Chapter Summaries

Mu Yang found an unassigned demon report near Qinghe Prefecture City and rode toward Su Family Manor to investigate. Bao Ping learned of Mu Yang’s destination and ordered Uncle Su to act there, intending to kill Mu Yang and pursue another goal at once.

• Dai Wang helped Mu Yang review demon reports and selected a recent suspected sighting at Su Family Manor, where a villager had disappeared in the mountains.
• Mu Yang questioned the report’s messenger, learned little, then left the city with Little Black to investigate.
• Lei Jiaojiao spotted Mu Yang leaving, and she and Mei Cao sent Lei Sai to fetch horses so they could follow him.
• Zhou An sent Bao Ping a carrier pigeon message reporting that Mu Yang had left for Su Family Manor.
• Bao Ping, after defeating a Donkey Demon in a concealed cave, learned of Mu Yang’s route and sent word to Uncle Su to kill two birds with one arrow.

Mu Yang followed a demon’s strong scent into Su Family Manor and met its welcoming master, Su Chuan. The trail led toward Su Mansion, where Mu Yang heard someone being struck as the chapter ended.

• Mu Yang left Little Black outside Su Family Manor and detected a strong demon scent leading into the manor.
• Su Chuan greeted Mu Yang warmly at the gates and invited him inside to investigate the disappearances.
• Mu Yang followed Su Chuan through the prosperous manor, while the demon’s trail continued in the same direction.
• At Su Mansion, Mu Yang heard faint, irregular whip-like blows coming from inside.

Mu Yang was led into Su Family Manor, where he discovered a trap involving Su Hai, Bao Ping, and a captive Donkey Demon. Before Su Hai could finish taunting him, Mu Yang killed him with a single blow, leaving the others stunned and ready to retaliate.

• Su Chuan led Mu Yang into the courtyard, where Su Hai whipped a chained Donkey Demon and a wounded woman lay imprisoned in a cage.
• Su Chuan introduced Su Hai, president of the Eight Directions Chamber of Commerce, and Bao Ping, young master of the Pingwei Escort Agency.
• Mu Yang realized Su Chuan had lured him into a trap but grew excited at the prospect of taking on powerful opponents.
• Su Hai spoke about avenging his daughter, Su Wanqing, while Mu Yang listened without interrupting.
• Mu Yang suddenly struck Su Hai with his Black Gold Four-Edged Mace and killed him, shocking Su Chuan, Bao Ping, and the emaciated old man.

Mu Yang killed Ke You and Bao Ping after they attacked him, then confronted Su Chuan as the manor lord tried to flee. Su Chuan asked whether it was too late to beg for mercy.

• Ke You attacked Mu Yang with his Withered Wood Poison Hand, but Mu Yang caught and crushed his hand before killing him with the Black Gold Four-Edged Mace.
• Su Chuan watched Mu Yang kill Ke You and realized Su Family Manor was in grave danger.
• Bao Ping tried to distract Mu Yang and stab his eye with the Swift Gale Sword, but Mu Yang's piercing shriek disoriented him.
• Mu Yang punched through Bao Ping's chest and killed him with the Black Gold Four-Edged Mace before he could finish begging for his life.
• Mu Yang spotted Su Chuan trying to flee, and Su Chuan asked whether it was too late to beg for mercy.

Mu Yang killed Su Chuan for colluding with demons, then slaughtered the Su Family Manor guards who attacked him, declaring them demons in disguise. On the rooftop, Lei Sai judged that the villagers should die simply because Mu Yang had acted, leaving Lei Jiaojiao disappointed in his reasoning.

• Lei Sai, Lei Jiaojiao, and Mei Cao watched Mu Yang's fight and discussed his strength and possible soul-disrupting technique.
• Lei Jiaojiao asked Lei Sai whether Su Chuan and the villagers of Su Family Manor should be killed.
• After Su Chuan's death, the guard squad surrounded Mu Yang and charged to avenge their manor lord.
• Mu Yang accused the guards of being demons disguised as villagers and killed the deputy manor lord and the rest of the squad.
• Lei Sai told Lei Jiaojiao that the villagers should be killed because Mu Yang had made his move, and Lei Jiaojiao realized he had not understood the point of her question.

Mu Yang killed the remaining demons at Su Family Manor and discovered that Lei Jiaojiao, Mei Cao, and Lei Sai had followed him there. After Mei Cao warned him that Bao Tian would seek revenge for his son, Lei Jiaojiao promised to handle the authorities and mediate with the Pingwei Escort Agency, leaving Mu Yang to inspect the spoils.

• Mu Yang killed the wounded Fourth-Rank Donkey Demon, permanently solidifying several pieces of equipment.
• Mu Yang noticed that the woman in the cage had died and called out to the three people hiding on the roof.
• Lei Jiaojiao, Mei Cao, and Lei Sai admitted they had followed Mu Yang, and Lei Sai apologized.
• Mei Cao warned Mu Yang that Bao Tian of the Pingwei Escort Agency might retaliate for his son's death.
• Lei Jiaojiao offered to explain the Su Family Manor incident to the authorities and mediate with Bao Tian on Mu Yang's behalf.
• After the three left, Mu Yang began taking stock of the spoils.

Mu Yang looted the Su Family Manor and enhanced a Small Sleeve Bag, then told Dai Wang how Su Hai and Bao Ping had tried to kill him. Dai Wang explained that the law protected Mu Yang, though Bao Tian might resort to underhanded tactics.

• Mu Yang searched the bodies at Su Family Manor and collected five Sleeve Bags and other valuable items.
• Mu Yang enhanced a small Sleeve Bag with Fourth Rank materials, raising its Storage entry from white to blue and increasing its capacity to about twenty-seven cubic meters.
• Mu Yang equipped the five largest Sleeve Bags, collected the Donkey Demon's corpse and weapons, and cleared valuables from the manor's study.
• Mu Yang rode Little Black to the Prefecture City and encountered Dai Wang at the Constable Office.
• Mu Yang recounted the ambush at Su Family Manor and how he killed Su Hai and Bao Ping, with Lei Jiaojiao backing him up.
• Dai Wang explained that the Eight Directions Chamber of Commerce and Su Family Manor would be handled through official channels, but warned Mu Yang that Bao Tian might use underhanded tactics.

After the Eight Directions Chamber of Commerce apologized to Mu Yang and left him a gift, he inventoried the spoils from the day’s battles. His inspection of a Fourth Rank Crimson Blood Spirit Mushroom revealed an unexpected discovery, though the chapter ended before he could explore it further.

• Dai Wang brought Vice Presidents Zhu Yong and Zhou Wu of the Eight Directions Chamber of Commerce to apologize to Mu Yang for Su Hai’s actions and offer a gift.
• Mu Yang accepted the apology without further dispute and kept the Red Sandalwood Box they left behind.
• Mu Yang sorted and examined the spoils, including martial arts manuals, pills, weapons, poisons, armor, and a Demon-Seeking Compass.
• Mu Yang inspected the Crimson Blood Spirit Mushroom’s panel and discovered that precious herbs differed in an unexpected way.

Mu Yang enhanced the Crimson Blood Spirit Mushroom, upgrading its purification trait so it could turn mid-grade True Qi into upper-grade True Qi. With the item secured, he prepared to break through to the Late Condensing Qi Realm.

• Mu Yang realized the Crimson Blood Spirit Mushroom’s purification effect might let him raise his True Qi to upper grade and decided to enhance it.
• Mu Yang selected three Fourth Rank items as enhancement materials and upgraded them to +1.
• Mu Yang enhanced the Crimson Blood Spirit Mushroom, raising its Channel Expansion and Purification trait from blue to blue-purple.
• Mu Yang confirmed the upgraded mushroom could purify mid-grade True Qi into upper-grade True Qi and put it into his sleeve pouch.
• Mu Yang took out the Strong Wind Dantian Construction Method and prepared to break through to the Late Condensing Qi Realm.

Mu Yang equipped Strong Wind and Wood Source Dantian Construction Methods, discovered he could switch his Mid-grade True Qi between attributes, and broke through to the Late Condensing Qi Realm. After equipping a Fourth Rank Donkey Demon Corpse, he prepared to use the enhanced Crimson Blood Spirit Mushroom to improve his True Qi further.

• Mu Yang equipped the Strong Wind Dantian Construction Method and learned that he could transform his True Qi into Mid-grade Strong Wind True Qi without losing quality.
• Mu Yang equipped the Wood Source Dantian Construction Method, gaining access to vitality and recovery effects, and his True Qi reached its breakthrough limit.
• Mu Yang broke through to the Late Condensing Qi Realm, expanding his dantian capacity to five thousand strands and emptying it in the process.
• Mu Yang equipped the Pure Origin Dantian Construction Method and gained five hundred strands of Mid-grade True Qi.
• Mu Yang equipped the Fourth Rank Donkey Demon Corpse, increasing his strength by thirty thousand jin and filling his dantian to nearly half capacity.
• Mu Yang took the enhanced Crimson Blood Spirit Mushroom +1 and prepared to equip it to transform his True Qi.

Mu Yang used an enhanced Crimson Blood Spirit Mushroom to condense Upper-grade True Qi and upgraded a sleeve bag into a much larger storage bag. Meanwhile, Bao Tian emerged from seclusion after reaching the Mid-Stage Channel-Opening Realm and found his steward Zhou An looking haggard.

• Mu Yang transformed his True Qi into Upper-grade True Qi and gained 2,500 strands in his dantian.
• Mu Yang enhanced a Fourth Rank sleeve bag, increasing its storage space to 3,375 cubic meters, and moved his belongings into it.
• Bao Tian emerged from more than a month of seclusion after opening his fifth major meridian and reaching the Mid-Stage Channel-Opening Realm.
• Bao Tian found Zhou An waiting in the study, looking exhausted, and asked what had happened.

Bao Tian learned that Mu Yang had killed Bao Ping and vowed revenge despite the Lei Family’s protection. While exploring Qinghe Prefecture, Mu Yang ran into Hu Deshui, who told him that something had been causing trouble at night in Guaizi Alley.

• Zhou An told Bao Tian how Mu Yang had killed Bao Ping at Su Family Manor after Lei Jiaojiao intervened on Mu Yang’s behalf.
• Bao Tian decided to investigate Mu Yang’s movements and vowed to avenge Bao Ping.
• Mu Yang spent the morning wandering Qinghe Prefecture and stopped for lunch at Jixiang Restaurant.
• Mu Yang recognized the waiter Hu Deshui, who explained that he had left Qingxi County and was now working in the restaurant.
• Mu Yang asked Hu Deshui about rumors of demons and monsters, and Hu Deshui mentioned nighttime disturbances in Guaizi Alley.

Mu Yang investigated rumors of a floating woman in a Red Wedding Dress in Guaizi Alley and instead encountered a blood-drinking half-demon. After killing it, he faced a sudden change before he could question the physician.

• Hu Deshui told Mu Yang that a woman in a Red Wedding Dress supposedly haunted Guaizi Alley at midnight and left men shriveled like dried corpses.
• Mu Yang traveled to Guaizi Alley, found no sign of the rumored woman, and decided to return at night.
• A scream and faint demon aura led Mu Yang to a courtyard, where a blue-scaled middle-aged man bit a woman and then attacked an old physician.
• Mu Yang identified the attacker as a possible Half-Demon, seized him, and twisted his head off after judging him to be relatively weak.
• As Mu Yang prepared to question the physician, a sudden change erupted.

Mu Yang killed a Drowned Corpse that had transformed from Liu Zhuang and learned from Zeng Gui what corpse-transformed Living Corpses were. The chapter ended with Zhao Qi and his men arriving, while Mu Yang began questioning the people connected to the incident.

• Mu Yang crushed Liu Zhuang’s body and killed him by stomping on his head, then inspected the Drowned Corpse’s Second Rank equipment traits.
• Zeng Gui thanked Mu Yang for saving him, but Zhao Qi and several Water Transport Gang members burst into the courtyard.
• Zhao Qi identified himself as a Water Guide and explained that Liu Zhuang was a boatman who had fallen into the river two days earlier and returned with chills and a fever.
• Zeng Gui explained that corpse transformation could make the dead rise again as Living Corpses, which had few weaknesses beyond their heads.
• Zeng Gui said Liu Zhuang’s scales and fishy smell identified him as a Drowned Corpse, and Mu Yang noted that this matched the traits he had seen.

Mu Yang learned that Liu Zhuang’s transformed corpse may have been linked to a demon and uncovered the Water Transport Gang’s secret warning about the Wedding Dress Woman. He left with Liu Zhuang’s corpse and, on the twenty-third, prepared to confront the apparition.

• Mu Yang questioned Zhao Qi and Zeng Gui, learning that Liu Zhuang had practiced Black Water Fist and reached the first level of the Skin and Flesh Realm.
• Zeng Gui speculated that Liu Zhuang’s corpse resembled a Tiger-Fettered Ghost, and Mu Yang noted a faint demonic aura on it.
• Mu Yang asked about strange river activity, but Zhao Qi and the other Water Transport Gang members had seen nothing unusual.
• Zhao Qi revealed a taboo mantra warning of the Wedding Dress Woman on the fifth, fourteenth, and twenty-third, and said several strong men had died with shriveled bodies.
• Mu Yang took Liu Zhuang’s corpse, left Guaizi Alley, and decided to test whether the Wedding Dress Woman could withstand his million-pound fist.

Mu Yang waited in Guaizi Alley for the rumored Wedding Dress Woman, then encountered Lei Jiaojiao and Yuan Yuan, a First-Class Demon-Seeking Captain. The women warned him that the threat was a ghost rather than a demon, leaving Mu Yang startled as they prepared to investigate.

• Mu Yang patrolled Guaizi Alley through the night, sensing the area until two powerful auras arrived.
• Lei Jiaojiao and Yuan Yuan entered the alley, and Yuan Yuan judged that a ghost monster was more likely than an anomaly.
• Yuan Yuan spotted Mu Yang as he approached, but Lei Jiaojiao recognized him and introduced him to Yuan Yuan.
• Mu Yang said he had come to investigate the Wedding Dress Woman, and Lei Jiaojiao advised him not to get involved.
• Lei Jiaojiao told Mu Yang that the Wedding Dress Woman was a ghost, not a demon, and he was taken aback.

Lei Jiaojiao explained the differences between ghost monsters and The Uncanny, while Yuan Yuan confronted the Wedding Dress Woman in the alley. Yuan Yuan pierced the ghost with Evil-Suppressing Force, revealing blue-black skin beneath her wedding dress.

• Lei Jiaojiao explained that ghost monsters could be destroyed, while The Uncanny re-formed after dispersal and could not leave their birthplace.
• Mu Yang realized his Upper-grade True Qi might be able to destroy ghost entities as the Wedding Dress Woman approached.
• Yuan Yuan attacked the Wedding Dress Woman with Pure Heart Flying Needles, but her Ghost Artifact blocked the first volley.
• Yuan Yuan unleashed Evil-Suppressing Force through six needles, pierced the Wedding Dress Woman's defenses, and damaged her dress.
• Mu Yang saw blue-black skin beneath the Wedding Dress Woman's torn dress.

Mu Yang resisted the Wedding Dress Woman’s soul attack and destroyed her with Upper-grade True Qi and a powerful strike. Yuan Yuan and Lei Jiaojiao realized he had achieved a level of cultivation they had thought nearly impossible.

• The Wedding Dress Woman revealed her face and unleashed a soul attack that hurt Lei Jiaojiao, while Yuan Yuan shielded her with Pure Heart True Qi.
• Mu Yang charged through the soul attack and struck the Wedding Dress Woman, but her yin aura absorbed most of his force and restored her face.
• Mu Yang hit the Wedding Dress Woman with a solid soul attack, stopping her wail and halting her retreat.
• Mu Yang poured his remaining True Qi into a Spider Spear-enhanced punch that shattered the Wedding Dress Woman’s head and dispersed her yin aura.
• Yuan Yuan identified Mu Yang’s True Qi as Upper-grade, and Lei Jiaojiao was stunned by how quickly he had advanced.

Mu Yang killed the Fourth Rank Wedding Dress Woman, whose corpse failed to dissipate like an ordinary ghost’s. He kept the corpse for its powerful equipment effects and wondered whether its Drowned Corpse features were connected to the river Liu Zhuang fell into.

• After killing the Wedding Dress Woman, Mu Yang permanently solidified several equipment methods and gained five empty Equipment Slots.
• Yuan Yuan tried to collect the corpse’s Yin Qi with a Yin-Gathering Gourd, but the corpse did not dissipate or release any Yin Qi.
• Yuan Yuan offered Mu Yang three Mystic Grade Superior Merits for the completed mission and five more for the corpse, but Mu Yang chose to keep it.
• Mu Yang inspected the Drowned Corpse Ghost’s equipment effects and stored the corpse in his sleeve pouch.
• Mu Yang left Guaizi Alley and wondered what was hidden in the river associated with Liu Zhuang.

Cao Xiu and Cao Ding discussed the Water Transport Gang’s troubles and Cao Xiu’s pact with a demon, then learned that the Wedding Dress Woman had died. Cao Xiu ordered a search for another suitable woman and sent Cao Ding to investigate her death in Guaizi Alley.

• Cao Ding warned Cao Xiu that fear of the Wedding Dress Woman had driven boatmen away and might attract the authorities or the Demon Slayer Bureau.
• Cao Xiu defended his plan to use the Catfish Minion, claiming he controlled the demon and needed its help to reach the Sixth Rank.
• Cao Xiu sensed trouble with the Catfish Minion and went with Cao Ding to the gang’s hidden underground river channel, where Fan Lang awaited them.
• The Catfish Minion announced that the Wedding Dress Woman was dead, ruining Cao Xiu’s plan to refine her into a pill.
• Cao Xiu told Fan Lang to search for another woman with the required birth date and ordered Cao Ding to discreetly investigate the Wedding Dress Woman’s death in Guaizi Alley.