Chapter Summaries

Li Yan fought the bandits’ ambush and discovered that a sorcerer was directing them, while Wang Dao Xuan prepared a ritual with help from Sha LiFei and the Spring Breeze Troupe. The enemy sorcerer, You LaoSi, countered Wang Dao Xuan’s scouting Yin Soldier, leaving the battle poised for a clash between the two rituals.

• Li Yan killed four hidden-arrow teams, reducing the bandits’ attack and helping the trapped martial artists realize the enemy force was not large.
• After bandits targeted him with Fire Arrows, Li Yan concealed his aura, signaled Wang Dao Xuan and Sha LiFei, and waited for a chance to strike the opposing sorcerer.
• Wang Dao Xuan set up an altar with Sha LiFei’s help and used the Spring Breeze Troupe’s Soldier Soul to send a Yin Soldier scouting.
• Li Yan recognized Wang Dao Xuan’s Yin Soldier and approached the bandits’ main force, where he spotted You LaoSi protected among them.
• You LaoSi used a blood talisman arrow and a straw effigy to destroy the scouting Yin Soldier, causing the Wandering Soul Jar on Wang Dao Xuan’s altar to shatter.

Li Yan attacked You LaoSi while Bai YanHu's bandits set Changfeng Inn ablaze, and he recovered the Medicine King Temple's Divine Tiger Token. He killed You LaoSi and Lin Hui, then escaped into the darkness with the token and a book called Seven Arrows Secret Curse.

• Wang Dao Xuan summoned Yin divine Soldier Souls to raise mist around the bandits, but You LaoSi used the Thousand Gold Body Protection Incantation to break the technique, leaving Wang Dao Xuan injured and unconscious.
• Bai YanHu ordered the bandits to fire arrows at Changfeng Inn, setting it alight as people inside struggled to escape.
• Li Yan rushed toward You LaoSi and killed the bandits guarding him, while You LaoSi began casting his incantation.
• Lin Hui tackled You LaoSi and revealed that You LaoSi had deceived him, poisoned him, and controlled him as a Spirit Medium.
• Li Yan killed You LaoSi, took the Divine Tiger Token and the Seven Arrows Secret Curse, then killed Lin Hui on behalf of Daoist Chen Yuan.
• Li Yan fled into the darkness as flames and fighting engulfed the area.

A battle at Changfeng Inn exposed the theft of Lu Kang’s secret shipment and sparked a fight between rival bandit groups, until imperial troops arrived and routed them. At dawn, the convoy carrying the dead passed through Niubeiliang checkpoint, and Li Yan’s group continued toward Fengyang with doubts about what had happened.

• Wu Mao revealed Eastern Pearls from his sanxian and offered them to Bai YanHu in exchange for sparing the others, while warning that the escort run had been betrayed.
• Bai YanHu announced that Lu Kang was dead and read from a list of the secret shipment, prompting escort guards to surrender their goods.
• Li Yan shot a bandit approaching the coffin, and Bai YanHu chose to leave until the remaining Niubeiliang bandits arrived and accused him of drugging them and hoarding the goods.
• Bai YanHu’s White Tiger Stronghold bandits fought the arriving bandits until imperial garrison troops charged in and scattered them with Fire Arrows and cavalry.
• At dawn, the garrison battalion commander escorted Madam Lu’s convoy onward and reopened the checkpoint, allowing Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Sha LiFei to continue their journey.

After Long SanJiu brought DuGu Gan to the injured bandit chiefs, the Cockscomb Snake killed Bai YanHu and the survivors agreed to go into the Qinling Mountains. Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Sha LiFei traveled to Wu Family Gully, where they found the village deserted.

• Long SanJiu introduced Branch Master DuGu Gan to the bandit chiefs and urged them to join the Maitreya Sect.
• When Bai YanHu refused, the Cockscomb Snake appeared, crushed him, and swallowed him; DuGu Gan told the remaining bandits to follow him into the Qinling Mountains.
• Li Yan and his companions parted from the Spring Breeze Troupe and discussed cliff tombs along the road to Fengyang County.
• Wang Dao Xuan explained the Seven Arrows Secret Curse and swore to use it only against evil spirits and greatly evil people.
• Sha LiFei asked an old cart driver for directions to Wu Family Gully, and the travelers reached the village at night to find it empty and overgrown.

Li Yan and his companions reached the abandoned Wu Family Gully and learned that its villagers had relocated long ago. While Sha LiFei and Wang Dao Xuan searched Fengyang County for answers, Li Yan trained with the Cloud Thunder Divine Drum and Divine Tiger Token, then saw the bloodied Cold Altar Wandering Master point toward Tianzhu Mountain again.

• Li Yan checked Wu Family Gully and found it deserted, while Wang Dao Xuan determined that the villagers had carefully moved their ancestral tablets and Sha LiFei worried they would not find Senior Wu’s family graves.
• Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan kept watch overnight, and Li Yan saw the Cold Altar Wandering Master point in a new direction toward Tianzhu Mountain, where Wang Dao Xuan believed Senior Wu’s ancestral altar lay.
• Sha LiFei and Wang Dao Xuan rode to Fengyang County to ask about Wu Family Gully, but the locals refused to talk about its relocation.
• Li Yan combined the Qin Han Drum Rhythms with the Cloud Thunder Sound, injured himself through intense practice, and used the Great Luo Dharma Body to recover before deciding to keep training this way.
• Li Yan tested the Divine Tiger Token’s Embracing Simplicity Mountain Climbing Technique, then practiced the Thousand Gold Body Protection Incantation without success.
• Sha LiFei took Wang Dao Xuan to a jianghu teahouse in Fengyang County, where they asked to hear the local news.

At the News Gathering Pavilion, Sha LiFei and Wang Dao Xuan learned that Qiao Sanhu had driven the people of Wu Family Gully from their homes, and that Lu San might know what happened to the village. Li Yan went to Munchuan Pass to find Lu San, where he unexpectedly encountered Han Kun, the Cao Gang leader from Xianyang.

• Sha LiFei used jianghu tea codes to ask the Pavilion's old man about Wu Family Gully, and the old man revealed that Qiao Sanhu had seized its gold and forced the villagers to flee.
• The old man explained that Lu San, a mysterious ferryman with Hidden Strength, had joined the Cao Gang and might know what happened to Wu Family Gully.
• Sha LiFei told Li Yan that finding Lu San would be difficult, but Li Yan set out for Munchuan Pass that night.
• Li Yan arrived at the crowded river port, left his horse at the Mule and Horse Merchants' Association, and headed toward Qin Street while considering how to locate Lu San.
• Li Yan spotted Han Kun, the Cao Gang leader from Xianyang, approaching with two subordinates.

Li Yan sought Chu Qinfang’s help finding Lu San and learned that Lu practiced nightly in Black Wind Gully. There, Li Yan hid and discovered foxes gathering around a grave, where a shadow handed a human skull to an old fox that began worshipping the moon.

• Li Yan met Han Kun in Munchuan Pass and followed him to a secluded courtyard to speak with Chu Qinfang.
• Chu Qinfang warned Li Yan about Yue Fachong, explained that the Cao Gang protected Lu San for his beast-taming skills, and revealed that Lu practiced at Zi Hour in Black Wind Gully.
• After Li Yan left, Han Kun sent a note to Zhang Baijiao, and Chu Qinfang told him that Chang Xuan had secured evidence against Yu Chen and that the emperor was gathering elite talents in the capital.
• Li Yan reached Black Wind Gully before Zi Hour and used the Embracing Simplicity Mountain Climbing Technique to conceal himself among the foxes.
• A shadow crawled from a battlefield grave with a human skull, and an old white-browed fox placed it on its head and worshipped the moon.

Li Yan found Lu San and learned where Wu Lao Si’s family had been buried, then discovered their graves had been destroyed. Lu San revealed that he had moved Wu Lao Si’s wife and daughter’s remains to East Mountain Cave after suspicious strangers came looking for them.

• Li Yan approached Lu San in Munchuan Pass, but Lu San fled until Li Yan explained he was returning Wu Lao Si’s remains and only needed directions.
• Lu San told Li Yan where the Wu Family Gully graves were, and Li Yan rode through the night to report back to Sha LiFei and Wang Dao Xuan.
• Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan found the ancestral graves destroyed and searched the gully for Wu Lao Si’s wife and daughter, while Lu San secretly followed them.
• Lu San admitted he had lied about the burial location because he suspected Li Yan was connected to earlier visitors, then explained that a Fierce Ghost had possessed Aunt Wu and killed the family.
• Lu San told Li Yan that two outsiders had come seeking Wu Lao Si’s family and that he had moved the wife and daughter’s remains to East Mountain Cave, so Li Yan asked him to lead them there.

Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan chose a cliff tomb on East Mountain for Wu Lao Si, while Lu San gathered the exposed bones of Wu Family Gully’s dead to bury with him. As Lu San returned to the abandoned village, Qiao Sanhu’s men spotted cooking smoke there and prepared to trap him, while Mister Lu recognized something connected to Junior Brother Wu.

• Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan selected the cliff tomb as Wu Lao Si’s burial site, and Lu San decided to gather the bones from the damaged ancestral graves of Wu Family Gully.
• Wang Dao Xuan arranged for the coffin bearers to prepare a discreet burial for the Second Day of the Tenth Month, and Lu San spent the night collecting the remains alone.
• On the Cold Clothes Festival, Qiao Sanhu sent Zhao Kui and Mister Lu to search the graves for Lu San, whom he feared would grow powerful because he could command beasts.
• After Lu San left with the gathered bones, Zhao Kui found the disturbed graves but failed to track him; his men then spotted cooking smoke rising from Wu Family Gully.
• Mister Lu urged Zhao Kui to summon more men and surround the village, then recognized the Gou Docket and said they had finally been waiting for Junior Brother Wu.

As Lu San realized that Wu Family Gully was in danger, he raced back while summoning the beasts, and Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan defended the village shrine from a ghost attack. The chapter ended with Li Yan combining the Cloud Thunder Divine Drum and Three Talents Demon Suppressing Coin Sword Tassel to unleash a powerful thunderous strike against the Yin things.

• Wang Dao Xuan finished making the funeral offerings while Sha LiFei and the pallbearers prepared for the next day.
• Zhao Kui led his constables to the woods near Wu Family Gully, where Mister Lu ordered them to surround the village while he buried himself in a coffin among twelve Mourning Sticks.
• Lu San heard birds warn him of danger, realized the village might be caught in a trap, and hurried back while calling snakes and other beasts with his bone whistle.
• Li Yan woke the shrine's occupants as frost and ghost fires appeared outside, while Wang Dao Xuan scattered Five Grains Rice and placed talismans to protect them.
• Li Yan used the Cloud Thunder Divine Drum to drive back the Yin things, then attached the Three Talents Demon Suppressing Coin Sword Tassel and struck a powerful blow that scattered weaker ghosts.

Li Yan used the divine drum to scatter the yin things, but a sorcerer possessing Yue BaLa and another bearer demanded Wu Lao Si’s Soul-Seizing Warrant. Sha LiFei used the warrant to restrain the sorcerer, who revealed his role in Wu Lao Si’s death before constables stormed the ancestral hall, leaving Li Yan to fight amid a snake attack.

• Li Yan struck the divine drum, scattering most of the yin things but injuring himself with its backlash.
• Yue BaLa became possessed and attacked Li Yan, then another bearer was possessed and demanded the Soul-Seizing Warrant.
• Li Yan distracted the sorcerer with the warrant, and Sha LiFei slapped it onto the bearer’s forehead, binding him.
• The sorcerer revealed that his group had taught Wu Lao Si’s friend how to return as a Fierce Ghost and planned to target Wu Lao Si’s son.
• Zhao Kui led dozens of constables into the ancestral hall, and Li Yan charged them after Zhao Kui threatened the group.
• Venomous snakes attacked the constables, and Li Yan cut down two men as he plunged into their ranks.

Li Yan and his allies fought Qiao Sanhu’s constables while Wang Dao Xuan prepared a curse against the sorcerer possessing the porter. The curse struck just as the sorcerer took control of the constables, leaving the battle’s outcome unresolved.

• Li Yan killed and wounded numerous constables as Lu San attacked with venomous snakes and darts, while Sha LiFei and Old MengTou guarded the entrance.
• Wang Dao Xuan threatened to burn the warrant tablet, forced the sorcerer to abandon the porter, and began casting the Seven Arrows Secret Curse with a straw effigy.
• Zhao Kui rallied the surviving constables and prepared Ghost's Bane, but the sorcerer arrived in person and possessed nearly all the constables with Yin Souls.
• Zhao Kui fled, and Li Yan sent Lu San after him while he faced the possessed constables.
• Wang Dao Xuan plunged a chopstick into the straw effigy, causing the sorcerer to scream and collapse.

Li Yan and his allies killed the sorcerer and the Fengyang County constables, burned the evidence, and buried Wu Lao Si before splitting up. Lu San stayed behind and identified himself as the killer, leaving the story poised for the court’s investigation.

• Wang Dao Xuan’s curse disrupted the sorcerer’s demon soldiers, and Li Yan killed the sorcerer after he set several constables on fire with a hidden weapon.
• Li Yan’s group questioned and killed the surviving constables, burned their bodies, and recovered Zhao Kui’s corpse with Lu San’s help.
• Wang Dao Xuan led a burial ritual for Wu Lao Si, and the group sealed the Cliff Tomb after burying the villagers’ bones.
• Li Yan sent Yue BaLa and the others toward Shangluo City and invited Lu San to leave with him, but Lu San refused.
• After the others departed, Lu San gathered the rats around him and wrote on the ancestral hall wall that the killer was Lu San of Munchuan Pass.

Yan Jiuling and his companions got lost in Tianzhu Mountain, where Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan helped them escape a haunted trail. After learning of a secluded place on North Mountain, Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan left before dawn to search for the old woman who might be guarding the Ancestor Altar.

• Yan Jiuling, his page Zhu Mo, and Old Man Wang lost their way in the mountain fog after Yan Jiuling's divination failed.
• Old Man Wang led the group through the Ghost Wall by tapping Spirit Reed Holy Reeds on the ground and warning them not to look back or speak.
• The three took shelter in a Mountain God Temple, where they met Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan and learned Li Yan had scattered the yin entities that had occupied it.
• Old Man Wang told Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan that a secluded danger spot on North Mountain could be reached by descending from Tianzhufeng Peak, and that an old woman there had once summoned lost souls.
• Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan left before dawn to search for the old woman, while Yan Jiuling woke later and decided to tour Tianzhufeng Peak before continuing to Chang'an.

Li Yan found the hidden temple and learned that the Cold Altar Wandering Master was Ju Chengshan, a former disciple who had transformed himself into a zombie using a forbidden technique. The old woman revealed that the corpse was sealed in a stone chamber, but said the evil technique could not be broken.

• Li Yan followed the scent of buried soul jars and fresh wheat to a hidden valley, where an old woman invited him into the cavern temple.
• The old woman recognized the Netherworld Fire Musket and explained that she was the last keeper of her lineage’s green lantern.
• Li Yan returned Wu Lao Si’s tally and described the Cold Altar Wandering Master, prompting the old woman to identify him as Ju Chengshan.
• The old woman led Li Yan to a sealed chamber containing Ju Chengshan’s chained skeleton and explained how he had become a zombie through the Grand Yin Corpse Refinement Art.
• Li Yan asked how to break the evil technique, but the old woman told him it could not be broken.

Li Yan inherited the North Yin Fengdu lineage’s arts and the Soul Hooking Chain from Gou Cheng Shan, then learned the rules that bound Living Underworld Messengers. After traveling with Wang Dao Xuan to Shangluo City, Li Yan and his companions found Lu San’s arrest warrant posted prominently at the city gate.

• Li Yan entered a dream guided by Gou Cheng Shan’s obsession and received the North Emperor Scripture, the Luo Feng Scripture, and the Soul Hooking Chain.
• Li Yan learned that Gou Cheng Shan had gained the inheritance by building a palace, but the process had damaged his Divine Soul and driven him mad.
• The old woman gave Li Yan the Yin Laws and explained the responsibilities and restrictions of Living Underworld Messengers.
• Li Yan met Wang Dao Xuan outside the cavern, and they traveled toward Shangluo City to meet Sha LiFei before continuing to Tai Bai Mountain.
• Sha LiFei met Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan at the Shangluo City dock and led them to see Lu San’s arrest warrant posted at the city gate.

Li Yan and his companions learned that Lu San had taken the blame for the Wu Family Gully killings, then rested in Shangluo before planning to leave for Tai Bai Mountain. At the bathhouse, they encountered Feng Ping and learned that the Lu brothers were negotiating over their family assets with Qiao Sanhu, while Lu XiaoWu secretly planned to leave with his father's coffin.

• Sha LiFei told Li Yan that Lu San had claimed sole responsibility for the murder and arson, escaped toward E Prefecture, and that Old MengTou and the others had been sent away safely.
• Li Yan tested the Soul Hooking Chain and considered concealing it with his Sleeve Blade as a hidden weapon.
• Sha LiFei took Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan to Luotang Bathhouse, where they bathed, changed clothes, and listened to Shangluo Taoist Opera.
• Sha LiFei recognized Feng Ping at the bathhouse, while Lu XiaoWu warned Lu Xiao Wen not to provoke Qiao Sanhu during negotiations over the Lu family's assets.
• After Qiao Sanhu negotiated with the Lu brothers, Lu Xiao Wen left angrily for Drunken Flower Pavilion, and Lu XiaoWu reported the agreement to Madam Lu.
• Lu XiaoWu told Madam Lu that he would secretly leave that night to escort his father's coffin to its burial site.

Li Yan, Sha LiFei, and Wang Dao Xuan took a dangerous river route toward Lantian County and discovered signs of a Cold Altar Rampaging Soldier. They tracked it into the mountains, where Lu XiaoWu’s party had captured a possessed guard, and prepared to confront it.

• The boatman warned Li Yan, Sha LiFei, and Wang Dao Xuan that the Dan River route was dangerous, but a tea-stall owner offered to take them upriver in his small boat.
• The group saw a corpse bearing the river’s eerie Smiling Face, then found an abandoned boat and followed its tracks toward the mountains.
• Li Yan recognized the lingering scent of a Cold Altar Rampaging Soldier and persuaded Wang Dao Xuan and Sha LiFei to search for a ruined temple and remnants of the ritual.
• They found more corpses and followed the trail to Lu XiaoWu’s party, which had bound a guard possessed by the Rampaging Soldier with rope soaked in Black Dog Blood.
• Lu XiaoWu led his group onward with Lu Kang’s coffin, while Li Yan revealed his Soul Hooking Chain seal and Wang Dao Xuan prepared a talisman and earthen jar to confront the captive entity.

Li Yan used the Soul Hooking Chain to capture a Rampaging Soldier, and he and Wang Dao Xuan found and cleared the Cold Altar Ruined Temple beneath Tai Bai Mountain. After traveling to Tai Bai Mountain, they reached a crowded Wubao where many Xuan Gate People had gathered.

• Li Yan pulled the water ghost Rampaging Soldier from the guard’s body, and Wang Dao Xuan sealed it in a Wandering Soul Jar while Sha LiFei watched.
• Wang Dao Xuan followed the incense smoke to the ruined temple, where he broke its altar and found the Baoxiang Sect’s shrine and three Rampaging Soldiers.
• Wang Dao Xuan and Li Yan sealed the two remaining Rampaging Soldiers, then left after deciding that a nearby feng shui site had been ruined by a landslide.
• Lu XiaoWu’s group found the auspicious burial site and began digging seven feet down to bury his father upright.
• Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Sha LiFei traveled to Tai Bai Mountain and stopped at an old Wubao, where they found a large gathering of practitioners and other unusual people.

Li Yan, Sha LiFei, and Wang Dao Xuan found Tai Bai Mountain crowded with Xuan Gate practitioners after the Imperial Court announced new controls on access to spiritual apertures. After learning that the Bai Family Inn was selling overpriced tickets for access, the three left the Wubao that night to climb the mountain and seek help from Yu Linzi.

• Li Yan and his companions entered the Wubao and discovered that travelers were paying steep prices for lodging while distrustful Xuan Gate practitioners filled the settlement.
• Hong MuShan told Li Yan that the Imperial Court would soon require Daoist registers to use spiritual apertures, prompting practitioners to rush to Tai Bai Mountain before the restrictions began.
• Hong MuShan revealed that the Bai Family Inn was selling tickets that supposedly offered a chance to rent a spiritual aperture, despite there being far more tickets than available apertures.
• Li Yan asked Hong MuShan about Yu Linzi, and Hong MuShan confirmed that the Daoist might help them secure access to a spiritual aperture.
• Li Yan, Sha LiFei, and Wang Dao Xuan bought climbing supplies and left the Wubao that night, while the middle-aged woman with two swords also slipped out after them.