Chapter Summaries

Li Yan helped Hu Yuanyuan and her companions escape the Night-Traveling God, then discovered that Hu Yuanyuan led a Maitreya Sect branch in the capital. She asked him to kill Wuleji, a criminal hiding in Prince Ying's Estate, and offered the Peaches of Immortality as payment.

• Li Yan recognized the Night-Traveling God and realized someone had taken control of it.
• Hu Yuanyuan's escape technique failed, but Li Yan drove the Night-Traveling God away as a Celestial Official.
• Hu Yuanyuan led Li Yan, Widow Wang, and Feng Shaoqing through a hidden warehouse and tunnels to a secret armory.
• Hu Yuanyuan revealed that she was the Maitreya Sect's Branch Master in the capital and asked Li Yan to kill Wuleji, who hid in Prince Ying's Estate.
• Hu Yuanyuan offered Li Yan the Peaches of Immortality as payment.

Li Yan learned that the Pan Peach was tied to the ancient demon god Liu Yuanheng and agreed to help Hu Yuanyuan kill Wuleji. After discovering that Liu Yuanheng’s demonic aura was spreading through the capital’s gods, Li Yan set out to find which City God Temple it had occupied.

• Hu Yuanyuan told Li Yan that Liu Xiangru had given her a Pan Peach, and Li Yan accepted the peach in exchange for killing Wuleji.
• Hu Yuanyuan warned Li Yan that several Living Underworld Messengers had been exposed and killed, while Feng Shaoqing revealed that his godfather knew his identity.
• Hu Yuanyuan said Wuleji was hiding in Prince Ying’s Estate and offered to help Li Yan enter during the old princess consort’s birthday banquet.
• After Li Yan left, Hu Yuanyuan was possessed by an Immortal Family, which warned that the capital faced great chaos and ordered an escape route prepared.
• Li Yan examined the Pan Peach through the warrant token and learned that it carried the aura of the ancient demon god Liu Yuanheng, who had escaped five of his seven seals.
• Li Yan realized that Liu Yuanheng’s demonic aura had likely occupied a City God’s clay body and went to search the capital’s City God Temples.

Li Yan entered the City God Temple Fair in disguise to investigate the demonic energy controlling the Night-Traveling God, but found no sign that the temple’s statues had been corrupted. As he returned to the fair, the soul-register tally reacted to a black-pottery fragment bearing the aura of the Pan Peach.

• Li Yan disguised himself as a traveling merchant and headed to the City God Temple to search for clues about Zhao Qingxu and the Jianmu organization.
• Li Yan entered the temple while supporting an Old Woman and checked its divine statues with the soul-register tally, finding no sign of demonic corruption.
• The Old Woman told Li Yan that disaster had killed her family and that she had come to pray for their better rebirths.
• The soul-register tally grew hot as Li Yan left the temple, leading him to a stall selling a black-pottery fragment with the Pan Peach’s aura.

Li Yan followed Son of a Bitch from the City God Temple fair to learn about a black pottery fragment, then went with him to the midnight ghost market to find Old Wu. After Old Wu tried to flee, Li Yan recognized the aura of a ledger hook and realized the old man was also a Living Underworld Messenger.

• Li Yan paid Son of a Bitch to find a private place where they could discuss the black pottery fragment.
• Son of a Bitch told Li Yan that he had taken the fragment from a Water Monkey tomb at the Mass Burial Grounds, and Li Yan revealed its lingering Yin Energy.
• Son of a Bitch admitted that Old Wu had warned him to discard the fragment, then showed Li Yan a finger bone he had dug from the ashes.
• Li Yan asked Son of a Bitch to take him to Old Wu, and Son of a Bitch explained the ghost market’s rules as they entered it near midnight.
• Son of a Bitch led Li Yan to Old Wu’s stall, but Old Wu tried to run when he saw Li Yan.
• Li Yan blocked Old Wu and recognized the aura of a ledger hook, realizing Old Wu was a Living Underworld Messenger.

Li Yan found Old Wu, a traumatized Yellow Springs Organization survivor, and learned that a Grandmaster had led the attack that killed his companions. Old Wu connected Li Yan’s investigation into the Pan Peach Gathering to the Great Song Ghost Sect leader Zhang HuaiSu, whom Li Yan recognized as Zhao Changsheng, confirming Jianmu’s scheme.

• Li Yan disarmed Old Wu, proved he held a Hook Document, and followed him with Son of a Bitch to a hidden shelter.
• Old Wu revealed that the Orthodox Xuan Gate had hunted the Yellow Springs Organization, killing his companions; a dying protector had identified their attacker as a Grandmaster.
• Li Yan used the North Emperor Calamity Removal Technique and the Soul-Calming Curse to settle Old Wu’s agitation, then heard how he had survived the attack and sought revenge.
• Old Wu explained that he had investigated children disappearing in the capital and uncovered the Pan Peach Gathering, linked to an evil art that grew a Pan Peach inside a child’s body.
• Old Wu named Zhang HuaiSu as the secret funder of the Pan Peach research, and Li Yan recognized Zhang HuaiSu as Zhao Changsheng and understood that the gathering was Jianmu’s scheme.

Li Yan uncovered that the Pan Peaches were made from children through a cruel corpse-fungus ritual and learned that powerful nobles were being controlled through them. As his allies prepared to identify those who had eaten the peaches and hunt Zhao Qingxu, Luo MingZi entered the palace to report the danger, suspecting that someone in the imperial clan was involved.

• Li Yan left Old Wu after learning that the Pan Peaches came from an ancient evil art, while Old Wu warned him not to trust the Xuan Gate and disappeared into the alleys.
• Son of a Bitch found Lao Wai dead outside the braised-meat shop and vowed to avenge the man who had treated him like family.
• Li Yan showed the Pan Peach to Luo MingZi, Sha LiFei, Wang Dao Xuan, and the others, then reported that an unknown powerful enemy had attacked the Living Underworld Messengers.
• Long Yan'er dissected the Pan Peach and discovered that it concealed a child-derived heart preserved inside Corpse Fungus; her test on a pig revealed that the fruit caused tumorous growths and death.
• Li Yan ordered his allies to secretly identify nobles who had eaten Pan Peaches while he continued searching for Zhao Qingxu.
• Luo MingZi entered the imperial palace to report the matter and suspected that someone from the imperial clan had helped Jianmu operate in the capital.

Luo MingZi reported the Pan Peach Gathering and the suspected Earth Immortal to Emperor Xiao Qixuan, who ordered a thorough investigation. Li Yan and his allies infiltrated Prince Ying's Estate during the Royal Concubine's birthday performance, where Li Yan spotted the fugitive Yu Wenhai among the guests.

• Luo MingZi told Emperor Xiao Qixuan about the Pan Peach Gathering and the Grandmaster suspected of hunting a Living Underworld Messenger, and the Emperor ordered him to investigate.
• Li Yan, Luo MingZi, and Hu Yuanyuan planned to use the birthday banquet at Prince Ying's Estate to identify those connected to the Pan Peach Gathering and find Wuleji.
• Hu Yuanyuan arranged for Li Yan to enter the estate disguised as the martial performer Wang Jianmei with Qing'an Opera Troupe.
• The troupe passed Prince Ying's Estate's strict inspection and began performing for the household women while Li Yan used a Chuling Paper Figure to investigate.
• Li Yan spotted Yu Wenhai, the runaway Third Master Chen of the Jinghai Gang, among the women watching the performance.

Li Yan and the Commandery Commandant Office uncovered a gathering of powerful capital figures who used Fushou Paste at Prince Ying's Estate. After Li Yan confirmed their identities, the authorities launched their attack on the estate.

• Li Yan used Chuling Paper Figures to spy on Prince Ying's Estate and deduced that the old Royal Concubine was involved in the Pan Peach Gathering.
• The old Royal Concubine and Yu Wenhai discussed the gathering, while Li Yan learned that powerful guests would arrive to help the estate weather its crisis.
• Zhou Mingyuan, Zheng Shian, the Salt Transport Commissioner's wife, Xiao Jinghuan, and other guests arrived as Luo MingZi's spies recorded their attendance.
• Lu San, Long Yan'er, and Sha LiFei entered the estate in disguise, while Luo MingZi waited outside for confirmation before moving in.
• The Pan Peach Gathering's members smoked Fushou Paste in a secret chamber, and Lin, the Salt Transport Commissioner's wife, vomited fungal threads.
• Li Yan signaled the others, Sha LiFei launched a firework, and Luo MingZi led the Commandery Commandant Office forces toward Prince Ying's Estate.

Luo MingZi’s forces stormed Prince Ying’s Estate, broke its feng shui defenses, and began arresting its guests while Sha LiFei, Lu San, and Long Yan'er fought their way through the grounds. As they pursued Yu Wenhai into a tunnel, a strange flute melody caused Vice Minister of Revenue Zhou Mingyuan to convulse and develop a child’s face beneath his skin.

• Luo MingZi’s soldiers surrounded Prince Ying’s Estate, and twelve Taoists broke its feng shui formation by destroying its dragon-vein anchors and gilded bronze crane.
• Chen Tieshou, Zhang Yunhe, and other estate experts fought back, but the Commandery Commandant Office killed an unknown martial artist with firearms, and Prince Ying’s hired attendants began to abandon him.
• Sha LiFei led Lu San and Long Yan'er out of the banquet hall, shot the estate guards, and helped subdue Prince Ying Xiao Jingyuan as Lu San unleashed the Poisonous Bee Swarm.
• Prince Ying summoned Master Wu, whose wolf-shaped black mist attacked Sha LiFei’s group before a Living Underworld Messenger drove it away; Li Yan then warned that Yu Wenhai was escaping through the tunnel.
• Lu San, Sha LiFei, and Long Yan'er pursued Yu Wenhai, while Luo MingZi ordered the drugged Pan Peach Gathering guests seized; a bamboo flute then made Zhou Mingyuan writhe as a child’s face appeared beneath his skin.

Luo MingZi and Li Yan’s forces raided Prince Ying’s Estate, but a hidden Yin Offender killed the members of the Pan Peach Gathering before they could be questioned. The emperor’s troops took control of the estate, and by morning the capital had learned of the Twelve Yuan Chen and the grave scandal behind the raid.

• Vice Minister of Revenue Zhou Mingyuan, Lin, and Marquis Anping Xiao Jinghuan died as the Pan Peach Gathering’s curse erupted, while Luo MingZi tried to keep the survivors alive.
• Luo MingZi used a Peach Charm to trace the unseen attacker’s evasion route, but the expert escaped; the Commandery Commandant Office captured Yu Wenhai.
• Li Yan identified the attacker as a Yin Offender carrying a National Sacrifice Divine Artifact and suspected Zhao Qingxu or Kong Hui, then ordered Yu Wenhai interrogated.
• Yan Tieshan arrived with soldiers and accused Luo MingZi of rebellion, but General Liu showed an imperial command token and took control of Prince Ying’s Estate.
• By morning, Imperial Guards and the Golden Guard had sealed powerful residences across the capital, and the name of the Twelve Yuan Chen spread among officials.

The court argued over the Pan Peach Gathering and the Prince Ying's Estate while Xiao Qixuan moved to secure control of Qiankun Academy and ordered a sweeping investigation. Li Yan delivered Wuleji's head to Hu Yuanyuan, who confirmed its identity and offered to reveal where the Night-Traveling God was hiding.

• Zheng Shian accused Vice Minister Zhou Mingyuan of failures tied to Jinmen, prompting a fierce dispute between the Open Sea Faction and the Native Faction.
• Zhao Wujiu silenced the officials, and Xiao Qixuan ordered Han Mo to oversee the Divine Mechanism Camp and finalize Qiankun Academy's list.
• Xiao Qixuan ordered the Three Judicial Offices, the Grand Secretariat, and the Court of the Imperial Clan to clarify the Prince Ying's Estate treason case within three days and help capture the demonic adepts.
• Li Yan brought Wuleji's head to Hu Yuanyuan, and the Fox Immortal possessing her confirmed it was genuine.
• Li Yan asked the Fox Immortal to locate the yin offender who had sabotaged events, and it refused to use Heaven-Piercing Divination but offered a clue about the Night-Traveling God.

Li Yan learned that the Nine Gates Yin Ruins might conceal the forces behind the Pan Peach Gathering and reported the lead to Pei Zongti and Luo MingZi. The investigation stalled when Yu Wenhai died mysteriously in the National Teacher's dungeon.

• Hu Yuanyuan explained that the capital's Yin Ruins opened during the third watch and that a Grease-Stealing Rat Spirit could reveal their entrance.
• Li Yan went to the National Teacher's residence and told Pei Zongti and Luo MingZi about the Yin Ruins and the Night-Traveling God.
• Pei Zongti identified the place as the Nine Gates Yin Ruins and warned that the imperial family had forbidden Xuan Gate practitioners from entering because it involved the dynasty's dragon vein.
• Luo MingZi said Jianmu had learned Li Yan was in the capital, and that Kong Hui had silenced the butcher who sold braised meat while Yu Wenhai remained under interrogation.
• A guard reported that Yu Wenhai had died, and Li Yan saw him bound in his cell with his forehead burst open and his body apparently exploded from within.

After Yu Wenhai died from a hidden Gu-triggered explosive, Li Yan and his companions moved to Rouyuan Posthouse and planned their work in the capital. Their reunion with Yan Jiuling and the Lin Family's young master began just as a fortune-telling Yin Yang Master watched the posthouse from afar.

• Pei Zongti questioned the Daoists after Yu Wenhai's head exploded, and Li Yan identified traces of New-Style Gunpowder.
• Long Yan'er discovered that Zi Mu Ling Gu worms had triggered the blast, while Li Yan concluded that the Nine Gates Yin Ruins were the remaining lead.
• Pei Zongti sent Li Yan and his companions to Rouyuan Posthouse, where Luo MingZi explained its security and Kong Shangzhao left to help investigate Prince Ying's Estate.
• At dinner, Li Yan outlined plans to strike Jianmu's forces in the capital and pursue opportunities at Qiankun Academy, including finding Zhao the Donkey and Feng FeiYan places as instructors.
• Yan Jiuling and the Lin Family's young master arrived to see Li Yan, while a fortune-telling Yin Yang Master watched Rouyuan Posthouse from a distant street.

Li Yan learned that Qiankun Academy was intended to counter foreign powers whose academies had advanced their strength, while Zhao the Donkey agreed to teach there. In East City, Kong Hui secretly interrogated King Snake about Zhao Qingxu, but Zhang Tiankui discovered Kong Hui’s identity and was caught trying to leave the warehouse.

• Yan Jiuling told Li Yan that foreign powers were expanding across the seas and that their academies had given them powerful weapons and knowledge.
• Yan Jiuling welcomed Zhao the Donkey’s offer to teach the mountain-seeking tradition at Qiankun Academy and promised to introduce him to the Imperial Astronomer.
• The Yin Yang Master entered the Iron Anchor Society’s warehouse and revealed himself as Kong Hui, Yu Wenhai’s master, Rotten Document Mister.
• Kong Hui used the teacup to question King Snake about Zhao Qingxu and ordered him to arrange a meeting or abandon the capital operation.
• Zhang Tiankui secretly recognized Kong Hui as the mastermind behind the Jinmen incident and considered betraying him to the authorities.
• Zhang Tiankui tried to leave the warehouse, but the gold-toothed man and other Iron Anchor Society men blocked him with weapons and aimed fire guns at him.

Zhang Tiankui was held captive by the Iron Anchor Society while Kong Hui learned that a coal-powered mechanism at Qiankun Academy had acquired divine status. After the imperial court refused to let Li Yan investigate the Nine Gates Yin Ruins, Li Yan rescued Zhang Tiankui from his pursuers and faced Kong Hui.

• Zhang Tiankui pretended to submit to King Snake's men, then overheard that they were torturing a young man for information about Wu and feared Li Yan's arrival.
• King Snake escorted Kong Hui to Shaoyuan Garden, where Zhao Qingxu's puppet revealed that the sought-after mechanism had offered itself to a god and bore the destiny of the Human Path's transformation.
• Luo MingZi told Li Yan and his companions that the court had forbidden them from entering the Nine Gates Yin Ruins, and Li Yan considered investigating it himself.
• Li Yan heard a fight outside the Rouyuan Posthouse and found Zhang Tiankui carrying an injured person while Iron Anchor Society pursuers attacked him.
• Li Yan cut down the pursuers' weapons and disabled them after Zhang Tiankui said they were allied with Master Yu Wenhai.
• Kong Hui appeared above a distant inn, and Li Yan recognized him.

Li Yan and his allies captured the Iron Anchor Society’s Branch Hall but found no direct trace of Jianmu, while Kong Hui escaped after demonstrating his deadly movement technique. After learning that Kong Hui may have intended to draw Yan XiaoGe away and endanger the group, Li Yan decided to seek help from the Golden Swallow Gate.

• Kong Hui evaded Li Yan and Sha LiFei’s attacks, then escaped as soldiers arrived and filled the street with gunfire.
• Luo MingZi ordered Yuan Cheng’s troops to arrest the Iron Anchor Society and raid its Branch Hall, where they captured the gang and found abducted children dead in a crate.
• Kong Shangzhao explained Kong Hui’s heretical Yinwen Eight-legged Essay and Funeral Carriage Step, while Son of a Bitch woke and told Li Yan that Lao Wai had been killed and he had been captured.
• Luo MingZi reported that the Iron Anchor Society had trafficked children for King Snake, but warned that political ties made pursuing the society dangerous.
• Lu San suspected Kong Hui had planned to lure Yan XiaoGe away and use the Earth Official’s Treasure Edict of Atonement to threaten the group, and Li Yan agreed they had to strike first.
• Li Yan examined his Golden Swallow Gate token and left to seek the organization’s help locating Kong Hui and Zhao Qingxu.

Li Yan visited Su Estate to seek help from the Golden Swallow Gate and sensed a Yin Offender inside. Su Yu revealed that the hidden offender was an Earth Immortal from Lao Mountain being arranged to serve Prince Yan, leaving Li Yan to decide whether to intervene.

• Li Yan disguised himself as a wealthy young heir and headed to Su Estate after a guide tried to divert him to another establishment.
• A young man and his guards drove off the guide's gang, and Li Yan later realized the young man was likely Prince Yan.
• Su Estate's servants initially barred Li Yan, but they admitted him after he presented Zhao Wan Fang's token.
• Li Yan sensed a Yin Offender in the estate, and Su Yu arrived in Zhao Wan Fang's place to explain that her disciple had left for Jiaozhou.
• Su Yu admitted the Golden Swallow Gate had invited an Earth Immortal from Lao Mountain to enter Prince Yan's Mansion under its protection and serve as an Attendant.

Li Yan arranged with Su Yu’s Golden Swallow Gate to investigate the Nine Gates Yin Ruins and prepared his companions to cover his body and support his mission. At the alley behind Tuer Ye Temple, an Old Beggar gave him rules for entering the ruins before disappearing into the dark.

• Li Yan learned from Su Yu that the Golden Swallow Gate would help him investigate the Nine Gates Yin Ruins, and she gave him a jade pendant to meet a fellow cultivator.
• Su Yu’s Old Ancestor identified Li Yan as a dangerous but potentially important figure and agreed that the Golden Swallow Gate should cooperate with him.
• Li Yan told his companions about the plan, assigned them roles to protect his body and monitor the guide, and sent Zhao the Donkey to find a vitality-rich treasure to repair his Great Luo Dharma Body.
• The group prepared around Tuer Ye Temple after nightfall, with Wang Dao Xuan establishing a ritual altar, Sha LiFei taking a concealed position, and Lu San deploying scouts.
• An Old Beggar met Li Yan in the rear alley, warned him about the Nine Gates Yin Ruins’ taboos, and told him to follow the oil-stealing rat spirit and Tuer Ye’s divine procession.
• The Old Beggar called himself the Old Ghost of the Capital and vanished into the darkness.

Li Yan used Wang Dao Xuan’s ritual to send his Yin Soul out and search the capital for the Grease-Stealing Rat Spirit. After evading the City God’s patrol, he found the spirit stealing offerings from Land God Temples and followed it into a crack in a wall.

• Wang Dao Xuan prepared the altar and guided Li Yan’s Yin Soul out of his body, tethering him to the ritual site with a red cord.
• Li Yan searched the capital’s nine gates and hid from the City God’s patrol by cloaking himself in Soul-Guiding Incense.
• The Grease-Stealing Rat Spirit appeared beside night watchman Lao Dou, possessed him, and led him to several Land God Temples to steal their incense offerings.
• Li Yan followed the rat spirit into a dark alley and through a crack in the wall, while Lao Dou regained consciousness and cursed at the spirit.

Li Yan entered the Nine Gates Yin Ruins to search for the Grease-Stealing Rat Spirit and encountered spectral remnants of the capital’s past. Following Tuer Ye’s procession, he reached a peach tree growing above a bone altar, where he discovered paper figures bearing the names of people from the Pan Peach Gathering.

• Li Yan entered the Nine Gates Yin Ruins through a ruined Land God Temple and found that the realm resembled a fog-shrouded, ruined version of the capital.
• Li Yan passed through Zhengyang Gate, saw a spectral Golden Horde cavalry charge, and retreated before its arrows struck the gate.
• Li Yan entered Chongwen Gate with a silent caravan but found himself caught in a cycle that repeatedly brought him back to the gate.
• Li Yan followed Tuer Ye’s Mao Monkey procession when it opened a new road through the ruins.
• Li Yan reached an ancient city wall and saw a grotesque peach tree growing from children’s bones above an altar to the Queen Mother of the West.
• Li Yan discovered that paper figures performing a ritual bore the names of people from the Pan Peach Gathering.