Chapter Summaries

Ling Qing led his companions away from Yin Mountain after the Yin Mountain Ghost King discovered them and sent forces to hunt them. They returned through the Yin-Yang Passage, while two Ghost Kings discussed a search for something Taihua Qing had left in the mortal world and said the great calamity was nearing its end.

• Mu Jingrou and Zhu Guang confirmed that the mountain ahead was Yin Mountain, and Ling Qing realized the group had been discovered as it grew clearer.
• The Yin Mountain Ghost King attacked with a massive ghost claw and ordered his forces to find the group, so Ling Qing sent everyone through the Azure Gate.
• Ling Qing briefly investigated the underworld, saw ghosts mobilizing across Yin Mountain, then withdrew his consciousness when the Ghost King tried to trap it.
• Ling Qing decided the group could not safely seek the Nine Netherworlds Cold Iron and led everyone back through the Yin-Yang Passage.
• A purple-robed Ghost King and a green-faced figure searched the area, discussed finding something Taihua Qing left in the mortal world, and said the great calamity was nearing its end.

After escaping the Yin Mountain Ghost King, Ling Qing and his companions discussed the danger he posed and decided to forge a Two Realms Archway before seeking help. Ling Qing and Zhu Guang began refining the treasure in a cave, where Ling Qing recognized flaws in his old method and prepared to improve it.

• Ling Qing explained that the Yin Mountain Ghost King’s enormous true body made him terrifyingly powerful despite remaining a Human Immortal.
• Li Li proposed forging the Two Realms Archway so they could summon Daoist Lingguan, and Ling Qing and Zhu Guang agreed to take charge of the work.
• Back at Wudang Temple, Li Li led the others in cultivation and instructed them while Ling Qing and Zhu Guang secluded themselves in a cave.
• Ling Qing and Zhu Guang sorted their Netherworld materials and considered using ghost-peach wood to make the Two Realms Archway’s refining method more effective.
• Ling Qing inscribed the old treasure restriction and realized that his understanding of the Netherworld’s gateways revealed flaws in its design.

Ling Qing and Zhu Guang refined movable Two Realms Archways, then Ling Qing prepared to help amid a realm-wide ghost crisis. Li Li proposed that Ling Qing’s incarnations join him in sealing and suppressing every Yin-Yang Passage.

• Ling Qing used Zhang Yuanbai’s insights to devise a new method for refining Two Realms Archways, and he and Zhu Guang successfully made a movable one.
• Ling Qing and Zhu Guang refined seven more archways, including a powerful one intended for the Warring States world.
• Yin Mountain Ghost King’s forces expanded Yin-Yang Passages across the realm, unleashing wraiths, bitter cold, famine, and widespread suffering.
• Li Li and the Wudang Temple lineage prepared to leave Huaiyin Mountain to confront the ghostly chaos, while Ling Qing sent his six great incarnations to help.
• Li Li proposed that Ling Qing’s incarnations join him in sealing and suppressing every Yin-Yang Passage between heaven and earth.

Li Li explained a plan to stop the Yin Mountain Ghost King from overturning yin and yang by sealing the passages, using Great Ming’s national destiny, and restoring order to the Netherworld. Ling Qing and Zhu Guang agreed to carry out their parts as the group prepared to act separately.

• Li Li, Ling Qing, and Zhu Guang discussed the origins of the Yin-Yang Passages and concluded that sealing them alone would not solve the imbalance between the mortal realm and the Netherworld.
• Li Li proposed using the Five Sacred Mountains to form a world-suppressing grand formation that would temporarily seal the passages.
• Li Li assigned Zhu Guang to seek the position of Great Ming’s Imperial Preceptor and use the dynasty’s national destiny to support the formation and Ling Qing’s work.
• Li Li instructed Ling Qing to send his Red Lotus Ghost King incarnation into the Netherworld to rebuild the Underworld Administration and restore its order.
• Ling Qing agreed to restore the boundary between the Netherworld and the mortal realm, and the Wondrous Spirit Emperor Lord departed through a pitch-black vortex.

Ling Qing used his Red Lotus Ghost King incarnation to gather wandering souls and judge their merit and sins, aiming to prevent unresolved evil from carrying into reincarnation. After cleansing the souls’ faults with karmic fire, he left them awaiting reincarnation with rewards according to their deeds.

• Ling Qing appeared in the Wandering Souls Expanse as the Red Lotus Ghost King and resolved to sort out the underworld’s karmic sins.
• Ling Qing guided the wandering ghostly souls from the Yellow Springs Road into the Nine Heavens Dharma Realm and divided them into ten grades by merit and sin.
• Ling Qing rewarded the sinless souls with Meritorious Treasure Talismans and kept those with neither merit nor fault in the Dharma Realm.
• Ling Qing burned the sinful souls with Red Lotus Karma Fire, making them relive their wrongs while protecting their true spirits.
• Zhang San repeatedly relived his thefts and cruelty before changing his heart and giving an untouched steamed bun to a starving old man.
• Ling Qing declared Zhang San’s sins cleansed, awarded him a Meritorious Treasure Talisman, and sent him to await reincarnation.

Ling Qing continued judging wandering souls in the Nine Heavens Dharma Realm, while Li Li reached Mount Heng and used the Southern Sacred Mountain’s earth veins to establish himself there. After arranging the mountain’s cultivators’ cave abodes into a Vermilion Bird formation, he taught them the Southern Sacred Mountain True Form Talisman.

• Ling Qing sorted wandering souls by their sins, rewarding repentant souls with Meritorious Treasure Talismans and allowing the karmic fire to consume the unrepentant before their true spirits entered reincarnation.
• Li Li traveled to Mount Heng and used the Southern Sacred Mountain True Form Talisman to awaken its earth veins and shape them into a Vermilion Bird.
• Li Li climbed Zhurong Peak, raised a Dharma Altar and Scarlet Emperor Temple, and rearranged the cultivators’ cave abodes into a celestial circulation pattern linked to the Vermilion Bird’s true form.
• Li Li invited Mount Heng’s cultivators and nearby villagers to hear him preach, then taught them how to write and wear the Southern Sacred Mountain True Form Talisman for protection from ghosts, demons, and poison.

Li Li and Zhu Guang advanced a plan to suppress the Yin-Yang Passages by combining the Five Sacred Mountains formation with the people’s strength, Buddhist and Daoist support, and Ling Qing’s work in the Netherworld. The allies prepared to act on three possible ways to deal with the Yin Mountain Ghost King, whose power could still destroy their efforts.

• Li Li transformed Mount Heng’s earth veins into a Vermilion Bird, established the Red Emperor Temple, passed on the Southern Sacred Mountain True Form Talisman, and secretly left for Mount Hua.
• Zhu Guang contacted Yi Hanyan and asked her and her allies to help gather the hearts of the people by building their influence at court and among the people.
• Zhu Guang outlined how Yi Hanyan, Faming, Ling Qing, and the Three Mountains could each gather support for Li Li’s plan to suppress and erase the world’s Yin-Yang Passages.
• Yi Hanyan agreed to help, while Zhu Guang asked Faming to establish his standing among Buddhist sects and then headed for Mount Mao.
• The group recognized that the Yin Mountain Ghost King could shatter their plan and considered suppressing him with their allies, bringing Daoist Lingguan through the Two Realms Archway, or finding the Demon-Subduing Patriarch’s incarnation.

Ling Qing reorganized the underworld by granting meritorious ghosts talismans that let them serve as ghost officials and gather merit. As his officials captured wandering souls and even Ghost Kings, the Netherworld’s powers grew alarmed by the golden light of merit.

• Ling Qing gave more than a thousand meritorious ghosts talismans that transformed them into underworld officials.
• Zhang San refined a Night Wandering God talisman and discovered it let him split into sixteen small ghosts with enhanced sight and strength.
• Ling Qing sent the new officials to search for and capture wandering souls, vengeful ghosts, and Ghost Soldiers across the Wandering Souls Expanse.
• Netherworld leaders discussed how the officials had seized their troops and captured several Ghost Kings, including the Thousand-Handed King.
• The leaders learned that golden light of merit had appeared during the Thousand-Handed King’s capture and doubted that anyone in the Netherworld could cultivate it.

Ling Qing captured a troop of Ghost Soldiers and met Lu Zhi Dao, an upright Judge of the Underworld. After explaining his plan to restore the Underworld Administration and oppose the Yin Mountain Ghost King, Ling Qing and Lu Zhi Dao set out to find Zhong Kui.

• Ling Qing sent the captured one-horned Ghost King to karma-fire hell and had Zhang San and Li Si continue searching for ghosts.
• Lu Zhi Dao emerged from hiding and introduced himself as one of the Underworld's Four Great Judges.
• Ling Qing tested Lu Zhi Dao with Red Lotus Karma Fire and confirmed that he had accumulated virtually no evil karma.
• Ling Qing told Lu Zhi Dao that he wanted to reestablish the underworld and cut off the Yin Mountain Ghost King's retreat, while leaving its administration to Judge Zhong.
• Lu Zhi Dao agreed to help, and he and Ling Qing set out to find Zhong Kui.

Ling Qing arrived at Zhong Kui’s City of the Wrongfully Dead and demonstrated that his Red Lotus Karma Fire could cleanse ghosts’ sins while preserving their true spirits. After agreeing to help purify the city’s ghosts, he proposed cleansing every ghost entering reincarnation and asked whether the Yin Mountain Ghost King had stopped advancing at the Department of Reincarnation.

• Lu Zhi Dao brought Ling Qing to the City of the Wrongfully Dead, where Zhong Kui had reestablished the Underworld Administration.
• Zhong Kui tested Ling Qing’s Red Lotus Karma Fire, which healed his injuries without drawing out karmic sin.
• Ling Qing showed Zhong Kui and Lu Zhi Dao how Spirit Dragon’s Power could protect ghosts’ true spirits while the fire burned away their sins.
• Zhong Kui asked Ling Qing to cleanse the sins of the ghosts in the city, and Ling Qing agreed while urging them to address every ghost entering reincarnation.
• Zhong Kui and Lu Zhi Dao warned that the Yin Mountain Ghost King would oppose anyone who tried to control the route into reincarnation.
• Ling Qing asked whether the Yin Mountain Ghost King had stopped advancing after reaching the Department of Reincarnation.

Ling Qing, Zhong Kui, and Lu Zhi Dao reached Naihe Bridge and secured Lady Meng’s permission for Ling Qing to settle at its head and cleanse sinful karma. Ling Qing stayed behind while the others returned to the City of the Wrongfully Dead to fight the Yin Mountain Ghost King’s forces.

• Ling Qing, Zhong Kui, and Lu Zhi Dao drifted down the Nai River on Ling Qing’s karma-fire red lotus, which concealed them from the Yin Mountain Ghost King.
• At Naihe Bridge, Ling Qing nearly fell under the pull of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, but Zhong Kui and Lu Zhi Dao helped him recover.
• Zhong Kui and Lu Zhi Dao asked Lady Meng to let Ling Qing settle at the bridgehead, and she agreed after recognizing him as a disciple of Wudang in the Supreme Purity lineage.
• Ling Qing left his Red Lotus body and Wondrous Way incarnation at the bridgehead to cleanse sinful karma while his other incarnations joined the attack on the Yin Mountain Ghost King’s ghosts.
• Zhong Kui and Lu Zhi Dao returned to the City of the Wrongfully Dead, where Emperor Miaoran and the others prepared to fight alongside them.

Ling Qing used the Merit Wheel to draw wandering souls into the Ten Lands Dharma Realm, where karmic fire purified their sins and strengthened the Red Lotus Ghost King. Zhong Kui’s army then clashed with the Yin Mountain Ghost King’s forces, while the Azure Palace sent captured Ghost Soldiers into the Dharma Realm for judgment.

• Ling Qing’s Merit Wheel guided wandering souls away from the River of Helplessness and sorted them into the Ten Lands Dharma Realm, where karmic fire burned away their sins before reincarnation.
• The Red Lotus Ghost King grew stronger as the purified souls’ burning sins became his strength.
• Zhong Kui organized the campaign against Yin Mountain, and Emperor Miaoxiang led the vanguard into battle against the ghost army.
• Miaoxiang’s Four Symbols formations destroyed the first enemy force and halted the charge of the ghost cities, though his vanguard suffered losses.
• Emperor Miaoyuan and the Wondrous Spirit Emperor Lord intercepted enemy forces while Emperor Miaoran’s scouts raided the Ghost Soldiers’ formations.
• An Azure Palace appeared above the Karmic Fire Lotus Platform and sent Ghost Soldiers into the Ten Lands Dharma Realm, where karmic fire began burning their sins.

Ling Qing and Zhong Kui weakened the Yin Mountain Ghost King’s forces while guiding lost souls toward reincarnation. Li Li gained Lord Taihua Zhu Erdan’s aid to establish the sacred mountain formations, and continued setting up the Five Sacred Mountains World-Suppressing Grand Formation.

• Zhong Kui repeatedly ambushed Yin Mountain’s ghost hordes while Ling Qing cleansed the karma of wandering souls and used the Azure Lion’s roar to guide them.
• Ling Qing eased the souls’ suffering with scripture lessons, completing the Netherworld plan’s first stage.
• Li Li reached Mount Hua as the White Emperor and met Lord Taihua Zhu Erdan, who summoned Judge Lu to verify Li Li’s mission.
• After Judge Lu vouched for Li Li, Zhu Erdan helped form the White Tiger’s true shape, establish the White Emperor Temple, and spread the Western Sacred Mountain True Form Talisman.
• Li Li went to Mount Song, where Faming and Shaolin Temple established the Central Sacred Mountain Grand Formation, then continued to Mount Heng and Mount Tai.

Li Li completed the foundation of the Five Sacred Mountains World-Suppressing Grand Formation but waited for the other plans against the Yin Mountain Ghost King to mature. In Beijing, Zhu Guang gained Zhu Youxiao’s trust and was appointed Imperial Preceptor, while Zhu Youxiao secretly used his blood to transform their palace model into a magical artifact.

• Li Li completed the Five Sacred Mountains formation’s foundation and decided not to activate it until the preparations against the Yin Mountain Ghost King were ready.
• Zhu Guang went to Beijing and won Zhu Youxiao’s favor by refining medicine and discussing carpentry and artifact refinement with him.
• Zhu Youxiao agreed to appoint Zhu Guang Imperial Preceptor after Zhu Guang promised to keep the court officials from troubling him.
• Zhu Youxiao ordered Wei Zhongxian to watch Zhu Guang while carrying out the Imperial Preceptor’s future requests.
• After Wei Zhongxian left, Zhu Youxiao cut his palm and let his blood soak into the palace model, transforming it into a small yellow dragon-carved cube.

Zhu Guang was appointed the Great Ming’s second Imperial Preceptor after binding his fortune to the dynasty, then discovered that his new residence concealed a Dragon-Slaying Blade. As his allies gained influence in the court and martial world, they rallied people to revere Zhu Guang and the emperor while promising peace and self-governance.

• Zhu Guang presented Zhu Youxiao with refined pills, and after building several structures together, prepared for his appointment as Imperial Preceptor.
• At a grand ceremony at the Temple of Heaven, Zhu Guang received imperial treasures and used the Primordial Spirit Dragon Talisman to absorb the dynasty’s dragon fortune without being overwhelmed.
• Zhu Youxiao appointed Zhu Guang the Great Ming’s second Imperial Preceptor and ordered him to lead a forty-nine-day Grand Luotian Offering.
• After the offering, Zhu Guang toured his new residence and recognized that its Five Elements layout formed a Dragon-Slaying Blade that could sever the dragon aura on him if he threatened Great Ming.
• Yi Hanyan sent Special Affairs Department members into the Donglin Party, while Tian Ying, Ling Ji, Xiao Qian, and the others built renown by fighting supernatural threats and reorganizing the Insurgent Armies.
• Zhu Guang’s allies urged people to govern themselves peacefully and praised Dao Guang True Person as shepherding the people on the emperor’s behalf.

Ling Qing and his allies advanced their plans against the Yin Mountain Ghost King while the Red Lotus Ghost King and Zhong Kui defeated his incarnations. After a year, Ling Qing completed the Two Realms Archway, and Yi Hanyan and Li Li began arranging powerful reinforcements to confront the Ghost King.

• The Yin Mountain Ghost King attacked the Red Lotus Dao Field, but the Red Lotus Ghost King burned his Ghost Kings with Red Lotus Karma Fire, prompting the Yin Mountain Ghost King to send an incarnation after him.
• Ling Qing arrived with Emperor Miaoxiang and fought the Yin Mountain Ghost King’s incarnation, then drove back the Ghost King’s enormous palm strike.
• Ling Qing and Emperor Miaoxiang’s four incarnations helped Zhong Kui form the Heaven-Devouring Ghost King Dharma Form, and Zhong Kui swallowed another of the Yin Mountain Ghost King’s incarnations.
• Over the following year, Ling Qing’s true body refined the Two Realms Archway and gathered one-third of the portal fluctuations.
• Li Li, Yi Hanyan, Wang Boming, and Faming visited Wudang Temple, where Ling Qing showed them the completed archway and explained that it enabled entry and exit.
• Yi Hanyan and Ling Qing left through the archway, and Yi Hanyan began arranging reinforcements while Ling Qing headed for Baozhu Temple.

Ling Qing brought the completed, movable Two Realms Archway to Baozhu Temple and arranged for Daoist Lingguan to join a joint expedition into the Yin Mountain instance dungeon. After the Special Affairs Department arrived, the group prepared to enter, with the newly advanced Earth Immortal Wu Tiantong eager to confront the danger ahead.

• Ling Qing showed Han Fu the improved Two Realms Archway and explained the situation in the Yin Mountain instance dungeon.
• Han Fu entered the Dao-Demon World, then returned several days later with Daoist Lingguan and Li Qing.
• Ling Qing and Daoist Lingguan discussed the instance dungeons and awaited the Special Affairs Department's team.
• Wu Tiantong arrived with Yi Hanyan and twelve Human Immortals, and his blood-soaked aura overwhelmed Ling Qing and Li Qing until Daoist Lingguan suppressed it.
• Yi Hanyan explained that Director Nan had been dispatched elsewhere and that Wu Tiantong had taken over the mission after reaching the Earth Immortal Realm.
• Daoist Lingguan led the group to the Yin Mountain Archway, and Ling Qing urged Wu Tiantong and Daoist Lingguan to enter.

Ling Qing and his allies prepared a realm-wide Taoist ritual to link the Nine Provinces’ prayers with a powerful formation, while Zhu Youxiao explained his political strategy to Zhu Youjian. The ceremony began nationwide, and Li Li presided over the ritual in Tai'an Prefecture to connect it to the Five Sacred Mountains World-Suppressing Grand Formation.

• Wang Boming and Faming told Daoist Lingguan and Wu Tiantong that preparations at Huaiyin Mountain were complete, and Ling Qing arranged for Zhu Guang to summon cultivators for a fasting ritual.
• Zhu Guang told Zhu Youxiao the time had come, and Zhu Youxiao entrusted him with the plan while discussing the throne and the people’s role with Zhu Youjian.
• Zhu Youxiao advised Zhu Youjian to let the Imperial Preceptor resign after the ceremony, then use Wei Zhongxian and a trusted eunuch to balance the court.
• Zhu Youjian studied the Eastern Depot and Embroidered Uniform Guard archives for half a month before concluding that sailors stood between the water and the boat.
• The realm-wide Grand Ritual Ceremony began as Daoists and rebels established ritual grounds and altars across the Nine Provinces, while Li Li connected the ceremony to the Five Sacred Mountains World-Suppressing Grand Formation.

Ling Qing and his allies examined Yin Mountain Ghost King's stone heart while the Demon-Subduing Patriarch assured them the mountain would not collapse. After the Grand Rite Across All Under Heaven restored the land and closed many Yin-Yang rifts, the Demon-Severing Hero Sword surged through the passage into the netherworld, and everyone sensed its arrival.

• King Yama returned from his tribulation and thanked Lu Zhi Dao and Zhong Kui for their help rebuilding the underworld.
• Ling Qing, Daoist Lingguan, and Wu Tiantong examined Yin Mountain Ghost King's stone heart and discussed how to remove it without collapsing Yin Mountain.
• The Demon-Subduing Patriarch appeared, identified himself, and assured the others that Yin Mountain would not collapse.
• After one hundred and eight days, the five imperial sovereigns and 365 spirit deities used the Grand Rite Across All Under Heaven to restore the land and close Yin-Yang rifts.
• Li Li sent the Demon-Severing Hero Sword through the Mount Tai passage, and Zhu Youxiao, the King of Hell, Ling Qing, the Demon-Subduing Patriarch, and Yin Mountain Ghost King all announced its arrival.

Zhu Youxiao used the Dragon-Turning Pot and Dragon-Slaying Blade to sever the dragon veins beneath the realm, weakening Nurhaci and shaking Yin Mountain. Ling Qing and his allies fought the Yin Mountain Ghost King, extracted his stone heart, and faced the arrival of the Demon-Subduing Patriarch as the Ghost King declared that the Great Dao of ten thousand years would be decided that day.

• Zhu Youxiao gathered the realm's prayers and Zhu Guang's dragon pearl into the Dragon-Turning Pot, then sent its blade to sever the dragon veins beneath the realm.
• Nurhaci collapsed unconscious as Yin Mountain groaned, and Zhu Youxiao fell into a pond after completing the ritual.
• King Yama led his forces toward Yin Mountain while Wu Tiantong, Daoist Lingguan, Yi Hanyan, and Ling Qing joined the battle against the Yin Mountain Ghost King.
• Wu Tiantong and Daoist Lingguan broke the Ghost King's stone arms, while the Twelve Hour Spirits froze the wound and Daoist Lingguan pulled out the stone heart.
• The stone heart transformed into a humanoid form and fought Wu Tiantong as the Yin Mountain Ghost King began collapsing the mountain.
• The Demon-Subduing Patriarch arrived and restored Yin Mountain with golden light, and the Ghost King declared that the Great Dao of ten thousand years would be decided that day.