Chapter Summaries

Hu Meier revealed that she was Hu Donghan’s powerful elder sister and confronted Mu Zhengfeng after he insulted her. She displayed an authority token before the Enforcement Hall disciples, leaving them stunned as they realized she could determine Mu Zhengfeng’s punishment.

• Hu Meier revealed she was Hu Donghan’s elder sister and struck his forehead for failing to call her Big Sister.
• Mu Zhengfeng lewdly offered to spare Hu Donghan if Hu Meier slept with him, and Hu Donghan stepped between them, insisting that he wanted to kill Mu Zhengfeng himself.
• Hu Donghan recalled how he and Hu Meier survived as children, including how they killed a band of more than five hundred mountain bandits.
• Hu Donghan revealed that Hu Meier had a High-Grade Ghost Spirit Root and was the disciple of Soul Devourer, the Enforcement Hall’s Hall Master.
• Hu Meier challenged the Enforcement Hall disciples over the punishments for insulting a female disciple and speaking disrespectfully, then showed them a pale black token.
• An Enforcement Hall disciple recognized Hu Meier’s token and nearly fell to his knees.

Hu Meier revealed that she was the Enforcement Hall’s Deputy Hall Master and challenged the biased ruling against her younger brother, Hu Donghan. She began reviewing the case and asked Wang Linshu whether he disputed Hu Donghan’s account of their encounter.

• The Enforcement Hall disciples recognized Hu Meier’s identity plaque and knelt to pay respects to the Deputy Hall Master.
• Hu Meier said she had witnessed the disciples’ biased enforcement and noted that Hu Donghan had offended Mu Ming and others.
• More than a dozen Golden Core Realm Enforcement Hall disciples appeared outside the Outer Affairs Hall and stopped the onlookers from leaving.
• The three disciples who had sentenced Hu Donghan begged Hu Meier for forgiveness and offered to accept punishment.
• Hu Meier ordered a review of the ruling and asked Hu Donghan to explain why he had attacked Wang Linshu at Lonely Soul Ridge.
• Hu Donghan said he had mistaken Wang Linshu for a Yin Soul ghost, and Hu Meier asked Wang Linshu whether he disagreed.

Hu Meier called on Elder Niu to uncover the truth after Wang Linshu accused Hu Donghan of attacking him. Elder Niu used the Soul-Seeking Technique, killed Wang Linshu, and exposed his crimes, leaving Mu Ming fearing that his own involvement would be revealed.

• Wang Linshu followed Mu Ming's lead and falsely claimed that Hu Donghan had attacked him with the Spirit Bolt Technique.
• Hu Meier summoned Elder Niu to investigate the conflicting accounts.
• Elder Niu used the Soul-Seeking Technique on Wang Linshu and learned that he had plotted to kill Hu Donghan, murdered twenty-six fellow disciples, and considered betraying the sect.
• Elder Niu killed Wang Linshu, seized his soul, and sentenced it to fifty years of torment under the Sect Law Code.
• Mu Ming realized that the technique had revealed his dealings with Wang Linshu and glared at Mu Zhengfeng in fear and anger.

Hu Meier ordered the Enforcement Hall disciples to kill the onlookers near the Outer Affairs Hall to protect her identity and prevent rumors from spreading. Mu Zhengfeng tried to take Hu Donghan hostage to escape, but the disciples bound him before he could reach Hu Donghan.

• Niu Jinzhong warned Hu Meier that everyone present could be killed and left the decision to her.
• Hu Meier ordered the Enforcement Hall disciples to kill everyone gathered near the Outer Affairs Hall, and the Golden Core cultivators slaughtered the onlookers.
• Hu Donghan and Hu Meier calmly discussed the killings, shocking the surviving Enforcement Hall disciples, Mu Zhengfeng, and Mu Ming.
• Mu Zhengfeng decided to seize Hu Donghan as a hostage, but the Enforcement Hall disciples bound him before his sword could reach Hu Donghan.
• Mu Zhengfeng begged Mu Ming to save him, while Mu Ming silently cursed him as an idiot.

Hu Meier and Hu Donghan killed Mu Ming and captured Mu Zhengfeng, suspecting someone else had directed him to target Hu Donghan. They took Mu Zhengfeng to Hu Donghan’s room, where their familiar teasing rekindled memories of their childhood rivalry.

• Hu Meier ordered the Golden Core Realm cultivators to kill Mu Ming after he pleaded for the Mu Household to be spared.
• Hu Donghan recognized that Mu Zhengfeng was pretending to be stupid, and Hu Meier tore off his ear while Hu Donghan reserved him for questioning.
• Hu Meier ordered three Enforcement Hall disciples executed and four others detained before taking Mu Zhengfeng to Hu Donghan’s courtyard.
• Hu Donghan knocked Mu Zhengfeng unconscious and refused Hu Meier’s offer to move into the Enforcement Hall.
• Hu Meier teased Hu Donghan, who recalled how she had once stripped him and flicked his little brother a hundred times after he called her his child bride.

Hu Meier offered Hu Donghan a Soul Ring and pills to help his cultivation, but he refused her gifts and insisted on relying on himself. After seeing that he had contracted a Mortal Ghost, she worried over his choice and warned that she would force him to cultivate if he made no progress.

• Hu Donghan recalled how Hu Meier's childhood punishments had left him determined to surpass her and take revenge.
• Hu Meier offered Hu Donghan a Mid-Grade Ghost Fiend and cultivation pills, explaining that she had wanted to give him a High-Grade Ghost Fiend.
• Hu Donghan refused her gifts and revealed that he had contracted a Mortal Ghost he believed was uniquely suited to him.
• Hu Meier angrily challenged Hu Donghan's decision, then agreed to wait and see whether his cultivation improved.
• Hu Donghan refused the pills as well, and Hu Meier warned that she would tie him up and force him to cultivate if he failed to progress.

Hu Meier recounted her rapid progress under Soul-Devouring Ancestor and reunited with Hu Donghan, who then tortured Mu Zhengfeng for answers. Mu Zhengfeng revealed that a senior disciple from Jade Finger Peak had paid him to kill Hu Donghan, leaving Hu Donghan with a new lead.

• Hu Meier told Hu Donghan that Soul-Devouring Ancestor had made her his first disciple, given her ghost fiends, and planned to train her as the next Hall Master of the Enforcement Hall.
• Hu Donghan told Hu Meier he had reached only the Qi Refining First Layer, and she worried about his poor talent.
• After nightfall, Hu Donghan and Hu Meier turned their attention to Mu Zhengfeng, who had been pretending to remain unconscious.
• Hu Donghan and Hu Meier tortured Mu Zhengfeng until he confessed that Senior Brother Wu from Jade Finger Peak had paid him ten thousand Spirit Stones to kill Hu Donghan.

Hu Donghan learned that Lin Pushong might be behind the attempt on his life and let Hu Meier investigate the Jade Finger Peak connection. Hu Meier gave him Enforcement Hall attire and took Mu Zhengfeng away for further punishment.

• Mu Zhengfeng said a man called Senior Brother Wu had promised him ten thousand Spirit Stones and an introduction to Lin Pushong if he killed Hu Donghan.
• Hu Meier recognized Lin Pushong as a Jade Finger Peak relative who had visited her, and promised to find the man surnamed Wu and bring back his head.
• Hu Meier gave Hu Donghan Enforcement Hall robes, a whip, and an iron plaque, and he accepted them.
• Hu Meier dragged Mu Zhengfeng away despite his protests that Hu Donghan had promised him a quick death.

Hu Donghan wore the Enforcement Hall robes Hu Meier had left him and summoned a menial to clean the blood and severed limbs in his room. After rewarding the menial with Spirit Stones, he killed him and blamed him for stealing them, leaving the other menials stunned.

• Hu Donghan changed into the Enforcement Hall disciple robes and headed to the menial disciples' courtyard for help cleaning his room.
• Hu Donghan refused the steward's gift and chose the menial who had previously informed Mu Zhengfeng of his whereabouts.
• The menial cleaned Hu Donghan's room, and Hu Donghan gave him ten Spirit Stones as a reward.
• As the menial collected the Spirit Stones, Hu Donghan killed him with a Spirit Bolt Technique.
• Hu Donghan took the dead man's storage pouch and Soul Ring, then threw out the corpse and accused him of stealing.
• The other menials stared at one another in disbelief as Hu Donghan returned to his room.

Hu Donghan went to the Overlapping Peaks Disciple Market to buy a Ghost Spirit Herb for his Medicine Spirit Ghost cultivation. He recognized the stall owner as Lang Tianya, a fellow disciple from his courtyard.

• Hu Donghan decided to cultivate diligently and planned to buy a spiritual herb at the market.
• The next morning, two Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators questioned Hu Donghan about killing a menial, recorded his explanation, and left.
• Hu Donghan went to the Disciple Market, where the stallholders grew nervous when they saw his law enforcement uniform.
• Hu Donghan asked a stall owner about the price of a Ghost Spirit Herb, then questioned him for recognizing his name.
• The stall owner introduced himself as Lang Tianya, and Hu Donghan recalled that they lived in the same courtyard.

Hu Donghan bought a Ghost Spirit Herb and Wandering Souls from Lang Tianya, then arranged for regular deliveries. Back in his room, he released his Mortal Ghost and began exposing it to the herb’s fragrance to transform it into a Medicine Spirit Ghost.

• Hu Donghan paid Lang Tianya twenty Spirit Stones for the Ghost Spirit Herb rather than accepting it as a gift.
• Lang Tianya sold Hu Donghan two Soul Rings filled with Wandering Souls and explained how he gathered and traded them.
• Hu Donghan asked Lang Tianya to deliver enough Wandering Souls to fill two Soul Rings every three days, and Lang Tianya agreed.
• Hu Donghan returned to his room, released the Mortal Ghost, and brought out the Ghost Spirit Herb.
• The Mortal Ghost recoiled from the herb, but Hu Donghan intended to use its medicinal fragrance to transform it into a Medicine Spirit Ghost.

Hu Donghan transformed a Ghost Spirit Herb and a Mortal Ghost into a Medicine Spirit Ghost using the Soul List. After the body was recast, he successfully obtained the new ghost, though he still needed to find a place where it could be useful.

• Hu Donghan decided to create a Medicine Spirit Ghost before worrying about how to put it to use.
• Hu Donghan used the Miscellaneous Seizure Formula to draw ghost qi and yin qi from the Mortal Ghost and transform the Ghost Spirit Herb into medicinal fragrance.
• Hu Donghan scattered the Mortal Ghost's Soul Body while preserving its soul spirit on the Soul List, and its remains fused with the medicinal fragrance.
• Hu Donghan used the Soul List to guide and condense the fused qi into a small, thin ghost with the Ghost Spirit Herb growing from its head.
• Hu Donghan recognized the completed Medicine Spirit Ghost and celebrated obtaining it.

Hu Donghan suppressed the Medicine Spirit Ghost’s attempt to escape by erasing its intelligence, then created a Soul-Forming Ground to stabilize it. He left the ghost absorbing yin energy and ghost energy while he meditated to recover his spiritual power.

• Hu Donghan used the Soul List to suppress the Medicine Spirit Ghost’s soul after it tried to escape and begged to be released.
• Hu Donghan erased the Medicine Spirit Ghost’s intelligence and confirmed that it obeyed his commands.
• Hu Donghan discovered that the Medicine Spirit Ghost had become a Low-Grade Ghost Demon and realized its unstable Soul Body needed to be solidified.
• Hu Donghan formed a Soul-Forming Ground and broke down ninety Wandering Souls into yin energy and ghost energy.
• Hu Donghan commanded the Medicine Spirit Ghost to enter the Soul-Forming Ground, where it began absorbing energy, then meditated to restore his spiritual power.

Hu Donghan spent a month cultivating in seclusion while nurturing the Medicine Spirit Ghost, and its Soul Body finally stabilized and grew stronger. With the ghost complete, he decided to leave seclusion and visit the Outer Affairs Hall for his monthly stipend, while avoiding the stipend Hu Meier had arranged for him.

• Hu Donghan examined his improved cultivation and received Senior Brother Wu’s head and a letter detailing Hu Meier’s investigation and how she had arranged his death.
• Hu Donghan calculated that the Soul-Forming Ground needed about one hundred and eighty Wandering Souls every three days and chose to remain in his room for a month to protect the Medicine Spirit Ghost as it formed.
• For the next month, Hu Donghan regularly replenished the Soul-Forming Ground and cultivated while Lang Tianya delivered Wandering Souls.
• After a month, Hu Donghan found the Medicine Spirit Ghost nearly his height, solid, and able to absorb ghost qi and yin qi on its own, then drew it into his Soul List.
• Hu Donghan decided to visit the Outer Affairs Hall for his monthly stipend but avoided collecting his Bloodbone Peak law enforcement stipend because Hu Meier might provide him with excessive cultivation resources.

Hu Donghan accepted a task to tend the Little Green Terrace medicinal field, confident that the Medicine Spirit Ghost could make it easy to complete. The task required approval from the peak’s Ancestor, and a deacon explained that the rule had been introduced after disciples from rival peaks sabotaged medicinal fields.

• Hu Donghan collected his monthly stipend and found a medicinal-field task requiring two hundred herbs to be submitted each month.
• Hu Donghan accepted the task, relying on the Medicine Spirit Ghost to tend the herbs and considering the Medicine Fragrance Ghost as a cover for their accelerated growth.
• A deacon told Hu Donghan that all medicinal-field tasks had to be reported to the Peak Master and offered to accompany him.
• The deacon led Hu Donghan through a valley and cave to a gloomy mass graveyard, explaining that only disciples of the same peak could tend its fields.
• The deacon recounted how disciples once wrecked rival peaks’ medicinal fields, causing a sect-wide shortage of herbs and pill materials.

Hu Donghan and an Outer Affairs Hall steward visited Mad Demon Ancestor to report Hu’s request to oversee the medicinal fields at Little Jade Flat. Mad Demon Ancestor recognized Hu and remarked that Hu’s elder sister had killed one-tenth of Overlapping Peaks’ Qi Refining disciples.

• The steward explained how an old medicinal-field scandal led the Yin Soul Sect to tighten its rules, and Hu Donghan listened as they crossed the Mass Grave Mound.
• Ancestor Bing, Mad Demon Ancestor’s War Ghost, met them and led them through a formation to Mad Demon Cave.
• Hu Donghan and the steward entered Mad Demon Ancestor’s stone chamber, where Hu greeted the ancestor without kneeling.
• Mad Demon Ancestor recognized Hu Donghan as the younger brother of Soul-Devouring Ancestor’s personal disciple and said she had killed one-tenth of Overlapping Peaks’ outer disciples.

Hu Donghan learned that Mad Demon Ancestor had once summoned another Medicinal-Scent Ghost owner, who was killed after joining the disturbance at the Outer Affairs Hall. He received authority over Little Jade Flat’s medicinal field and prepared to move there, wondering why Mad Demon Ancestor had called him “little brother-in-law.”

• Hu Donghan concealed Hu Meier’s reason for ordering the slaughter, and Mad Demon Ancestor warned him that mistakes at Little Jade Flat could bring serious consequences.
• Hu Donghan revealed his Medicinal-Scent Ghost, and Mad Demon Ancestor said another cultivator with one had been killed by law-enforcement disciples a month earlier.
• Mad Demon Ancestor ordered Hu Donghan to go to Little Jade Flat, then privately judged him promising but poorly talented.
• Hu Donghan questioned the steward about being called “little brother-in-law,” but the steward denied knowing the reason.
• The steward gave Hu Donghan the medicinal-field access token and explained that he could manage the servants as long as he delivered one hundred spirit herbs each month.
• Hu Donghan packed his belongings, left a letter for Hu Meier, and considered bringing the servant who had guarded his door to Little Jade Flat.

Hu Donghan brought Niu Ergen to Little Jade Flat to help him oversee the herb fields. He dismissed the two servant leaders and left the remaining servants under his control, preparing to keep the area private for his future use of the Medicine Spirit Ghost.

• Hu Donghan asked Niu Ergen to accompany him to the Little Jade Flat herb fields, and Niu Ergen eagerly agreed.
• Hu Donghan and Niu Ergen traveled to Little Jade Flat, where Hu Donghan presented his token and summoned the twelve servants.
• Hu Donghan identified two servants as leaders and ordered them to leave Little Jade Flat.
• Hu Donghan kept the other servants, deciding he needed obedient workers and could not allow anyone to interfere with his plans for the herb fields.

Hu Donghan took charge of Little Jade Flat and arranged to test the Medicine Spirit Ghost in the isolated Small Medicine Field. The chapter ended as he released the ghost and ordered it to cultivate herbs over the greatest range it could manage.

• Hu Donghan made Niu Ergen the menial disciples’ leader and warned them to obey him and protect the medicine fields.
• Hu Donghan surveyed Little Jade Flat and considered testing the Medicine Spirit Ghost and finding more Wandering Souls to supply yin energy.
• Hu Donghan told Niu Ergen to keep everyone away from the Small Medicine Field that night, promising him extra pay if he succeeded.
• Niu Ergen sent the menial disciples to patrol the two Large Medicine Fields, leaving Hu Donghan free to enter the Small Medicine Field alone.
• Hu Donghan released the Medicine Spirit Ghost through the Soul List and ordered it to cultivate herbs across the widest range possible.

Hu Donghan tested Medicine Spirit Ghost’s ability to nurture spirit herbs and learned how long it could work before its yin aura ran low. After recalling the exhausted spirit, he planned to isolate the Small Medicine Field and build facilities to support its growth and cultivation.

• Medicine Spirit Ghost spread medicinal-scented yin aura across about one mu of the field, making the spirit herbs more vigorous, but warned Hu Donghan that expanding its reach could damage its Soul Body.
• After about four shichen, Medicine Spirit Ghost nearly exhausted its yin aura, so Hu Donghan ordered it to stop nurturing the herbs.
• Medicine Spirit Ghost devoured all of Hu Donghan’s Wandering Souls, recovering only half its yin aura, then told Hu Donghan it needed at least half a shichen to convert what it had absorbed.
• Hu Donghan calculated the spirit’s feeding needs and planned to isolate the Small Medicine Field, move his residence there, and build a dining hall for Medicine Spirit Ghost.
• Hu Donghan recalled the resting Medicine Spirit Ghost into the Soul List and left the Small Medicine Field.