Technique.

Li Yan investigated the Old Taoist Chongxu’s ritual and learned that the Salt Gang was using the conflict to force the Yellow Springs Organization to reveal itself. After questioning two hired spies, he discovered that Lu Jiu was acting under orders from a purple-faced old man and that the gang was also searching for Ma SanTong.

• Li Yan told Sha LiFei to avoid confronting the Old Taoist Chongxu until they understood the Salt Gang’s scheme, then used an escape art to investigate.
• Old Taoist Chongxu began a riverbank ritual to summon soldiers and capture the demons, while Li Yan secretly watched from the riverside.
• Meng ChangGui told Li Yan that Chongxu’s anger stemmed from the Yellow Springs Organization executing his master and that Wei Wuchang was returning.
• Li Yan broke into a warehouse and subdued Guo QianShan and Iron Hand Chen, two hired spies assisting Lu Jiu.
• Guo QianShan told Li Yan that Lu Jiu answered to a purple-faced old man near Azure Ox Temple and that the Salt Gang was watching for a child carrying a fan, a gourd, and a sack.
• Li Yan realized that the child’s description matched Ma SanTong, one of the Seventy-Two Demon Lords.

Li Yan learned that Ma SanTong’s plague-tainted techniques might be connected to the Azure Ox Temple, while the temple’s Chongxu Zi destroyed the river demon with summoned Lu Soldiers. Chongxu Zi then brought Li Yan and the others back to the temple, where Li Yan’s tally suddenly heated, signaling a new mission.

• Li Yan recognized Ma SanTong’s abilities and let the two men from the inn leave; he and his companions resolved to expose the Salt Gang and its allies.
• At the river, the demon overwhelmed Chongxu Zi’s ritual, but Chongxu Zi used ancient bamboo strips to summon Lu Soldiers that destroyed it with thunderfire.
• Li Yan warned Chongxu Zi that the Salt Gang was plotting against the Azure Ox Temple and asked about a red child carrying three treasures; Chongxu Zi reacted with alarm and led them back to the mountain.
• Chongxu Zi found the Azure Ox Temple apparently peaceful, but Li Yan’s hook-shaped tally grew hot, indicating that a mission had been issued.