Recaps

Shen Hui dispersed the Fire Ghost in Fang Yan’s belly, making Fang Yan scream as the crowd cheered his execution. Watching the spectators and officials, Shen Hui became disillusioned, then suffered the Ghost Fiend’s backlash as his Heart Lamp ground away his emotions and left him coldly indifferent.

• Shen Hui dispersed the Fire Ghost in Fang Yan’s belly, causing Fang Yan to arch against his chains and scream in agony.
• The crowd learned of Fang Yan’s crimes and erupted into cheers, jeers, and stone-throwing as the executioner struck him.
• Shen Hui recognized among the spectators people who had previously cheered at the mutilated children, and he questioned who he was truly fighting.
• The Heart Lamp trembled and spun as the Fire Ghost opened its eyes in the flame.
• The Ghost Fiend’s backlash drained Shen Hui of his emotions, leaving him with a calm, cold expression.

Shen Hui overcame his inner confusion after Lu Huan reminded him that people were mortal, and his Heart Lamp calmed. He left the execution platform after using a fire serpent to kill Commander Chen, while Lu Huan followed and asked what kind of people the townsfolk were.

• Shen Hui suffered visions of the crowd arguing over whether Fang Yan deserved to die, and even Fang Yan challenged him to judge the townsfolk.
• Lu Huan told Shen Hui that people had called him a good person, breaking through his confusion and helping him understand that he should shape people rather than judge human nature.
• Shen Hui's Heart Ghost Fiend was enlightened, his Heart Lamp quieted, and his Lesser Five Elements Art gained minor achievements in Control Water and Wood Nurturing.
• After Fang Yan's corpse released a fire serpent that killed Commander Chen, Shen Hui calmly left the platform, and Lu Huan hurried after him.
• Lu Huan asked whether the people were good or bad, and Shen Hui answered that they were mortal.

Shen Hui investigated the White Water River ferry, where a mysterious woman had driven away ferrymen and frightened locals. He drew her out of the river and discovered she was a low-level demonic creature inhabiting a drowned woman's corpse.

• Old Chen and Granny Wang encountered a white-clad figure at the ferry and fell ill with fever, while two constables later collapsed after keeping watch.
• Shen Hui probed the river's disordered water channels and traced their currents to a whirlpool in the river's center.
• Shen Hui used his spiritual energy to straighten the water channels, causing a whirlpool to form and reveal the white-clad woman.
• The woman teased Shen Hui and identified him as a cultivated Daoist.
• Shen Hui examined the woman's aura and realized she was a demonic creature that had taken over a drowned woman's corpse, with cultivation no higher than the peak of Qi Refining.

Shen Hui subdued the white-robed demon at the ferry crossing and learned she was a white carp bound to the river by a destroyed stele. He offered her three choices, ending with the threat to beat her to death.

• Shen Hui confronted the woman for frightening travelers and disrupting the ferry crossing, then identified her as a demon inhabiting a corpse.
• The woman challenged Shen Hui, but he bound her with water ropes and sealed the river surface so she could not escape underwater.
• The woman revealed that she had once saved a scholar, whose stele honoring her as a righteous fish had given her divine power and bound her to the river.
• The woman explained that the stele was smashed during a time of war and that she had been unable to leave the river ever since.
• Shen Hui offered the woman three options: find a way to leave, stay obediently, or be beaten to death.

Shen Hui spared the river woman and arranged for her to earn villagers’ trust by rescuing people and making amends. He then went to treat Old Chen, whose wife returned from the river soaked but carrying the water Shen Hui needed for his medicine.

• Shen Hui warned the river woman that he would kill her if she refused to leave, stay peacefully, or change, then agreed to let her remain if she stopped frightening people and protected them.
• Shen Hui carved a stele praising a White Carp and told the woman to stage a rescue at the ferry crossing so villagers would raise it there.
• Shen Hui instructed the woman to give fish or gold dust to the two villagers she had frightened, then went to Old Chen’s house to treat him.
• Shen Hui told Old Chen’s wife to fetch river water from the place where her husband had fallen, and she returned half an hour later soaked and shaken.
• Shen Hui poured the river water into a medicine pot, added stove ash, and set it over the fire to simmer.

Shen Hui used a Fire Ghost to cure Old Chen and Granny Wang, then left the village. On his way out, he heard villagers discussing the White Carp who had rescued a man from the river and the monument they had uncovered.

• Shen Hui sent a Fire Ghost into Old Chen's medicine, clearing the illness qi and restoring the old man's appetite.
• Shen Hui treated Granny Wang with the same method, then left silver for her and told her to rest before returning to her tofu stall.
• Shen Hui packed his medicine chest and headed for the village entrance after both patients recovered.
• Villagers told one another that the White Carp had carried a man who fell into the river safely to shore.
• The villagers said they had dug up a monument praising the White Dragon, while some argued over whether the rescuer was a river immortal or a ghost.

Shen Hui learned that a Crab Demon was killing travelers in the river and followed the woman in white to its lair. The demon ambushed him as he tested the water, and the chapter ended with Shen Hui standing on guard after narrowly dodging its pincers.

• Shen Hui told the woman in white to protect the land and report harmful demons, then asked her about nearby treasures.
• The woman in white revealed that a Crab Demon downstream sank boats and killed their passengers, including the woman whose body she had taken over.
• The woman in white led Shen Hui to the demon’s backwater bay and described its huge pincers and the corpses she had seen on the riverbed.
• Shen Hui dipped his hand into the river to sense its water veins, but the Crab Demon sent up a violent current and snapped at his feet.
• Shen Hui rode the wave clear of the attack and watched the Crab Demon’s claw retreat beneath the water.

Shen Hui fought the Crab Demon at Backwater Bay, using water, wind, and fire techniques to overcome its shell and regeneration. After trapping it in hardened water, he watched it crack through the barrier and feared it would burrow back into the riverbed.

• Shen Hui tried to drag the Crab Demon from the water with threads of water, but it stayed rooted and snipped at the threads with its pincers.
• Shen Hui struck the Crab Demon's shell with Sharp Gold Qi, then burned it with fire until it broke free and charged at him.
• Shen Hui used three walls of water to flip the Crab Demon, then sliced off its right claw with a line of fire.
• The Crab Demon regenerated its severed limbs, though each new limb was smaller, and began to retreat.
• Shen Hui sealed the river's surface, trapping the Crab Demon halfway through, but it dug into the hardened water and cracked the barrier.

Shen Hui killed the Crab Demon with White Skeleton after his other techniques failed, then found mysterious vermilion writing on its shell. He asked the white-clad woman to search underwater for the demon’s lair, leaving its past and the meaning of the inscription unresolved.

• Shen Hui climbed onto the Crab Demon and used White Skeleton to pierce its shell, sever its pincer and eye stalks, and kill it.
• After the Crab Demon died, Shen Hui recalled White Skeleton and endured the familiar pain of sheathing it inside his body.
• Shen Hui noticed two lines of vermilion writing on the Crab Demon’s shell and wondered whether they had suppressed or preserved the creature.
• Shen Hui told the white-clad woman to search underwater for the Crab Demon’s lair, then reopened the sealed water veins when she could not dive.
• The woman plunged underwater to search while Shen Hui examined the Crab Demon’s shell.

Shen Hui discovered a fire-resistant mass of red strands inside the dead crab demon, froze the fragments, and stored them away. As he waited for the woman in white, he recalled how Jiafunu had originated from red worms born in Crab City’s polluted lakes and eventually took over crabs’ Divine Sense.

• Shen Hui spotted a red tentacle emerging from the crab demon and severed it before pouring fire into the crab’s body.
• A mass of red strands escaped the flames, and Shen Hui cut it apart with Sharp Gold Qi and White Skeleton.
• Shen Hui found the fragments could resist fire and tried to rejoin, so he froze them with a water seal and stored them in his Jadeite Gourd.
• Shen Hui searched his memory for Jiafunu and recalled an account of Crab City’s Golden Armored Crabs and their strange rearing methods.
• The account explained that red worms formed from filth and Incense and Fire Prayer Power, infested crabs, and eventually replaced their Divine Sense as Jiafunu.

Shen Hui recognized the red threads from the crab demon as resembling the supposedly extinct Jiafunu, despite their resistance to fire, and destroyed the corpse to prevent any remnants from spreading. After a ghostly female showed him a dry cave beneath Backwater Bay, he followed her underwater to investigate its unusually carved entrance.

• Shen Hui recalled the Jiafunu calamity from twelve hundred years earlier and questioned how the parasite had returned and why it resisted fire.
• Shen Hui burned the crab demon's corpse, froze the remaining residue, and stored it in his gourd.
• A female emerged from the water and told Shen Hui she had found a dry cave beside a large rock beneath Backwater Bay.
• Shen Hui used a Water-Avoiding Formula and followed the female down to the riverbed, where they found a narrow cave entrance carved into the rock.

Shen Hui explored the Crab Demon's hidden cave abode and discovered how a failing seal had gradually allowed the creature to escape into the White Water River. He left after finding evidence that the dead cave's former occupant had cultivated the Crab Demon as a weapon of vengeance.

• Shen Hui entered the hidden underwater cave abode and found only ruined possessions and spent pill remnants.
• Shen Hui uncovered a skeleton beneath the Crab Demon's discarded shells, and White Skeleton absorbed the remains when its blade touched them.
• Shen Hui found vermilion writing on the shells and deduced that the Crab Demon's molts had transferred the seal's power away from it until it escaped.
• Shen Hui read a resentful inscription on the stone table and pieced together that the cave's former occupant had raised the Crab Demon for revenge.
• Shen Hui concluded that the Crab Demon could have become a catastrophe if it had matured and left the cave abode.

Shen Hui searched the Crab Demon’s cave dwelling and found only a broken sword, which he took to the Old Daoist for appraisal. After disposing of thirteen bodies and checking river fish for signs of Jiafunu, he confirmed the infection had not spread and warned the woman in white to avoid the area and report anything strange to Clear Wind Temple.

• Shen Hui searched the cave dwelling thoroughly, found no treasure, then discovered a rusted broken sword and stored it in the Jadeite Gourd.
• Shen Hui emerged from the cave and pulled thirteen bodies from the pool before burning them and scattering their ashes.
• Shen Hui caught and examined several fish, finding no signs of Jiafunu in their bodies.
• The woman in white told Shen Hui that the river’s fish and other creatures behaved normally, easing his concern that Jiafunu had spread.
• Shen Hui warned the woman in white to stay away from Backwater Bay and the cave dwelling, and to report anything strange to Clear Wind Temple on Deer Rest Mountain.

Shen Hui traveled slowly toward Qu County, gathering plants and sheltering from the rain in a roadside Land God Temple. After meditating and allocating his Dao Xing, he heard a bell and footsteps approaching and used the Aura Observation Art to investigate.

• Shen Hui examined unfamiliar plants and gathered wild goji berries and tender elm seeds as he traveled toward Qu County.
• As rain approached, Shen Hui sought shelter at a roadside Land God Temple and moved its offering altar farther beneath the cliff.
• Shen Hui reviewed his gains from killing the Crab Demon, raised his Qi Induction progress to 7214, and kept 2000 Dao Xing in reserve.
• While Shen Hui meditated, a bell rang from the mountain path, and he heard a group approaching in the distance.
• Shen Hui used the Aura Observation Art to look toward the approaching bell and footsteps.

Shen Hui met Zhang Lao Si, a corpse driver from Chenzhou, while sheltering from the rain and helped him start a fire. As the storm intensified, Zhang Lao Si slept beside his eight corpses while Shen Hui thought of Clear Wind Temple and resumed meditating.

• Shen Hui recognized Zhang Lao Si and his eight linked corpses as a procession from the Corpse-Driving Sect.
• Zhang Lao Si stopped beneath the rock shelter, corrected a corpse that had slipped out of line, and asked Shen Hui to share the shelter.
• Zhang Lao Si settled the corpses against the stone wall and struggled to light wet firewood, so Shen Hui ignited it with a hand seal.
• Zhang Lao Si toasted flatbread, offered some to Shen Hui, then ate and fell asleep from exhaustion.
• Shen Hui watched the rain, thought of his senior brothers and sisters at Clear Wind Temple, and resumed meditating.

Shen Hui shared a roasted sweet potato with Zhang Lao Si after repairing the Earth Deity’s statue. Zhang Lao Si prepared his eight corpses and set off again, guiding them home through the morning mist.

• Shen Hui roasted an offering sweet potato and explained that repairing the Earth Deity’s statue had been his payment.
• Zhang Lao Si refused the sweet potato, then cleaned and prepared the eight corpses for travel.
• Zhang Lao Si named each corpse and shared news of their families as he rang his bell to send them on their way.
• Shen Hui praised Zhang Lao Si’s compassion, and Zhang Lao Si departed with the corpses along the muddy mountain path.

Shen Hui used the Transform Earth Incantation to turn a wilderness rock shelter into a comfortable refuge for travelers, then set out for Qu County after his earth-shaping technique reached minor mastery. He bought candied hawthorn for Lu Huan and headed toward the Post House, planning to apologize for locking her in her room.

• Shen Hui transformed the rock shelter by shaping a stone bed, table, stools, stove, water jar, storage alcoves, rain ledge, and protective walls.
• Shen Hui carved a message inviting travelers to use the shelter and asking them to clean up after themselves.
• Shen Hui put away the Soul-Alarm Bell, extinguished the fire, and left for Qu County, discovering that his earth-shaping technique had reached minor mastery.
• Shen Hui entered Qu County and bought two skewers of candied hawthorn for Lu Huan.
• Shen Hui remembered how Lu Huan had secretly followed him, been caught, and locked in her room, and planned to explain himself and make amends.

Shen Hui returned to the Post House, made peace with Lu Huan, and noticed how quickly she had recovered. He then met Master Duo Ming and Miao Zhen, whom Old Taoist Ji Chen introduced as his martial aunt and Shen Hui’s senior sister.

• Shen Hui brought Lu Huan candied hawthorns, and she accepted them despite insisting she was still angry.
• Lu Huan told Shen Hui that the official surnamed Chen had brought her clothes and food.
• Shen Hui discovered that Lu Huan’s hair had grown back and her injured antler had healed, then attributed her rapid recovery to her being a demon.
• Lu Huan told Shen Hui that Old Taoist Ji Chen was chatting with two bald-headed visitors.
• Shen Hui reported to Old Taoist Ji Chen that he had settled the matter at White Water River, and Ji Chen introduced Master Duo Ming of Bright Moon Nunnery and Miao Zhen to him.

Shen Hui met Master Duo Ming and Miao Zhen as Old Taoist Ji Chen discussed Green City Mountain’s upcoming Sword Viewing Assembly. Ji Chen decided to attend alone, leaving Shen Hui to escort Lu Huan back to the mountain and deal with bandits at Cat Ridge.

• Shen Hui greeted Master Duo Ming and Miao Zhen, and Old Taoist Ji Chen praised Shen Hui’s appearance and talent.
• Lu Huan slipped into the room with candied haws, and Master Duo Ming remarked on her spirited grace.
• Shen Hui learned that Green City Mountain planned to unveil a newly forged flying sword and use the assembly to introduce its next sect leader.
• After Master Duo Ming left, Old Taoist Ji Chen told Shen Hui he would attend the assembly alone because the journey was too demanding with both disciples.
• Ji Chen instructed Shen Hui to take Lu Huan back to the mountain and wipe out the bandits at Cat Ridge.
• Ji Chen offered Shen Hui the pitch-black sword box for protection, but Shen Hui refused to take it.

Shen Hui showed Old Taoist Ji Chen the strange remains and broken sword he had brought back, received a soul-protecting gourd, and learned that Ji Chen would investigate White Water River. The next morning, Ji Chen discovered Shen Hui had reached the late stage of Qi Refining before leaving the Post House with Duo Ming and Miao Zhen.

• Shen Hui persuaded Old Taoist Ji Chen to keep the Sword Box and received a Soul-Capturing Gourd bound to his soul with a drop of his blood.
• Shen Hui told Ji Chen about White Water River and showed him the ice-bound flesh, which Ji Chen could not identify and promised to investigate on his way to Green City Mountain.
• Ji Chen dismissed Shen Hui's rusty broken sword as worthless, and Shen Hui returned to his room and went to sleep.
• Shen Hui helped Ji Chen prepare for the journey and revealed that he had reached the late stage of Qi Refining, earning Ji Chen's pleased approval.
• Ji Chen left the Post House with Duo Ming and Miao Zhen, telling Shen Hui to return because Jing Huan would be looking for him.

Shen Hui prepared to leave Qu County with Lu Huan after settling the local cases, and took her shopping for supplies before returning to Clear Wind Temple. He collected his new robe and rented books, leaving Jade Fox Soul to pick up later once a fresh copy was ready.

• Shen Hui woke Lu Huan with breakfast, told her they would shop before returning to the temple, and packed his books and broken sword.
• Assistant Magistrate Chen Shou thanked Shen Hui for resolving Qu County's cases, and Shen Hui offered to handle future urgent disturbances himself.
• Shen Hui and Lu Huan walked through the morning market, where Shen Hui explained the shops and wares that caught her attention.
• At Zhou's Tailor Shop, Shen Hui collected a carefully made black Daoist robe and learned the tailor had modeled its color on Ji Chen's robe.
• At Fragrant Snow Book Studio, Shen Hui chose several books and arranged to return for Jade Fox Soul after a fresh copy was finished.

Shen Hui shopped in Qu County for gifts for his senior sisters and brothers, buying cosmetics, cooking spices, and fine writing supplies. He left Wenhua Pavilion with two expensive ink sticks for Second Senior Sister.

• Shen Hui bought a set of cosmetics for Fourth Senior Sister at Ningfang Studio.
• Shen Hui searched several shops for cooking spices, then bought amomum, tsaoko, sand ginger, spikenard, and saffron at Renhe Pharmacy for Fifth Senior Brother.
• Shen Hui visited Wenhua Pavilion and chose a ream of high-quality Xuan paper.
• Shen Hui bought two lacquer-soot ink sticks for two taels of gold, intending them for Second Senior Sister.

Shen Hui bought gifts for his senior brother, then joined a small merchant caravan traveling south toward Shen Du with Lu Huan. As they set out along Bonan Road, the merchants warned him about dangerous crossings and monsters in the river at Lanjin Ferry.

• Shen Hui saw a veiled woman enter Fragrant Snow Book Studio and recognized her as the young woman who had copied books there before.
• Shen Hui explained Moon-Gazing Tower to Lu Huan as a place to listen to music, then led her away from Willow Lane Street.
• Shen Hui joined a merchant caravan bound for Shen Du and agreed to share the cost of hiring its silent saber-wielding guard.
• Shen Hui and the caravan left the city, with Lu Huan riding on the handcart before falling asleep.
• Brother Ma told Shen Hui that the bridge at Lanjin Ferry had fallen apart and that monsters in the river made crossing dangerous.

Shen Hui’s caravan was ambushed on Cat Ridge after a suspicious fire and a treefall, and their supposed guard was revealed as the bandit Lao Jiu. As the bandits threatened the merchants, Shen Hui recognized signs that they were man-eaters and demanded to know why they ate human flesh.

• Old Zhang’s tea caught fire on the road, and Brother Ma urged the caravan to hurry before the mountain bandits spotted the smoke.
• Shen Hui pulled a young merchant out of the way as a camphor tree crashed across the path, then five armed bandits appeared.
• The scar-faced bandit demanded the caravan’s goods and threatened to take the people as well.
• The guard removed his bamboo hat and revealed himself as Lao Jiu, a bandit who had tricked the caravan into trusting him.
• Shen Hui recognized the bandits’ altered features as signs of cannibalism and asked why they ate human flesh.

Shen Hui killed the cannibal bandits blocking the mountain path and forced their surviving accomplice to guide him to their hideout. He spared the merchants their protection fee by accepting Lao Jiu’s head instead, while Lu Huan watched from the handcart.

• The scar-faced man admitted the bandits ate people because they enjoyed the taste, and Shen Hui cut down four of them with a streak of fire.
• Shen Hui killed Lao Jiu with Sharp Gold Qi after asking whether human flesh tasted good.
• Shen Hui spared the short, hunched bandit on the condition that he lead Shen Hui to the hideout and help him kill the ringleaders.
• Shen Hui told the traveling merchants he would take Lao Jiu’s head instead of their agreed protection fee, and they accepted.
• Shen Hui glanced at Lu Huan, who had woken and was watching from the handcart.