Chapter Summaries

Li Yan gained insight into the Luo Feng Scripture while climbing Tai Bai Mountain, then saw a possible Underworld task involving an ancient Taoist sealed in a jar. After continuing the arduous ascent with Wang Dao Xuan and Sha LiFei, the group reached Dipper Mother Palace.

• Li Yan entered a state of sudden enlightenment while climbing Tai Bai Mountain, and Wang Dao Xuan and Sha LiFei followed him in silence until he came to himself and found them a cave to rest in.
• Li Yan used the Embracing Simplicity Mountain Climbing Technique and the Divine Tiger Token to drive a black bear and other wild animals from the cave, where the group rested for the night.
• Li Yan understood that the Luo Feng Scripture's Tower Building required preserving his spirit and balancing yin and yang, then dreamed of an ancient well that revealed an Old Zombie-like Taoist sealed underground in a jar.
• Li Yan rejected the apparent Underworld task and woke, then spent the rest of the night preserving his spirit while rain fell outside.
• The three resumed their climb through worsening weather, passed stranded travelers and rested at a Mountain God Temple, then reached Dipper Mother Palace a day later.

Li Yan and his companions reached the Doumu Daoist Temple seeking spiritual apertures, but found Steward Bai charging steep prices to fund the temple’s expenses. After Yu LinZi explained the temple’s financial troubles, Steward Bai offered them an aperture for 2,500 taels, then revealed two unreleased apertures near the Immortal Ascension Platform.

• Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Sha LiFei paid sixty taels to pass Steward Bai’s entrance checkpoint and entered the Doumu Daoist Temple.
• Li Yan discovered that the temple’s powerful formation suppressed his Olfactory Mystical Power, and Yu LinZi explained that its sacred energy and history made the place extraordinary.
• Yu LinZi brought the three visitors inside, showed them the costly Star Gazing Platform, and explained that its construction had left the temple short of silver.
• Li Yan asked for a spiritual aperture, but Steward Bai offered one for 2,500 taels, more than the group could afford.
• Yu LinZi reminded Steward Bai of two undisclosed apertures, and Steward Bai revealed that Gan Er and Gan San were near the Immortal Ascension Platform on Tai Bai’s highest peak.

Li Yan and his companions traveled to the Immortal Ascension Platform to cultivate in two newly exposed spiritual apertures, despite warnings about a demon lurking nearby. After Li Yan began the first level of the Tower inside one cave, his companions waited outside as Red Yaksha hunted the Mutated Earth Centipede.

• Steward Bai explained that a Mutated Earth Centipede had killed pilgrims near the apertures, while Yu LinZi warned the group that the dangerous journey and approaching Winter Solstice made the trip risky.
• Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Sha LiFei bought ritual supplies and traveled with Dian Shu to the Immortal Ascension Platform, where Li Yan nearly fainted after sensing its powerful aura with his divine ability.
• At the mountain fissures, Li Yan caught sight of Red Yaksha, who was disguised among the rubble while setting a trap for the centipede; she reluctantly allowed the group to proceed.
• Dian Shu showed them the Qian One and Qian Two apertures, and Li Yan chose one cave to begin building the first level of the Tower.
• Li Yan's companions sealed the cave entrance after arranging the ritual altar, then waited outside with Netherworld Fire Muskets while Sha LiFei offered wine to Dian Shu.
• Wang Dao Xuan asked Dian Shu what kind of demon the Earth Centipede was.

Li Yan completed the Building Ritual in the sealed grotto-heaven, forming the first level of his tower as Luo Feng Mountain and a divine hall. After emerging at dawn, he found his companions safe and received a chicken-claw bone amulet from the Demon Hunter Red Yaksha.

• Dian Shu told Sha LiFei and Wang Dao Xuan stories about cultivated centipede demons while Red Yaksha watched the group from the rubble, using them as bait.
• As Zi Hour approached, Li Yan lit the ritual lamps and performed the Luo Feng Incantation to draw Innate Gangsha Energy into the ritual altar.
• Li Yan endured the changes from Taiyi to Taichu and formed Luo Feng Mountain beneath his preserved spirit, with a divine hall above it, completing his first tower level.
• Li Yan emerged at dawn and told Sha LiFei, Wang Dao Xuan, and Dian Shu to rest after they had guarded him through the night.
• Red Yaksha joined Li Yan by the fire, then gave him a chicken-claw bone amulet to help him avoid monsters.

Li Yan and the others survived an Earth Centipede attack, but a strange underworld mission revealed that centipedes were feeding blood to the Old Taoist in a cavern. After accepting the mission, Li Yan awakened in time to save his companions from a second attack and suspected someone had concealed a demon nest on the mountain.

• Li Yan, Sha LiFei, and Dian Shu fought an Earth Centipede, which Luo Yihong killed with her chained spear and red chicken blood.
• Luo Yihong told the group about the Demon Hunters and revealed that she was surnamed Luo, named Yihong, and had taken in several orphaned disciples.
• Li Yan and the others were overcome by sleep, and Li Yan entered an underworld mission where he saw two centipedes feeding blood to the Old Taoist in the cavern.
• Li Yan accepted the mission and awoke as an Earth Centipede attacked him, then used the Soul Hooking Chain to kill it and drove off the centipedes targeting his companions.
• Li Yan and the others discovered that centipedes had emerged throughout the campsite, and Li Yan checked Wang Dao Xuan before asking Sha LiFei to fetch his Cloud Thunder Divine Drum.

Li Yan and his companions survived the Earth Centipedes on Immortal Ascension Platform and waited for Dipper Mother Palace to arrive. The sect’s Old Taoist uncovered a burial chamber and broke open its black jar, but Li Yan used his warrant to arrest him as the Yin Offender.

• Li Yan used the Cloud Thunder Divine Drum to scatter the Earth Centipedes while Red Yaksha escaped with his letter for Yu LinZi.
• Sha LiFei fired the Netherworld Fire Musket, setting the centipedes ablaze and forcing the survivors underground.
• After Wang Dao Xuan emerged from seclusion, Li Yan led the group away from Immortal Ascension Platform and waited for Dipper Mother Palace’s troops.
• Dipper Mother Palace arrived with Red Yaksha and a white-bearded Old Taoist, who agreed that the sect would not interfere with Underworld law enforcement.
• The Old Taoist found a hidden Blessed Grotto-Heavens burial chamber, where the group uncovered a huge black jar surrounded by copper coins and red cords.
• The Old Taoist smashed the jar and forced the creature inside back into it, then Li Yan placed his warrant on the Old Taoist and arrested him as the Yin Offender.

Yu LinZi warned Li Yan about the Longevity Immortal Treasury and its blood-sacrificial longevity arts, while Li Yan and his companions reached Chang'an after celebrating the winter solstice with Red Yaksha in Shili Village. At the city gate, Guan WanChe recognized Li Yan and pointed him out to a hostile-looking Daoist nun.

• Yu LinZi told Li Yan that the Longevity Immortal Treasury contained seventy-two cruel techniques tied to blood sacrifices, including the arts practiced by his Martial Uncle and the Maitreya Sect's Branch Master.
• Liang LaoHan brought winter-solstice dumplings to Red Yaksha's home, where Li Yan, Sha LiFei, Wang Dao Xuan, and the children shared a lively meal.
• Li Yan asked Red Yaksha to introduce him to Li Shiqing, a Dao Physician Sect senior renowned for Pigua Palm, and she agreed to try.
• Li Yan and his companions joined Red Yaksha on the journey to Chang'an, where Li Yan privately considered seeking clues about the Maitreya Sect's role in his father Li Hu's downfall.
• Guan WanChe spotted Li Yan at Chang'an's city gate and identified him to a middle-aged Daoist nun carrying a longbow, who watched him with an icy gaze.

Li Yan and his companions arrived in Chang'an and settled at Phoenix Inn, where Red Yaksha reunited with its owner, Feng FeiYan. The chapter ended with Feng FeiYan telling Red Yaksha that an extraordinary discovery had been unearthed near the ruins of Ancient Zhou Haojing City.

• Li Yan greeted Guan WanChe and his sister, Daoist Zi Yuan, then learned from Red Yaksha that she had encountered Zi Yuan among a secluded sect of Talisman Arrow archers on Tai Bai Mountain.
• Li Yan chose to stay at a jianghu inn, and Red Yaksha brought the group to Phoenix Inn in Yong'an Ward to meet its owner, Feng FeiYan.
• Feng FeiYan welcomed Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Sha LiFei, then arranged for them to stay in a quiet courtyard behind the inn.
• Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan left to visit the City God Temple, while Sha LiFei went to look for a residence; Feng FeiYan watched them depart and remarked on Li Yan's skill.
• Feng FeiYan told Red Yaksha that something extraordinary had been unearthed near the ruins of Ancient Zhou Haojing City.

Li Yan obtained a black Dao Certificate in Chang'an and explored the city with Wang Dao Xuan, while Red Yaksha learned that the Noon Demon Slayer Sword had surfaced and made inquiries. The next day, Red Yaksha led the group to Renxin Hall to seek instruction from Senior Li.

• Boss Feng told Red Yaksha that tomb robbers had recovered the Noon Demon Slayer Sword from an ancient Zhou fangshi's tomb, and Red Yaksha murmured about her master.
• Li Yan received his black Dao Certificate at the Chang'an City God Temple and learned it offered greater privileges and privacy than other certificates.
• Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan explored Chang'an's former West Market and abandoned palace ruins, where Wang Dao Xuan described the city's Ghost Market.
• Sha LiFei told Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan that Red Yaksha had left to investigate something and planned to take Yan XiaoGe to meet a master the next day.
• Red Yaksha returned the next day and led Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Sha LiFei to Renxin Hall, where Senior Li was seeing patients.

Li Yan met Li ShiQing at Renxin Hall, where he helped treat a grave robber suffering from corpse poison and agreed to recommend a master to teach Li Yan Pigua. Li Yan began training under Li ShiQing’s wife, Lady Li, and the chapter ended as Li KongQing said he could no longer continue working as a study companion at Chang'an Prince Manor.

• Li Yan and his companions found Li ShiQing treating a corpse-poisoned grave robber while two of the man's associates threatened him.
• Li ShiQing's disciple defeated the two grave robbers, and Li ShiQing's treatment purged the patient's corpse poison before constables took the men away.
• Li ShiQing recognized Li Yan as the man who had recovered the Divine Tiger Token and learned that Li Yan had killed the traitor who attacked Chen Yuan.
• Li ShiQing agreed to help Li Yan learn Pigua and sent him to his wife, Lady Li, who began teaching him the Black Dragon Coiling Strike.
• Li Yan used his Great Luo Dharma Body to endure the dangerous windlass exercise and quickly improved his technique under Lady Li's guidance.
• During lunch, Li KongQing told Lady Li that he could no longer continue his study-companion job at Chang'an Prince Manor.

Li Yan advised Li KongQing to understand the political value of his study companion position, then learned that Red Yaksha had been forced into a Heavenly Origin Game over her sect’s Noon Demon Slayer Sword. He set out to find allies for the duel, scheduled seven days later at the Old Daming Palace Site.

• Lady Li and Li KongQing listened as Li KongQing complained about the Young Lord, and Li Yan argued that remaining at the Prince’s residence was valuable.
• Li KongQing offered to help Li Yan find an empty mansion to live in.
• Red Yaksha told Li Yan that Liu WenChen possessed her sect’s Noon Demon Slayer Sword and had challenged her to a Heavenly Origin Game.
• Feng FeiYan explained that Liu WenChen could draw on Heretical Art Practitioners and the Fire Bear Gang, while the Tai Xuan Orthodox Sect was barred from intervening.
• Li Yan agreed to find allies for the duel, which would take place in seven days at Zi Hour at the Old Daming Palace Site, and left while watched by Fire Bear Gang spies.

Li Yan secured two powerful Xuan Gate allies through Daoist Luo MingZi to help with the coming duel of arts, while learning more about the strengths and limits of his warrant. He returned to Phoenix Inn and remained wary of Feng FeiYan despite her praise.

• Li Yan evaded his followers in the crowded Heavenly Street and met Daoist Luo MingZi, who agreed to help him prepare for the duel of arts.
• Daoist Luo MingZi explained that Li Yan's warrant could summon ghost soldiers and introduced two formidable allies from the Xuan Gate People.
• Li Yan visited Shen SanYou, the Night Crying Man, who agreed to attend the duel after reading Daoist Luo MingZi's letter.
• Li Yan delivered Daoist Luo MingZi's letter to the pawnshop appraiser, the former assassin known as Shadow, who also agreed to help but refused compensation.
• Li Yan returned to Phoenix Inn and told the others he had recruited two masters, while privately remaining suspicious of Feng FeiYan.

Li Yan learned the North Emperor Chuling Technique while preparing for the coming ritual combat and discovered that Feng FeiYan was secretly connected to the Commandery Commandant Office. The chapter left him watching her covert identity from afar as the ritual combat drew near.

• Li Yan finished studying Pigua under Lady Li, who gave him her father’s Pigua General Outline before he left to avoid involving her in his jianghu troubles.
• Sha LiFei reported that the Fire Bear Gang was searching Chang’an for Lu, while Wang Dao Xuan prepared for the ritual combat and Li Yan began studying the Chuling Technique.
• After repeated failures, Li Yan successfully created seven Chuling Paper Figures and tested their ability to fly and scout through the inn.
• Li Yan sent a paper figure toward Feng FeiYan’s room and saw her emerge in dark robes bearing the emblems of the Commandery Commandant Office.

Feng FeiYan and Li Yan prepared for the duel and traveled with their allies through a blizzard to the ruins of Daming Palace. There, they met the Fire Bear Gang’s delegation, and Li Yan noticed that its leader wore a powerful warding artifact.

• Feng FeiYan recalled the Commandery Commandant Office’s power struggle and hid her uniform after sensing a watcher, while Li Yan withdrew his technique and learned about her background.
• Li Yan studied and made a pair of Jia Ma, then prepared more than a hundred Chuling Paper Figures for the coming duel.
• Feng FeiYan, Red Yaksha, Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Sha LiFei left Chang'an in carriages arranged by the Chang Sheng Carriage Guild, whose workers cleared their route through the snow.
• The group reached the ruins of Daming Palace and met Tie ShiGu, Mister Lu, and Hall Master Bai, who discussed the Fire Bear Gang’s likely plans.
• After a Signal Arrow marked the opposing camp, the group crossed the palace ruins and faced the Fire Bear Gang delegation, led by a burly man wearing a powerful jade Eight Trigrams disc.

Li Yan and Red Yaksha faced Liu WenChen’s group over a magical artifact, and the dispute became a five-match contest. Wang Dao Xuan entered the first match against the Snake Hag, and the chapter ended as both prepared their ritual altars.

• Li Yan challenged Liu WenChen’s claim to Red Yaksha’s magical artifact, and Liu WenChen proposed a contest in which each side would send five fighters and the first to win three matches would take it.
• The Snake Hag stepped forward for Liu WenChen’s side, and Red Yaksha recognized her as a child-killing witch who specialized in Gu poison and witchcraft.
• Wang Dao Xuan identified the Snake Hag as the woman who had abducted and mutilated a child in Luo Family Village, then volunteered to fight her.
• Li Yan gave Wang Dao Xuan the Hook Writ, and Wang Dao Xuan used the Thousand Gold Body Protection Incantation to immobilize and kill the Snake Hag’s venomous snakes.
• The Snake Hag and Wang Dao Xuan set up their ritual altars, with Wang Dao Xuan unsealing Rampaging Soldiers and preparing a straw figure with a Yellow Talisman.

Wang Dao Xuan defeated the Snake Hag with the Seven Arrows Secret Curse, then captured the infant ghosts and returned to the gathered guild leaders. As a mysterious Shang Mountain Dharma Lineage fighter approached, Shen SanYou arrived to face him and was identified as the Night Crying Man.

• Venerable Lu recognized Wang Dao Xuan's preparations as the Seven Arrows Secret Curse, while the Snake Hag divined that she was in great danger.
• The Snake Hag unleashed infant ghosts against Wang Dao Xuan, but he blocked them with his Yin soldiers and cursed her until her altar shattered and she died.
• Wang Dao Xuan collected the infant ghosts in a Wandering Soul Jar, while Xiong BaoDong's men burned the Snake Hag's body and he called on a veiled Shang Mountain Dharma Lineage fighter.
• Venerable Lu warned Wang Dao Xuan's allies not to challenge the approaching fighter, whom he believed could have reached Dao Progress Third Floor.
• Shen SanYou arrived with a Soul-Calling Banner, said another ally was killing the ambushers, and went to face the Shang Mountain fighter.
• Liu WenChen recognized Shen SanYou as the Night Crying Man as he began singing amid the wind and snow.

Shen SanYou defeated Luo Faqing in the second duel, exposing the Shang Mountain lineage’s use of ghost deities and warning that its methods had strayed from the orthodox Way. With Shadow still missing and reports that he had slaughtered his attackers, Xiong BaoDong struggled to find anyone willing to fight the third match.

• Liu WenChen explained that Shen SanYou was the Night Crying Man, a Netherworld Sect master whose family had been slaughtered and who had once taken revenge on the Guanzhong Forts.
• Venerable Lu told Li Yan that the Netherworld Sect and Shang Mountain lineage shared a long-running feud over their competing claims to the Qin secret-prayer tradition.
• Luo Faqing summoned three ghost deities with Inverted Law Banners, but Shen SanYou repelled them with his Soul Calming Bell and funeral song, shattering Luo Faqing’s altar and leaving him unconscious.
• Shen SanYou criticized the Shang Mountain lineage for using harmful arts without following the orthodox Way, then left after arranging to drink with Li Yan.
• A bloodied survivor reported that Shadow’s attackers were dead, but Shadow did not arrive, and Xiong BaoDong demanded a volunteer for the third match while the Fire Bear Gang practitioners avoided his gaze.

Li Yan entered the arena to face Yao San, a swordsman rescued and employed by Xiong BaoDong, after the Fire Bear Gang’s other fighters refused to challenge him. Yao San disarmed Li Yan with his twin sabers, and Li Yan prepared to continue the fight with his fists.

• Xiong BaoDong avoided Tie ShiGu’s challenge and urged his followers to fight Li Yan, but none volunteered until he sent Yao San wearing his jade warding disk.
• Tie ShiGu and Sha LiFei recognized Yao San as a Greenwood swordsman with Peak of Hidden Strength, while Wang Dao Xuan trusted Li Yan’s abilities and the Arrest Writ.
• Li Yan faced Yao San, who revealed that Li Yan’s father had destroyed his bandit stronghold ten years earlier, though he denied seeking revenge.
• Yao San attacked Li Yan with his Qiankun Double Slash Blades and used his superior strength and treasured sabers to knock the Guanshan Knife from Li Yan’s hand.
• Yao San invoked Li Yan’s father’s words about surviving deadly clashes, and Li Yan raised his fists and declared he would teach him those words again.

Li Yan defeated Yao San in the magical duel and helped force the Fire Bear Gang to admit defeat, while a mysterious ally called Shadow appeared to deter Xiong BaoDong. The next day, Li KongQing found Li Yan and his companions a rent-free courtyard in Pingkang Ward to guard, leaving them with a new base in Chang'an.

• Li Yan used the Soul Hooking Chain concealed within his Sleeve Blade technique to immobilize Yao San, kill him, and break the Bagua Jade Plate.
• Xiong BaoDong demanded the shattered Jade Pendant, but Tie ShiGu blocked him, and Shadow appeared with a bloodied sword and drove off the threat.
• Liu WenChen returned the long package, and Xiong BaoDong led the Fire Bear Gang away after admitting defeat.
• Lady Li heard of Li Yan's victory and worried that his new fame would attract trouble, while Li ShiQing celebrated his success.
• Li KongQing took Li Yan, Sha LiFei, and Wang Dao Xuan to a vacant two-courtyard estate in Pingkang Ward, where they could live rent-free in exchange for guarding it.

Wang Dao Xuan and Li Yan purified their new courtyard, then helped Zheng Xian’s son recover from an animal-fetus possession caused by a frightened soul entering a rat’s nest. The boy awakened the rare Ghost God Yin Yang Eyes, and Li Yan headed for Flower Calyx Tower as snow fell over Chang’an.

• Wang Dao Xuan and Li Yan performed the Five Grains House Purification Technique and settled into the Wang family courtyard.
• Li Yan’s Cloud Thunder Divine Drum helped Zheng Xian’s sick son fall asleep, prompting Zheng Xian to ask Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan for help.
• Wang Dao Xuan diagnosed the boy as having entered an animal fetus, and Li Yan tracked the fishy odor to a rat’s nest in Zheng Xian’s woodshed.
• Zheng Xian killed the young rats while Wang Dao Xuan summoned the boy’s soul back, restoring the child to his senses.
• The recovered boy revealed he could see the Divine Tiger Token and the old tiger beside Li Yan, awakening the rare Ghost God Yin Yang Eyes.
• After Zheng Xian took his son to the City God Temple, Li Yan walked through snowy Pingkang Ward toward Flower Calyx Tower.