Chapter Summaries

Li Yan and his companions reached West Ridge Snow Mountain to cultivate while Dragon Girl remained in seclusion amid dangerously abnormal weather. As Li Yan absorbed the Queen Mother of the West's Spiritual Charm and Sha LiFei prepared to establish his foundation, Sha LiFei recognized that his awakened talent might be the rare Instrument Sense.

• Li Yan's group crossed the snowbound Yin Yang Boundary and learned that the lingering cold might endanger Dragon Girl's Natal Gu reconstruction.
• The group located Dragon Girl's cave and arranged to cultivate nearby, with Wang Dao Xuan guiding Sha LiFei through Foundation Establishment.
• Li Yan sealed himself inside a cave, kept his remaining divine qi in reserve, and absorbed the Queen Mother of the West shrine's Spiritual Charm into Mount Luo Feng.
• Sha LiFei endured the cold as he prepared for cultivation and read of a rare firearm technique that required Instrument Sense.
• Sha LiFei connected the compendium's description of Instrument Sense to the natural skill he had gained with objects after awakening his Body Mystical Power.

Sha LiFei secretly began forging a path toward gun cultivation and successfully preserved his spirit, while Wang Dao Xuan and Li Yan advanced their own cultivation. When Sha LiFei went to check on Long Yan'er, he found her trapped in a cave behind a swarm of illusion-casting Frost Moths, and she used her newly recondensed Natal Gu to affect him.

• Sha LiFei used the Meishan Firearms Compendium to pursue the idea of uniting his spirit with a gun, then successfully opened an altar and preserved a spirit bearing a gun phantom.
• Wang Dao Xuan absorbed Li Yan's divine fiend-force and cultivated his mystical power, while Sha LiFei emerged safely from his seclusion.
• Li Yan cleared the Queen Mother of the West's strange incense qi from his spirit-preservation space and formed the Inner Altar Eight Generals, expanding Luo Feng Mountain's divine palaces.
• When Li Yan failed to emerge by Zi Hour, Sha LiFei went with the Bai woman to check on Long Yan'er, then climbed down a cliff toward her cave.
• Sha LiFei broke the ice sealing the cave's tree hollow and was attacked by illusion-casting Frost Moths, which stopped when he called Long Yan'er.
• Long Yan'er, newly recovered and weakened after recondensing her Natal Gu, used her Lute Worm's sound as Sha LiFei succumbed to the Frost Moths' illusions.

After Long Yan'er escaped her frozen cave, Sha LiFei carried her back to the group, and Wang Dao Xuan welcomed her into the Twelve Yuan Chen by giving her the Si Snake coin. The group descended to Jinshui Post, where Li Yan and Di Longzi agreed to travel east by water toward Kaifeng.

• Long Yan'er used her Lute Worm Gu to dispel the spell affecting Sha LiFei, and he freed her from the ice cave and carried her through the snow.
• As they climbed, Sha LiFei told Long Yan'er that their engagement should be forgotten, but she explained that marrying him was one of her remaining attachments and he encouraged her to keep living and exploring.
• Li Yan emerged after breaking the spell of the Heavenly Calamity Five Crippling, then reunited with the others and welcomed Sha LiFei and Long Yan'er back to the cave.
• Wang Dao Xuan distributed paired Yuan Chen coins for sending messages and gave Long Yan'er the Si Snake coin, making her part of the group.
• Di Longzi waited with his disciples at Jinshui Post for Li Yan, and the group arrived and met him there.
• Li Yan agreed to Di Longzi's plan to travel by waterways through Chongqing, Jingzhou, and Xiangyang toward Kaifeng because snow made the Sichuan Road risky.

As Li Yan and his companions traveled toward Luoyang, a paper-figure procession and a mysterious coffin brought death to a shop in the city. At Longmen Post, Di Longzi learned that the horses had been taken by the Thousand-Household Office, and the group was directed to the Dragon Gate Inn to seek mounts.

• In Luoyang, night watchman Lao Zhao and his apprentice hid from a blood-lettered procession of paper figures carrying a vermilion coffin, then found the paper shop apprentices dead and the shop covered in black mold.
• Li Yan and his companions continued their journey to Luoyang, recalling the trouble they had faced along the way and arriving at the Yi River Ford with Di Longzi.
• Di Longzi told Li Yan they would change horses at Longmen Post and travel onward to Luoyang.
• At Longmen Post, Di Longzi discovered that the Thousand-Household Office had taken all the relay horses that morning.
• A disciple told Di Longzi that an elder of the Heluo Horse Caravan still had horses at the Dragon Gate Inn, and the group set out to find him.

Li Yan and Di Longzi arrived at Dragon Gate Inn to spread news and draw out the people they were seeking, but a confrontation among the inn’s disguised patrons erupted before they could act. Madam Pei broke it up, recognized Li Yan and the Twelve Yuan Chen, and hinted that she knew of the Night Crying Man’s visit.

• Di Longzi explained Dragon Gate Inn’s history and its reputation as a Yuzhou intelligence hub, and Li Yan decided to release news there to lure their enemies out.
• Li Yan surveyed the inn and noticed that its carved River Earl beam carried incense qi, suggesting someone versed in the Xuan Gate was present.
• After a patron insulted Li Yan, Di Longzi’s disciple threw a chopstick at him, and the inn’s disguised patrons drew weapons as the HeShuo Escorts challenged them.
• Madam Pei came downstairs, identified Di Longzi as a Tongtian Sect elder, and drove the would-be attackers from the Heluo route.
• Madam Pei recognized Li Yan and the Twelve Yuan Chen, then said Li Yan was famous in Pingkang Ward and asked whether the Night Crying Man had been there.

Li Yan and his companions heard Madam Pei's warning about Luoyang's dangerous Paper Figure Case and learned of the city's corrupt cultivation circles. After the group retired to Dragon Gate Inn, Madam Pei came secretly to Li Yan's room, where he asked what message Shen SanYou had left.

• Madam Pei led Li Yan, Di Longzi, and the others upstairs and warned them that the Paper Figure Case had made Luoyang dangerous.
• Madam Pei and Di Longzi described Luoyang's Buddhist and Daoist factions, corrupt investigators, and rumors of strange happenings on Mount Mang.
• Madam Pei explained Luoyang's decline and introduced the city's famous dishes while the group ate.
• Li Yan sensed hidden experts near Madam Pei's room and inferred that Di Longzi had left to search for his missing disciples.
• Madam Pei entered Li Yan's room in secret, and Li Yan asked what message Shen SanYou had left for him.

Li Yan learned from Madam Pei that Shen Lang had left a warning and investigated Zhao the Donkey’s activities in Yuzhou. After a strange dream and discovering that someone had spied on him, Li Yan tracked down Di Longzi’s body and found evidence that the Commandery Commandant Office had killed him.

• Madam Pei told Li Yan that Shen Lang had changed after investigating the Paper Figure Case and Mount Mang, and passed on Shen’s warning not to hold back if they became enemies.
• Madam Pei gave Li Yan a report on Zhao the Donkey and his wife, Feng FeiYan, whose activities linked them to Mount Mang, the Dust-Avoiding Pearl, and the Paper Figure Case.
• Li Yan dreamed of Zhao the Donkey as a paper figure, then found ash from a burned Chuling Paper Figure and warned his companions that an expert had spied on them.
• Li Yan and Lu San searched for the missing Di Longzi and found him dead beneath a tree, killed by a Divine Firearm.
• Li Yan identified the ambush as the work of the Commandery Commandant Office and recognized the wounds on Di Longzi’s disciples as the Zhoukou Chang Family Blade.

Li Yan and his companions witnessed the HeLuo Merchant Guild’s Sacrifice to the River Earl before entering a decaying Luoyang, where rival Buddhist and Daoist factions were clashing over the Paper Figure Case. They learned that Golden Eye Feng, whom Zhao the Donkey had contacted, had been imprisoned, leaving their investigation facing another obstacle.

• Li Yan explained the River Earl’s history as the HeLuo Merchant Guild carried out its river sacrifice, but black locust-wood coffins containing lifelike paper figures drifted ashore afterward, and Madam Pei suspected they came from Mangshan.
• Li Yan and his companions entered Luoyang, saw the city’s poverty and decay, and heard that Wang Banxian and the Young Lord had been arrested at the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion.
• Li Yan’s group learned that White Horse Temple and Shangqing Palace were renewing their feud, with both sides targeting people connected to their rivals during the Paper Figure Case.
• The Dragon Gate Inn manager gave Li Yan intelligence about Earth Dragon Zhang and Golden Eye Feng, and Li Yan discovered that Golden Eye Feng had been imprisoned because of the Paper Figure Case.

Li Yan and his companions infiltrated the Luoyang County Office prison and rescued Golden Eye Feng, who knew the story behind the stubborn donkey’s case. Golden Eye Feng began recounting a bronze ding inscribed with a Qin-era message, and Wang Dao Xuan revealed that Xu Shi was Xu Fu.

• Li Yan explained that Golden Eye Feng had been arrested after Di Longzi’s disciples were killed by paper figures, and the group decided to rescue him from the Luoyang County Office.
• Long Yan'er offered to use her Frost Moths to put the prison guards to sleep, and the group set out at night while Wu Ba and Wang Dao Xuan stayed outside to provide support.
• Li Yan and the others entered the county office, used Long Yan'er's Gu worms to incapacitate the guards, and searched the outer and inner prisons for Golden Eye Feng.
• Li Yan freed Golden Eye Feng from his cell, and the group returned with him to Dragon Gate Inn without being discovered.
• Golden Eye Feng said the stubborn donkey’s father had asked him to appraise a bronze ding inscribed with a message about Xu Shi crossing eastward, and Wang Dao Xuan identified Xu Shi as Xu Fu.

Li Yan and Golden Eye Feng investigated a Qin-era cauldron linked to a Northern Wei tomb and a rumored Qin ghost palace on Mount Mang. They entered the Luoyang Ghost Market to retrieve Golden Eye Feng’s hidden book, but armed men from the Commandery Commandant Office cornered them.

• Li Yan questioned Golden Eye Feng about Xu Fu, Zhao the Donkey, and the Qin cauldron, learning that it had come from a Northern Wei tomb.
• Golden Eye Feng described a legend that Xu Fu and Qin sorcerers had suppressed the Six States’ resentful spirits on Mount Mang, then connected the case to Northern Wei general Wang Xuanmo and a book called Tales of Strange Anomalies from Hebei.
• Golden Eye Feng explained that Di Longzi’s disciples had sought the book before paper figures killed them, and Li Yan proposed retrieving it from Golden Eye Feng’s shop in the Luoyang Ghost Market.
• Golden Eye Feng led Li Yan and his companions through a hidden entrance at Dingding Gate into the ghost market, where they found his ransacked shop and uncovered a spirit-treasure pouch containing the item he had hidden.
• As Li Yan and the others tried to leave, a cold-faced man killed the beggar who had warned them, surrounded them with more than a dozen men, and demanded the hidden item.
• Li Yan recognized the attackers’ Chang Family Blade stance, and Golden Eye Feng warned that they were from the Commandery Commandant Office.

Li Yan and his companions fought their way through an ambush by the Commandery Commandant Office in Luoyang, captured a monk, and escaped the city despite the City God patrol. Outside Luoyang, Golden Eye Feng identified Wang Xuanmo as the final sect master of the Northern Wei Yin Talisman Sect and uncovered a prophecy linking him to Mount Mang.

• Li Yan and Wu Ba attacked the Commandery Commandant Office men after the gunner was subdued, while Long Yan'er and the others helped defeat the ambush.
• Li Yan pursued the person who had signaled the attack, and he and Lu San returned with a captured, disguised monk.
• The group escaped the ghost market as the City God patrol approached, and Li Yan used a gou-die to drive off the supernatural forces surrounding them.
• Li Yan and his companions climbed over Luoyang's wall and left the city with help from Long Yan'er's Frost Moths.
• Outside Luoyang, Golden Eye Feng discovered that Wang Xuanmo had been the final sect master of the Northern Wei Yin Talisman Sect and read the inscription, “Xuan Mo Returns to Mang.”

Li Yan’s group uncovered Wang Xuanmo’s role in a plot to seize the Yu Province Cauldron and provoke a rebellion in Luoyang. After learning that Zhao the Donkey had been taken to Mount Mang, they split up to alert Shaolin and investigate the mountain.

• Golden Eye Feng connected Wang Xuanmo’s return to Mount Mang with the ancient Qin legacy, the Ghost Sect, and the plan to seize the Nine Cauldrons.
• Li Yan and the others realized the Yu Province Cauldron was at risk, and Golden Eye Feng vowed to help stop the sorcerers.
• Li Yan identified their captured monk as a follower of the Ikkō-shū Sect and used Long Yan’er’s centipede Gu to force him to confess.
• The monk revealed that Wang Xuanmo, the Ghost Emperor of Mount Mang, had ordered his followers to spread a false Maitreya faith and start a rebellion when the Yellow River flooded backward into Luoyang.
• The monk explained that Mount Mang’s followers had ordered three thousand paper figures and had captured a Treasure Hunter, while the Luoyang Paper Figure Case had begun by accident.
• Li Yan sent Sha LiFei, Wang Dao Xuan, and Wu Ba to Shaolin to seek help, while he and the others set out for Mount Mang to rescue Zhao the Donkey.

Li Yan and his companions climbed Mount Mang in disguise to search for the Ghost Emperor’s hiding place, but found no clear lead among the countless tombs. A vast Snake Mirage then engulfed them, and an elderly voice warned them not to use their cannon.

• Sha LiFei and Wang Dao Xuan rode toward Shaolin to seek aid while Li Yan’s group remained on Mount Mang to investigate.
• Golden Eye Feng explained that Qingming visitors could provide cover and led Li Yan’s group up the mountain toward the tomb where strange Nuo opera sounds had been heard.
• Li Yan’s group found the suspected tomb already plundered and abandoned, leaving them without a clue to the Ghost Emperor’s location.
• A strange wind brought thick fog and a powerful smell of snakes, and Long Yan’er identified the phenomenon as a Snake Mirage.
• Li Yan drew the Severing Dust Blade and Wu Ba prepared the Tiger Crouching Cannon, but an elderly voice in the fog warned them not to use it.

Li Yan met Yin JiuGe in Mangshan, where the elder revealed the origins of its false underworld and Wang Xuanmo’s Ghost Emperor forces. He learned that Zhao the Donkey was imprisoned in the underground palace and that rescuing the captives might be possible that night.

• Li Yan recognized Yin JiuGe, followed him and his companions into an ancient tomb, and watched him use grains and grave soil to shield them from a passing army of yin soldiers led by a Ghost King.
• Yin JiuGe explained that Xu Fu had used the Sui Marquis' Pearl to create a false underworld on Mangshan and trap the vengeful spirits of the Six States.
• Yin JiuGe revealed that Wang Xuanmo, a former Yin Talisman Sect master, had entered the false underworld and gathered yin soldiers from both the Six States and the massacre at Luoyang.
• Yin JiuGe told Li Yan that Shen SanYou had uncovered something and likely gone to Dongying, while Zhao the Donkey was probably imprisoned in Mangshan’s underground palace.
• Yin JiuGe said Wang Xuanmo was abducting surviving bloodlines of the Six Kingdoms to appease the leaking Snake Mirage and told Li Yan that tonight might be his chance to rescue the captives.

Li Yan and Yin JiuGe entered the Snake Mirage around Northern Wei Jing Mausoleum to rescue the captives and discovered a passage leading to a vast grotto. The Gou Die in Li Yan’s arms began heating up as they reached the underground palace.

• Yin JiuGe identified the nighttime mist as a formation tied to Mangshan’s terrain, the Suihou Pearl Serpent, and the Twenty-Eight Mansions, then entered with Li Yan to rescue the captives.
• Li Yan used the Fengdu Method to summon Marshal Wei and joined Yin JiuGe in approaching Northern Wei Jing Mausoleum under cover of the fog.
• Li Yan and Yin JiuGe avoided paper figures carrying a coffin and learned from Yin JiuGe that a Five Colors Corpse Spider controlled them with iron-tough silk.
• Yin JiuGe led Li Yan through a mist-filled passage that passed through solid rock and opened into a vast grotto beneath the mausoleum.
• Li Yan saw twenty-eight meteorites arranged like the Twenty-Eight Mansions, with a pearl illuminating a serpent-like mass of mist, and felt the Gou Die in his arms heat up.

Li Yan accepted an Underworld Office mission to investigate escaped baleful energy in Xu Fu’s underground palace, while he and Yin JiuGe searched for Zhao the Donkey. Yin JiuGe uncovered the palace’s deadly formation and suspected Zhao was already lost, but after witnessing Wang Xuanmo sacrifice six civilians to quiet the restless Six Palaces, he devised a possible rescue plan.

• Li Yan accepted a mission involving the Demon God Yang Shi’s Coffin Longevity Technique and overheard Judge Cui discussing Erlang Zhenjun and Luo Feng Mountain.
• Li Yan told Yin JiuGe about the mission, and they suspected the Suihou Pearl Serpent was concealing Wang Xuanmo’s presence.
• Yin JiuGe used Tongue and Intent Mystical Powers to identify the underground palace’s formation and concluded that no living person could survive inside it.
• The Six Palaces stirred, and paper figures carried out six unconscious civilians and slaughtered them to suppress the resentful ghosts.
• Yin JiuGe explained that Wang Xuanmo was using the sacrifices to hold the ghosts back and proposed a risky way to rescue Zhao the Donkey if he was still alive.

Li Yan infiltrated the false Luo Feng Mountain to rescue Zhao the Donkey, crossing the Netherworld Passage while Yin JiuGe caused a disturbance to draw away its defenses. After freeing Zhao, Li Yan faced a newly awakened corpse that carried the demonic aura of the escaped Yang Shi.

• Yin JiuGe disrupted the underground palace’s earth veins while Li Yan used Marshal Liu’s power to slip past the Five Colors Corpse Spiders and enter the Netherworld Passage.
• Li Yan crossed the passage during a clash between Wang Xuanmo’s paper figures and the vengeful souls, then identified the Six Palaces and their guards on the far side.
• Li Yan reached an underground palace filled with coffins and Qin figures, where Wang Xuanmo’s paper figures returned to perform a blood sacrifice.
• Li Yan recognized Zhao the Donkey inside a coffin and destroyed the surrounding paper figures with his lightning-empowered Severing Dust Blade before pulling Zhao free.
• As paper figures and coffins blocked the exit, a man in white rose from the Bronze Coffin, and Li Yan sensed the escaped Yang Shi’s demonic aura on him.

Li Yan summoned the Netherworld forces to destroy the paper Yin soldiers and the Old Yin Person, then rescued Zhao the Donkey and Feng FeiYan as the Six Kingdoms Demon Army broke free. Yin JiuGe helped them cross the collapsing Netherworld Road, and they escaped the cave just before Wu Ba brought the underground palace down.

• Li Yan completed the summoning incantation, and the Netherworld General bound the Yin Souls in the paper figures and dragged the demonic energy from the Old Yin Person away.
• Li Yan broke open the Bronze Coffin and fought off the Old Yin Person, while the Netherworld forces seized it; he then took the Bamboo Strips from the coffin.
• Li Yan found Zhao the Donkey wounded beside Feng FeiYan's coffin, freed Feng FeiYan from a paper figure, and lowered her when Zhao pleaded with him.
• Li Yan carried Zhao the Donkey and Feng FeiYan out as the Six Kingdoms Demon Army broke free and the false Underworld began to collapse.
• Yin JiuGe used the Five Sacrifices Suppressing Sha Technique to quiet the Netherworld Road, allowing Li Yan and the others to cross while pursued by Five Colors Corpse Spiders.
• Li Yan and his companions reached the cave entrance, and Wu Ba fired the Tiger Crouching Cannon, causing the underground palace to collapse.

Wu Ba's Tiger Crouching Cannon triggered the collapse of the underground palace at Mount Mang, releasing the Six Kingdoms Demon Army as the Suihou Pearl Serpent fought to suppress it. The resulting blood-red omen caused supernatural disturbances across the region, while Yue SanEr arrived at Dragon Gate Inn as Soul-Reaping Ships surfaced in the Yi River.

• Wu Ba fired the Tiger Crouching Cannon into the underground palace, destroying the pursuing monsters and causing the palace and false Luo Feng Mountain to collapse.
• The Six Kingdoms Demon Army's Evil Omen Qi escaped, and the Suihou Pearl Serpent's formation clashed with it as Li Yan and the others fled.
• A blood-red light rose over Mount Mang, while Shangqing Palace's treasures and elixir furnace suffered damage and its Daoists recognized a Scarlet Omen.
• The City God Temple in Luoyang showed signs of supernatural disturbance, and a Dongying monk stabbed the Daoist temple attendant after the two argued about their plans.
• A Soul-Reaping Ship surfaced in the Yi River near Dragon Gate Inn, and Yue SanEr identified it as a relic of the Yin Talisman Sect.
• More Soul-Reaping Ships surfaced as the sky over Mount Mang turned red, and Madam Pei realized Li Yan and the others were there.

A disturbance at Mang Mountain shook the earth veins and exposed Xu Fu’s plan to use the Six Kingdoms Demon Army and the Suihou Pearl Serpent to draw out the Yu Province Cauldron. As Li Yan’s group faced the consequences, Shangqing Palace surrounded them and prepared to attack.

• At Longmen Grottoes, an old carver’s work was interrupted by the earth-vein disturbance, the Vairocana Buddha’s wrist broke, and the carver revealed that the upheaval had happened ahead of schedule.
• Li Yan and Yin JiuGe investigated the turmoil at Mang Mountain and found that the underground palace connected to the mountain’s earth veins and the central dragon vein.
• Li Yan showed Yin JiuGe the Qin Bamboo Strips, and Golden Eye Feng identified their writing as Golden Crow Script and deciphered Xu Fu’s account of the false underworld and his plan.
• Yin JiuGe concluded that Xu Fu had used the Suihou Pearl Serpent and the Six Kingdoms Demon Army to draw out the Yu Province Cauldron, while Li Yan wondered whether they had disrupted the plan by arriving early.
• An Old Taoist led fifty or sixty Shangqing Palace Daoists in surrounding Li Yan’s group and accusing them of disturbing the imperial tombs; Wu Ba aimed the Tiger Crouching Cannon at them.