Chapter Summaries

Li Yan met Shen SanYou at Flower Calyx Tower, where Shen promised a spectacle before discussing Chang'an’s mystic sects and martial world. The chapter ended as a troupe performer used the Tong Shen Art to wield a four-hundred-pound blade, revealing that a ghost soul had possessed him.

• Li Yan entered Flower Calyx Tower and found Shen SanYou waiting among the guests.
• Shen SanYou refused to move to a private room and told Li Yan to watch a performance before discussing Chang'an’s underworld.
• The masters of the Wu Family Troupe and Yang Family Troupe announced a three-round contest for the right to perform at Flower Calyx Tower for the coming year.
• A performer from the Yang Family Troupe challenged the audience’s expectations by presenting a four-hundred-pound Spring and Autumn Great Blade.
• The performer used the Tong Shen Art to swing the blade, and Li Yan recognized that a ghost soul had possessed him.

At Flower Calyx Tower, Li Yan watched the Wu Family Troupe defeat the Yang Family Troupe and spoke with Shen SanYou about the Xuan Gate and the Dao. Shen SanYou revealed that reaching the Fourth Floor might let Li Yan learn what a God Ascender was, and the chapter ended with Sha LiFei arriving to announce a major job and urge them to leave.

• The Wu Family Troupe used possession, Mystical Powers, and an elaborate Ascension Platform illusion to defeat the Yang Family Troupe at Flower Calyx Tower.
• Hua Niang concealed Li Yan and Shen SanYou behind a formation so they could speak privately about the Xuan Gate.
• Shen SanYou explained that the Xuan Gate contained many paths, then warned Li Yan that seeking immortality could bring hardship and said reaching the Fourth Floor might reveal what a God Ascender was.
• The next morning, Li Yan reflected on the term God Ascender and on Shen SanYou’s choice to abandon the pursuit of the Dao for brief pleasures.
• Sha LiFei burst into the courtyard and told Li Yan and the Daoist to pack because he had secured a major job.

Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Sha LiFei went to GuoDu Town to investigate the possession of Landlord Du’s grandson, but found the Du family in mourning and the case apparently settled. After Li Yan sensed something foul and used a signal to get the group admitted, they discovered Luo Faqing at Landlord Du’s side, and Du demanded they explain why they had come.

• Sha LiFei told Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan about a lucrative job from Hall Master Bai, and they rode with Zhao Jiu to GuoDu Town to investigate Landlord Du’s possessed grandson.
• Wang Dao Xuan identified the Du manor’s setting as a Dripping Marrow Formation, while Li Yan sensed a faint rotten smell and suspected something was wrong.
• Du family servants tried to turn the group away, but Li Yan signaled Wang Dao Xuan and Sha LiFei to persuade Steward Wang to take them inside.
• Steward Wang returned with a red palm print and led the group into the manor, where they found a mourning hall for Madam Du rather than the possessed grandson.
• Li Yan and his companions met Landlord Du and Luo Faqing, who had lost the recent battle of magic, and Du threatened them unless they explained themselves.

Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan traced the Du Family’s curse to a corrupted Dripping Marrow Formation and learned that the family’s ancestors had been buried near the Ancient Zhou Tomb. As the curse struck the Du Family again, a terrifying shadow appeared in the room where Landlord Du’s granddaughter lay ill.

• Li Yan revealed that the Register of the Gods had shown him a corpse-like old man inside a jade bowl, while Wang Dao Xuan realized the Du Family’s formation had been corrupted.
• Wang Dao Xuan explained that explosives used to rob the Ancient Zhou Tomb had disturbed the Du Family’s nearby ancestral graves, unleashing resentment that brought a bloodline curse upon their descendants.
• Steward Wang confirmed that Landlord Du’s grandson had vanished after falling ill, his granddaughter had become comatose, and Landlord Du’s first wife had died of fright.
• Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Sha LiFei decided they could not resolve the curse and planned to tell Landlord Du to seek help elsewhere.
• Luo Faqing visited the ill Wan Er and heard Landlord Du lament his past, then saw a huge birdlike black shadow with a pale human face appear behind him.

Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Luo Faqing stopped a bird-shaped Rakshasa Spirit from attacking the Du residence and learned that Landlord Du’s family had been manipulated into creating a dangerous formation. After finding that Du’s wife’s corpse had been consumed from within, Wang Dao Xuan concluded the evil had to be suppressed by breaking open the tomb.

• Luo Faqing fought the black shadow, but it repeatedly recovered until Wang Dao Xuan used a rooster’s crow to disperse it.
• Li Yan and the others used Six Geng Talismans to calm the servants, while Landlord Du begged them to save his family.
• Landlord Du revealed that he had killed his father and followed a feng shui master’s instructions to hide his father in the Great Ancient Zhou Tomb and establish the Marrow Drip Formation.
• Wang Dao Xuan identified the shadow as a Rakshasa Spirit or Calamity Spirit and suspected that the feng shui master had deliberately set up Landlord Du.
• Li Yan opened Landlord Du’s wife’s coffin, revealing that her brain and lungs had turned into black water, and Wang Dao Xuan urged them to break open the tomb and suppress the evil.

Wang Dao Xuan explained that the Du family had to suppress the demon calamity rather than destroy it, and he and Li Yan prepared paper figures to take the family’s place. The three men left for the ancestral tomb in a snowstorm, and reached a hillside where a huge crack revealed its entrance.

• Wang Dao Xuan told Landlord Du that the family’s bloodline curse could be stopped by locating the ancestors’ coffin and suppressing the demon calamity, though the Du family would lose its inherited fortune.
• Du An and Landlord Du agreed to give up prosperity to protect the family, and Wang Dao Xuan ordered paper figures to be made for every member of the household.
• Wang Dao Xuan’s attempt to imbue the paper figures with spirit failed, but Li Yan used the North Emperor Chuling Technique to make them take on the family members’ auras.
• Wang Dao Xuan instructed the Du family to leave the residence at night, burn the paper figures at noon, and seek help from the City God Temples while he, Li Yan, and Sha LiFei departed for the tomb.
• In the snow near Ancient Haojing, Sha LiFei recognized the route from the Dirge Scroll and led the group to the burial mounds, where they found a huge crack in a hillside.

Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Sha LiFei discovered that the Du family tomb had been altered with Wa Country seals and its corpse stolen, while Luo Faqing tracked the sorcerer behind the curse. The chapter ended with the group learning that the sorcerer’s lair was in a valley south of Xiangji Temple, at the site of an old battle.

• Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, and Sha LiFei entered the Du family tomb and found a torii, Wa Country charms, and carvings of demons including the Yin Mo Luo Ghost.
• Li Yan discovered a hidden passage behind the tomb chamber, but the trail ended in a snow-covered mountain hollow where the group could not follow it.
• At the Du residence, Luo Faqing fought off the Du family’s dead son, who had become a Walking Corpse, and drove him into the night.
• Luo Faqing used his ritual instruments to locate the sorcerer’s lair and waited for Li Yan and the others to return.
• After Li Yan and the others returned, Landlord Du denied knowing any Japanese, and Luo Faqing revealed that the lair lay in a valley near Xiangji Temple.

Li Yan and his companions pursued the Du Family’s corpse and its handlers to an Ancient Battlefield cave, where they captured Lu Gongyuan before an explosion sealed the passage. Li Yan interrogated Lu Gongyuan, who revealed the Maitreya Sect’s plans and that Li Yan’s father had been killed for investigating Vice Sect Leader Zhao Changsheng, leaving Li Yan wondering why his father had asked about him.

• Luo Faqing explained how the Ancient Battlefield had nearly destroyed the Shangshan lineage as the group tracked the Walking Corpse to a hidden cave.
• Li Yan killed the Du Family’s transformed grandson, then fought a skilled swordsman while Sha LiFei and Luo Faqing helped him identify and subdue Lu Gongyuan.
• Li Yan noticed the enemies’ gunpowder trap, and the group escaped the collapsing cave with Lu Gongyuan while the corpse handlers fled with the Ancestor of the Du Family’s body.
• Li Yan used his Soul Hooking Chain to force Lu Gongyuan to reveal that Hui Qing and Zhao Changsheng were behind the operation and were trying to raise a Rakshasa Bird.
• Lu Gongyuan said Luan HongEr had killed Li Hu because Li Hu was investigating Zhao Changsheng, leaving Li Yan confused about his father’s motives.

Li Yan and his allies learned that Maitreya Sect remnants were hiding within Xiangji Temple and climbed the mountain to stop them from moving cursed corpses. At the temple, Li Yan received a mission involving a foreign Returning Yang One, discovered the monks had been poisoned, and entered a hidden cavern to confront the enemy.

• Wang Dao Xuan explained the Buddhist sects and their ties to the Maitreya Sect, while Lu Gongyuan revealed that seven remnants, including Hui Qing, were hiding at Xiangji Temple.
• Luo Faqing recounted how Zhao Changsheng had led the Maitreya Sect toward rebellion, and Li Yan questioned whether Zhao had secretly planned events near Chang'an years earlier.
• Lu Gongyuan said he did not know Zhao Changsheng's origins or why Li Yan's father had investigated him, and Luo Faqing described Luan HongEr as a dangerous former Maitreya Branch Master.
• Li Yan's ghost warrant showed him a foreign Onmyoji possessing a monk as a Returning Yang One, and he realized that an urgent mission had appeared.
• Li Yan and his companions broke into Xiangji Temple and found its monks dead from poisoning; Li Yan then split the group so Sha LiFei and Wang Dao Xuan could destroy the enemy's formation.
• Li Yan and Luo Faqing killed the Maitreya remnants hiding in the woodshed, then Li Yan entered the cavern beneath it and told Luo Faqing to summon Ghosts and Spirits.

Li Yan and Luo Faqing entered the cavern to confront the strange Japanese monk, whose ritual and Buddhist Treasure had kept a Rakshasa Bird demon contained. Li Yan killed the monk and captured the demon, gained three Celestial Decrees, and absorbed the Buddhist Treasure’s power before footsteps approached the cavern.

• Luo Faqing summoned three ghosts and spirits to draw the Yin Offender’s attention while Li Yan followed them into the cavern.
• Li Yan attacked the monk’s torii barrier, but the monk shot him with a Flintlock Pistol and revealed his plan to refine the Ancestor of the Du Family’s corpse into a Yin Mo Luo Ghost.
• Sha LiFei and Wang Dao Xuan broke the hemp ropes binding the Buddha statue, weakening the torii and disrupting the monk’s ritual.
• The monk used a Buddhist Treasure containing sariras to suppress the corpse, but Li Yan burned the monk and the corpse, freeing the Rakshasa Bird demon.
• The monk absorbed the demon’s black smoke, but Li Yan used his Gou Die to bind and kill him, capturing the demon and earning three Celestial Decrees.
• Li Yan absorbed the Buddhist Treasure’s power, strengthening his Great Luo Dharma Body, then took the sariras and Flintlock Gun when he heard footsteps outside.

After the Xiangji Temple crisis, Li Yan investigated his father’s death and Zhao Changsheng’s connection to a resurrected Onmyoji from Dongying. The chapter left him greeting Senior Manager Wan, who arrived with Sha LiFei.

• Li Yan told Sha LiFei and Luo Faqing that the Buddhist Treasure had lost its power, and Luo Faqing agreed to help find a buyer and take his share of the spoils.
• Wang Dao Xuan confirmed that the monster’s death had lifted the Du Family’s Evil Curse, while Li Yan wondered why his father had investigated Zhao Changsheng.
• Li Yan studied the Flintlock Pistol he had taken from the old monk and considered how New-Style Gunpowder might change weapons in the Great Xuan Dynasty.
• Zheng Xian brought Li Yan case files concerning his father’s death, a brothel fire, and the Maitreya Sect’s Luan Hong’er, and shared what he had learned about the battle at Honnō-ji Temple.
• Li Yan concluded that Zhao Changsheng might have brought the resurrected Onmyoji Hui Qing back from Dongying, then greeted Manager Wan of Xianyang’s Hearing Sound Pavilion.

Li Yan learned that Manager Wan was gathering martial artists for Chang'an’s Drum King Assembly and demonstrated a new combination of Pigua boxing and the Divine Drum Cloud Thunder Sound to Lady Li. Meanwhile, Li KongQing went to the Prince Manor, where he was greeted by the Young Lord.

• Manager Wan told Li Yan that the Drum King Assembly would be held for the opening of a ritual-coin vault and asked him to play the Qin Han War Drums for the team.
• Sha LiFei, Wang Dao Xuan, and Li Yan left to handle their New Year work, and Li Yan visited Lady Li with gifts.
• Li Yan combined Pigua boxing with the Divine Drum Cloud Thunder Sound, and Lady Li offered to guide his training.
• Li KongQing traveled to the Prince Manor and reflected on how his changed conduct had improved his standing there.
• The Young Lord appeared behind Li KongQing as he sat working in the Benevolence and Filial Piety Pavilion.

Young Lord Xiao Hongqi warned Li KongQing to keep to his duties and opposed King Chang'an’s plans for overseas trade, while Yue Fachong tried to advance the scheme for his lineage. The chapter left Yue Fachong rejecting Luo Faqing’s objections and insisting that he would not repeat his master’s fate.

• Xiao Hongqi confronted Li KongQing over a denunciation letter, learned that Li had helped his mother’s disciple, and reminded him to focus on his duties as study companion.
• Li KongQing considered resigning, but Xiao Hongqi explained why he had been selected and convinced him to remain in his proper role.
• Xiao Hongqi questioned King Chang'an’s overseas trade plans at a treasure banquet and showed interest in shipworms said to treat his mother’s rheumatic pain.
• Yue Fachong told Luo Faqing that Xiao Hongqi’s opposition threatened the overseas scheme and argued that it could help their Shangshan lineage gain influence.
• Luo Faqing questioned the plan and suggested holding ceremonies instead, but Yue Fachong rebuked him and refused to follow his master’s path.

Luo Faqing delivered Yue Fachong’s warning to Qiao Sanhu, who continued plotting with Xiong BaoDong to profit from the Drum King Assembly and recover money from the Lu family. Meanwhile, Li Yan searched for Shadow and encountered his childhood companion Hei Dan fleeing through the streets.

• Yue Fachong warned Luo Faqing not to let sentiment distract him and ordered him to tell Qiao Sanhu to leave Chang'an.
• Luo Faqing confronted Qiao Sanhu at the Fire Bear Gang’s headquarters and delivered Yue Fachong’s warning, but Qiao Sanhu refused to be cowed.
• Qiao Sanhu and Xiong BaoDong agreed to target the Lu family’s eldest son and worked on securing a slot in the Drum King Assembly.
• Xiong BaoDong introduced Guo Ai, who reported that the mystic entertainers had agreed to join except for a stubborn leatherworker.
• Li Yan visited Bao Feng Pawnshop to look for Shadow, then found Hei Dan fleeing through the street and stopped him.

Li Yan reunited with Hei Dan in Chang'an and drove off the Fire Bear Gang men who had beaten him and attacked his uncle. At a tavern, Hei Dan’s uncle revealed that a Demon Immortal he had once helped create had escaped, possessed someone, and cursed him to stop making Spirit Hide.

• Li Yan recognized Hei Dan, defeated several Fire Bear Gang men, and confronted their leader, Guo Ai, after learning Hei Dan’s uncle might have been killed.
• Guo Ai said Hei Dan’s uncle was alive, paid two hundred taels, and withdrew with his men; Li Yan then drove off two local hecklers with pebbles.
• Hei Dan led Li Yan to his uncle’s leatherworking courtyard, where they found the old man bruised but alive.
• Hei Dan’s uncle explained that he had learned to make Spirit Hide from a mysterious voice, but a Puppet Show Villain made from the hide became possessed and preyed on the troupe.
• Hei Dan’s uncle said the escaped Demon Immortal had come to Chang’an, cursed him, taken over his livelihood, and forced him to swear never to make Spirit Hide again.

Li Yan and Li ShiQing treated Li LaoGan for a Maggot Gu used by the Bee Sect to pressure him into accepting a swindle, then helped trace the fraud to Li LaoGan’s former shadow-puppet troupe. Their search led them to Qingyuan Tower in Pingkang Ward, where the workers greeted Li Yan as a familiar patron.

• Li ShiQing diagnosed Li LaoGan’s infestation as Maggot Gu and explained that the Bee Sect had likely used it to force him to accept a property scam.
• Li Yan explained Li LaoGan’s options under Jianghu Rules or imperial law, and Li LaoGan chose to recover his property without provoking a larger fight.
• Li ShiQing removed the Gu poison, and Li Yan discovered that Li LaoGan’s leather shop had changed hands several times.
• Zhao Jiu said the Bee Sect could not be traced through brokerage records and suggested one of Li LaoGan’s former apprentices had leaked the story.
• Li LaoGan learned that his old troupe was in Pingkang Ward, so Li Yan took him to Qingyuan Tower.
• Big Teapot and the madam greeted Li Yan enthusiastically and claimed Miss Wan Fang had been waiting for him.

Li Yan discovered that Zhao Wan Fang had tried to kill him over his father's past, then learned that Li LaoGan's former troupe had betrayed him by revealing his Spirit Hide craft. He left with Hei Dan, his nephew, and Band Leader Bai to confront the informant at Jinbao Gambling House.

• Li Yan listened to a Zhouzhi Taoist Opera before Zhao Wan Fang attacked him with concealed blades and accused his father of causing her family’s deaths.
• Li Yan told Zhao Wan Fang he would return that night to discuss the surviving witness and asked her to summon Band Leader Bai.
• Band Leader Bai confessed that his troupe’s gamblers had exposed Li LaoGan’s Spirit Hide craft to Jinbao Gambling House, leading to trouble for Li LaoGan.
• Hei Dan beat the young troupe members, and Li LaoGan severed ties with them after explaining that Spirit Hide required an opened Spiritual Root.
• Band Leader Bai identified a young scholar called Third Brother as the informant, so Li Yan took him and the others to Jinbao Gambling House.

Li Yan investigated the Bee Sect swindlers at Jinbao Gambling House and agreed to let Bai RuoXu recover the stolen goods. Later, Zhao WanFang recounted the fire that destroyed Jin Cui Brothel, and Li Yan connected the murderer to a Jinhua Cat and the Peilan Sachets carried by Consort Liu, Hua Qing, and Cui Lan.

• Tie Feng introduced Li Yan to Hall Master Bai at Jinbao Gambling House, where Bai promised to make the Bee Sect swindlers return what they took and pay compensation.
• After Li Yan and the others left, Bai RuoXu entered a hidden passage and poisoned the bandits from White Tiger Stronghold who had been staying underground.
• Li Yan visited Zhao WanFang after dark and asked what she had witnessed when Jin Cui Brothel burned down.
• Zhao WanFang described hearing a strange cat cry before the fire and identified Consort Liu, Hua Qing, and Cui Lan as women who carried Peilan Sachets.
• Li Yan explained that Yan Sect women in Jiangsu and Zhejiang raised Jinhua Cats and needed Peilan Sachets to keep the creatures from devouring them, leading him to understand the cause of his father's death.

Li Yan uncovered the Maitreya Sect’s role in the brothel murders and warned Zhao Wan Fang not to seek revenge recklessly. After settling Hei Dan’s family’s property dispute, he focused on cultivation and considered using the dangerous North Emperor Yin Mountain Method to overcome a bottleneck.

• Li Yan told Zhao Wan Fang that Consort Liu was alive and the Maitreya Branch Master called the Red Woman had arranged her father’s murder and the burning of Jin Cui Brothel.
• Li Yan warned Zhao Wan Fang to live for herself and not act recklessly before leaving through the window.
• A messenger delivered the shop title deeds and five hundred taels of compensation from Hall Master Bai, and Li Yan gave them to Li LaoGan and Hei Dan.
• Li Yan’s companions handled their growing work while he trained, fused Pigua and Red Fist, and planned to add the North Emperor Yin Thunder Hand to his close-range attacks.
• Li Yan’s spirit took on his own features as his Luo Feng Scripture cultivation reached a bottleneck, so he considered attempting the dangerous North Emperor Yin Mountain Method.

Li Yan chose a mass burial ground south of Chang'an for his ritual preparations and bought the needed implements at the City God Temple, where he discovered signs that the Tai Xuan Orthodox Sect was preparing a major operation. Zhang ShiTong then brought him to the Divine Fist Society’s year-end gathering to meet powerful martial artists, and the chapter left Li Yan arriving at its headquarters.

• Wang Dao Xuan explained the Yin Fiend Lands around Chang'an, and Li Yan chose the mass burial grounds south of the city for his ritual.
• Zhang ShiTong arrived with New Year gifts and invited Li Yan to the Divine Fist Society’s gathering, where Pellet Strength experts would be present for the Drum King Assembly.
• Zhang ShiTong told Li Yan that the Gao family’s destruction had left a warning about powerful martial-world figures and advised him to keep a low profile around the visiting experts.
• Li Yan visited the City God Temple to buy ritual implements, saw Daoists preparing to mobilize troops, and learned that Luo MingZi had not returned.
• Li Yan reached the Divine Fist Society headquarters in Ban Zheng Ward and found Zhang ShiTong arguing with someone at the entrance.