Chapter Summaries

Yu Chen learned that the witnesses who testified against his parents had all disappeared, while Xie Qing uncovered serious doubts about the old case and suspected that Yu Tiesheng had been framed. The trail pointed to Yu Tiesheng’s former disciple, now Weishui’s chief constable, Xiao Zihua.

• Xie Qing told Yu Chen that every witness from the secret trial had died, vanished, or left Weishui within a year of the case.
• Xie Qing recounted how Yu Tiesheng and his wife had been convicted of massacring the Chen Household after their bronze maces were found at the scene.
• Xie Qing pointed out that Yu Tiesheng had no motive, had helped the Chen Household, and was too experienced to leave his weapons behind.
• Xie Qing reasoned that someone close to Yu Tiesheng could have stolen the maces and framed him.
• Xie Qing identified Yu Tiesheng’s adopted disciple, Xiao Zihua, as the current chief constable of Weishui and a possible suspect.

Yu Chen learned that Xiao Zihua, his father’s former disciple and Weishui’s escaped former chief constable, might hold clues to his parents’ case. After Yu Chen asked Xie Qing to find Xiao and protect Wang Hai’s family, the Corpse Mover revealed that Xiao’s escape had brought the conspirators’ plans to a head.

• Xie Qing told Yu Chen that Xiao Zihua had escaped prison after being arrested for bribery and corruption, and Yu Chen gave him Paper Crows to send news.
• Yu Chen asked Xie Qing to have the Zhengqing Gang protect Wang Hai’s wife, children, and elderly relatives, then returned to Qingfeng Mausoleum.
• The Corpse Mover reported that he could not identify who killed the Ji Family’s Three Brothers, and he suspected the Head-Taking Ghost had also killed five Blackwater Gang members.
• The Corpse Mover told the fat man that Xiao Zihua had escaped prison and said Xiao had stolen Old Brother Yu’s identity.
• The fat man dropped his harmless disguise and ordered the Corpse Mover to make it clean.

Yu Chen encountered Wang Ling’s grand funeral and learned that the Wang Household’s neglected, slow-witted son had died after choking on a steamed bun. Wang Ling’s lingering spirit appeared before Yu Chen, revealing an unfulfilled wish tied to the woman he had loved and secretly showered with gifts.

• The Corpse Mover visited Yu Chen for lunch, then said he was leaving Weishui for a few days to clean up a place outside the city.
• Yu Chen and the Corpse Mover saw a lavish funeral procession for Wang Ling, a young man from the Wang Household.
• The Corpse Mover explained that Wang Ling had been neglected after his mother died and had worked for years at a Wang Household woodcarving workshop.
• Townsfolk said Wang Ling had choked on a steamed bun and died before anyone could get him to a clinic.
• Yu Chen saw Wang Ling’s ghost grinning at him and recognized that the dead youth had an unfulfilled wish.
• The Corpse Mover recounted how Wang Ling had spent years carving and buying gifts for a woman who pawned his carvings.

Yu Chen discovered that Wang Ling's unfulfilled wish was to deliver a birthday gift to a woman and set out to fulfill it. Following Wang Ling's memories led him to Bright Moon Mausoleum, where the woman apparently lived.

• Corpse Mover left the city, and Yu Chen returned to Qingfeng Mausoleum with groceries while Wang Ling's ghost followed him.
• Yu Chen used the Scripture of Deliverance and learned that Wang Ling had five shichen to deliver a wooden figurine as a birthday gift.
• Yu Chen retrieved the figurine from Wang Ling's room at the woodcarving workshop and left without being recognized by a worker.
• Yu Chen followed the route in Wang Ling's memories out of the city and through a secluded forest.
• Yu Chen reached Bright Moon Mausoleum and confirmed that Wang Ling's beloved woman lived inside the cemetery.

Yu Chen discovered that Wang Ling’s beloved was his deceased birth mother, Li Qiu'e, and helped his ghost fulfill its final wish at her grave. As Wang Ling crossed the Yellow Springs, the gravekeeper arrived and realized the wooden carving could not have been left by the dead young man.

• Yu Chen entered Bright Moon Mausoleum and found the gravestone of Li Qiu'e of the Wang Household.
• Yu Chen remembered that Li Qiu'e had been Wang Ling’s mother and understood that Wang Ling’s gifts had always been meant for her.
• Wang Ling’s ghost placed the wooden carving before his mother’s grave, embraced the gravestone, and crossed the Yellow Springs after thanking Yu Chen.
• Yu Chen turned to leave, but saw the gravekeeper take the carving and mutter that Wang Ling had died that morning.
• The gravekeeper froze when he realized Wang Ling could not have left the carving after his death.

Yu Chen used the Infernal Mask to frighten the gravekeeper into confessing that he had stolen Wang Ling’s offerings to Li Qiu'e. The gravekeeper was arrested, and Wang Ling’s filial devotion became known throughout Weishui.

• Yu Chen realized that the Bright Moon Mausoleum gravekeeper had been selling the offerings Wang Ling left at Li Qiu'e’s grave.
• The gravekeeper took a wooden carving from Li Qiu'e’s grave and became terrified when he remembered that Wang Ling had been buried that morning.
• Yu Chen transformed into Wang Ling’s ghost with the Infernal Mask and frightened the gravekeeper into dropping the carving.
• The gravekeeper fled to town, where he confessed to stealing Wang Ling’s offerings while seeking protection from a soldier.
• After the nobles and dignitaries pressured the yamen, officers arrested the gravekeeper for theft, and Wang Ling’s filial devotion became widely known.

Yu Chen learned the Yu Step: Mortal Volume, encountered the chief of the Aura-Observing Bureau, and received a message from Xie Qing about Xiao Zihua. The chapter ended with a corpse mover heading toward a job involving someone who should have died fifteen years earlier.

• Yu Chen fulfilled Foolish Young Master Wang Ling's final wish and received the Yu Step: Mortal Volume from the Scripture of Deliverance.
• Yu Chen mastered the Yu Steps, discovering that they gave him traceless speed and let him briefly unleash tremendous power.
• Yu Chen collected his pay and met the Aura-Observing Bureau chief, whose probing gaze failed to pierce the Infernal Ghost Mask.
• Yu Chen concluded that his Heavenly Eye of Minute Insight could not see through Qi Refiners and felt instinctively repulsed by the chief.
• A paper bird from Xie Qing reached Yu Chen, prompting him to leave Qingfeng Mausoleum for news about Xiao Zihua.
• At Qingshan Relay Station, a burly corpse mover received a message and said his new job concerned someone who should have been a corpse fifteen years earlier.

Yu Chen tracked down the fugitive Xiao Zihua and confronted him in a remote courtyard. After easily defeating Xiao Zihua, Yu Chen left him helpless and at his mercy.

• Xie Qing told Yu Chen that Xiao Zihua was hiding in a courtyard eighty li south of Weishui City and gave him the address.
• Xiao Zihua waited anxiously for help from Ji Sixth Lord and the Blackwater Gang, realizing they had likely abandoned him.
• The sound of bells made Xiao Zihua drowsy, and the masked Yu Chen entered his room through the snow and wind.
• Xiao Zihua attacked Yu Chen with a saber, but Yu Chen caught it barehanded and crushed it.
• Xiao Zihua tried to flee, but Yu Chen blocked him, threw him into a wall, and approached him as he lay injured.

Yu Chen forced Xiao Zihua to confess that the Blackwater Gang’s first chief had ordered the framing of Yu Tiesheng for the Chen Household Massacre, then made Xiao repay his crimes. The Corpse Mover arrived, tested Yu Chen’s strength, and found Xiao Zihua already dead.

• Yu Chen broke Xiao Zihua’s legs and tortured him until he admitted stealing Yu Tiesheng’s golden maces and planting them at the Chen Household to frame Yu Tiesheng and his wife.
• Xiao Zihua revealed that the Blackwater Gang’s first chief had ordered him to steal the maces, while the gang’s six chiefs had killed the Chen Household’s twelve members.
• Yu Chen revealed his identity as Yu Tiesheng’s son and took Xiao Zihua away to repay his debt.
• The Corpse Mover arrived at Xiao Zihua’s courtyard and challenged Yu Chen, but Yu Chen’s power overwhelmed him and destroyed the courtyard wall.
• The Corpse Mover accepted Yu Chen as a potential ally and went inside to confront Xiao Zihua, only to find Xiao’s headless body kneeling in a blood-soaked room.

Yu Chen uncovered how Xiao Zihua helped the Blackwater Gang frame his parents in the Chen Household Massacre, then killed him while investigating the old case. He returned to Qingfeng Mausoleum resolved to pursue the gang’s chiefs and avenge his parents.

• The corpse mover found Xiao Zihua dead and reported that the mysterious Head-Taking Ghost had defeated him and might be investigating the Blackwater Gang.
• The county magistrate learned that the Head-Taking Ghost had a grudge against Blackwater and ordered preparations for the prefectural inspection to continue.
• Yu Chen concluded that Blackwater Gang chiefs had committed the Chen Household Massacre and that Xiao Zihua had helped frame Yu Chen’s parents after bearing a grudge against his father.
• Yu Chen learned that Xiao Zihua had accepted a bribe to free the killer of a Chen family daughter, then accepted Blackwater’s offer to frame Yu Chen’s father in exchange for becoming chief constable.
• Yu Chen resolved to keep pursuing those responsible for his parents’ deaths, beginning with Xiao Zihua and continuing against the Blackwater Gang’s chiefs.