Recaps

Shen Hui and his companions found a way to feed the crying infant by buying a ewe and her lamb from a shepherd. After Shen Hui transformed a bowl into a warmed feeding bottle, the shepherd warned them that Jade Plate County had suffered a disaster and its roads were sealed.

• Shen Hui tried washing the infant’s soiled swaddling cloth, but the baby cried even louder and the group realized he was hungry.
• Shen Hui bought a milk-producing ewe and her lamb from a shepherd for five taels of silver.
• Lu Huan carried the lamb while Mo Yunsong milked the ewe, then said the infant needed boiled milk rather than raw milk.
• Shen Hui transformed a ceramic bowl into a feeding bottle, heated the milk, and passed it to Mo Yunsong to feed the baby.
• The shepherd warned Shen Hui and his companions that a disaster had struck Jade Plate County and the authorities had sealed the roads.

Shen Hui and his companions reached Jade Plate County, an eerily empty town with no people or bodies, and spent the night together in an inn. The next morning, they followed a recently maintained path to Bright Moon Nunnery, where smoke suggested someone lived, and Shen Hui went to investigate.

• Shen Hui repaired the damaged road as the group traveled through desolate fields toward Jade Plate County.
• The group found Jade Plate County deserted, with no people, bodies, or animals, and settled in a roadside inn for the night.
• Shen Hui searched the town with his Divine Sense and, uneasy about its emptiness, kept everyone together overnight.
• The group left town the next morning and followed a well-kept mountain path toward Bright Moon Nunnery.
• Mo Yunsong spotted smoke rising from the nunnery, and Shen Hui led the way to find out who lived there.

Shen Hui and his companions arrived at Bright Moon Nunnery and learned that Martial Aunt Duo Ming and Senior Sister Miao Zhen had died. They were welcomed by Miao Sheng and waited to meet the abbess, whose approach was announced by slow, heavy footsteps.

• A young nun named Miao Yin told Shen Hui that Martial Aunt Duo Ming and Miao Zhen were dead and that Master Duo Wen had become the abbess.
• Shen Hui introduced his companions, including Mo Yunsong, Lu Huan, the rescued infant, and the sheep, and asked Miao Yin to notify the abbess.
• Miao Sheng opened the gate, apologized for Miao Yin, and led the group into Bright Moon Nunnery's reception hall.
• Shen Hui stopped Lu Huan from drinking the tea, and the group waited while Miao Sheng went to inform the abbess.
• After a long wait, slow, heavy footsteps sounded outside the reception hall.

Shen Hui and his companions learned from Master Duowen that the corpse plague had killed everyone in Jade Plate County, and she had burned more than forty-three thousand victims, including Duo Ming and Miao Zhen. After hosting them at the nunnery, Duowen decided to join them on their journey down the mountain.

• Shen Hui asked Master Duowen what had happened in Jade Plate County, and she explained that the entire county had succumbed to the corpse plague.
• Master Duowen said she had used karmic fire to burn all forty-three thousand people, including Duo Ming and Miao Zhen.
• Master Duowen led Shen Hui and the others to a vegetarian meal, explaining that the smell of meat came from burning mountain walnut wood.
• Shen Hui quietly checked the food before the group ate, while Master Duowen dined separately at the western tables.
• Master Duowen invited the group to stay overnight and said she would go down the mountain with them the next day.

Lu Huan toured Bright Moon Nunnery with Miao Sheng and asked questions about its statues and history before settling in for the night with Shen Hui. She wondered whether Duo Wen would travel with them and how powerful she was, then ended the chapter puzzled about why none of the statues needed to blink.

• Miao Sheng showed Lu Huan and the others around Bright Moon Nunnery, explaining its old trees and halls.
• Lu Huan asked why the Four Heavenly Kings stood on different numbers of ghostly beings, but Miao Sheng could not answer.
• Miao Sheng brought the group to Cloud-Water Hall and offered Lu Huan separate quarters, but Lu Huan insisted on staying with Shen Hui.
• Mo Yunsong and his disciple took the infant to a nearby room while Lu Huan settled in with Shen Hui and her lamb.
• Lu Huan asked Shen Hui whether Duo Wen would travel with them and whether she was as powerful as he was, but he told her to sleep.
• Lu Huan lay awake and asked why none of them needed to blink.

Shen Hui uncovered an illusion haunting Bright Moon Nunnery and found that its inhabitants had vanished, leaving behind signs of a Rakshasa that could create illusions and had eaten tens of thousands. He identified the creature as the Rakshasa once held beneath Vaisravana’s feet and continued into the nunnery to confront the mystery.

• Lu Huan revealed that the women at the nunnery had not blinked, and Shen Hui drew her and the lamb into his sleeve.
• Shen Hui entered Mo Yunsong’s room, where Mo Yunsong attacked him with an ax and Sun Chengying appeared to be eating the infant.
• Shen Hui struck the room with Jia Wood Azure Thunder, found Mo Yunsong, Sun Chengying, and the infant unharmed, and drew them and the ewe into his sleeve.
• Shen Hui searched Bright Moon Nunnery with his Divine Sense and discovered that Miao Yin, Miao Sheng, and Duo Wen had disappeared.
• Shen Hui cut down an apparition of Miao Sheng, then found a missing demon beneath the statue of Vaisravana and recognized it as a Rakshasa.

Shen Hui uncovered the Rakshasa ghost’s illusions at Bright Moon Nunnery and burned the nunnery to force it into the open. The ghost attacked him, but Shen Hui destroyed it from within with several Water Spirits.

• Shen Hui discovered more than a hundred corpses hanging in the kitchen and burned them, then found Master Duowen’s face inside the stove.
• Shen Hui realized the Rakshasa ghost was targeting his peachwood talisman, stored it in the Jadeite Gourd, and repelled the ghost’s attack with Grand Simplicity Yin Wind and fire.
• Shen Hui set Bright Moon Nunnery ablaze and used White Skeleton and Red Calamity to drive the Rakshasa ghost from hiding.
• Shen Hui struck the Rakshasa ghost with lightning and Five Elements Divine Light, but it dodged and tried to swallow him.
• Shen Hui sent several Water Spirits into the Rakshasa ghost’s mouth, causing its belly to explode.

Shen Hui escaped the Rakshasa ghost’s stomach and cut through its illusions before pinning it beneath a giant sword. The Vaisravana statue came to life and crushed the Rakshasa ghost, leaving it flattened beneath its foot.

• Shen Hui used the peach talisman to dispel the Rakshasa ghost’s darkness and discovered he had been swallowed, then blasted his way out with lightning and his swords.
• Shen Hui cut down an illusion of Lu Huan and destroyed the ghostly figures surrounding him.
• Shen Hui summoned the wisdom sword from Virudhaka’s statue and pinned the Rakshasa ghost to the ground.
• Shen Hui awakened the Vaisravana statue, which stomped the Rakshasa ghost flat before turning back to stone.

Shen Hui left the ruins of Bright Moon Nunnery with his companions and traveled toward Zhaoyang Commandery City. They reached the city to find its approach lined with corpses and thousands of starving refugees.

• Shen Hui recovered the peachwood talisman, gained over eighty thousand Dao Xing points, and examined the newly acquired Baleful Suppression Spirit-Infusion Art.
• Shen Hui infused the cracked Yaksha statue with spirit and cut off its head, but gained no Dao Xing points.
• Shen Hui recalled the flames consuming Bright Moon Nunnery, brought Lu Huan, Mo Yunsong, Sun Chengying, and the Old Daoist back, and led them down the mountain.
• Five days later, Shen Hui's group traveled along a road lined with corpses, and Shen Hui burned the bodies and stakes as they passed.
• Shen Hui's group arrived outside Zhaoyang Commandery City and saw thousands of starving refugees gathered beneath its walls.

Mo Yunsong and his companions were attacked by starving refugees on their way to the city. Shen Hui drove the crowd back and forced the gate guards to admit them, leaving the refugees outside the opening gates.

• The Old Daoist offered a flatbread to a starving child, but a gaunt man grabbed it and the refugees erupted into a mob.
• The refugees swarmed Mo Yunsong, Sun Chengying, and Lu Huan, trying to seize their food, bag, ewe, and lamb.
• Shen Hui blasted the front of the crowd with wind, then killed several refugees with his sword when they kept advancing.
• Shen Hui slapped the boy who had stolen Sun Chengying's bag, retrieved it, and led the shaken group toward the city gate.
• The gate guard initially refused entry, but opened the gates after recognizing Shen Hui as an immortal master.

Shen Hui and his companions entered Zhaoyang City and learned that famine and rising grain prices had left refugees outside the gates to starve. Shen Hui explained why simply opening the gates to distribute porridge could worsen the crisis, while the city’s Commandery Governor failed to act.

• Wang Wu escorted Shen Hui’s group into Zhaoyang City and suggested that they visit the Commandery Governor’s residence, which was seeking capable men.
• Shen Hui’s group checked into an inn, where the waiter charged one mace of silver for a meager meal and described worsening food shortages and refugees being killed while trying to enter the city.
• The waiter told Mo Yunsong that the Commandery Governor had moved into the City God Temple and was doing nothing to help the refugees.
• Shen Hui warned Mo Yunsong that opening the gates to distribute free porridge could draw even more starving people and lead to violence once the grain ran out.
• Shen Hui considered the government measures needed to manage the famine but told Mo Yunsong that such matters were for the court and that cultivators could do only so much.

Shen Hui learned that a ghost was killing people at Prefect Zhao Yuanlang’s residence and decided to investigate, hoping the reward could also help the refugees. After unveiling the notice, he impressed Steward Zhao with his fire magic and asked for details about the haunting.

• A waiter told Shen Hui, Lu Huan, and Mo Yunsong that a white-clad ghost had killed the prefect’s son and others, while previous investigators had fled or vanished.
• Shen Hui argued that solving the haunting might free the prefect to aid the refugees and earn grain money, persuading Mo Yunsong to join him.
• The next morning, Shen Hui led the group to the prefect’s residence and tore down the notice offering three thousand taels for eliminating the evil spirit.
• Steward Zhao doubted Shen Hui because of his youthful appearance, so Shen Hui displayed his flame magic.
• Shen Hui asked Steward Zhao to explain the haunting in detail.

Shen Hui and the others met Prefect Zhao and agreed to deal with the spirit haunting his residence in exchange for grain to feed refugees. As they waited for the midnight apparition, a woman in white appeared and demanded her life back.

• Steward Zhao led Shen Hui and the others to Prefect Zhao’s manor and described the deaths caused by the nightly haunting.
• Prefect Zhao recounted his son’s death and the failed attempts to drive away the evil entity.
• Shen Hui asked to exchange his reward for grain to open porridge sheds for refugees, and Prefect Zhao agreed.
• Shen Hui stopped Prefect Zhao from preparing a feast and waited in the rear garden with Mo Yunsong, Old Daoist, and Lu Huan.
• A woman in white emerged from the mist at midnight, stared at Shen Hui and his companions, and screamed, “Give—me—back—my—life!”

Shen Hui confronted and destroyed a long-tongued female ghost who had been killing people in an abandoned residence. Afterward, Lu Huan tested how speech worked with a pulled tongue and asked Shen Hui what the ghost’s insult meant.

• The female ghost frightened Lu Huan and Sun Chengying, but Shen Hui seized her long tongue and stopped her from attacking.
• Shen Hui forced the ghost to explain that an evil cultivator had made her from violent deaths’ souls, and that she had killed residents to absorb their yang energy.
• The ghost offered to serve Shen Hui by using her abilities to harm people, but Shen Hui burned her with crimson flames, saying she deserved to die.
• Afterward, Lu Huan imitated the ghost by pinching her tongue and asked Shen Hui why the ghost could still speak clearly.
• Lu Huan asked what “stinking ox-nose” meant.

Shen Hui shared fire magic insights and a thunder talisman with Mo Yunsong, who planned to take Sun Chengying to Jingzhou before settling in Tongzhou. The next morning, Shen Hui and the others returned to Governor Zhao Yu, who greeted them eagerly after they had dealt with the evil spirit.

• Shen Hui explained the insults “stinking ox-nose” and “bald donkey” as he and the others peeled pine nuts and chatted.
• Mo Yunsong told Shen Hui that he planned to take Sun Chengying to Jingzhou to seek refuge with an old friend, then return to Tongzhou.
• Shen Hui gave Mo Yunsong his fire magic insights and a thunder talisman stored in a disguised Mustard Seed Bag, and warned him not to show it to others.
• Mo Yunsong thanked Shen Hui for his generosity, and the four stayed up peeling pine nuts and chatting until dawn.
• The next morning, Shen Hui and the others visited Governor Zhao Yu, who welcomed them and inferred that they had defeated the evil spirit.

At a lavish feast, Shen Hui confronted Governor Zhao after learning the official granaries were empty, despite Zhao’s promise to feed the refugees. Zhao admitted the rebels had looted the granaries and treasury, but insisted the promised three thousand taels were real and came from his own family.

• Governor Zhao thanked Shen Hui and Mo Yunsong for destroying the vicious spirit, then ordered a lavish feast and announced plans to open the granaries and aid the refugees.
• Shen Hui objected that such a feast was excessive during a famine, just as a clerk reported that the official granaries were empty.
• Governor Zhao tried to conceal the report, but Shen Hui pressed him to explain why the granaries held no grain.
• Shen Hui reminded Governor Zhao of his promise to distribute porridge, prompting Mo Yunsong and the others to realize the grain was gone.
• Governor Zhao explained that the rebels had emptied the granaries and treasury, then claimed he had pawned his wife’s jewelry and used family funds to gather the promised three thousand taels.

Mo Yunsong confronted Prefect Zhao over the famine and the empty government granaries, then left to face memories of the hunger that had shaped his life. He recalled how his master took him in and how he later helped raise Sun Chengying.

• Mo Yunsong accused Prefect Zhao of wasting wealth on a lavish meal while people outside the city starved, then left without hearing Zhao's defense.
• Shen Hui stopped Sun Chengying from following Mo Yunsong and let his master walk alone.
• Mo Yunsong entered the government granary and found it empty except for a few crumbling grain husks.
• Mo Yunsong remembered losing his younger sister and mother to starvation, then meeting the Old Daoist who fed him and took him in as a disciple.
• Mo Yunsong remembered that his master gave away the sect's grain during a locust plague and brought back the baby Sun Chengying to raise.

Mo Yunsong went door to door among the town’s wealthy households, asking them to spare grain for the starving refugees outside the walls. After repeated refusals and insults, he was shoved into a stone lion at the tenth house, where footsteps approached from behind.

• Mo Yunsong asked a tofu seller where the richest households lived and went to their lane.
• The first household dismissed him with two buns, and the next several households refused or turned him away.
• Squire Wang gave Mo Yunsong a coarse-flour flatbread but refused to release grain for the refugees.
• Master Li’s steward rejected Mo Yunsong’s offer to repay a grain loan, and more households refused his request.
• A burly servant at the tenth house shoved Mo Yunsong into a stone lion and threatened to set the dogs on him.
• Mo Yunsong heard footsteps behind him.

Mo Yunsong learned that Shen Hui’s peach could extend his life by twenty years, but he asked Shen Hui to exchange it for grain to save the starving refugees outside the city. The chapter left Shen Hui facing Mo Yunsong’s plea as the promised grain had yet to arrive.

• Shen Hui told Mo Yunsong that the prefect had sent riders to obtain grain, while Lu Huan described how Shen Hui had frightened the prefect into keeping his promise.
• Shen Hui gave Mo Yunsong a Frost Peach and departed with Lu Huan, leaving Mo Yunsong behind to care for the infant and await the grain.
• Mo Yunsong offered the peach to Sun Chengying, who explained that Shen Hui had said it could extend someone’s lifespan.
• Mo Yunsong caught up with Shen Hui and learned that the peach could add twenty years to his life.
• Shen Hui urged Mo Yunsong to live long enough to care for Sun Chengying and the infant, and Mo Yunsong pleaded with him to exchange the peach for grain for the starving refugees.

Shen Hui accepted Mo Yunsong’s peach and cast it to the ground, where its pit grew into a vast peach tree that covered Zhaoyang Commandery City and fed its people and refugees. Shen Hui left the city with Lu Huan, warning Mo Yunsong that the tree might not be a good thing.

• Mo Yunsong offered Shen Hui a peach, and Shen Hui tossed it onto the ground.
• The peach turned to ash, and its pit sprouted into a colossal tree that spread across Zhaoyang Commandery City.
• The tree bloomed and rapidly produced peaches as Lu Huan celebrated the falling blossoms.
• Shen Hui picked a peach for Mo Yunsong, who knelt and repeatedly thanked him.
• Refugees outside the city plucked and ate the tree’s endlessly replenished peaches.
• Shen Hui gave Lu Huan peaches, and they left the city after looking back at the tree sheltering the refugees.

Shen Hui and Lu Huan traveled east along the official road, sampling sour jujubes and wild kiwifruit as they discussed the peach tree’s depleted spiritual energy and the risk of food shortages. They continued toward evening, with Lu Huan briefly wondering whether Snowball missed her.

• Lu Huan played with roadside flowers and tried to tuck a chrysanthemum into Shen Hui’s cuff as they walked east.
• Shen Hui gave Lu Huan a sour jujube, which she tasted and found unpleasant.
• Shen Hui explained that the peach tree had exhausted the area’s spiritual energy and might not bear fruit again for several years, then wondered whether Incense and Fire Prayer Power could help if people lacked food.
• Shen Hui and Lu Huan found wild kiwifruit, and Lu Huan enjoyed eating the fruits they gathered.
• Lu Huan wondered whether Snowball missed her, and Shen Hui gently patted her head without answering.
• Lu Huan washed her sticky hands with water conjured from her palms, chased insects and a rabbit, and continued walking with Shen Hui until evening.

Shen Hui and Lu Huan found a remote, unlicensed inn in a mountain hollow and listened to its owners explain why they had opened it there. The chapter ended when Shen Hui examined the meal they served and said they could not eat it.

• Lu Huan spotted cooking smoke in a mountain hollow, and she and Shen Hui left the official road to investigate.
• Shen Hui and Lu Huan found the Gathering Worthies Inn and asked its wary owners for food and a place to stay.
• The innkeeper explained that soldiers from both the rebel army and the imperial court had ruined his former roadside shop, so he had reopened in the mountains.
• The innkeeper described the costs and requirements of running a licensed inn beside the official road, while Lu Huan listened curiously.
• The innkeeper's wife served a simple meal, and Shen Hui inspected the dishes before telling Lu Huan they could not eat it.

Shen Hui exposed and killed a couple who were actually weasel spirits wearing exquisitely painted human-skin disguises. He discovered their disguises and food were made through sinister techniques, then found a copper coin carved with a fox face, suggesting a fox spirit was involved.

• Shen Hui warned Lu Huan not to eat and confronted the couple about what they were.
• The man fled and the woman ran for the kitchen, but Red Calamity killed the man while White Skeleton Sword pinned the woman.
• Shen Hui found that the corpses were weasels wrapped in human skins painted with precise, lifelike details.
• Shen Hui saw through the illusion disguising a meal of dead men's fingers, maggots, mud, rotten flesh, and yellow fur.
• Shen Hui found a copper coin carved with a fox face around the larger weasel's neck and suspected a fox spirit.

Shen Hui buried a thunder trap around the copper coin to lure and punish whoever had supplied the weasel spirits. On the dark road, he killed a charging herd of wild boars with a Water Spirit and stored their bodies so they could eat them.

• Shen Hui burned the dead refugees’ bodies in the kitchen and drew red and yellow Thunder Talismans on the two weasel corpses.
• Shen Hui buried the corpses and copper coin together, creating a layered thunder trap for anyone who came to retrieve the coin.
• Shen Hui and Lu Huan left the courtyard and continued along the overgrown official road after dusk.
• A herd of wild boars charged at Shen Hui and Lu Huan, and Shen Hui killed them with a Water Spirit.
• Shen Hui collected the dead boars in his Jadeite Gourd, telling Lu Huan they could eat them.

Shen Hui and Lu Huan spent the night in an abandoned post station, where they shared roast suckling pig before a weary group of travelers arrived. The newcomers settled in across the room, wary of a pursuing uncanny threat and hoping to reach Zhaoyang Commandery City by morning.

• Shen Hui made a bonfire in the post station and roasted a suckling pig for himself and Lu Huan.
• A guard asked to stay the night, and Shen Hui let him and his companions enter and borrow fire.
• The young man leading the group said they needed to reach Zhaoyang Commandery City after escaping a dangerous pursuer.
• The elderly couple worried about the uncanny threat, while the young man promised to get them safely home.
• The travelers speculated that Shen Hui and Lu Huan might be disguised spirits, but their leader warned them not to provoke Shen Hui.
• The group discussed reports that wild boars had damaged the official road and considered taking a detour.