Recaps

The Black Snake discovered that its Yin Spirit needed bones to take on a stable form, then spent years crafting bones and blood vessels and developing its human shape. The chapter left it watching village men depart beneath the Snake Immortal Temple, where they prayed for the village and for their safe return.

• The Black Snake found a human skeleton by the river and realized its Yin Spirit needed bones, so it forged snake bones and later combined human and snake bone features.
• The Black Snake spent about three full moons by the river crafting bones, then returned to the Valley and continued practicing its Yin Spirit transformation and cultivation.
• The Black Snake later molded blood vessels for its Yin Spirit, accidentally formed a basic energy circulation, and began absorbing more cooling Qi and rain essence.
• Years later, the Black Snake’s Yin Spirit took the form of a little boy and sat alone in the Valley before retreating to its physical body as people approached.
• Five horses escorted able-bodied village men through the Valley, and the men stopped at the Snake Immortal Temple to pray for the village and their safe return before departing.

Black Snake discovered that bandits had attacked and burned the village, mistook the mountain fire for a threat to its life, and turned back to hunt them. In a stormy night by the River, Black Snake killed the bandits one by one, including their leader.

• Black Snake climbed the mountain to absorb the coming rain while villagers in the little basin grew wary of a caravan of strangers.
• The bandits attacked the village, killed defenders, looted the homes, and accidentally started a mountain fire.
• Black Snake heard the survivors describe the attack and rushed back toward the village, driven by fury at the fire.
• The bandits left the burned village and camped beside the River as the rain began to fall.
• Black Snake attacked the bandits in the darkness and killed them one by one, leaving the leader dead on the River bank.

After the villagers mourned their dead and honored the Black Snake for destroying the bandits, it spent the winter cultivating in its cave. In spring, an old Daoist warned that powerful cultivators wanted to hunt it for its body and urged it to leave, and the Black Snake descended from the mountains.

• The villagers gathered by the river, mourned their murdered loved ones, and watched the Black Snake finish eating the bandits' horses.
• After resting, the Black Snake returned to its cave, cultivated through the winter, and emerged in spring to hunt prey.
• On Giant Rock, the Black Snake discovered an old man whose hidden power it could not measure, and the old Daoist said he had waited all winter to meet it.
• The old Daoist explained that people beyond the mortal world wanted the Black Snake's flesh and blood, warned it to be cautious, and urged it to leave the valley.
• The Black Snake chose to descend the mountain, paused to look at the little stone temple, and slithered out of the mountains.

Black Snake fled the Valley and settled on a remote mountain, where it lived for two centuries as a community of women built a compound nearby. After growing accustomed to their recitations, it explored the compound in a human form but frightened the residents and fled back into the forest.

• Black Snake traveled through the mountains for more than half a month, found a secluded cave, and made the high summit its home.
• Over the next two hundred years, Black Snake lived simply on the mountain, avoiding people when they arrived and built a compound on the mountainside.
• Black Snake observed the women living in the compound and grew comfortable listening to their morning and evening recitations.
• After drinking from the stream, Black Snake used Yin Spirit Separation to take the form of a little boy and approached the compound's main gate.
• A girl spotted Black Snake on the steps and called for Senior Brother Wang, but the two residents saw no one there and hurriedly shut the gate.
• Black Snake fled into the forest, returned to its body, and slithered back up the mountain.

Black Snake hunted a wolf, avoided Azure Cloud Monastery, and prepared to hibernate as autumn turned cold. Before sleeping, he separated his Yin Spirit, took human form, and listened to the evening liturgy from a tree, still wary of the monastery’s main hall.

• Black Snake ambushed and swallowed a wolf after tracking a small pack through the woods.
• At Azure Cloud Monastery, a young female Daoist asked her master whether they should subdue the mountain’s monsters, and the master chose to observe them first.
• Black Snake rested after his meal and began drinking from his familiar water source only late at night because he feared the figure he had once sensed near the monastery gate.
• Months later, Daoists gathering fruit found the remains of a poisoned wild boar, then left the hollow after a deer startled them.
• As the weather cooled, Black Snake entered a cave to hibernate and sent his Yin Spirit out in human form to listen to the monastery’s evening liturgy from a tree.

Black Snake became fascinated by the Female Daoist’s sword practice and secretly imitated her each night. After realizing its yin spirit could not hold a real sword, Black Snake formed one from spirit energy and waited in the snow to watch the Daoist practice again.

• Black Snake watched the Female Daoist practice sword forms and clumsily copied her movements from a rock.
• Black Snake made secret sword practice a nightly habit, even when the Female Daoist did not appear.
• Black Snake realized its yin spirit could not lift objects and searched for a way to wield a sword.
• Black Snake shaped a glowing sword from spirit energy and practiced swinging it until dawn.
• Black Snake waited through a heavy snowfall, and the Female Daoist finally stepped outside with her sword.

Black Snake emerged from hibernation, drank from the spring, and encountered White Deer, a spirit whose yin spirit had come to inspect the Azure Cloud Monastery. As spring brought crowds to the monastery, Black Snake watched from the woods and stayed clear of the visitors.

• Black Snake watched the Daoist practice swordsmanship through the winter, then woke after hibernation and slithered outside in search of water.
• Black Snake drank from the spring near the Daoist Monastery and sensed a deer carrying spiritual qi.
• Black Snake saw White Deer approach the Mountain Gate, learned it was on a Yin Spirit Excursion, and heard it tell Black Snake to move away.
• White Deer tried to climb the steps but was stopped at the Mountain Gate, then vanished as its yin spirit was pulled back to its body.
• Black Snake realized it had not eaten since hibernating and went to search for prey rather than leave the mountain.
• As people arrived at the Azure Cloud Monastery in spring, Black Snake watched them from the woods and kept its distance.

White Deer tried to enter the Azure Cloud Monastery by presenting himself as an auspicious omen, but the abbot saw through the display and refused to welcome him. Black Snake discovered White Deer was working with a strange middle-aged man, and their conflict began when White Deer charged him before dawn and lured him toward the man waiting by a pool.

• White Deer appeared before the Azure Cloud Monastery, where the crowd hailed him as an auspicious beast, but the abbot dismissed the spectacle and warned that White Deer sought to enter under false pretenses.
• Black Snake watched a pilgrim meet White Deer and bury several things beside the road, then sensed the man’s unstable soul and cold yin aura when he approached them that night.
• The middle-aged man invited Black Snake to join him, then threatened him when Black Snake did not respond and left with White Deer.
• Black Snake returned to the monastery to listen to the Evening Liturgy and secretly practice swordsmanship using Yin Spirit Separation.
• Before dawn, White Deer charged Black Snake and fled, leading him through the woods to a pool where the middle-aged man waited on the far bank.

Black Snake fought off a pack of rotting mad dogs summoned by a man and White Deer, then searched for them while waiting at the mountain’s foot. During his search, he encountered a crying Daoist girl whose soul was outside her body, and eerie creatures closed in around them.

• A man used a Bone Whistle to summon mad dogs, which swarmed Black Snake as he tried to escape toward the pool.
• Black Snake crushed the dogs’ bones and defeated the pack, while the man and White Deer fled; Black Snake’s Yin Spirit Separation pursued them briefly before he returned to his body.
• Black Snake waited for the pair for several days, then saw Daoists carry an unconscious Female Daoist toward the Azure Cloud Monastery.
• Black Snake found the girl’s phantom beneath a tree and stayed with her as she cried, recognizing her as a Daoist from the Azure Cloud Monastery.
• Eerie creatures gathered around Black Snake and the girl, and their whispers and footsteps drew closer.

Black Snake rescued a young female Daoist from spirits in a Ghost Wall and escorted her back to the Azure Cloud Monastery before returning to the mountain to cultivate. The girl recovered at the monastery, where the Abbot explained that an unskilled person’s formation and her weak constitution had caused her ordeal.

• Black Snake destroyed the spirits harassing the girl and decided to escort her to the Azure Cloud Monastery.
• The girl followed Black Snake through the darkness and thanked him at the Mountain Gate before he leaped away to seek revenge on the two people who had smeared him with rotten flesh and blood.
• Black Snake returned to the summit during a downpour, was struck by lightning, and found that the corpse stench on him had disappeared.
• The girl recovered after drinking medicinal soup, and the Abbot told her that an unskilled person’s Ghost Wall, her weak constitution, and her low fortune had caused her ordeal.

The Abbot told his disciple to let her bond with the snake demon develop naturally, believing their connection could protect and guide them both. Meanwhile, Black Snake tracked the two mad dog leaders to Mount Ding and prepared to ambush the man shrouded in yin energy.

• The girl described how a young snake demon had rescued and escorted her, and the Abbot said she could repay his kindness by guiding him toward goodness if they met again.
• The girl left to resume her duties, while the Abbot reflected that her connection with the snake demon could provide protection and help them both grow.
• Black Snake waited in vain for his enemies near the Azure Cloud Monastery, then learned from passing pilgrims that a white deer had appeared at Mount Ding.
• Unable to ask for directions, Black Snake hid at a crossroads until travelers heading to Mount Ding passed, then followed them there.
• Black Snake used scents and Thermal Sensing to find the yin-shrouded man in a village compound and planned to approach through a nearby stream under cover of rain.

Black Snake ambushed the wounded man and White Deer, pursued them to Mount Ding, and killed the man’s yin spirit before turning back. Black Snake returned to the mountain and resumed its quiet routine, where it saw He Ning waiting outside the monastery gate.

• Black Snake overheard the man and White Deer discussing their flight to Mount Ding, then burst into the room and attacked the man.
• White Deer fled with the man’s yin spirit as the man released vengeful ghosts, which vanished in a flash inside the courtyard.
• Black Snake chased White Deer through the rain toward Mount Ding, but stopped at the mountain’s foot while the man’s yin spirit faded away.
• Black Snake returned to the mountain, resumed listening to services and secretly learning swordsmanship, and noticed the Daoist’s practice seemed angrier than before.
• Black Snake saw He Ning asleep outside the Mountain Gate, where someone woke her and sent her back to her room.

He Ning found Black Snake outside the Mountain Gate and began teaching him to speak, while the Abbot warned her to keep the Demonic Beast’s cultivation methods secret. The chapter left Black Snake practicing alone and He Ning learning that revealing his methods could endanger him.

• He Ning spotted Black Snake across a ravine while weeding and told him she would teach him after Evening Liturgy.
• Black Snake came to the Stone Terrace that night, where He Ning introduced herself and began teaching him how to speak.
• Black Snake returned to the mountaintop and practiced hissing until dawn, thinking about how he could preserve his memories of He Ning.
• The Abbot told He Ning not to reveal Black Snake’s cultivation methods because others could use that knowledge to target him.

He Ning and Black Snake met nightly at the Stone Terrace, where she taught him and they grew close. When He Ning was threatened in a dream by a woman in a red dress, Black Snake intervened with his Yin Spirit and discovered he could make a sound.

• Black Snake waited outside the Mountain Gate, and He Ning taught him from books while they shared a quiet lesson beneath the night sky.
• He Ning reflected on her loneliness and fear that her friendship with Black Snake might endanger his cultivation, but she continued meeting him.
• He Ning told Black Snake about a young man haunted by a woman in a red dress, then taught him how a snake should conduct himself.
• As He Ning slept, she dreamed of a red-dressed woman warning her to stay out of her affairs.
• Black Snake sensed He Ning was in danger, entered the monastery as a little boy, and confronted the woman with his Sky-Blue Long Sword.
• Black Snake made a terrifying hiss to warn the woman, and He Ning woke while he wondered whether his Yin Spirit could finally make sounds.

He Ning agreed to take Black Snake down the mountain to investigate strange events in Erlihe Village. That night, Black Snake chased a cold, corpse-smelling old man away from the mountain.

• He Ning told the Abbot that a red-clothed vengeful ghost had appeared in her dream, and the Abbot reassured her that Black Snake could protect her.
• He Ning, Senior Brother Wang, and Senior Brother Li discussed their dreams and decided to wait and see whether the troubled man would sincerely seek help.
• He Ning persuaded Black Snake to accompany her down the mountain to investigate strange events in Erlihe Village, and Black Snake agreed.
• Black Snake spotted a cold, corpse-smelling old man wandering near the mountain and charged at him.
• The old man fled, and Black Snake stopped pursuing him once he headed away from the mountain.

He Ning and Black Snake traveled to a valley to investigate reports of strange incidents near an old willow, discovering that the tree’s resentment came from travelers relieving themselves beside it. After He Ning cleaned the spot and marked the tree, they continued on, and Black Snake frightened off five men who harassed her.

• He Ning followed the directions in her letter to a valley road, with Black Snake accompanying her and learning that asking people could help find the way.
• At the old willow, Black Snake sensed that it had become a spirit and spotted old lightning scorch marks inside its hollow trunk.
• He Ning traced the trouble to travelers relieving themselves behind the tree, washed the filthy ground with water and an incantation, and tied red thread around the trunk as a warning.
• He Ning and Black Snake stopped at a large stone to eat, where five armed wanderers mocked and harassed He Ning.
• Black Snake emerged from the elm as an enormous snake, frightening the five men into fleeing and abandoning their weapons; He Ning and Black Snake then headed back along the road.

He Ning returned to Azure Cloud Monastery while Black Snake practiced swordsmanship and then descended to a village to test Dream Entry. After hearing a woman sing her infant to sleep, Black Snake returned to the summit wondering what was missing inside and remembering the song.

• He Ning reached the Mountain Gate after a tiring journey, and Senior Brother Wang told her food had been saved.
• Black Snake imitated a Daoist’s sword practice, fell from a rock, and continued practicing before returning to the summit.
• Black Snake tested how far Yin Spirit Separation could reach by descending to the village and entering several villagers’ dreams.
• Black Snake watched a woman soothe her infant with a song, then quietly left the window and climbed back to the summit.
• Black Snake sat alone on the summit and wondered whether becoming more like a human could fill its empty space.

Black Snake watched the Daoists treat a young man haunted by a Red-Skirted Vengeful Ghost, then followed He Ning and her senior brothers on a mushroom-gathering trip. He Ning later told him they were going to Lin Family Crossing to search for people missing after a boat capsized, leaving Black Snake to prepare to follow her in secret.

• Black Snake watched the Daoists suppress the young man's condition after his family refused to explain the Red-Skirted Vengeful Ghost's past.
• Black Snake wondered why so few dead people became vengeful ghosts and spent the night cultivating in the rain.
• He Ning and her senior brothers gathered mushrooms, climbed to the summit, and returned to sort and dry their harvest.
• He Ning told Black Snake that a boat had capsized on the Daniu River and that the Daoists would go to Lin Family Crossing to search for the missing people.
• He Ning planned to travel there by carriage while Black Snake followed secretly and stayed away if the situation proved dangerous.

He Ning arrived at Lin Family Crossing to search for nine missing bodies from a sunken ferry, and Black Snake found and raised several victims from the river. Three bodies had been recovered when Black Snake continued searching, puzzled by the humans’ insistence on finding the dead.

• He Ning reached Lin Family Crossing and learned that a ferry accident had left nine people missing from its thirteen passengers.
• He Ning asked the villagers to bring in their boats, then used incense as a pretense while Black Snake searched underwater.
• Black Snake freed two bodies trapped between boulders, and villagers retrieved them from the river.
• The recovered victims’ relatives recognized them, mourned, and knelt to thank He Ning and the Dragon King.
• The elders’ stories frightened the young searchers, but Old Man Lin persuaded some to retrieve a third body that surfaced.
• Black Snake continued searching for the remaining six bodies and wondered why the humans were so determined to find them.

Black Snake helped recover the drowned bodies, while He Ning ordered an unusual corpse burned before it could be investigated. That night, Black Snake encountered three bear Yin Spirits and discovered a frightened Yin Soul hiding inside the great tree on the riverbed before leaving at dawn.

• Black Snake fought the seventh corpse underwater as villagers recovered the bodies and towed them ashore.
• He Ning noticed an extra, strangely pale corpse and told Old Man Lin to burn it despite the Mount Ding man's suggestion to investigate.
• After the villagers burned the corpse, Black Snake caught fish in the river and later saw three black bears in Yin Spirit form.
• The middle-aged man from Mount Ding came to the riverbank at night, and his Yin Soul separated from his body and entered the great tree.
• Black Snake found the frightened Yin Soul inside a hollow in the tree, then left the river and headed into the forest at dawn.

Black Snake reflected on his cultivation and the mysteries of dream entry, then settled into winter hibernation and continued studying his transformation. At He Ning’s lesson, the first snowfall began, and he watched her play with the snow before remaining alone on the Stone Terrace.

• Black Snake returned to the mountain after an outing and pondered his inability to distinguish good from evil, his dream-entry ability, and the faint murmurs he had begun hearing.
• Black Snake continued attending He Ning’s lessons and practicing swordplay, while the colder weather brought an uneventful stretch of days.
• After frost appeared by the Spring Well, Black Snake hibernated in a rock crevice and used his Yin Spirit to cultivate and experiment with forming limbs.
• Black Snake went to He Ning’s lesson on an overcast night and watched her breath turn to mist in the cold.
• Snow began falling, and He Ning played at catching flakes while Black Snake watched; after she returned inside, he stayed on the Stone Terrace as the snowfall grew heavier.

Black Snake’s growing disturbances led him to discover that he could enter dreams, where he teased a sleeping dog and glimpsed an old man returning to a mysterious place. The chapter ended with him fleeing the noisy festival crowds at Azure Cloud Monastery and retreating into his cave after the sounds and river smell faded.

• Black Snake struggled to focus on planning his limbs as strange images, voices, and the smell of river water increasingly troubled him.
• Black Snake visited the village and reached toward a human cub, but the child’s mother pulled the child away when she noticed it reaching at empty air.
• Black Snake entered a dead old man’s dream and saw him pass into a mysterious place when the dream ended.
• Black Snake teased a dreaming yellow dog, causing it to leap up in fright and crash into a doorframe and bucket.
• Black Snake left his cave during a festival as pilgrims gathered at Azure Cloud Monastery, then returned inside after the noisy voices and river smell subsided.

Black Snake spent the winter studying how to grow limbs while the villagers and Azure Cloud Monastery faced rising danger from hungry bandits. After hibernating, he found that his body had grown faster than expected and planned to bring the Abbot a gift.

• Black Snake examined animal and human bones, then used spiritual qi to strengthen bones where his forelimbs would grow.
• He saw villagers reinforce their wall against bandits and later watched gaunt men threaten the monastery after demanding food.
• He Ning offered to bring Little Black to help, but the Abbot refused and said the men would leave when night fell.
• Black Snake wandered past lingering yin souls and thin wolves before returning to his cave to keep working on his limbs.
• After hibernating, Black Snake found he had grown longer and decided he would bring the Abbot a deer, badger, or wild boar.

He Ning taught Black Snake about measurement while he cultivated and observed a distant battle between yin-qi cultivators. After the Abbot refused a limping expert’s offer to kill the Back Mountain demon, He Ning warned Black Snake about him and revealed that a temple at Lin Family Crossing was dedicated to the Dragon King, prompting Black Snake to decide it had to be torn down.

• He Ning gathered sour wild greens, then measured Black Snake and taught him how to use a ruler.
• Black Snake sensed two cultivators battling with yin qi near the County Seat and watched from the summit before continuing his cultivation.
• A sturdy, limping man warned the Abbot that demonic qi lurked on the Back Mountain and offered to exterminate the demon, but she refused because it had done no harm.
• Black Snake stayed on the summit while the cold, gloomy cultivator visited the monastery and left without confronting him.
• He Ning warned Black Snake that the powerful expert wanted to kill him and said the Abbot had protected him.
• He Ning told Black Snake that a temple at Lin Family Crossing worshipped the Dragon King, and Black Snake realized its incense had caused the river smell and resolved to have the temple torn down.

Black Snake tried to make Old Man Lin demolish the Small Temple by entering his dreams, but the failed attempts unexpectedly helped him learn to speak. After discovering that incense offerings drained his power, he practiced speaking in villagers’ dreams, and the chapter left him facing talismans pasted across every household’s door.

• Black Snake chose Old Man Lin of Lin Family Crossing and entered his dream, but Old Man Lin mistook him for the Dragon King and decided to make offerings at the Small Temple.
• Black Snake repeatedly entered Old Man Lin’s dreams and gestured for him to demolish the temple, until he finally shouted, “Demolish!” and “Tear it down!”
• Black Snake realized that incense energy leaked away quickly and that relying on offerings would undermine his cultivation.
• He Ning helped Black Snake practice speaking, and he learned to say a few words before visiting villagers’ dreams to keep practicing.
• A Daoist on duty heard that many villagers had dreamed of the same strange child, and Black Snake found talisman papers pasted on every household’s door.