Chapter Summaries

Yi Shuyuan intervened as Du Fang was flogged, claiming he could see and hear He Xin and offering his voice so she could testify in court. He Xin’s account began to move the magistrate and courtroom toward hearing her case, while her full story remained unfinished.

• Magistrate Lin ordered Du Fang flogged, and He Xin’s grief and anger began to turn her into a vengeful ghost.
• Yi Shuyuan stopped the beating and told the court he could see and hear He Xin, then offered to let her speak through him.
• Yi Shuyuan spoke in He Xin’s voice, convincing Magistrate Lin to halt Du Fang’s punishment and send him for treatment.
• Yi Shuyuan relayed He Xin’s account of being abducted from Luo County, refusing to submit to the merchant, and being murdered and sunk in the E River.
• He Xin continued her testimony sentence by sentence through Yi Shuyuan, and the courtroom grew absorbed and angry as her story unfolded.

After He Xin testified through Yi Shuyuan, Magistrate Lin sent constables to arrest Jia Yuntong at the docks. They found him aboard a pleasure ship, but a skilled bodyguard fought them off, leaving the constable chief to use He Xin’s name to unsettle the merchant while help was sought.

• Yi Shuyuan relayed He Xin’s accusation, and Magistrate Lin ordered the constables to arrest Jia Yuntong at the docks.
• Yi Shuyuan explained that He Xin had left the courtroom and praised Magistrate Lin for hearing her case, prompting the magistrate to resolve to record the hearing in the county gazetteer.
• The constables and attendants found Jia Yuntong’s pleasure ship, boarded it, and began arresting the people aboard.
• A middle-aged man in blue attacked the constables and protected Jia Yuntong, sending several officers flying.
• The constable chief told Jia Yuntong that He Xin had beaten the drum to seek justice, and the frightened merchant denied that ghosts existed.

A martial artist tried to escape with Jia Yuntong but was captured after Yuanjiang County's officers overwhelmed him. In court, Magistrate Lin tortured and questioned Jia Yuntong until He Xin's ghostly appearance terrified him into confessing to causing deaths.

• The martial artist broke through the pleasure boat's cabin and tried to flee with Jia Yuntong, but the County Commandant and Old Instructor arrived with reinforcements.
• The martial artist was wounded by the County Commandant's arrows and a steel dart, then subdued; Jia Yuntong and his party were taken to the County Office.
• Magistrate Lin summoned Jia Yuntong to court, where He Xin's ghost laughed at him and Jia denied responsibility for her death.
• Magistrate Lin ordered Jia Yuntong's fingers crushed for contempt and accused him of abducting innocent women; Jia offered a bribe, which Magistrate Lin rejected.
• Yi Shuyuan described He Xin waiting outside the courtroom, and Jia saw her ghostly form and confessed that he had caused the deaths.

Magistrate Lin sentenced Jia Yuntong to execution after he confessed to abducting and abusing women, with Yi Shuyuan helping He Xin obtain justice. The next morning, Bailiff You San recounted the ghost's case at Tongxin Pavilion as news spread through the county.

• Jia Yuntong confessed to killing He Xin and other women, and his associates also gave accounts of their crimes.
• Magistrate Lin sentenced Jia Yuntong to execution by waist-severing, ordered his property confiscated, and sent the case for review.
• Magistrate Lin and Yi Shuyuan met He Xin outside the County Office, where she thanked them before departing.
• Yi Shuyuan returned to the Library and began writing about the case, wondering whether Jia Yuntong would truly face his sentence and who the black-robed officer was.
• By morning, Bailiff You San told diners at Tongxin Pavilion that Yi Shuyuan had helped He Xin speak in court and seek justice.

Yi Shuyuan went into Broad South Mountain hoping to meet the mountain god, but a sudden storm led him to a strange tea shelter beneath an ancient pine. He realized the shelter was an illusion and the tea was real, leaving him to wonder whether he possessed unusual abilities.

• Yi Shuyuan set out from the northwest side of the county town to visit Broad South Mountain and was caught by an approaching rainstorm.
• Yi Shuyuan encountered three scholars on the mountain path and directed them toward an ancient pine where they could shelter.
• Yi Shuyuan and the three scholars hesitated outside a tea shelter before entering at the invitation of an old man.
• The old man offered them Pine Mist Tea, and Yi Shuyuan perceived that the tea shelter was conjured while the ancient pine and tea were real.
• Yi Shuyuan wondered whether his clear perception meant he was not an ordinary person.

Yi Shuyuan met a mysterious old tea seller at a mountain shelter and learned that the yellow stone he had taken from a stream belonged to a childlike spirit. After the rain stopped and the shelter vanished, Yi Shuyuan stayed in the mountains while the three scholars hurried away.

• Yi Shuyuan joined the old man at the tea shelter, shared tea with Chu Hang, Lu Min, and Zhang Yutong, and introduced himself as a local.
• The old man told a tale about a child whose house had been taken, and Yi Shuyuan recognized it as a reference to the yellow stone he had taken from a stream.
• Yi Shuyuan promised to return the stone, which the old man accepted with a respectful bow.
• Yi Shuyuan woke beneath an ancient pine after the rain stopped and found that the tea shelter and old man had disappeared.
• Yi Shuyuan woke Chu Hang, Lu Min, and Zhang Yutong and urged them to leave, while he remained in the mountains on business.

Yi Shuyuan visited a remote Mountain God's temple on Broad South Mountain, left wine and rice cakes as an offering, and headed back without meeting the god. At the county office, Chu Hang learned that the scholar he had mistaken for a mountain spirit was Yi Shuyuan, and the two met again.

• Yi Shuyuan found the Mountain God's temple, left wine and rice cakes, and cupped his hands toward the statue without bowing.
• Yi Shuyuan abandoned his plan to visit South Hill Ridge and returned toward Yuanjiang County, singing as he passed the ancient pine.
• Chu Hang told Wu Minggao about the strange tea stall and the scholar he had met on Broad South Mountain.
• Wu Minggao explained that the scholar was Yi Shuyuan, a man helping compile the County Gazetteer who could see ghosts and gods.
• Yi Shuyuan arrived at the county office, greeted Chu Hang, and reassured him that he was neither a mountain ghost nor a monster.

Yi Shuyuan returned the yellow stone inkstone to the mountain stream, unknowingly helping the little loach spirit grow wiser. On South Hill Ridge, he met the Broad South Mountain God, who warned him that the gift tied him to the creature’s future, then introduced himself as Huang Hongchuan and joined Yi Shuyuan for lunch.

• Chu Hang told Lu Min and Zhang Yutong about Yi Shuyuan’s strange case, and they urged him to invite Yi Shuyuan to drink with them.
• Yi Shuyuan recorded the day’s events, then went to the mountain stream and returned the yellow stone to its place beneath the falling water.
• After Yi Shuyuan left, a little loach emerged and settled beneath the stone, while a woodcutter praised the ink’s effect on it.
• Yi Shuyuan met the woodcutter on South Hill Ridge and learned that the little loach might one day become a flood dragon and that the stone had connected Yi Shuyuan to its fate.
• The woodcutter revealed himself as Huang Hongchuan, the Broad South Mountain God, and accepted Yi Shuyuan’s offer to share lunch.

Yi Shuyuan spent the day drinking and talking with Huang Hongchuan, then asked whether he could cultivate immortality and extend his life. After Huang Hongchuan urged him to examine his heart, Yi Shuyuan fell into a days-long sleep and underwent a strange, dreamlike ordeal as the Awakening of Insects brought powerful spring thunder to Broad South Mountain.

• Yi Shuyuan told Huang Hongchuan he preferred becoming a storyteller to taking the imperial examinations, and the two discussed yao, spirits, gods, and the Heavenly Realm.
• Yi Shuyuan tasted Huang Hongchuan's rice wine, enjoyed it, and asked whether he could cultivate immortality; Huang Hongchuan told him to examine his own heart and touched his brow.
• Yi Shuyuan remained asleep for three days while dreaming of returning to Zhushan County and gripping the streaming light as it exploded.
• At midnight on the fourth day, spring thunder and lightning engulfed Broad South Mountain as Yi Shuyuan woke in his dream and faced the storm, his body shining with blue-green light.
• Huang Hongchuan sensed an extraordinary force centered on Broad South Mountain, suspected Yi Shuyuan was involved, and fled underground when lightning struck the Mountain God's temple and shattered its roof.

Yi Shuyuan survived the Awakening of Insects Tribulation and awakened to spiritual qi, while Huang Hongchuan realized he had entered the Dao in a single day. At the stream, Yi Shuyuan found only blood beneath the rock where Wawa had been, leaving Wawa's fate uncertain.

• Yi Shuyuan endured a night of inner torment as venomous creatures engulfed him and lightning struck the cocoon around him.
• At dawn, Yi Shuyuan woke, sensed spiritual qi in the mountains, and affirmed that he wanted to cultivate as himself.
• Huang Hongchuan found Yi Shuyuan alive and marveled that he had entered the Dao in a single day, while Yi Shuyuan said he still needed cultivation methods.
• Yi Shuyuan hurried with Huang Hongchuan to the stream and found the ink-stained rock scorched, with only Wawa's blood beneath it.
• Yi Shuyuan told Huang Hongchuan he would repay his help if he succeeded in cultivation and wondered whether Wawa might still have a chance to survive.

Yi Shuyuan learned that Wawa’s remaining spirituality might be preserved in the ink-stained stone and resolved to seek a way to reincarnate him. After leaving the stone to gather spiritual essence, Yi Shuyuan returned toward Yuanjiang County with gifts and a book from Huang Hongchuan.

• Huang Hongchuan discovered that Wawa’s last trace of vitality had mingled with the ink on the stone, preserving a sliver of his spirituality.
• Huang Hongchuan suggested that netherworld power and reincarnation might let Wawa be restored, and Yi Shuyuan resolved to pursue the chance and named his insight Heavenly Gang Transformation.
• Huang Hongchuan warned Yi Shuyuan to leave the unstable stone in place for one to three years, and Yi Shuyuan carefully returned it.
• Yi Shuyuan remembered that he had been away for four days and asked Huang Hongchuan to take him back toward Yuanjiang County.
• Huang Hongchuan gave Yi Shuyuan a book about mountains, rivers, earth veins, and illusions, along with a sturdy wooden block to use as a storyteller’s clapper.
• Yi Shuyuan set off for the county town while Huang Hongchuan wondered about the tribulation only they seemed to know had occurred.

After returning to the County Office, Yi Shuyuan studied Huang Hongchuan’s book on cultivation and began exploring martial arts and spiritual practice for himself. He ended the chapter with a personal breakthrough, deciding to step onto the path of cultivation as spiritual energy stirred around the County Office.

• Yi Shuyuan returned to the Library after three days away and began reading the book Huang Hongchuan had given him.
• County Registrar Wu Minggao told Yi Shuyuan that Lord Lin wanted to review the County Gazetteer, and Yi Shuyuan assured him that his account of the case was nearly ready.
• Yi Shuyuan studied Huang Hongchuan’s teachings on the five elements and illusion arts, then reflected on the obstacles to reaching immortal cultivation.
• Yi Shuyuan practiced A Fei’s martial arts and performed the Chasing the Moon punch, which left him aching and sent dust rising throughout the Library.
• Yi Shuyuan observed the settling dust with his awareness, reached an understanding about tempering his true self, and declared that he would step onto the path of cultivation.
• Yi Shuyuan’s murmured words formed a Dao resonance that began drawing spiritual energy into motion around the Yuanjiang County Office.

Yi Shuyuan’s cultivation disturbed the spiritual energy over Yuanjiang County, prompting the City God to send Sun Heng to investigate. After Yi Shuyuan asked for a meeting with the City God, the deity agreed, while privately questioning how Yi Shuyuan could be remembered by mortals despite having no record in the Book of Life and Death.

• Yi Shuyuan woke after cultivating, sensed spiritual energy circulating through his body, and began cleaning the Library.
• Sun Heng, a Day Patrol Officer serving Yuanjiang County’s City God, told Yi Shuyuan he had come to investigate the previous night’s disturbance.
• Yi Shuyuan explained that his cultivation had caused the disturbance and asked Sun Heng to tell the City God that he wished to consult the Underworld Office’s ghostly deities.
• Sun Heng reported Yi Shuyuan’s explanation and request to the City God, who invited Yi Shuyuan to the City God Temple the next morning.
• The City God reflected that Yi Shuyuan’s cultivation and conduct seemed unusual, and that the Book of Life and Death listed no one named Yi Shuyuan despite mortals remembering him as part of the Yi family.

Yi Shuyuan received the City God's invitation and went to the City God Temple to meet him. Chu Hang followed after seeing Yi Shuyuan enter, but found the hall empty and grew convinced that something strange had happened.

• Yi Shuyuan learned that the City God had invited him to the temple the next morning, and he agreed to go.
• Chu Hang saw Yi Shuyuan speaking to someone he could not see and wondered whether he had witnessed a supernatural encounter.
• Yi Shuyuan cultivated carefully overnight, then left early for the City God Temple.
• Sun Heng and another Day Patrol Officer welcomed Yi Shuyuan and led him into the main hall, where the light dimmed as he crossed the threshold.
• Chu Hang watched Yi Shuyuan enter the hall, then followed with incense, but could not find him inside.

Yi Shuyuan visited City God Xiang Changqing and asked the Underworld Office how Wawa, whose spirit remained bound to a stone after the Awakening of Insects Tribulation, might be reincarnated. He learned that the stone could not cross the River of Forgetfulness by the usual route, leaving the dangerous Nether Crossing as their only hope.

• Chu Hang lit incense before the City God's statue, then hurried back to the Drunken Guest Pavilion.
• Sun Heng brought Yi Shuyuan into the true City God Hall, where Xiang Changqing introduced him to the county's Underworld officials.
• Yi Shuyuan explained Wawa's death during the Awakening of Insects Tribulation and asked whether the spirit bound to the mountain stone could be reincarnated.
• Xiang Changqing and the Inspector of the Office of Yin and Yang explained that the stone could not cross the Bridge of Forgetfulness and that the Nether Crossing might offer a way across the river.
• Yi Shuyuan asked whether the Celestial Court would interfere, and Xiang Changqing told him that the Underworld and celestial realm had separate authority.

After visiting the City God, Yi Shuyuan returned toward the County Office and considered buying a fan, while Chu Hang grew convinced that Yi was an expert. At Broad South Mountain, Xiang Changqing and Huang Hongchuan debated Yi’s impossible origins before turning their attention to Wawa’s mountain stone, where signs of spiritual life had begun to appear.

• Xiang Changqing escorted Yi Shuyuan from the City God Temple, then decided to visit Huang Hongchuan that evening.
• Chu Hang watched Yi leave the temple, recognized the old man’s resemblance to the City God statue, and left excited by the possibility that Yi was a genuine expert.
• Yi Shuyuan ate at a wonton stall and inspected several fans but found none he wanted to buy.
• Xiang Changqing visited Huang Hongchuan and revealed that Yi Shuyuan did not exist in West River Village’s records or the Book of Life and Death.
• Huang Hongchuan and Xiang Changqing speculated that Yi might have been Yi Sheng’s son all along or had entered the Immortal Dao through an inexplicable dream.
• Xiang Changqing examined Wawa’s mountain stone and found tiny glimmers of spiritual light emerging in the ink upon it.

Yi Shuyuan cultivated in his sleep, drawing in spiritual energy and moonlight that brought comfort to the Yuanjiang County Office and caught the City God's attention. The next morning, he visited Jia Yuntong in the dungeon and unexpectedly found He Xin there.

• Yi Shuyuan experimented with illusion arts and earth manipulation before falling asleep, and his unconscious cultivation stirred spiritual energy and moonlight around the County Office.
• Xiang Changqing sensed the unusual cultivation near the County Office and felt awe at Yi Shuyuan's presence.
• Yi Shuyuan went to the dungeon to see Jia Yuntong and persuaded the jailer, Master Six, to let him visit.
• Yi Shuyuan criticized the martial artist imprisoned for protecting Jia Yuntong, then found Jia hiding beneath dry grass and raving about ghosts.
• Yi Shuyuan spotted He Xin standing inside Jia Yuntong's cell, and she greeted him respectfully.

Yi Shuyuan visited Jia Yuntong in prison and used the ghost of He Xin and warnings about the Underworld to confront him with his guilt. Jia Yuntong finally offered to reveal something important privately, and the jailer opened the cell while insisting on staying beside Yi Shuyuan.

• Yi Shuyuan saw He Xin beside Jia Yuntong’s cell as Jia Yuntong panicked and begged him for help.
• Yi Shuyuan sensed an aura of death around Jia Yuntong and questioned whether He Xin intended to kill him before his execution.
• He Xin told Yi Shuyuan she only wanted to frighten Jia Yuntong, while Yi Shuyuan accused Jia Yuntong of regretting his capture rather than his crimes.
• Yi Shuyuan told Jia Yuntong that He Xin was behind him and warned him that his backers and the Netherworld Court would not save him.
• Jia Yuntong asked how he could make amends, then said he had something important to tell Yi Shuyuan alone.
• The jailer opened Jia Yuntong’s cell but insisted on staying beside Yi Shuyuan.

After learning more about Jia Yuntong's case, Yi Shuyuan kept the confession private and went to the Training Ground to study martial arts for the County Gazetteer. The Martial Arts Instructor arranged a demonstration by having the constables attack Yang Pingzhong together.

• He Xin failed to frighten Jia Yuntong until her shout sent him scrambling under the bed to beg for mercy.
• Yi Shuyuan told the jailer to keep Jia Yuntong's confession secret and considered letting the case take its likely course.
• Yi Shuyuan visited the Training Ground and asked Yang Pingzhong and the constables to demonstrate their martial styles for the County Gazetteer.
• Yi Shuyuan promised to record the constables' names and techniques, delighting them and easing the fears of the man Yang had kicked.
• The Martial Arts Instructor arrived, then ordered the constables to attack Yang Pingzhong as a demonstration, and they swarmed him.

Yi Shuyuan watched the constables demonstrate their martial skills, then studied Instructor Lu’s annotated manual and practiced its twelve stances through the night. By dawn, he had transformed his internal energy with spiritual energy and gained new insight into his cultivation, though he remained unsure of his martial rank.

• Yi Shuyuan watched Yang Pingzhong and the other constables fight, noticing changes in their auras and asking Instructor Lu about their techniques.
• After the demonstration, Instructor Lu gave Yi Shuyuan an old martial arts manual filled with his notes and drawings.
• Yi Shuyuan read the manual and practiced its twelve stances in the Library, adjusting them by instinct as he sensed changes in his meridians.
• At midnight, Yi Shuyuan moved into a thirteenth stance, then sat cross-legged and drew spiritual energy into his meridians instead of relying on food or medicinal nourishment.
• Yi Shuyuan practiced until dawn and realized his internal energy had become a blend of spiritual energy and his former internal energy.
• Yi Shuyuan wondered what realm and rank he had reached, decided to practice more before asking Instructor Lu, and remembered that it was payday.