Chapter Summaries

Yu Chen, a felon's son facing exile, discovered that a mysterious Scripture of Deliverance could capture the ghost of a beggar and reveal the ghost's wish. The scripture left him with a twelve-double-hour task to bring the ghost a Gui Snowfish from the Li River.

• Yu Chen reflected on his criminal family's fate and the memories of his past life as he guarded Qingfeng Mausoleum.
• After Yu Chen received the last memory of his past life, he collapsed and saw a vision of a dark-gold scroll called the Scripture of Deliverance.
• The beggar he had buried returned as a ghost, repeatedly pleading for a Gui Snowfish.
• Yu Chen's scroll captured the ghost and revealed a vow requiring him to deliver a Li River Gui Snowfish within twelve double-hours.
• Yu Chen decided not to report the ghost and recognized the scripture as a supernatural opportunity.

Yu Chen fulfilled the hungry ghost’s wish by buying him Gui Snowfish, and the Scripture of Deliverance rewarded him with the Manual of Paper Effigies and Paper Horses. After learning the art and testing it by making lifelike paper figures, Yu Chen wondered how its powers might change his impending exile.

• Yu Chen learned the beggar ghost’s memories and promised to buy him Gui Snowfish.
• Yu Chen spent two months’ savings on a box of Gui Snowfish at Spring Breeze Pavilion and brought it back to Qingfeng Mausoleum.
• The Scripture of Deliverance fed the fish to the ghost, who crossed the Yellow River, and bestowed the Manual of Paper Effigies and Paper Horses on Yu Chen.
• Yu Chen learned that the art let him control lifelike paper creations, though using it consumed spiritual strength and he had no Qi to give them true power.
• Yu Chen crafted many paper figures and wondered whether he could use the art to evade exile or gain power enough to turn the tables on those exiling him.

Yu Chen discovered that Knife-Face and Big Strong, the men who had tortured and killed a foolish woman, planned to rob him at Qingfeng Mausoleum. He used his paper-figure art to summon the woman’s ghost, and the two ruffians fled in terror before being captured the next morning.

• Yu Chen controlled a Paper Crow and overheard Knife-Face and Big Strong planning to rob him at Qingfeng Mausoleum.
• Yu Chen remembered the foolish woman’s brutal murder and decided to defend himself rather than risk meeting the ruffians on the road to report them.
• Yu Chen created a ghostly figure resembling the murdered woman and sent it toward the mausoleum gate.
• Knife-Face and Big Strong saw the apparition, panicked, and fled down the mountain.
• Townsfolk found the two men dazed and muttering about a ghost, and constables arrested them.
• A storyteller spread the tale of the woman’s revenge, frightening the men who had previously taken advantage of her into worshipping at Qingfeng Mausoleum.

Yu Chen learned that the Scripture of Deliverance rewarded him for fulfilling the last wishes of the dead, and he gained a new task from an old shoemaker who died worried about his gambling-addicted son. After two hours of thought, Yu Chen came up with a plan to make the prodigal son change his ways.

• Yu Chen realized that only the dead with lingering obsessions left spiritual wishes, and that the Scripture of Deliverance rewarded him for fulfilling them.
• A family brought a coffin to Qingfeng Mausoleum, where Yu Chen saw a ghostly light above the fresh grave and drew the dead person into the Scripture of Deliverance.
• The dead man's wish appeared as “The Prodigal Son Returns,” with a thirty-six-hour time limit, and Yu Chen saw the old shoemaker's life and the gambling debts that had led to his death.
• Yu Chen understood that the shoemaker wanted his son to abandon gambling and support his mother, but he struggled to find a way to change the young man.
• After two hours of thinking, Yu Chen formed a plan.

Yu Chen used the Paper Effigy and Paper Horse Technique to impersonate the dead shoemaker and frighten his gambling-addicted son into changing his ways. After the son returned his borrowed money and took up shoemaking, Yu Chen wondered what reward the Scripture of Deliverance would grant for fulfilling another final wish.

• Yu Chen learned that the shoemaker’s son planned to borrow more money and gamble again, so he controlled a paper effigy of the dead shoemaker to confront him.
• The ghostly effigy frightened the son into promising to stop gambling and repay his debts.
• The next morning, the son returned his borrowed silver, avoided Tongbao Gambling House, and began learning shoemaking from his father’s notes.
• Yu Chen collected the paper effigy and returned to Qingfeng Mausoleum, satisfied that he had helped save the family.
• Yu Chen wondered what benefit the Scripture of Deliverance would grant for fulfilling the shoemaker’s final wish.

After fulfilling the old cobbler’s wish, Yu Chen received Bone-Forging Body-Tempering from the Scripture of Deliverance and was forged into an Innate martial artist in an instant. He discovered his newfound strength came with overwhelming hunger, so he took his savings down the mountain to find food.

• The old cobbler’s soul crossed the Yellow Springs, and the Scripture of Deliverance bestowed Bone-Forging Body-Tempering on Yu Chen.
• The Scripture transported Yu Chen into a vast hall and submerged him in a cauldron, where boiling liquid painfully tempered his body.
• Yu Chen returned to the real world and found that he had reached the Innate Realm, with sharper senses and force strong enough to create a sonic boom with a punch.
• Yu Chen realized that his new body lacked martial techniques and experience, but believed he could easily defeat Blade and Sword and Big Strong through sheer strength.
• Extreme hunger struck Yu Chen, so he took his savings and went down the mountain to buy food.

Yu Chen watched Knife-Face and Big Strong be executed, and the sight brought back memories of his parents’ beheading. As he left town, he recognized a funeral procession for a teacher who had once helped him and saw the dead man’s ghost emerge from the coffin.

• Yu Chen ate at Brightlink Vegetable Garden and heard that Knife-Face and Big Strong would be publicly beheaded at noon.
• On the way to Zhengtong Execution Ground, Yu Chen met the old shoemaker’s son, who had returned his silver and resolved to stop gambling.
• Yu Chen watched Knife-Face and Big Strong lose their heads, remembering that his parents had been executed at the same place fifteen years earlier.
• Yu Chen bought rice and meat and saw a funeral procession for a respected schoolteacher who had once given him food.
• As the procession passed, Yu Chen saw the teacher’s ghost emerge from the coffin and heard him say, “Leave innocence behind in this world...”

Yu Chen learned that Zhao Xiansheng’s final wish was to hide the lurid storybooks that threatened his respected reputation, and he removed them from the Zhao household. A servant mistook a paper figure for the dead teacher, spreading a ghost story that made Zhao Xiansheng even more renowned.

• Yu Chen discovered that only he could see the ghosts drawn out by the Scripture of Deliverance, and Zhao Xiansheng’s wish concerned his hidden storybooks.
• Yu Chen learned that Zhao Xiansheng had secretly read lurid books for years because his wife suffered pain during intimacy, and feared the books would ruin his reputation after death.
• Yu Chen went to Zhao Xiansheng’s home at night and sent paper figures into the study to retrieve the books from a hidden compartment.
• A servant entered the study, mistook a paper figure made to look and sound like Zhao Xiansheng for his master, and fled after realizing Zhao was dead.
• The servant told Madam Zhao about the encounter, and the story spread, enhancing Zhao Xiansheng’s reputation until the county magistrate visited his tomb to offer incense.

Yu Chen retrieved Old Mister Zhao’s storybooks and discovered diary entries revealing that Zhao had helped him because of his parents, whom he remembered as men of lofty aspiration. After fulfilling Zhao’s wish, Yu Chen received the Infernal Ghost Mask, a treasure that concealed his appearance and Innate Realm aura.

• Yu Chen carried the storybooks to Qingfeng Mausoleum and used the Scripture of Deliverance to send them into the Yellow Springs.
• Yu Chen found Old Mister Zhao’s diary and learned that Zhao had repeatedly helped him and arranged for him to become a gravekeeper because of his parents.
• Yu Chen wondered how his parents, whom Zhao described as men of lofty aspiration, had become executed criminals.
• The Scripture of Deliverance recorded Zhao’s wish as fulfilled and bestowed the Infernal Ghost Mask on Yu Chen.
• Yu Chen tested the mask and found it could conceal his appearance and suppress the aura of his Innate Realm body.
• Yu Chen cooked a meal, ate, and fell asleep.

Yu Chen learned that Sun the Old Lady died haunted by the two taels of silver Li Er had stolen from her and planned to recover the debt. That night, he used a paper effigy to frighten Li Er, who found himself confronted by a ghostly figure in his butcher shop.

• Yu Chen realized that his new Innate Realm body required far more food and worried his savings would run out.
• Yu Chen saw the funeral procession for Sun the Old Lady and used the Scripture of Deliverance to learn that Li Er had taken her two taels of silver and refused to repay them.
• Yu Chen decided to retrieve the money for Sun the Old Lady and went to Li Er's butcher shop after nightfall.
• Yu Chen knocked at the shop with Sun the Old Lady's paper effigy, then made her ghostly form appear before Li Er.
• Li Er grabbed his butcher's knife as the apparition drifted toward him, chanting his name.

Yu Chen confronted Li Er after the butcher destroyed the paper ghost meant to make him repay Sun the Old Lady. Yu Chen overpowered Li Er and forced him to promise repayment and stop bullying merchants, leaving Li Er terrified and obedient.

• Li Er recognized Sun the Old Lady’s ghostly figure as a paper trick and chopped it apart with his butcher’s knife.
• Yu Chen entered Li Er’s shop in disguise and demanded that he repay his debt.
• Li Er attacked Yu Chen, who seized his wrist and slapped him to the floor.
• Li Er charged again, but Yu Chen punched him into a pork rack and took control of the butcher’s knife.
• Yu Chen forced Li Er to promise to repay the money and stop bullying merchants, then threatened him into silence.

After Li Er repaid Sun the Old Lady’s debt, Yu Chen received and mastered a combat technique from the Scripture of Deliverance. The chapter ends when the Corpse Mover returned to Qingfeng Mausoleum.

• The Golden Sun Merchant Guild recruited porters and guards in Weishui, while the Wang Household offered a reward for the silver-white beast that killed Wang Wenli.
• Li Er repaid Sun the Old Lady two taels of silver and shocked Hanging Bridge by treating people meekly.
• Sun the Old Lady’s final wish was fulfilled, and the Scripture of Deliverance bestowed the tome Subduing Dragons and Tigers: Mortal Volume on Yu Chen.
• Yu Chen mastered the martial technique in an illusion and tested it in the snow, unleashing enough force to clear the ground around him.
• Yu Chen concealed the traces of his practice, returned to his hut, and ate before the Corpse Mover arrived again.

Yu Chen learned that Old Master Wang was offering a hundred taels for the White Ghost tiger and went to confirm the reward. At the Wang Household, he discovered Young Master Wang’s lingering ghost and watched the Zhengqing Gang depart to hunt the tiger.

• A Corpse Mover told Yu Chen about the tiger reward and several supposed hauntings in Weishui.
• Yu Chen went to Skybridge and confirmed Old Master Wang’s reward notice for the White Ghost tiger.
• Yu Chen saw ghostly light at the Wang Household and entered the mourning hall to pay respects to Young Master Wang.
• Young Master Wang’s mangled ghost appeared to Yu Chen, revealing that he had died with an unfulfilled wish.
• Old Master Wang hired the Zhengqing Gang to subdue the tiger, and their scarred leader led the group away.
• Yu Chen followed the Zhengqing Gang out of the Wang Household.

Yu Chen learned that the Wang family’s eldest young master had died when the White Ghost attacked his party on Fanghua Mountain, and that his final wish was for no one else to suffer the same fate. The Scripture of Deliverance gave Yu Chen an Eighth-Grade Mortal Wish to remove the scourge, leaving him wondering whether he would still receive its reward if the Zhengqing Gang killed the beast.

• Yu Chen visited the Hanging Bridge market, bought tofu from Sun, and saw that Li Er had become genial after the previous night’s lesson.
• Yu Chen returned to Qingfeng Mausoleum and used the Scripture of Deliverance to view the Wang family eldest young master’s life and death.
• The eldest young master’s memories showed that a blizzard trapped his party on Fanghua Mountain until their Sparrow-Dropping Incense ran out and the White Ghost attacked.
• The eldest young master’s final wish was that no one else suffer the beast’s pain, and the Scripture of Deliverance revealed an Eighth-Grade Mortal Wish to remove a scourge from the people within thirty days and nights.
• Yu Chen remembered that the Zhengqing Gang also intended to subdue the White Ghost and wondered whether the Scripture would reward him if they killed it.

Yu Chen investigated whether another person could fulfill a dead person’s final wish, while the Zhengqing Gang prepared to hunt the man-eating tiger White Ghost on Fanghua Mountain. The gang’s leader realized the tiger had stopped eating animals and ordered everyone down the mountain, suspecting it had become a demon that preyed on humans.

• Yu Chen sent a Paper Crow toward the county town and planned to search for the tiger that night.
• The Zhengqing Gang prepared to hunt White Ghost, hoping to earn a reward and half-price medicine from the Wang Household.
• Yu Chen disguised himself with the Infernal Mask and traveled through the night toward Fanghua Mountain.
• White Ghost killed an elk but left its carcass untouched, seemingly dissatisfied with animal prey.
• The Zhengqing Gang found the fresh carcass, and their leader concluded that White Ghost had turned to eating humans and ordered the group down the mountain.

The Zhengqing Gang's boss led his martial folk down Fanghua Mountain, but the starving silver-white big cat attacked them before they could escape. The cat knocked the Innate Grandmaster down and was about to kill him when an unseen force suddenly hurled it away.

• The brawny man warned the martial folk that the big cat was becoming a monster, and they began descending the mountain.
• The silver-white big cat stalked the group and pounced when they neared the edge of No-Return Forest.
• The brawny man blocked the cat with his battle-axe while the others used weapons, torches, Sparrow-Dropping Incense, and drugged blow darts, but none could stop it.
• The cat's roar disarmed the martial folk, and it struck the brawny man with one claw, leaving him unable to fight.
• As the cat moved in to bite the fallen brawny man, a fierce gust swept past him and hurled the cat away.

Yu Chen arrived at Fanghua Mountain just as the silver-white tiger was about to kill the leader of the Zhengqing Gang, and saved him by hurling an ancient tree at the beast. He then faced the tiger again, while the martial wanderers watched in awe and fear.

• Yu Chen hurled a massive tree into the silver-white tiger, knocking it away from the short-clothed leader of the Zhengqing Gang.
• The tiger roared and prepared to attack again, while the short-clothed man urged his brothers to flee without him.
• The short-clothed man saw Yu Chen approaching in the Infernal Mask, and the masked figure struck the charging tiger with another uprooted tree.
• Yu Chen realized that the leader’s death would have ruined Young Master Wang’s Eighth-Grade Mortal Wish, which required that no more people die beneath the tiger’s jaws.

Yu Chen fought the silver-white tiger White Ghost and killed it with his immense strength and the moves of Subduing the Dragon and Taming the Tiger. He sat atop the dead beast as the martial wanderers watched in fear and awe.

• The martial wanderers wondered who the black-masked Yu Chen was as he approached White Ghost.
• White Ghost pounced, but Yu Chen dodged, seized the tiger by the neck, and hurled it through three trees.
• White Ghost charged again, and Yu Chen struck its claws and fangs with a punch, shattering them and sending the tiger crashing down.
• Yu Chen brought his palm down on the wounded tiger and killed it, ending White Ghost’s reign in the mountain forest.
• Yu Chen rested atop White Ghost’s head as the burly man and the martial wanderers stared at him in terror and awe.

Yu Chen had the Zhengqing Gang claim credit for killing the silver-white beast while arranging to receive the Wang Household’s reward himself. After the gang left, he returned to Qingfeng Mausoleum, reflecting on how their past kindness had led to this repayment.

• Xie Qing thanked Yu Chen for saving the Zhengqing Gang, and Yu Chen asked the martial wanderers to carry the beast to Wang Household Manor.
• Yu Chen told Xie Qing to claim that the Zhengqing Gang had slain the beast, give Yu Chen the reward, and keep the Wang Household Shops’ discounts for themselves.
• Xie Qing and the martial wanderers gratefully accepted the arrangement and carried the beast down the mountain.
• Yu Chen waited until the gang had departed, then headed toward Qingfeng Mausoleum.
• Yu Chen recalled that the Zhengqing Gang had helped him secure his gravekeeper’s job through Old Mister Zhao’s connection to the tall gang member, and he had repaid that old kindness.

Yu Chen fulfilled Young Master Wang’s final wish and received the Heavenly Eye of Minute Insight, which let him see in darkness and perceive minute details, blood qi, and vitality. As the Zhengqing Gang collected its reward for the tiger, Xie Qing added another hundred taels to repay the senior who had saved them, while Yu Chen prepared to collect his silver.

• Yu Chen returned to Qingfeng Mausoleum and saw that Young Master Wang’s resentment had vanished and his ghost had crossed the Yellow Springs River.
• The Scripture of Deliverance rewarded Yu Chen with the Heavenly Eye of Minute Insight, which let him see clearly in darkness and observe blood qi and vitality.
• Xie Qing led the Zhengqing Gang into Weishui County Seat with the silver-white tiger’s corpse and received a hundred taels of patterned silver from Old Master Wang.
• Xie Qing instructed One-Eye to withdraw another hundred taels and add it to the reward as repayment for the senior who had saved them.
• Yu Chen went to sleep, intending to head to the south of the city at dawn to collect his silver.