Recaps

Lu Huan questioned why she had to follow conventional stroke order, and Wang Han struggled to answer her while Shen Hui defended her freedom to write as she wished. After Shen Hui drove off a mass of evil smoke, an enormous skull appeared in the doorway.

• Lu Huan compared her way of writing the character “Dao” with Wang Han’s prescribed stroke order and asked why she should take the awkward route.
• Wang Han explained the traditional reasoning behind stroke order, but Lu Huan suggested that walking first and finding one’s direction afterward could also make sense.
• Shen Hui said that characters only needed to communicate and that Lu Huan should not be bound by rules that harmed no one.
• Wang Han introduced himself as Wang Han, courtesy name Anyuan, and asked Shen Hui’s name; Shen Hui answered that he was Qingxuan and denied that Lu Huan was his disciple.
• A chilling wind brought gray-black smoke into the hall, and Shen Hui swept it away with a gust of wind.
• An enormous skull pushed through the doorway and stared into the hall with hollow eye sockets.

Shen Hui fought a ghostly woman whose green smoke and flames attacked the hall, while Wang Han summoned Chang soldiers and generals from his book. The summoned spirits surrounded the skull at the doorway as the battle continued.

• Shen Hui turned the green smoke from the enormous skull into a flaming tornado and drove it back into the skull's mouth.
• The woman outside sent green flames across the floor, but Shen Hui gathered the fire into his palm and crushed it, injuring her.
• Wang Han stood up and used a Chang Dispatching Edict to summon two armored Chang soldiers and generals from his book.
• Wang Han turned more pages, summoning several more Chang soldiers and generals that surrounded the skull at the doorway.

Shen Hui intervened when a skull and two ghost infants overwhelmed Wang Han’s summoned fiend soldiers, then destroyed the spirits’ master and the skull. With the battle over, the fiend soldiers turned their attention to the helpless Wang Han.

• The ghost infants tore through Wang Han’s fiend soldiers while the skull forced its way into the doorway.
• The woman accused Wang Anyuan of betraying her and threatened to kill everything he loved, while Wang Han questioned whether her earlier curse on his family had not been enough.
• Shen Hui sent White Skeleton to destroy the ghost infants, kill the woman outside, and shatter the skull.
• Wang Han collapsed and thanked Shen Hui, who said he had not helped him and that the woman had brought her fate upon herself.
• The fiend soldiers and fiend generals stopped fighting and fixed their gaze on the fallen Wang Han.

Shen Hui destroyed Wang Han’s rampaging soldiers and generals with fire and lightning, then warned Wang Han that commanding them without sufficient cultivation was dangerous. He paid the innkeeper’s wife for the damage and settled into the kitchen to eat and rest.

• Wang Han tried to dismiss the rampant soldiers and generals, but they charged before he could finish his incantation.
• Shen Hui bound the soldiers and generals with ropes of fire, hauled them through the roof, and annihilated them with fiery lightning.
• Shen Hui inspected Wang Han’s yellow-covered book and warned him that commanding fierce soldiers and generals without sufficient cultivation could harm the user.
• Shen Hui paid the innkeeper’s wife for the damage and asked for a quiet room.
• Shen Hui went into the kitchen, raised a stone table and stools from the floor, and had the innkeeper’s wife and servant boy bring him the wine and dishes.

Shen Hui prepared a ritual offering and sent it into the Soul-Searching Gourd, where the souls discovered it was meant for Old Daoist Shouyuan. First Senior Uncle and the others claimed the food and wine, leaving Shouyuan to watch.

• Shen Hui drew a Food-Transforming Talisman, prepared spiritual food, and wrote a spirit tablet inviting True Person Shouyuan to receive the offering.
• Green smoke carried the food and wine into the Soul-Searching Gourd, where the souls watched the offerings take shape.
• Shen Hui read the spirit tablet aloud, revealing that the offering belonged to Old Daoist Shouyuan, and claimed that two Daoists in Mystic Yellow Robes had taken the gourd from him.
• First Senior Uncle recognized Shouyuan and declared that whoever ate the offerings owned them.
• First Senior Uncle, the patriarchs, and other souls began eating and drinking while Old Daoist Shouyuan stood motionless.

Shen Hui and Grand Martial Uncle ate the offerings meant for Old Daoist Shouyuan and taunted him while refusing to seek the gourd’s escape method. Old Daoist Shouyuan defended the hope of getting out, but their argument ended with him retreating in silence to his corner.

• Grand Martial Uncle kicked Old Daoist Shouyuan away from the offerings, and Shen Hui blocked him while eating the food meant for him.
• Shen Hui and Grand Martial Uncle laughed at Old Daoist Shouyuan and offered to reward him with food if he explained how to control the gourd.
• Shen Hui argued that not knowing how to escape spared him the torment of hoping, while Old Daoist Shouyuan insisted that knowing the method gave him a chance to leave.
• Shen Hui told Old Daoist Shouyuan that his knowledge had become a prison because his heart remained outside the gourd.
• Old Daoist Shouyuan fell silent, returned to his usual corner, and bowed his head.

Shen Hui tormented Daoist Shouyuan, then made dice from a broken wine jar to relieve the boredom inside the gourd. The trapped souls joined him in a lively gambling game where winners could drink and losers had to watch.

• Shen Hui teased Daoist Shouyuan with the scent of wine, offered him the jar, then snatched it away as the old Daoist reached for it.
• Shen Hui broke off a pottery handle and patiently carved it into a die while the souls gathered to watch.
• Jinghui asked Shen Hui about the dice and eagerly agreed to play for food and drink.
• First Senior Uncle, Grandmaster, the elders, and the others joined Shen Hui in a dice game inside the gourd.

Shen Hui learned how the female grandmaster came to possess the Jadeite Gourd and that freeing a soul required knowing its birth date and eight characters. After resupplying the gourd at the inn, he left in the night with Lu Huan and the old yellow dog.

• The female grandmaster told Shen Hui that she had killed Shouyuan after he ambushed her, and explained that she had only learned how to collect souls with the gourd.
• The young man revealed that releasing a soul required knowing its birth date and eight characters, but he had died before learning more.
• Shen Hui rolled triple sixes in the gourd and declared that he had swept the game.
• Shen Hui ordered more smoked meat and wine, stored them in the Jadeite Gourd, and asked Lu Huan whether she wanted to rest.
• Shen Hui, Lu Huan, and the old yellow dog left the inn at night, and Shen Hui conjured a flame to light their way.

Shen Hui and Lu Huan entered a bustling mountain Ghost Market, where ghosts and a few living people traded under lantern light. After Shen Hui bought Lu Huan a skewer of candied hawthorn, the vendor revealed that his coins were money from the living.

• Shen Hui led Lu Huan along the mountain road at night, hoping to encounter ghosts.
• They followed a narrow path to a brightly lit market and learned that its crowd included ghosts and a few living people.
• A gaunt vendor welcomed them and invited them to browse the Ghost Market’s goods.
• Lu Huan spotted candied hawthorn, and Shen Hui paid three copper coins for a skewer.
• The candied hawthorn vendor said Shen Hui’s coins were money from the living, then her jaw fell away and her eyes turned corpse-gray.

Shen Hui and Lu Huan encountered a ghost market where the spirits exposed their true forms and threatened to kill them. Shen Hui destroyed the attacking ghosts and led Lu Huan onward, with the market left in chaos behind them.

• A ghost vendor revealed that the tanghulu was made of insects and accused Shen Hui of paying with living people's money.
• The ghosts surrounded Shen Hui, and an old man warned that he and Lu Huan would not leave the market alive.
• Shen Hui summoned White Skeleton and used his Fire Spell to destroy the attacking dead spirits.
• Lu Huan followed Shen Hui out of the market as Old Yellow Dog ran after them and ghosts wailed behind them.

Shen Hui rescued two travelers from the ghostly Mass Grave, where one had been killed and stripped of his organs. After burning the dead man and placing his ashes in a clay jar, Shen Hui told the survivor to gather his things and leave, while faint lights appeared in the distant woods.

• Shen Hui freed the two travelers from the trees and covered them with robes, but one of them was already dead with his heart and liver missing.
• The surviving man grieved over his nephew, and Shen Hui uncovered and burned the bones of more than a dozen victims beneath the tree.
• Shen Hui asked whether the survivor wanted his nephew's body burned, and the man eventually agreed so he could take the ashes home.
• Shen Hui burned the nephew's corpse, shaped earth into a jar, and sealed the ashes inside it.
• Shen Hui told the survivor to gather his belongings and leave, then noticed faint lights moving through the woods beyond the official road.

Shen Hui and Lu Huan helped a grieving traveling merchant gather a little money and invited him to walk with them after his nephew died in the Ghost Market. As they traveled together, Lu Huan comforted him and told him that she and Shen Hui went wherever demons and monsters were, while Shen Hui quietly observed the man.

• Shen Hui told Lu Huan that a stranger had taken belongings from the dead, then pointed the merchant to broken silver and copper coins beneath a tree’s roots.
• The merchant explained that he and his nephew had traveled through the Ghost Market while returning from Jade Splendor County, where they had been trading mountain goods and cloth.
• Shen Hui invited the merchant to travel with him and Lu Huan, and the man gathered his lighter load before following them along the official road.
• As the merchant grieved for his nephew and worried about telling the child’s mother, Lu Huan patted his hand and tried to comfort him.
• Lu Huan introduced herself and said she and Shen Hui went wherever demons and monsters were, then chatted with the merchant as Shen Hui listened and observed him.

Shen Hui and Lu Huan traveled along a fog-covered official road and encountered an armored elephant carrying soldiers. After the yellow dog barked at it and an archer fired toward the dog, Shen Hui deflected the arrow, and the two sides faced off before agreeing to let the incident pass.

• Shen Hui asked a traveling merchant about uncanny things he had encountered on the road, and the merchant described snakes, strange animals, and bandits.
• As morning fog covered the road, Shen Hui moved Lu Huan and the merchant aside when heavy footsteps approached.
• An armored elephant carrying a driver and soldiers passed them, and Shen Hui explained that it was an elephant soldier forced to risk its life.
• The yellow dog barked at the elephant, prompting an archer to shoot toward it, but Shen Hui swept the arrow into a roadside tree with a gale.
• Shen Hui apologized to the elephant soldiers, and the archer explained that the arrow was meant to stop the dog from frightening the war elephant.
• Shen Hui warned the yellow dog that he would not protect it if it barked again.

Shen Hui learned that rebels in Zhaoyang Commandery City could raise the dead, but he chose to travel to Yanuo Valley first. As he and Lu Huan continued down the road, nervous travelers gathered around them, and a peddler gave Lu Huan a piece of malt sugar.

• An archer told Shen Hui that rebels had seized Zhaoyang Commandery City and that witnesses claimed the dead rose to fight for them.
• Shen Hui thanked the soldiers and continued toward Yanuo Valley with Lu Huan and the old yellow dog instead of heading straight to Zhaoyang.
• As the mist cleared, more travelers joined the road and gathered near Shen Hui, seemingly reassured by his presence.
• The peddler sold some of his wares to fellow travelers, easing his sorrow as his load grew lighter.
• At a riverbank rest stop, the peddler gave Lu Huan a piece of malt sugar, which she accepted and happily tasted.

Lu Huan enjoyed the company of travelers during a roadside rest while Shen Hui watched over her. Shen Hui sensed something unsettling in the distant mountain ridge and suspected it followed a sinister, deceitful path.

• Lu Huan chatted with travelers and rode on a merchant’s donkey as Shen Hui led the group along the road.
• Lu Huan asked Shen Hui to stop for a rest, and he bought her dried persimmons and candied winter melon strips.
• Shen Hui let Lu Huan mingle with the travelers while he meditated, and she watched them cook, feed horses, and fish by the river.
• A young woman from a carriage offered Lu Huan pastries, which she accepted after glancing at Shen Hui.
• Shen Hui sensed a fleeting disturbance from the mountain ridge and, after meditating, described it as earth-aligned yet following a path of yin wickedness and deceit.

Shen Hui led Lu Huan and the traveling party over a mountain ridge, where they encountered a human-form great demon who unleashed a sinister wind on them. The travelers collapsed in distress, and Lu Huan clung to Shen Hui as the attack struck.

• Shen Hui considered how to spare Lu Huan from walking all the way to Yuanqiu but decided they could simply travel at a slower pace.
• Shen Hui and the travelers climbed a narrow mountain road toward the ridge separating Yongchang from Jian Ning Commandery.
• The mountain wind abruptly stopped, and Shen Hui spotted a towering white-robed man eating a tiger on a cliff.
• Shen Hui recognized the man as a great demon capable of taking human form, and the demon grinned as sinister wind rose from the earth.
• The wind drove the animals into a frenzy and left the travelers and guards sick and collapsing; Lu Huan clutched Shen Hui's sleeve as she swayed.

Shen Hui confronted a white-robed mountain demon that had come seeking revenge over someone with the Hidden Dragon Fate. After exposing the demon’s bluster, Shen Hui stopped its attacks on the travelers, but the two clashed as the chapter ended.

• Shen Hui drove away the cold and settled the frightened animals with a sudden gale, then asked the white-robed man why he had blocked the road.
• The man said he wanted to feed and asked whether Shen Hui had killed someone bearing the Hidden Dragon Fate.
• When the fat man tried to retreat, the man hurled a stone at him, but Shen Hui shattered it with Sharp Gold Qi and recognized the attacker as a mountain demon.
• The demon kicked a boulder down toward the travelers, and Shen Hui transformed it into a stone giant with the Point Stone to Soldier Technique.
• The demon triggered a mountain collapse, but Shen Hui halted the rushing rubble with a spell before the demon charged the stone giant.
• The stone giant met the demon’s punch with its own as the fight continued.

Shen Hui battled a disguised Mountain Spirit that attacked the crowd and pursued it up a cliff. After the creature survived several attacks and tried to escape into the mountain, Shen Hui summoned Clear Wind and flew after it, leaving the crowd behind.

• Shen Hui burst from the stone man’s chest and slashed the white-robed figure, revealing it as a Mountain Spirit.
• Shen Hui and the stone man wounded the Mountain Spirit, but it escaped up the cliff with White Skeleton trapped in its chest.
• The Mountain Spirit broke free of White Skeleton and leaped toward a distant ridge, but a bolt of fire thunder knocked it down.
• The wounded Mountain Spirit clawed its way into the cliff as Shen Hui told the crowd to stay put and the stone man guarded them.
• Shen Hui summoned Clear Wind, took the sword light into his palm, and flew after the Mountain Spirit.
• Lu Huan watched Shen Hui vanish, while the fat man wondered whether he had been an immortal.

Shen Hui pursued the fleeing Mountain Spirit to a mountain crawling with poisonous creatures and used a powerful fire spell to set the entire peak ablaze. The Mountain Spirit remained hidden as the flames drove the insects and snakes toward the summit.

• Shen Hui pursued the Mountain Spirit underground and forced it to flee toward a solitary, barren mountain.
• The Mountain Spirit entered the mountain, where swarms of venomous snakes and insects emerged from the rocks.
• Shen Hui stopped at the mountain's foot, destroyed an attacking snake, and circled the peak by sword flight.
• When the Mountain Spirit refused to leave its hiding place, Shen Hui formed a fire ring around the mountain and scattered flames across its slopes.
• The fire drove the poisonous creatures toward the summit, where Fire Ghosts killed several giant snakes attempting to escape.

Shen Hui burned Apewing Mountain to force out the Mountain Spirit, then destroyed the mountain and killed it in the depths. After the lava drained into a newly revealed underground opening, he considered its possible dangers but hesitated to enter.

• Shen Hui burned Apewing Mountain until the injured Mountain Spirit emerged and tried to flee.
• Shen Hui struck the Mountain Spirit with a sword ray, but it plunged back into the mountain's core.
• Shen Hui gathered the mountain's flames into a fireball and burned through the summit, suffocating the Mountain Spirit and gaining nearly six thousand Dao Xing.
• Shen Hui noticed the lava draining into a pitch-black opening beneath the summit.
• Shen Hui considered several possible dangers inside the cavern but did not descend.

Shen Hui investigated a cave filled with Killing Intent and descended into it after discovering his wind art could force the dangerous energy aside. He reached a bone-covered underground cavern and found countless strange pale creatures hanging from holes in its walls.

• Shen Hui used his wood-art wind to stir and clear the Killing Intent blocking the cave, then tested its danger with a Fire Ghost.
• Shen Hui decided to explore the cave, set a six-hour limit for himself, and descended by shaping the walls into stone steps.
• Shen Hui passed through a sudden break in the Killing Intent and reached a vast cavern filled with piles of unfamiliar bones.
• Shen Hui approached the holes in the cavern walls, where rustling sounds came from within.
• Shen Hui raised his flame and saw countless smooth, pale, leech-like creatures hanging from the holes.

Shen Hui fought his way through a cavern filled with strange creatures and encountered a giant centipede. After his body was mysteriously controlled, he defeated the centipede with White Skeleton and gained more than two thousand points.

• Shen Hui burned one of the white, tooth-mouthed creatures, but it melted into sludge without earning him any Dao Xing points.
• Shen Hui noticed four red lights and discovered they belonged to a giant centipede with a black-red carapace and dozens of scythe-like legs.
• Shen Hui’s flames transformed into a Fire Ghost and attacked the centipede, but the creature emerged from the fire and charged him.
• Shen Hui raised an earthen wall, struck two of the centipede’s eyes with Sharp Gold Qi, and used White Skeleton to distract it.
• Shen Hui blinded the centipede’s remaining eyes with Sharp Gold Qi, then sent White Skeleton through its mouth to destroy its organs and kill it.
• Shen Hui regained control of his body as the panel awarded him more than two thousand points, then cleaned and stored White Skeleton.

Shen Hui discovered a Baleful Spring beneath Apewing Mountain and refined its Water Baleful Spirit, Ink Abyss, to advance his water arts. He tested the resulting Yin Water Thunder on the cave’s white creatures and realized the cavern could yield a large amount of Dao Xing.

• Shen Hui sealed the holes in the cave walls and crawled into the centipede’s lair, where he found a Baleful Spring.
• A black fish called Ink Abyss emerged from the spring, and Shen Hui spent 5,000 Dao Xing to refine it.
• Ink Abyss entered Shen Hui’s dantian, raising his Control Water technique to mastery and allowing him to command water spirits.
• Shen Hui used Ink Abyss to summon ice and water, then blasted open the sealed holes with Yin Water Thunder.
• Shen Hui found the white creatures charred unconscious by the thunder and saw that the strike had earned nearly 300 Dao Xing, prompting him to eye the cavern’s many creatures.

Shen Hui cleared the white strips from the cavern, preserved the baleful spring and its breeding stock, and repaired Apewing Mountain before returning to the travelers. He treated those affected by the mountain imp’s sinister energy, while Lu Huan watched nearby.

• Shen Hui used water spirits to kill the white strips in the cavern, then left a few in the crevices and preserved the baleful spring so another Ink Abyss might form in the future.
• Shen Hui climbed out of the cavern and used earth-transmutation art to restore Apewing Mountain, then confirmed that no Killing Intent remained before flying back.
• Shen Hui returned to the travelers and led the stone man and the crowd to a sheltered hollow beneath the mountain wall.
• Shen Hui treated the fat man with Fire Ghost and explained that the travelers could become gravely ill if the mountain imp’s sinister energy remained in their bodies.
• Shen Hui treated the travelers one by one, also removing several hidden ailments, while Lu Huan stood aside and looked at the stone man.

Lu Huan grew attached to the stone man Shen Hui had animated, so Shen Hui transformed it into a vine-covered stone statue meant to protect travelers in the mountains. The group left it behind, and Lu Huan gave it snacks before catching up with Shen Hui.

• Lu Huan asked whether the stone man would come with them, and Shen Hui said it was too conspicuous to take along.
• After seeing Lu Huan worry about it, Shen Hui decided to leave the stone man in place rather than turn it back into ordinary stone.
• Shen Hui put a Fire Ghost in the statue's chest, water spirits in its eyes, vines around its body, and a broken sword inside its vine-woven arm.
• Shen Hui withdrew his spiritual power, leaving the statue to guard travelers from demons and wild beasts.
• Lu Huan placed half a dried persimmon and candied winter melon beside the statue, said goodbye, and followed Shen Hui as the group departed.