Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Chen Mu explores the glowing, twisting cave passage and reaches an underground river.
• A Zhu, the Dragon Maiden, wakes and emerges. In her tiny human form, she playfully reproaches Chen Mu for seeming interested in Qin Xiangjun and reminds him that she helped him fight the serpent. She asks him to take her out to see the modern world, though her weak soul means she must remain close to him.
• Chen Mu and A Zhu spot the Three-Eyed Old Ape in a vast cavern. It has just killed another ape and is itself badly wounded.
• Beside the ape is a pool of Innate Stone Milk, a rare treasure that can improve Blood Essence cultivation and nourish A Zhu’s soul. Chen Mu decides to claim it but avoids attacking carelessly because of the ape’s deadly third-eye fire.
• Chen Mu sends Qishan to lure the ape away from the pool. When the ape pursues Qishan and prepares to use its eye-fire, Chen Mu calls on A Zhu’s power and ambushes it with Pearl-Bearing Thunder Dragon. The lightning destroys its third eye and blows apart its head.
• After confirming the ape is dead, Chen Mu orders Qishan to check the corpse for its eyeball and moves toward the Stone Milk. The chapter ends before he collects it.

Character developments

• Chen Mu shows caution and tactical patience, using Qishan as a decoy before striking. He also appreciates A Zhu’s earlier help and is curious about her identity and temperament.
• A Zhu reveals her familiar, candid personality beneath her Dragon Maiden form. She is jealous of Chen Mu’s attention to Qin Xiangjun, longs to see the outside world, and has developed an appetite for treasures. She can lend Chen Mu powerful support in battle.
• Qishan serves as a fast and effective decoy, drawing the wounded ape into Chen Mu’s ambush.
• The Three-Eyed Old Ape is established as formidable but vulnerable while injured; its own eye-fire becomes part of the explosive chain that kills it.

Significant themes

• Cooperation and trust: Chen Mu’s victory depends on coordinating with both Qishan and A Zhu.
• Caution and timing: Rather than confronting a dangerous foe head-on, Chen Mu waits for the right moment to strike.
• Power and transformation: A Zhu’s assistance lets Chen Mu unleash a devastating attack without charging it first.
• Treasure and cultivation: The Stone Milk represents both material reward and a means of spiritual and physical advancement.

Character interactions

• A Zhu teases and reproaches Chen Mu over Qin Xiangjun, while Chen Mu responds with amused patience and sincere thanks.
• A Zhu asks Chen Mu to show her the world; he is inclined to agree, but the approaching danger interrupts them.
• Chen Mu directs Qishan to provoke and lure the ape, then summons A Zhu’s power for the finishing blow.
• After the fight, Chen Mu gives Qishan the task of examining the ape while he moves toward the Stone Milk.

Plot points and events

• Chen Mu explores the demon cave after killing the Three-Eyed Old Ape. He finds ancient medicinal herbs, a rare Phoenix-Blood Fruit tree, and the pool of innate stone milk.
• A Zhu identifies the fruits: they grow only under unusual conditions involving a yin-rich spirit vein and concentrated sunlight. For demon beasts, eating one may awaken an innate fire divine power. Cultivators must refine them with suitable materials before use.
• Chen Mu suspects the ape’s fire-eye power came from a Phoenix-Blood Fruit. He collects the fruits and, with Qishan’s help, finds heat-filled blood essence and two fire-aspected eye cores among the ape corpses. He stores the materials in his Profound Thunder Cauldron for later refinement.
• Chen Mu orders Qishan to stand guard and begins cultivating beside the stone-milk pool. At midnight, the Slaughter Register gives him his first Lower-B rating, along with gold, demon-beast blood essence, and a new divine-power seed: Lihuo Essence Gold.
• Believing the seed and fruit can work together, Chen Mu swallows both without first arranging a controlled refinement. Their powers erupt inside him: the seed draws in his extreme-yang true qi, while the fruit intensifies the flames. His yin-yang balance collapses, his meridians and body begin to burn, and his blood essence threatens to run wild.
• Realizing he may die, Chen Mu desperately orders all available points to be invested in his internal art so he can generate enough Profound Yin True Qi to suppress the fire.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Mu is resourceful and ambitious, quickly identifying how the ape’s remains might help him cultivate a new power. But his eagerness to seize an opportunity leads him to act recklessly, turning a promising reward into a life-threatening crisis.
• A Zhu displays her inherited dragon-race knowledge by identifying the Phoenix-Blood Fruit and explaining its growth and use. She remains impatient with Chen Mu’s follow-up questions and withdraws to rest.
• Qishan efficiently sorts the spoils and follows Chen Mu’s order to stand guard while he cultivates.

Significant themes

• Power carries danger: rare treasures can offer great abilities, but using them without preparation can be fatal.
• Knowledge versus haste: Chen Mu has gathered useful information and materials, yet acts before fully understanding how to safely combine them.
• The balance of opposing forces: the chapter’s crisis centers on the struggle between the seed’s overwhelming fire and the Profound Yin energy Chen Mu needs to contain it.

Plot and key events

• Chen Mu uses 1,968 Karmic Slaughter to advance the Heaven-Earth Infinite Art, gaining control over the raging Lihuo Essence Gold inside him.
• The breakthrough opens six meridians and raises his martial cultivation two levels, to fourth-level Meridian Opening. His ear aperture also opens, granting exceptionally keen hearing.
• Still struggling to contain the fire, Chen Mu drinks the cavern’s entire pool of Innate Stone Milk. It strengthens his body and helps him fully absorb the Lihuo Essence Gold.
• The remaining flame gathers at his Spirit Platform and threatens his Divine Sense. On A Zhu’s advice, Chen Mu refines two Demon Ape Eyecores. Their essence combines with the flame and enters his eyes.
• Chen Mu awakens the incomplete divine ability Divine Lihuo Eyes, whose first manifestation, Blazing Flames Burn the Heavens, fires devastating beams that pierce the mountain and incinerate a demon bird on patrol.
• After thanking A Zhu, Chen Mu checks his gains, gathers his belongings, and rides Qishan back toward the city before dawn. He plans to give A-Ning herbs for her cold affliction.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Mu survives a dangerous refinement, advances in cultivation, and gains both extraordinary hearing and a powerful long-range fire ability. He is eager to tell A-Ning about his success and help treat her illness.
• A Zhu plays a crucial role: she cools Chen Mu, recognizes that the Demon Ape Eyecores can resolve the danger, and guides him through refining them. The effort exhausts her, and she retreats to the cauldron to recover. Chen Mu feels grateful and resolves to take her out more often and, if possible, help her regain a True Dragon Body.
• Chen Mu’s interactions with A Zhu are marked by practical trust and growing affection: he thanks her, while she brushes off his gratitude and complains that words are not enough.

Significant themes

• Perilous growth: Chen Mu’s advances come through enduring pain and danger, as his body struggles to withstand the forces he absorbs.
• Resourcefulness and adaptation: He combines martial cultivation, Innate Stone Milk, and the Demon Ape Eyecores to turn a dangerous crisis into new strength.
• Loyalty and care: A Zhu’s intervention saves Chen Mu, and his thoughts afterward show concern for her well-being as well as A-Ning’s.
• Power with limits: The Divine Lihuo Eyes are formidable but incomplete; further manifestations require additional fire-aspected treasures.

Plot points and events

• After Chen Mu leaves Mangdang Mountain, Li Wangchen arrives at Thunder Abyss with Dark-Moon Devil Lord Wei Wuji, a powerful member of the Yin-Yang Demon Sect.
• Wei claims his sect’s Mystic Heaven-Peering Art has foretold that they will find and “welcome home” an imperial princess. Li Wangchen is skeptical but follows him deeper into the valley.
• Wei recreates the previous day’s battle through a misty vision, revealing Yan Qing’s fight with the Mystic Guards and his later clash with Chen Mu.
• Wei predicts that Yan Qing’s karmic burden will bring him to ruin, likely at Chen Mu’s hands. Yet Wei cannot clearly read Chen Mu’s fate, finding no corresponding natal star in the heavens.
• Li recognizes Chen Mu as the man who killed his Earth Corpse and cost him half his cultivation. Though eager for revenge, he agrees to postpone the pursuit and continues with Wei.

Character developments and interactions

• Wei Wuji demonstrates formidable power, confidence, and skill in fate-reading, but Chen Mu’s obscured destiny unsettles him.
• Li Wangchen reveals his grudge against Chen Mu and his alliance with Wei, while restraining his hostility in pursuit of the larger promised goal.
• Yan Qing is portrayed as a formidable, karmically burdened figure whose future appears ominous.
• Wei and Li exchange skepticism, displays of power, and mutual respect, though Li remains wary and intent on eventual revenge.

Significant themes

• Fate versus uncertainty: Wei can glimpse major events, but Chen Mu’s destiny resists even his art.
• Karma and consequence: Yan Qing’s karmic burden foreshadows a likely downfall.
• Power and ambition: Wei and Li set aside personal concerns to pursue the mysterious imperial princess and the sect’s greater undertaking.

Plot points and events

• In the Mound of Ten Thousand Bones, Wei Wuji and Li Wangchen find Princess Yuan Yao’s Demonic Soul concealed in the grave Chen Mu made for Ziyang and Azure Luan.
• Wei reveals that the Yin-Yang Dao Palace and Imperial Preceptor have been preparing for this moment for three hundred years, intending to restore Great Wei’s power.
• Yuan Yao’s memories are damaged. Li Wangchen splits off part of his own body and reshapes it into a flesh puppet, allowing her spirit to take the form of a young girl.
• Wei declares that he will sacrifice the people of Cloud Province and remake Yuan Yao’s body. The three leave the abyss on a dragon formed from Baleful Intent.
• Meanwhile, Chen Mu heads home after leaving Mangdang Mountain, riding Qishan in the form of a swift black horse.
• At an abandoned temple, Chen encounters Li Huanzhen, a Daoist companion from his earlier travels. Li is disheveled and drunk, and hints that something went badly during his attempted breakthrough. He asks Chen to share wine before hearing the full story.

Character developments and interactions

• Wei Wuji shifts from a feared Devil Lord to an openly zealous agent of a long-running imperial restoration scheme. He treats Yuan Yao with reverence and directs Li Wangchen’s role in her return.
• Yuan Yao awakens confused and unable to remember her past, but begins accepting her identity as Great Wei’s imperial princess.
• Li Wangchen assists Wei by sacrificing half his body to create Yuan Yao’s temporary vessel, earning her gratitude.
• Chen Mu remains eager to return to A-Ning, but pauses to help an old acquaintance.
• Li Huanzhen, once composed and courteous, appears broken and despondent after an apparent setback. He is reluctant to explain what happened, but trusts Chen enough to invite him to drink and listen.

Significant themes

• Schemes across generations: The Dao Palace’s three-century plan suggests that present events are part of a much larger political design.
• Identity and memory: Yuan Yao’s damaged recollections leave her uncertain of who she is, even as others define her by her royal role.
• Sacrifice and manipulation: Li’s bodily sacrifice helps restore Yuan Yao, while Wei’s plan to sacrifice Cloud Province reveals the human cost of their ambition.
• Loyalty and fellowship: Chen’s concern for Li Huanzhen contrasts with the ruthless political plotting unfolding elsewhere.

Key plot points

• In a ruined temple, Chen Mu finds his friend Li Huanzhen drinking and hears how the fox demon Su Yue’e disrupted his attempt to reach the Innate Realm.
• Su Yue’e had secretly marked both men, then targeted Li while he was in seclusion. She used the Separation-Longing Demon Fire to cloud his mind, and they spent the night together. Though she had intended to drain him, she apparently spared his life and left with signs of real affection.
• Ashamed of losing his “pure yang” body and unable to face his sect, Li wandered until he ended up in the temple. He now vows to confront Su Yue’e someday.
• Chen sympathizes, partly because Su had also targeted him. He still bears a Lovesick Flame that he can suppress with Yin Lightning, and hopes his growing mastery of fire will eventually let him absorb it.
• Once sober, Li tries to deny his confession. Chen lets him save face and invites him to Everlasting Prosperity Town for wine.
• Li accepts. On the way, Chen proposes a race to the town gate, and the newly spirited Daoist takes off first. Chen realizes Li’s cultivation is intact: he has apparently just broken through to the Innate Realm.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Huanzhen shifts from grief and shame to renewed energy. Despite his humiliation, his easygoing nature returns when Chen offers companionship and a friendly challenge.
• Chen Mu acts as a sympathetic friend, teasing Li gently but protecting his dignity. He also recognizes that Li’s apparent misfortune may conceal a breakthrough.
• Su Yue’e is presented as dangerous and manipulative, yet unexpectedly capable of attachment: she spares Li and seems to have developed genuine feelings for him.
• Chen and Li share a candid, brotherly conversation over wine, then reconnect through playful competition.

Significant themes

• Humiliation, secrecy, and friendship: Chen helps Li face a painful experience without exposing him to further shame.
• Desire and self-control: Su’s demon fire affects both men, while Chen struggles to suppress its lingering influence.
• Misfortune and unexpected fortune: Li’s ordeal appears to have ruined him, but his cultivation remains unharmed and he has reached the Innate Realm.
• The ambiguity of affection: Su’s predatory motives coexist with signs that her feelings for Li became genuine.

Key events

• Chen Mu returns to the city with Li Huanzhen, who leaves him behind using an impressive lightness skill and then parts to meet Daoist acquaintances.
• Chen Mu notices the city is unusually tense: fewer civilians, many soldiers on patrol, closed shops, and crowds of armed martial artists from across the land.
• Back at the Azure Dragon Martial Academy, he learns that most disciples have been assigned to help train soldiers and strengthen the city’s defenses.
• He reunites with A-Ning, who has been studying the cultivation manual he gave her. She has made progress, and her cold affliction has stopped flaring up. Overjoyed to see him, she rushes into his arms.
• A-Ning tells Chen Mu that Liu Qingluo asked him to report to the East City Drill Ground. There he finds Liu Qingcang temporarily serving as garrison commander, alongside Qin Tieya and Yuan Hong.
• Liu Qingcang reveals an urgent report: the Sky Wolfers will march south in three days.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Mu returns alert to the city’s growing danger, reunites warmly with A-Ning, then quickly turns to military affairs.
• A-Ning shows both her affection and worry for Chen Mu, while making promising progress in cultivation and retaining her gentle, earnest nature.
• Chuntang, A-Ning’s protective maid, initially treats the approaching Chen Mu as a possible threat. Her surprise at his appearance gives way to embarrassment once she realizes he is A-Ning’s husband.
• Li Huanzhen remains playful and self-assured, teasing Chen Mu about being slow before going off to drink with fellow Daoists.
• Liu Qingcang has taken on a provisional command role and is focused on preparing the city’s defenses.

Significant themes

• Impending crisis and mobilization: The altered city, influx of martial artists, and military preparations foreshadow an imminent invasion.
• Love amid danger: A-Ning’s longing and relief at Chen Mu’s return provide a tender contrast to the approaching conflict.
• Growth and responsibility: A-Ning’s spiritual progress and Chen Mu’s return to military duty show personal development unfolding alongside larger threats.

Chen Mu returned to Everlasting Prosperity Town as Liu Qingcang explained that the Sky Wolfers and their allies threatened the town’s defenses and supply routes. With the town facing a likely siege, Chen Mu and his senior brothers volunteered to follow their master’s orders.

• Qin Tieya told Chen Mu that he and Yuan Hong had tracked Xuanzhen’s raiders, uncovered intelligence about the Sky Wolfers’ invasion, and brought a secret letter from the Military Command.
• Chen Mu recounted his journey through Mangdang Mountain and revealed his newly acquired lightning and Divine Lihuo Eyes abilities, astonishing his companions.
• Liu Qingcang explained that the Beiliang forces would likely stop the main Wolf Cavalry Army on Sirius Plain, but the Grassland Golden Horde and White Mountain Ghost Kingdom planned a separate attack through the Northern Capital defenses.
• Liu Qingcang warned that Everlasting Prosperity Town, a key transfer hub, would be targeted and could fall within days if the barbarians and Mangdang demons attacked together.
• Chen Mu, Qin Tieya, and Yuan Hong pledged to follow Liu Qingcang’s orders and help defend the town.

Liu Qingcang assigned Chen Mu to deliver a secret request for reinforcements to Cloud Province while Qin Tieya and Yuan Hong went to investigate the Northern Capital. Before setting out, Chen Mu told A-Ning he would marry her that day, and she gave him an embroidered Peace Buckle to carry with him.

• Liu Qingcang explained that the Military Command had ordered a mission to Cloud Province to gather troops before the Sky Wolfers invaded.
• Qin Tieya volunteered to investigate the Northern Capital with Yuan Hong, while Chen Mu agreed to deliver the letter to Cloud Province with Qishan.
• Chen Mu returned to the Martial Arts Hall and asked A-Ning to marry him that day, hinting that his journey might be dangerous.
• A-Ning realized Chen Mu was bidding farewell, but he assured her he would return in two or three days.
• A-Ning gave Chen Mu an embroidered Peace Buckle bearing the characters Anning, kissed him, and told him to hurry back for their wedding.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Mu decides to take A-Ning to Youzhou after the winter war to search for her family, despite the slim chance they are still alive.
• With only half a day available, he arranges an evening wedding and gives Liu Meng money to handle the preparations.
• He considers whom to invite. His senior brother Xiao Wenbin is away investigating the Demon Sect, and Liu Qingluo has been sent to Jiangnan by their master. Chen Mu regrets missing her tearful resistance but worries he may not see her again.
• Chen Mu goes to invite Li Huanzhen, partly to settle a promised drink and partly to ask about Daoist cultivation.
• In a restaurant crowded with martial artists who have come to help defend the city, Chen Mu finds Li in conversation with Nangong Wenyu, heir to the famed Thatched Cottage Sword Saint. Wenyu’s two companions—a massive guard and a young girl—are both formidable martial artists.
• Li introduces Chen and Wenyu. The conversation turns to Wenyu’s legendary ancestor, the Sword Saint, whose achievements have made his name renowned across the realm. The chapter ends just as Chen asks what extraordinary deed the Sword Saint performed.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Mu shows affection and long-term commitment to A-Ning, making plans to reunite her with her family. His practical haste in arranging the wedding contrasts with his playful thoughts about inviting Li to save the cost of a drink.
• Li Huanzhen is cheerful and sociable, quickly drawing Chen into a new conversation and continuing to remind him of their wager.
• Nangong Wenyu comes across as courteous and composed, while his reputation and lineage establish him as a significant figure beyond Chen’s familiar region.
• The young girl reacts with distaste to Chen’s lingering scent of blood, while Chen treats it as an ordinary consequence of battle.
• Chen’s thoughts about Liu Qingluo reveal both his fondness for her spirited nature and uncertainty about whether they will meet again.

Significant themes

• Love, family, and belonging: Chen hopes to help A-Ning recover her lost family and build a future with her.
• Duty amid danger: The city is preparing for war, and martial artists from across the region are gathering to defend it.
• A widening world: The meeting with Wenyu reveals how small Chen’s home region is compared with the broader martial realm and its famous figures.
• Reputation and legacy: The Sword Saint’s enduring fame, built on extraordinary deeds, frames the chapter’s closing curiosity.

Key plot points

• Chen Mu asks Li Huanzhen about the Sword Saint, but Cui Yuyao, a young woman from a prominent northern clan, mocks him for his ignorance.
• Li Huanzhen defends Chen Mu and challenges Young Master Yu, who brought Cui Yuyao to the gathering. Chen Mu tries to defuse the dispute and leave.
• Young Master Yu offers a perfunctory toast, barely touching the wine, then departs with Cui Yuyao and their companions. Li Huanzhen recognizes the insult and vents his anger, but Chen Mu urges him to let it go.
• Chen Mu shares his good news: he is bringing Song Anning home as his bride that night. Li Huanzhen is delighted and promises to attend the wedding.
• While Chen Mu recounts some of his history with Anning, Li Huanzhen notes that her Mysterious Yin Physique resembles that of Princess Yaoji, a gifted imperial princess from the fallen Great Wei dynasty who died amid war.
• Chen Mu then asks about the Lunar Chain-Form Formula that Anning is cultivating. Li Huanzhen reacts with alarm and urgently asks where it came from, leaving Chen Mu worried that the formula may pose a danger to his wife.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Mu stays calm in the face of condescension and avoids escalating a clash with a powerful family. His focus shifts quickly to celebrating his marriage and protecting Anning.
• Li Huanzhen shows how deeply he values Chen Mu: he takes the insult personally and demands an explanation from Young Master Yu. He is also knowledgeable about Daoist records and becomes conspicuously alarmed by Anning’s cultivation formula.
• Young Master Yu maintains a polished exterior but gives an insincere apology, revealing arrogance and disregard for Chen Mu.
• Cui Yuyao is sharp-tongued and dismissive toward Chen Mu, while Anning—though absent—becomes central to the conversation through her physique and cultivation.

Significant themes

• Friendship and loyalty: Li Huanzhen’s willingness to confront a prestigious young master contrasts with Chen Mu’s preference to avoid needless conflict.
• Status versus character: Young Master Yu’s reputation and social standing are undercut by his insincere conduct.
• Hidden history and mystery: Anning’s physique connects her to Princess Yaoji, while the unexpected reaction to her formula suggests a deeper secret.
• Protective love: Chen Mu’s concern turns immediately to whether the formula could harm Anning.

Chen Mu married A-Ning in a festive gathering that brought together disciples, officials, and friends. During the feast, Li Huanzhen revealed the Lunar Chain-Form Formula’s connection to a catastrophic Demon Cult uprising, but he passed out before explaining what happened to the corpse soldiers.

• Chen Mu hosted a wedding feast at his new residence, where Wang Hu said he was leaving the city to travel south with the Four Seas Escort Agency.
• Chen Mu fetched A-Ning from the Martial Arts Hall and brought her back for their wedding ceremony.
• Chen Mu and A-Ning privately paid their respects to Liu Qingcang, who congratulated them and urged Chen Mu to avoid taking risks.
• Chen Mu learned from Li Huanzhen that a Demon Cult leader had used the Lunar Chain-Form Formula to gather refugees and turn them into a hundred thousand corpse soldiers.
• Chen Mu pressed the drunken Li Huanzhen to explain what became of the corpse soldiers, but Li Huanzhen passed out before answering.

Key plot points and events

• During the wedding feast, Li Huanzhen tells Chen Mu how the Sword Saint supposedly ended a devastating war in Jiangnan: with one sword stroke, he summoned ten thousand swords from Tai Lake, destroyed the Demon Sect’s hundred thousand corpse soldiers, and killed the Devil Lord. Chen Mu and the other guests are amazed, though some doubt the story.
• Chen Mu returns to the bridal chamber and spends the night with A-Ning. After she falls asleep, he quietly prepares to depart.
• He leaves A-Ning a note reading, “Wait for me,” and leaves her useful cultivation resources: a demon core containing Mystic Yellow Earth Qi, spiritual plants and herbs, and an Alchemy Canon describing formations for growing them.
• Before dawn, Chen Mu summons Qishan, who transforms into Black Charger. Carrying Liu Qingcang’s command token and secret letter, Chen Mu rides south toward Cloud Province.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Mu is intrigued by the Sword Saint’s legendary power and wonders how many formidable figures exist in the world. His care for A-Ning is evident in the resources he leaves to support her cultivation, even as he chooses to depart without waking her.
• A-Ning is affectionate and trusting, spending the night close to Chen Mu before falling asleep.
• Li Huanzhen entertains the wedding guests with a grand, possibly exaggerated tale, then drinks himself unconscious.
• Chuntang, standing outside the bridal chamber, reflects on her complicated feelings about Chen Mu and her own place in A-Ning’s household. The snowfall also recalls the bandit raid that destroyed her former master’s household.

Significant themes

• Legend and the unknown: The Sword Saint’s story expands Chen Mu’s sense of what may be possible, while leaving its truth uncertain.
• Love and separation: Chen Mu’s intimate farewell to A-Ning is followed by a quiet, solitary departure.
• Protection through preparation: Rather than wake A-Ning, Chen Mu leaves her tools to aid her cultivation.
• Memory and seasonal change: Snow evokes Chuntang’s traumatic past, while her hope for spring suggests the possibility of moving forward.

Plot points and events

• At White Cloud Cave on Fox Immortal Ridge, Su Yue’e receives Yan Qing, who arrives uninvited to ask for wine. He tells her the Mountain Lord has ordered him to leave in three days and fight, accepting that he may not return.
• Yan leaves despite Su Yue’e’s anger and evident distress. She then orders the thirty-two fox-demon caves to muster and accompany her in support of him.
• The next day, Chen Mu rides toward Cloud Province with Qishan. Near Azure Sun Temple, he chooses a detour through the lower mountains rather than risk the Demon Sect stronghold on the official road.
• Chen is also meant to ask nearby villagers about his missing senior brother, Xiao Wenbin, but has been warned not to enter the mountains or delay the military campaign.
• Before Chen can leave the official road, a blizzard conceals an ambush: paper figures bearing a bridal sedan block the way ahead, while corpse-like figures and a coffin cut off his retreat.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yue’e masks her attachment to Yan Qing with sarcasm and anger. When he leaves without responding to her, she resolves to help him rather than let him face danger alone.
• Yan Qing remains stoic and duty-bound, believing he owes the Mountain Lord a debt and that Su Yue’e should not be tied to the mountain—or to him.
• Chen Mu acts cautiously and follows his orders, weighing the faster official road against the danger near Azure Sun Temple. He remains alert enough to recognize the supernatural ambush.
• Qishan serves as Chen’s swift mount and warns him when the weather and road feel unnatural.

Significant themes

• Duty versus attachment: Yan chooses obligation and repayment over personal ties; Su Yue’e responds by risking herself for him.
• Loneliness and unspoken affection: Their exchange reveals mutual concern, but neither can express it plainly.
• Caution amid escalating danger: Chen’s careful route choice is overtaken by an ambush, underscoring how perilous the journey has become.
• Foreshadowing: Yan’s uncertain mission and Chen’s encounter with the red-and-white supernatural procession set up threats on separate fronts.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Mu meets Daoist Li of the Heaven Corpse Temple again. Li reveals himself from a black coffin and uses a spine as a ritual sword to control red threads and corpse puppets.
• Chen Mu attacks while Qishan strikes the bridal sedan chair, destroying it—but three flying female corpses emerge from the smoke. Their bodies repeatedly reassemble under Li’s control, and their yin energy wounds Chen despite his hardened physique.
• Li’s corpse-summoning spell overwhelms Qishan, whose body is badly corrupted and shrinks to a weakened state. Chen answers with a powerful lightning-infused saber strike, annihilating the flying corpses and badly injuring Li.
• Li then invokes a forbidden transformation, devouring corpse remains and reshaping himself into a monstrous, winged form. A growth on his shoulder develops a face identical to Chen’s.
• Chen wounds Li, but the same injury appears on Chen’s own shoulder. Realizing the attack has somehow been reflected onto him, Chen retreats as the fight takes a more dangerous turn.

Character developments

• Chen Mu remains aggressive and resourceful, relying on his physical strength and lightning techniques. He shows concern for Qishan, using violet lightning to purge the corpse corruption from him. The mirrored wound, however, reveals that Chen has underestimated Li’s transformed sorcery.
• Daoist Li returns as a more formidable and grotesque enemy, using corpse puppetry, ritual magic, and self-transformation. He is confident and taunting, even after Chen’s lightning strike injures him.
• Qishan fights loyally at Chen’s side, but is severely weakened by the flying corpse’s poisonous blood and must withdraw to recover.

Significant themes

• The grotesque costs of sorcery: Li’s power comes through corpse manipulation and a disturbing bodily transformation.
• Escalation and uncertain victory: Chen’s apparent success in destroying Li’s minions does not end the fight; Li’s new technique makes even a successful attack dangerous.
• Loyalty and protection: Qishan risks himself to protect Chen, and Chen responds by helping him survive the corruption.

Character interactions

• Li taunts Chen and threatens to turn his body into a new Earth Corpse; Chen answers with defiance and attacks.
• Qishan shields Chen by grappling with one of the flying corpses, while Chen battles the others.
• Chen’s lightning strike saves Qishan from the corpse’s lingering corruption.
• Their duel becomes unnerving when Chen’s wound mirrors the injury he inflicts on Li, leaving the outcome unresolved.

Plot points and events

• Chen Mu discovers that Daoist Li’s strange transformation links their energies: attacks on Li are reflected back onto Chen. The link comes from a grotesque, Chen-faced growth on Li’s back.
• Li attacks with his living Spine Sword, which coils around Chen’s Dragon-Slayer Saber and sends it flying. Chen responds with the Azure Dragon Seven-Slaying Fist, holding back from a killing blow while searching for a way to break the link.
• Li stabs himself with the Spine Sword, inflicting a distant wound on Chen’s heart. Chen survives thanks to his body-tempering arts. Li drives the blade deeper, and both men suffer as Bloodflame surges through it.
• When Li’s posture exposes the growth on his back, Chen destroys it with a punch. The energy link snaps, allowing Chen to seize and restrain the Spine Sword with Demon-Banishing Violet Lightning.
• Li escapes into the air, but Chen uses his costly Divine Lihuo Eyes to strike him down. A system notice confirms Heaven Corpse’s death.
• Li’s defeat is not the end: burning feathers bring a rotting corpse out of the earth. It identifies itself as Li Wangchen, the Human Corpse, retrieves the Spine Dharma Sword, and faces Chen. Chen draws back his Dragon-Slayer Saber and attacks as the chapter ends.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Mu remains composed under pressure, investigates Li’s technique, and wins by identifying and exploiting its weakness rather than relying on brute force alone. He also reveals the cost of his Divine Lihuo Eyes: they consume his Blood Essence and Divine Sense, so he had saved them for a decisive strike.
• Daoist Li / Heaven Corpse is shown as cruel, resourceful, and willing to harm himself to curse Chen. His confidence gives way to desperation, but his apparent death only reveals another form of Li.
• Their fight is a contest of tactics and endurance: Li uses curses and linked injuries to make direct attacks dangerous; Chen protects himself, waits for an opening, and turns the tables.
• Li Wangchen, apparently the Human Corpse, enters with formal courtesy but immediately signals that their conflict remains unresolved. Chen rejects postponement and attacks.

Significant themes

• Cunning against overwhelming power: Chen wins by understanding the enemy’s method and striking its weakness.
• The cost of survival and victory: Both fighters suffer serious injuries, and Chen’s strongest ability drains his own resources.
• Deception and unstable identities: Li’s grotesque transformation, corpse techniques, and emergence after “death” make the enemy difficult to define or defeat.
• Conflict without closure: The apparent victory over Heaven Corpse leads straight into a new confrontation with the Human Corpse.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Mu strikes Human Corpse Li Wangchen, but the Daoist’s body bursts into flesh that transforms into ravens, allowing him to escape. Chen Mu realizes Li Wangchen can likely reform unless every fragment is destroyed, but cannot pursue him with the Azure Sun Temple and possible Demon Sect involvement nearby.
• Chen Mu heads for Fallen Phoenix Slope with Qishan, whose earlier wounds and lingering Corpse Venom leave him too weak to travel farther. Qishan retreats into Chen Mu’s shadow to recover.
• Chen Mu continues alone and enters the deserted Nine Parasol Village rather than take a long detour. The village loops back on itself: its blood-red archway appears again in the center, beside a newly appeared well filled with bones and mysterious underground passages.
• The dead village suddenly revives. Its ruined houses are restored, lanterns glow, and a crowd of pale, red-eyed villagers invites Chen Mu to a wedding feast while closing in on him.
• Chen Mu recognizes them as Corpse Charms—dead beings retaining their memories and habits. He reasons that their shared longing has created the village’s spatial illusion. Killing every charm could break it, but would be difficult and potentially futile; instead, he decides to play along with their obsession.
• The villagers explain that the headman’s youngest daughter is marrying and will go into the mountains to pay homage to the Lady. They eagerly pull Chen Mu toward the feast.

Character developments

• Chen Mu remains wary and practical. He quickly analyzes both Li Wangchen’s escape and the village’s supernatural trap, then chooses negotiation and observation over an unnecessarily risky fight.
• Qishan is weakened by his injuries and the Heaven Corpse Daoist’s poison, forcing Chen Mu to proceed without his usual fast mount.
• Li Wangchen is shown to be unusually difficult to kill: his body can disperse into ravens and apparently reassemble.

Significant themes

• Survival through judgment: Chen Mu relies on rapid assessment and chooses the least dangerous route through each threat.
• Death, memory, and desire: The Corpse Charms retain traces of their former lives, and their collective longing sustains the village’s haunting.
• The limits of brute force: The village cannot be escaped simply by fighting; understanding and fulfilling the ghosts’ obsession may be more effective.

Character interactions

• Chen Mu and Qishan part at the village road, with Qishan withdrawing into Chen Mu’s shadow to recover.
• Chen Mu confronts the welcoming but predatory villagers. Rather than attack, he politely accepts their invitation, hoping to satisfy the obsession behind the illusion and escape.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Mu is led by the village’s Corpse Charms to a wedding feast in Nine Parasol Village. He realizes the village is a supernatural recreation of the past, not part of the living world.
• He questions the villagers about the village’s name and learns its parasol trees were supposedly cut down years ago. Their answers suggest they are caught in a fixed routine.
• Dozens of outsiders are trapped at the feast, including travelers, guards, woodcutters, and Cloud Prefecture patrol officers. The villagers act blankly, though the old headman appears unusually lucid.
• Chen Mu discovers his missing fifth senior brother, Xiao Wenbin, among the guests. Using Demon-Banishing Violet Lightning, he breaks through Xiao’s stupor and restores his awareness.
• Xiao explains that outsiders are drawn into a repeating cycle of forced sleep, nighttime feasts, and a wedding procession. Some outsiders are taken into the mountains carrying the bridal sedan chair and never return, while the villagers reappear the next day.
• Although Xiao feels he has been trapped for nearly half a year, Chen Mu believes only a few days have passed in the outside world. He proposes that they volunteer to carry the sedan chair into the mountains and investigate.
• The feast begins. The villagers warn guests not to waste food, and the diners greedily eat. Chen Mu sees that the dishes are actually rotten, maggot-ridden flesh.

Character developments

• Chen Mu stays observant and composed, testing the village’s story and resisting panic about the distorted passage of time. He takes charge once he finds Xiao.
• Xiao Wenbin emerges from a long, progressively deepening stupor after Chen Mu’s intervention. Though anxious, he trusts Chen Mu’s abilities and agrees to follow his plan.
• The old headman stands apart from the other villagers: he can converse with outsiders and seems more conscious, though his motives remain unclear.

Significant themes

• Entrapment and repetition: The village’s wedding rituals recur endlessly, trapping outsiders in a cycle.
• Distorted time and memory: Xiao’s months-long impression conflicts with Chen Mu’s sense that only days have passed.
• Appearance versus reality: A festive wedding feast conceals a horrifying setting and food made from decayed flesh.
• Agency against supernatural control: Chen Mu’s lightning can restore Xiao’s awareness, offering hope of resisting the village’s influence.

Character interactions

• Chen Mu probes the villagers’ history while concealing how much he suspects.
• He uses his powers to awaken Xiao, then questions him carefully to piece together the village’s rules.
• Xiao shares what he remembers and accepts Chen Mu’s plan to investigate the mountain procession.
• The villagers herd the outsiders into the feast and insist they eat everything, reinforcing the menace beneath their hospitality.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Mu spots that the village feast consists of rotten flesh and chives, but notices that eating it strangely strengthens people’s vital blood. A constable even breaks through a level of Body Tempering.
• Using Demon-Banishing Violet Lightning, Chen Mu wakes three diners from their daze: Cloud Province constables Wang Yong and Lu Qian, and White Crane Academy student Bai Jingwen. They recall being trapped in the village and explain how they arrived.
• Bai Jingwen recounts Nine Parasol Village’s history: a flood and drought thirty years earlier caused famine, starvation, and the village’s eventual ruin.
• As the village head announces that guests must carry a bridal sedan into the mountains, the villagers return armed and dressed with red silk. The sedan emerges from the mist, borne by gaunt carriers.
• Chen Mu decides to join the procession to investigate the promised “good fortune.” He assigns Wang Yong and Lu Qian to carry the sedan, while he, Xiao Wenbin, and the others follow.
• Chen Mu senses that the bride is a bound peasant girl with vacant eyes and a distended belly after eating the same foul food. As the procession enters the mountain mist, shadowy creatures suddenly attack.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Mu remains observant and controlled: he restrains Xiao Wenbin from acting too soon, frees the diners from their stupor, gathers information, and deliberately enters the mountains to uncover what is happening.
• Xiao Wenbin reacts with disgust and anger at the food but follows Chen Mu’s lead, then speaks with the village head to learn the procession’s conditions.
• Bai Jingwen reveals knowledge of the village’s history and appears to understand that the group is in serious danger. His condescending exchange with Wang Yong exposes tension between the scholar and the impatient constable.
• Wang Yong and Lu Qian are rescued from their enchanted state. Wang is blunt and impatient; Lu is more diplomatic, apologizing for his colleague. Both comply when Chen Mu chooses them to carry the sedan.
• The village head maintains a courteous façade while directing the guests into the mountains, reinforcing the sense that the villagers are concealing a sinister purpose.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: A festive wedding procession masks a grotesque ritual, and seemingly nourishing food is actually rotten flesh.
• Survival amid supernatural danger: The villagers’ history of famine echoes the present horror, while the strange food’s effects blur the line between nourishment and corruption.
• Knowledge and trust: Chen Mu’s careful investigation contrasts with impulsive reactions, while the others must rely on him in an unfamiliar, threatening situation.
• The vulnerable and the exploited: The bound, dazed bride appears to be a victim forced into a ritual she cannot understand.
  The chapter ends as the procession is attacked by unseen creatures in the mist.

Plot points and events

• On the way into Dongyang Mountain, the bridal procession is attacked by three red-furred, human-faced monsters. The villagers kill them; Chen Mu suspects they are transformed outsiders who entered the mountains and disappeared.
• Bai Jingwen explains that, during a famine thirty years earlier, Nine Parasol Village survived after villagers found a mountain goddess’s temple. Bridal processions supposedly returned with food, water, and meat. Chen Mu points out that the village later died anyway, a mystery likely tied to the villagers’ lingering obsession.
• Near the summit, the procession becomes dangerously unruly as villagers rush ahead. At Chen Mu’s command, Qishan’s demonic wind throws many of them off the cliff. The village head reprimands the survivors—not for the deaths, but for risking the Goddess of Joy’s displeasure.
• The group reaches the ruined Dingya Temple beside a clear pool. Chen Mu’s Heavenly Eye reveals intense deathly energy and blood-red Fortune Aura binding the villagers to the temple. Their prayers to the Three Joys Goddess end with the village head announcing that the bride will be taken inside and “carved” for meat. The villagers rush into the hall.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Mu remains composed and investigative, using Divine Sense and his Heavenly Eye to assess the monsters and temple. He recognizes that the procession’s history contains a contradiction and keeps the group moving toward the source of the haunting.
• Bai Jingwen supplies the historical account but cannot explain how the villagers’ apparent access to food ended in their deaths. After witnessing Chen Mu’s power, he stays close to him for protection.
• Wang Yong and Lu Qian continue carrying the sedan despite their fear of the monsters and dangerous mountain path.
• The village head and villagers display devotional obedience alongside growing greed. Their reverence gives way to a violent scramble for meat, while the village head enforces order only to preserve the goddess’s favor.
• Qishan acts on Chen Mu’s order, brutally suppressing the crowd; the Slaughter Register records the deaths of numerous Corpse Charms.

Significant themes

• Faith and superstition: The villagers’ belief that the mountain is blessed keeps them there, while their worship at the temple shapes their behavior even after death.
• Hunger and greed: The promise of meat drives the villagers from reverent prayer into ruthless competition.
• The persistence of obsession: The villagers’ actions suggest that their afterlife is governed by the desires and beliefs they held in life.
• Unresolved horror and investigation: The temple, transformed outsiders, and the village’s unexplained demise point toward a deeper supernatural cause that Chen Mu has yet to uncover.