Chapter Summaries

Xiao He used his official document and status as King Zhao’s son to take Xiang Yuan away from White Cloud Manor, while Yue Huanjiang reluctantly let him go. On the way back, Xiang Yuan questioned Xiao He’s true identity and learned he would explain once they were alone.

• Xiao He confronted Yue Huanjiang and produced County Lieutenant Qin’s stamped order requiring Xiang Yuan to stay with and protect him.
• Xiang Yuan urged the two men to avoid a dispute, then told Yue Huanjiang he would visit for tea another day.
• Yue Huanjiang let Xiang Yuan leave and sent him off with a gift, while the shopkeeper explained that Xiao He was King Zhao’s disregarded son.
• Xiao He took Xiang Yuan along East Street, bought him snacks, and grew jealous when Xiang Yuan praised Yue Huanjiang.
• Xiang Yuan challenged Xiao He about ruining his chance at White Cloud Manor and asked who he really was; Xiao He promised to explain in private.

The author announced the new book's December 1 launch schedule and discussed their writing plans, style, and reader support. They ended by promoting fellow authors' books and returning to writing.

• The author said the book would go on sale at midnight on December 1, with updates at midnight on launch day and 9 a.m. afterward.
• The author said they had no ideas for another multiverse story and wrote because they felt compelled to write.
• The author reassured readers that their account and writing style had not changed, and said they would avoid upsetting plotlines.
• The author said there would be no reader group and that daily word counts would build toward seven or eight thousand words.
• The author listed books by fellow authors and said they were going back to writing.

Xiang Yuan examined Yue Huanjiang’s congratulatory gifts, including a saber, cultivation manuals, and hidden weapons, while Xiao He warned him about the manuals and explained his own secret role in the imperial directorates. The chapter left Xiao He declaring that he planned to exploit the conflict between the Heavenly Sect and the Demonic Beings in the Southern Border.

• Xiang Yuan admired the Tiger Roar Saber and its matching techniques, then found five foundational cultivation manuals covering all five elements.
• Xiao He warned Xiang Yuan that cultivating the manuals could bind him to Yue Huanjiang, but Xiang Yuan decided to ask White Cloud Manor about them.
• Xiang Yuan tested an arm-mounted crossbow among the remaining gifts and lamented that he had not possessed it and the saber during his fight with Sima Qingyan.
• Xiang Yuan asked Xiao He about Xu Jixian and why they both concealed their identities and acted foolishly.
• Xiao He explained the Twelve Directorates of the Capital and revealed that he belonged to the Snake division of the Imperial City Directorate, serving a secret imperial order in the Southern Border.
• Xiao He said he intended to exploit the struggle between the righteous Heavenly Sect and the demonic forces by sowing discord.

Xiang Yuan learned that Xiao He was an Imperial City Directorate operative who had manipulated events in Fengxian County and tried to recruit him for work involving the Southern Border. Although Xiang Yuan refused to commit, he considered joining to retrieve his martial uncle’s inheritance and agreed to visit the Directorate’s hidden headquarters at Xu Residence.

• Xiang Yuan learned that the court intended to pit the Southern Border Demonic Beings against the Heavenly Sect factions, and Xiao He revealed that he and Xu Jixian served the Imperial City Directorate.
• Xiao He explained that he controlled Sima Qingyan through evidence against her father, Sima Changhui, and had taught her Yellow Springs Dao techniques as part of his plan.
• Xiao He offered Xiang Yuan evidence against Sima Changhui, but Xiang Yuan declined to get involved and asked how Sima Qingyan had learned the Yellow Springs Dao techniques.
• Xiao He invited Xiang Yuan to join the Imperial City Directorate and gave him a map, while Xiang Yuan said he needed time to consider the offer because he planned to retrieve his martial uncle’s inheritance in the Southern Border.
• Xiao He revealed that the Directorate’s Fengxian headquarters was in a dry well at Xu Residence and invited Xiang Yuan to visit that night with him and Xu Jixian.

Xiang Yuan explored the Imperial City Directorate’s hidden base beneath the Xu Residence and learned about its secretive operations. He declined to join outright but accepted the prospect of training and an undercover identity, leaving the chapter considering whether the Formless Seal Method could provide the perfect disguise.

• Xiao He led Xiang Yuan through a hidden passage into the vast underground palace beneath the Xu Residence and showed him its intelligence records, weapons, manuals, and escape routes.
• Xiao He explained the Imperial City Directorate’s strict secrecy, its hierarchy, and his own identity as the Snake of the Twelve Earthly Branches.
• Xiang Yuan refused to commit to joining the Directorate, while Xiao He promised to arrange him an open identity and teach him disguise techniques so he could pursue martial training.
• Xiao He brought Xiang Yuan back to Xu Jixian, who demonstrated his human-skin masks and received the codename Black Ringed Snake; Xiang Yuan chose Bamboo Leaf Green instead of Five-Step Drop.
• Xu Jixian’s attempt to disguise himself as Xiang Yuan failed, and Xiang Yuan considered using the Formless Seal Method to transform his appearance.

Xiang Yuan chose to become a Protector of Righteousness in Song Family Village, despite learning that Yellow Springs Dao disciples planned to turn its residents into ghosts. After Wang Wenxu arrived to discuss Xiang Yuan joining the Imperial City Directorate, Xiao He demanded hundreds of lewd writings and matching paintings as compensation.

• Xiao He offered Xiang Yuan a free-to-roam Bao Yi Lang position and asked whether he preferred a village north or south of Fengxian; Xiang Yuan chose the south.
• Xiang Yuan selected Song Family Village from the available posts, and Xiao He warned that Yellow Springs Dao disciples meant to refine its hundred households into ghosts.
• Xiang Yuan learned that Wang Wenxu's informant in the Six Doors was Fengxian's chief constable, Liu Jingsheng, and then memorized a Yellow Springs Dao cultivation method.
• Wang Wenxu apologized for concealing his Imperial City Directorate role, while Xiang Yuan silently made him feel guilty.
• Xiao He demanded three to five hundred lewd writings and the same number of matching paintings from Wang Wenxu as compensation.

Xiang Yuan visited Yue Huanjiang, who revealed a secret Five Elements cultivation method and lent him a pearl to aid his training before leaving Dezhou. After seeing Yue Huanjiang off, Xiang Yuan returned to Xiao Residence with his appointment as Song Family Village constable and went to the academy, where Xu Jixian teased him and Sima Qingyan glared at him.

• Xiang Yuan visited Yue Huanjiang at White Cloud Manor and asked why the five cultivation methods he had received differed from ordinary Acupoint Opening cultivation.
• Yue Huanjiang told Xiang Yuan to cultivate all Five Elements in the cycle of generation and lent him a Five Elements Pearl to protect him from becoming trapped in one element.
• Xiang Yuan and Yue Huanjiang talked and shared poems until Yue Huanjiang said he was leaving for the Sect Gate and invited Xiang Yuan to visit him in Tongjing Prefecture.
• Xiang Yuan saw Yue Huanjiang off at dawn, then returned to Xiao Residence, where Xiao He told him that County Lieutenant Qin had approved his appointment as Song Family Village constable.
• Xiang Yuan and Xiao He went to the academy, where Xu Jixian teased Xiang Yuan about staying out all night and Sima Qingyan glared at him.

Xiang Yuan returned Sima Qingyan’s pawn ticket, gathered intelligence and supplies from Wang Wenxu, then traveled to Song Family Village to take up his post as Bao Yi Lang. After the villagers’ hunters left for the mountains, Xiang Yuan suspected the village’s leaders were hiding something and decided to act that night.

• Xiang Yuan gave Sima Qingyan the pawn ticket for her sword and left her puzzled by the low price it had fetched.
• Xiang Yuan borrowed books and learned from Wang Wenxu that Song Family Village faced a worsening threat from Yellow Springs Dao disciples.
• Xiang Yuan took six pieces of Wang Wenxu’s calligraphy and traveled to Song Family Village with his horse and Tiger Roar Saber.
• Cheng Yong and Cheng He challenged Xiang Yuan’s authority, then told him the villagers were out hunting and left him at the communal hall.
• Xiang Yuan noticed that no women or children were in the village and decided to make his move that night.

Xiang Yuan killed three Yellow Springs Dao disciples at the funeral home, disguised himself as one of them, and infiltrated the ritual site where four hundred villagers were being used to raise a godlike ghost. He struck down a fourth disciple and moved on to attack the others as the Yellow Springs Mother Tree’s projection appeared above the formation.

• Cheng Yong and Cheng He planned to lure Constable Xiang out while their senior disciple refined a godlike ghost from Song Family Village’s captured villagers.
• Cheng He blew poison smoke into the funeral home, but Xiang Yuan killed both brothers with poisoned darts when they entered.
• Xiang Yuan killed the third disciple outside, disguised himself in a black robe, and ran toward the village center.
• At the formation, four disciples guarded the villagers as the Yellow Springs Mother Tree appeared in a projection amid the red light and fog.
• Xiang Yuan feigned panic and reported that Constable Xiang had killed Brother Cheng, then drew his blade and beheaded the disciple who approached him.
• Xiang Yuan charged toward the remaining disciples, beginning another attack.

Xiang Yuan fought Duan Wei and two Yellow Springs Dao disciples while practicing the Thirteen Transformations of Yin Wind and Ghost Mist. After killing one disciple, he was trapped in Duan Wei’s fog formation, where he began slaughtering its ghosts and spotted the junior brother sent to kill him.

• Xiang Yuan parried Duan Wei’s hidden weapons and faced the three black-robed disciples, while Duan Wei mistook his techniques for those of a fellow disciple.
• Xiang Yuan killed one disciple with a sudden saber strike, and Duan Wei recognized that his saber style marked him as an agent of the Six Doors.
• Duan Wei forced Xiang Yuan into a fog formation and sent his frightened junior brother inside with a flag to attack him.
• Xiang Yuan charged into the formation’s ghosts and cut them down, while the junior brother crept toward him under cover of the fog.
• Xiang Yuan turned and met the junior brother’s gaze as the man prepared to strike.

Xiang Yuan destroyed the Yellow Springs Dao’s ritual and killed Black Robe and Duan Wei, saving the people of Song Family Village. When a group of young martial artists arrived, they mistook him for an enemy until a monk recognized the righteous energy beneath his black robe.

• Xiang Yuan used the righteous energy in Wang Wenxu’s scrolls to dispel the fog and ghosts, then killed Black Robe and took his small flag.
• Xiang Yuan interrupted Duan Wei’s ghost-god ritual and defeated him in a clash, killing him after he tried to flee and attack again.
• Xiang Yuan destroyed the ritual’s red lamps and tools, scattered the Yellow Springs Mother Tree projection, and freed the villagers from its roots.
• Xiang Yuan heard approaching footsteps and prepared for a fight, but a group of young martial artists arrived and mistook his black robe for a sign that he was Yellow Springs Dao.
• A tall monk pointed out the righteous energy and writing on Xiang Yuan’s body, recognizing him as the person who had protected the villagers.

After Xiang Yuan defeated the Yellow Springs Dao disciples threatening Song Family Village, Mingzhu and the young heroes apologized and helped care for the unconscious villagers. The group learned more about Xiang Yuan and his fighting skills, and Tang Rou invited him to travel with them.

• Mingzhu explained that he and the other young heroes had come to hunt Yellow Springs Dao disciples, and he apologized for mistaking Xiang Yuan for an enemy.
• Xiang Yuan asked the young heroes to demonstrate their martial arts, studied their techniques, and then introduced himself as Song Family Village’s Protector of Righteousness.
• Mingzhu organized the young heroes to move the unconscious villagers into rooms while others found the charity graveyard and confirmed that seven Yellow Springs Dao disciples had died.
• Xiang Yuan reviewed the battle and his remaining supplies, then accepted his poisoned sleeve arrows back from Tang Rou.
• Tang Rou invited Xiang Yuan to join the young heroes on their travels and help hunt more Yellow Springs Dao disciples.

Xiang Yuan joined Mingzhu and the young heroes, built a good reputation in Song Family Village, and settled into a routine of training and study. When Song Shan revealed that the Five Poisons Cult used a nearby Western Zhou tomb to move smuggled goods, Xiang Yuan decided to investigate it.

• Xiang Yuan agreed to work with Mingzhu and the young heroes, while Tang Rou failed to claim him as her junior brother.
• Xiang Yuan explained the previous night's attack to the villagers, earned their gratitude, and demonstrated his saber forms.
• Xiang Yuan sent the young heroes to investigate nearby villages and spent the following days training, studying formations, and refining a concealed saber technique.
• Song Shan told Xiang Yuan that Song Family Village collected tolls from smugglers and that a convoy would pass that night.
• Song Shan revealed that the Five Poisons Cult stored and transferred goods in an ancient Western Zhou tomb, which Six Doors had searched more than ten years earlier.
• Xiang Yuan questioned Song Shan about the tomb and decided to investigate it.

At Yulin Academy, Xiang Yuan learned that the ancient tomb near Song Family Village held a yin-rich gorge where he could cultivate the Three Yin Book of Life and Death. He followed a Five Poisons Cult smuggling party there, found no Yellow Springs Dao disciples, and began practicing in a burial chamber before sensing something was wrong.

• Wang Wenxu told Xiang Yuan that the tomb’s fissure produced blood lingzhi and might attract Yellow Springs Dao disciples because of its yin energy.
• Xiang Yuan decided to let the Five Poisons Cult smugglers enter first, then follow them and assess the tomb before cultivating there.
• Xiang Yuan told Song Shan he would overlook the villagers’ smuggling so long as they did not go too far, but refused to meet the caravan’s leader.
• That night, Xiang Yuan followed the smugglers to the gorge, waited until they left, and searched the tomb and surrounding cliffs without finding Yellow Springs Dao disciples.
• Xiang Yuan found several young blood lingzhi, returned to the tomb, and began cultivating in a small burial chamber before noticing that something felt off.

Xiang Yuan uncovered a hidden burial chamber beneath the great tomb and took a jade disc from the corpse inside, awakening a terrifying zombie. He switched to Coldblood and fought back, but the chapter ended with the zombie attacking again as his life force nearly failed.

• Xiang Yuan traced the tomb’s powerful yin energy to a buried chamber and dug down to uncover it.
• He entered a chamber filled with blood lingzhi and found a jade disc in the hands of a corpse inside a stone coffin.
• Xiang Yuan took the disc, causing the corpse’s hand to wither and the tomb’s owner to rise as a zombie.
• The zombie attacked at immense speed, and Xiang Yuan dodged repeatedly while trying to escape.
• Xiang Yuan switched to Coldblood and struck the zombie with Lone Star Chasing Moon, briefly stopping its charge.
• The zombie attacked again, and Xiang Yuan’s life force dwindled as he prepared to fight.

Xiang Yuan survived the zombie by devouring the blood ganoderma and using its medicinal power to keep fighting, though the zombie ultimately stopped when its yin energy ran out. Afterward, he consumed the remaining ganoderma and began to feel the lasting improvements to his body.

• Xiang Yuan switched from Coldblood to Steady and used Lone Star Chasing Moon to try to escape the zombie, but the attack could not overcome its defense.
• Xiang Yuan switched to Goofball, slipped in the blood ganoderma pulp, and discovered that eating it restored his blood energy.
• Goofball repeatedly ate blood ganoderma and fought the zombie, while the medicine and Everlasting Killing Intent strengthened and healed Xiang Yuan's body.
• Xiang Yuan's attacks knocked the zombie away, but it stopped moving because its yin energy had run out after being separated from the jade disc.
• Xiang Yuan switched back to his steady self, stopped Everlasting Killing Intent, and ate the remaining blood ganoderma as its medicinal power continued to nourish him.

Xiang Yuan brought a powerful zombie and a mysterious jade disc to Wang Wenxu, who helped him seal the disc’s yin qi and advised him about the corpse. Wang Wenxu planned to blame the Tomb-Keeping Sect for signs of the opened tomb, while Xiang Yuan learned about the major demonic forces and the persecution of the Demon Race.

• Xiang Yuan brought the zombie and jade disc to Wang Wenxu, who identified the corpse as an extraordinary powerhouse but could not determine who it had been.
• Wang Wenxu examined the jade disc, taught Xiang Yuan how to seal its yin qi, and explained how to open and close it.
• Wang Wenxu said Xu Jixian might know how to control the zombie and planned to spread a rumor blaming the Tomb-Keeping Sect for activity near the tomb.
• Wang Wenxu explained the Eight Great Demonic Beings and mentioned that Undying Mountain might become a ninth major force.
• Xiang Yuan asked about the Demon Race, and Wang Wenxu explained that humans persecuted demons, leading Xiang Yuan to infer that demon blood came from exploited captives.

Xiang Yuan discovered that the jade disc could summon the Jambu Gate, a gateway to another world, and concealed the discovery from Xu Jixian. He sought Xu Jixian’s help with the zombie, only to learn that Xu’s family had inherited corpse-controlling techniques from a fallen sect.

• Xiang Yuan returned to Song Family Village before dawn, hid the jade disc, and practiced attuning himself to his saber.
• The jade disc drew Xiang Yuan’s Primordial Spirit into a gray space, where he saw the Jambu Gate and realized the disc fit its central opening.
• Xiang Yuan summoned the gate into reality by speaking “Jambu,” then made the jade disc transform between a pendant and a tattoo.
• Xiang Yuan worried that the zombie might have survived in another world, but decided to wait before entering the gate.
• Xiang Yuan returned to Yulin Academy and asked Xu Jixian to examine the zombie; Xu said it could not be saved and offered to teach Xiang Yuan corpse-controlling techniques.

Xiang Yuan learned Xu Jixian’s corpse-control art and began refining Senior Zombie, leaving him buried under Wang Wenxu’s protection at Yulin Academy. After returning to Song Family Village, Xiang Yuan was summoned by Mingzhu’s companions for an operation, while Tang Rou prepared Sima Qingyan to confront Yellow Springs Dao bandits and hinted at introducing her to Xiang Yuan.

• Xu Jixian explained the Corpse-Driving Sect’s history and taught Xiang Yuan how to control corpses.
• Xiang Yuan used his heart’s blood to establish a connection with Senior Zombie, and Xu Jixian instructed him to nourish the corpse for forty-nine days.
• Xiang Yuan chose Yulin Academy as the burial place, and Wang Wenxu concealed Senior Zombie in an array in his courtyard.
• Xiang Yuan returned to Song Family Village, where two wandering heroes told him Mingzhu had sent them to bring him to an operation that night.
• At Lesser Morality Temple, Tang Rou told Sima Qingyan that Yellow Springs Dao bandits had occupied the Lin and Zhao villages and hinted that she would introduce her to a praised young hero.

Xiang Yuan reunited with Sima Qingyan and Tang Rou at Lesser Morality Temple, where Sima warned him to stay away from Tang Rou and revealed that Xiao He had forced her to cultivate Yellow Springs Dao arts. Mingzhu organized the young heroes to attack Yellow Springs Dao forces occupying two emptied villages, and Xiang Yuan joined the support group as they set out.

• Xiang Yuan arrived at Lesser Morality Temple and found Sima Qingyan speaking with Tang Rou, who praised his exploits at Song Family Village.
• Sima Qingyan warned Tang Rou against Xiang Yuan, but the two women misunderstood each other and both thought the other was not very smart.
• Sima Qingyan cautioned Xiang Yuan not to provoke Sword Heart Studio and confessed that Xiao He had forced her to cultivate Yellow Springs Dao arts.
• Xiang Yuan returned to the temple, eager to test his increased strength, while the chapter recounted how the exposed smuggling case had emptied two villages that Yellow Springs Dao disciples then occupied.
• Mingzhu divided the young heroes into three groups to attack Zhao Family Village and Lin Family Village, with Xiang Yuan joining the support team.
• The young martial heroes charged ahead with little coordination and shoved Xiang Yuan behind them.