Recaps

Black Snake discovered that someone had built a lavish temple and was exploiting the Dragon King's reputation to extort offerings from the villagers. When the Continuous Rainy Season began, Black Snake set out for Lin Family Crossing to find the culprit.

• Black Snake sensed resentment near the Dragon King Temple and entered Old Man Lin’s dream to investigate.
• Old Man Lin told Black Snake that he had rebuilt the temple after being ordered to do so in a dream and pleaded for the demands for livestock to stop.
• Black Snake followed Old Man Lin to a new, grand temple and sensed greed and resentment surrounding its imposing statue and lavish offerings.
• Black Snake realized someone was using the Dragon King’s name to exploit the villagers and decided to confront them.
• As the Continuous Rainy Season began, Black Snake raced through the rain toward Lin Family Crossing to find whoever was behind the temple.

Black Snake destroyed a temple housing a false Dragon King and pursued its yin soul downriver through the storm. After destroying another incense-fed ghost and devouring the fugitive in a brief shaft of sunlight, he reached Rocky Ridge and decided to head back.

• Black Snake smashed the New Dragon King Temple and its statue after discovering that the imposing Dragon King was a ghost.
• Black Snake pursued the fleeing yin soul through the river and destroyed a second false Dragon King with lightning.
• Black Snake chased the first yin soul past a rocky outcrop, where it hid beneath the rock as dawn approached.
• Black Snake bit the yin soul and carried it into a shaft of sunlight, then climbed onto Rocky Ridge and decided to return.

Black Snake returned to the mountain after the flood, pulling the yin-charged sunken tree from the riverbed before abandoning it to the current. He spent the rainy season refining rain essence and studying his yin spirit, then emerged to find the landscape transformed and the mountain well washed away.

• Black Snake returned to Lin Family Crossing through floodwaters and dragged the sunken tree out of its shelter among the riverbed boulders.
• Old Man Lin saw the tree rise from the river and glimpsed Black Snake’s scaled back, recalling his dream of the true Dragon King.
• Black Snake failed to bring the tree ashore, let the flood carry it away, and returned to the mountain to absorb rain essence while waiting for lightning.
• Black Snake studied the yin spirit and concluded that he needed to gather and refine solar qi to make its form withstand sunlight.
• After the prolonged rain ended, Black Snake noticed the altered colors and new waterways, then found the Spring Well and nearby mountain paths scoured away.

After the flood, Black Snake patrolled the mountain and turned away eerie beings seeking refuge, while He Ning explained the rules for staying at Azure Cloud Monastery. The chapter ended with Black Snake understanding that unusual beings had to approach openly and ask permission to use the mountain as a cultivation ground.

• Black Snake tested his yin spirit’s sword, and He Ning warned him that strange creatures might appear after the flood and advised him not to meddle unnecessarily.
• He Ning told Black Snake about the Dragon King Temple at Lin Family Crossing, and he explained that he had killed the ghost impersonating him.
• Black Snake patrolled the mountain path, where several balls of black smoke turned away and a sinister boy in a faded green bellyband fled when Black Snake pointed his sword at him.
• Black Snake learned from He Ning that Azure Cloud Monastery was an owned cultivation ground and that unusual beings had to approach openly and follow its rules to stay there.

Black Snake met He Bai, a white-crane demon cultivator displaced by the flood, and learned how the changed rivers had disrupted the region’s feng shui. Later, Black Snake accompanied He Ning to protect a feng shui master and waited with her at a crossroads, where the expected master arrived looking like an ordinary man.

• Black Snake allowed several supernatural beings to pass, then met He Bai, who explained that the flood had changed the rivers and disrupted the earth veins and feng shui.
• He Bai said he was searching for a mountain to shelter beneath, but soon learned an accomplished master would take him in elsewhere and departed.
• After the flood brought fewer eerie beings, He Ning told Black Snake that the Azure Cloud Monastery had been asked to protect a feng shui master while the Mystic Sect pursued escaped beings.
• Black Snake and He Ning traveled over flood-damaged roads to a crossroads near a small town and waited for the master.
• A young man leading three donkeys arrived with an old man, and He Ning went to greet them while Black Snake wondered whether the ordinary-looking young man was the feng shui master.

Black Snake followed the old feng shui master as he surveyed the land damaged by the River’s new course and began altering its feng shui. After guarding the master through a night of unrest, Black Snake watched the group place an object in the old river channel, fill a well at the vanished village, and dig more pits.

• He Ning, the old man, and the young man left town to survey the River’s new channel and the vanished village.
• At night, Black Snake saw uncanny creatures gather around the town to stop the old man’s feng shui work and kept watch as they prowled outside.
• The next morning, the old man marked a spot on a hill for the young man to dig a pit, then led the group into the old river channel.
• The old man concealed a red-cloth-wrapped object in a rock hollow, while He Ning and the young man helped fill the ruined village’s well with stones.
• The group dug pits on nearby knolls and returned to town, where Black Snake noticed fewer uncanny creatures around that night.

Black Snake watched the old man seal a dangerous well and returned to the Azure Cloud Monastery with a faint gain in cultivation. As summer turned tense and the monastery shut its gates, He Ning relayed her master’s warning that Black Snake should avoid meddling in mortal affairs and wait until snow fell.

• Black Snake studied the old man’s sand tray, resolved to learn more, and fretted over his yin spirit’s inability to handle physical objects.
• The old man and six deaf-mute workers dragged a heavy stone slab over the Dry Well and began burying it beneath soil.
• The old man wrote to the Government Office about further work needed to protect the area, then He Ning and the old man exchanged farewells the next morning.
• Black Snake sensed a faint improvement in his cultivation as he and He Ning returned to the Azure Cloud Monastery.
• As the weather grew oppressive, the monastery and villages fortified themselves and restricted access to the mountain.
• He Ning told Black Snake to avoid meddling in mortal affairs and wait patiently until it snowed, and he agreed.

Black Snake spent the autumn bringing pine cones to He Ning and learning from her before winter ended their lessons. Ten years later, his yin spirit had grown stronger, but his physical limbs had made little progress as the village and its people changed around him.

• Black Snake gathered pine cones as a gift for He Ning, listened to her lessons, and wondered how he could earn money to buy eggs.
• He Ning taught Black Snake the directions, and he watched villagers return from seeking grain with a new, fearsome air.
• After ten years passed, Black Snake listened as He Ning spoke of another relative’s death and watched her return through the Mountain Gate.
• Black Snake greeted the village Land God, helped a boy avoid falling from a ladder, and briefly entered a villager’s dream.
• Black Snake noticed that his yin spirit could move across treetops, but remained troubled by his slow physical progress as the village changed.

He Ning and Black Snake traveled to a remote town to escort a boy believed to have come from above, while watching for sinister spirits drawn to him. They found the sick boy at the Chen Household, where his family struggled with the thought of sending him away, and Black Snake waited outside to meet him the next day.

• He Ning told Black Snake that their master had sent them to escort someone from above and warned him not to share their instructions with outsiders.
• He Ning and Black Snake traveled by donkey through rural roads, avoiding populated areas and stopping to rest along the way.
• On their fourth day, He Ning and Black Snake reached the Chen Household and met the boy she recognized as their charge.
• The boy's mother wept as she described his illness and her reluctance to part with him, while He Ning sat with the family.
• Black Snake waited outside the household, wondering what a person from above would look like and planning to examine the boy's scent the next day.

He Ning and Chen An traveled from the Chen Household and stopped at a tea stall, where Black Snake sensed an uneasy threat and frightened off a man intent on robbing them. That night, Chen An revealed that he could see Black Snake, and the two introduced themselves.

• Chen An left home with He Ning, and they traveled along the mountain road while Black Snake watched his illness and suffering.
• At a crossroads tea stall, Black Snake sensed something strange as a farmer considered attacking He Ning and Chen An for their belongings and donkeys.
• Black Snake's warning frightened the farmer out of his plan, and He Ning, Chen An, and Black Snake continued their journey.
• After failing to reach a town before nightfall, He Ning brewed medicine for Chen An at a village household.
• Chen An saw Black Snake, thanked Black Snake for driving away the attackers, and introduced himself; Black Snake gave his name in return.

Black Snake guarded He Ning and Chen An as they sheltered from a mountain storm, while He Ning’s restless sleep and unusual behavior deepened his unease. After the rain stopped, a strange old spirit tried to enter their dreams and claim Chen An as its companion, and Black Snake attacked when it proved hostile.

• Black Snake watched over He Ning as she slept fitfully, then traveled with her and Chen An the next morning.
• He Ning and Chen An took shelter beneath a rock during a heavy rain and spent the night there beside a fire.
• After the rain ended, Black Snake sensed a sinister spirit approaching and shattered its attempt to enter their dreams.
• The old man-shaped spirit asked to accompany Chen An, but Chen An stayed asleep and Black Snake warned it away.
• The spirit inhaled as if to devour Black Snake’s yin spirit, and He Ning warned that it was a monster that devoured yin spirits.
• Black Snake drew his sword and thrust at the old monster.

The Black Snake and He Ning fought an uncanny old man in the woods, and the snake destroyed it with Thunder Arts after it suffered a backlash. A limping cultivator arrived to investigate, then left without learning what had happened as He Ning and Chen An prepared to continue their journey at dawn.

• The Black Snake battled the uncanny old man while He Ning searched for a way to help.
• He Ning realized the old man had lost control after devouring too many Yin Spirits and urged the Black Snake to kill it.
• The Black Snake unleashed Thunder Arts and blasted the old man into smoke and dust.
• A limping man arrived, asked He Ning about the uncanny creature, and left after she claimed heavenly lightning had destroyed it.
• He Ning told Chen An they would travel to the nearby town at daybreak, and they set off after eating in the morning.

Black Snake noticed that Chen An and He Ning were being affected by strange emotional changes, and a roadside robbery revealed that an unseen demon was stirring their inner troubles. After delivering Chen An to a Daoist Monastery and returning He Ning to Azure Cloud Monastery, Black Snake resumed its quiet life on the mountain.

• Black Snake watched He Ning grow increasingly irritable and suspected that Chen An was connected to the abnormalities.
• When robbers attacked the travelers and injured a woman, He Ning demanded that Black Snake kill their scar-faced leader, then broke down and recognized the influence of a demon.
• Black Snake and He Ning took Chen An to a Daoist Monastery, where they left him for his master to help.
• He Ning returned to Azure Cloud Monastery, and the Abbot explained that recognizing an inner demon's intrusion meant she had passed its most dangerous trial.
• Black Snake returned to its peaceful routine on the mountaintop while He Ning came out carrying a stool and joined it beneath the tree.

Black Snake hunted along the river and began reshaping its tail to swim more efficiently. After meeting Xiao Yu, a bird demon cultivator, Black Snake decided to return to the mountain in two days.

• Black Snake left the Daoist Monastery, traveled east to Lin Family Crossing, and began hunting fish in the river.
• Black Snake studied a scaleless fish and used Yin Spirit Separation to guide fine spines growing along its tail, hoping to improve its swimming.
• While traveling downstream, Black Snake passed a temple and spotted cautious demon cultivators before noticing a large bird near a hill.
• Black Snake approached Xiao Yu in a moonlit clearing, introduced itself, and asked to talk; they exchanged a few words before Black Snake returned to its body.
• Black Snake wished it had asked Xiao Yu whether she knew He Bai and decided to rest for two more days before returning to the mountain.

Black Snake discovered the secluded cultivator Xu Jin and visited him at night, where Xu Jin shared how he had inherited cultivation from his deceased master. Black Snake asked Xiao Yu to watch over Xu Jin and decided to delay his departure to remain nearby.

• Black Snake spotted Xu Jin gathering herbs in a hidden valley and followed him to his hut beside Lone Crag.
• Black Snake visited Xu Jin at night, and Xu Jin welcomed him after learning he came from the Azure Cloud Monastery Back Mountain.
• Xu Jin told Black Snake about his family, meeting his master at fifteen, and living alone in the valley since his master died.
• Black Snake asked Xiao Yu to keep an eye on Xu Jin, and she agreed on the condition that he help her with a future request.
• Black Snake decided to stay a few more days to protect Xu Jin, whose limited cultivation left him vulnerable to powerful demons and ghosts.

Black Snake returned toward the mountain after realizing his cultivation still lacked something, and he learned that demon hunters were secretly capturing demons to refine medicine. He decided to stay near Azure Cloud Monastery and resume his cultivation while the danger passed.

• Black Snake spotted a demon piloting a black boat on the River and decided it was time to return to the mountain.
• On his journey home, Black Snake hid underwater as two boats passed, then met River Ash, who warned him that unruly demon hunters had entered the mountains.
• Black Snake continued upstream, passed the Dragon King Temple and Lin Family Crossing, and returned to the mountains.
• He Ning told Black Snake that people were secretly capturing demons to refine a rumored life-prolonging spirit medicine.
• Black Snake resolved to stay on the mountain, avoid needless conflict, and return to his daily cultivation.

Black Snake cultivated in the mountains while learning from local animals that demon hunters were intensifying their efforts to capture demons for medicine. As reports of heretic cultivators using people in their potions spread, he wondered when powerful masters would intervene and worried that the turmoil might disrupt his peaceful life.

• After a thunderstorm restored his lightning reserves, Black Snake resumed cultivating and learned that animals were taking refuge on the mountain from demon hunters.
• An old fox and an old weasel told Black Snake that demon hunters were raiding the countryside and deep forests, while rumors of rat demons being spared circulated among them.
• Black Snake saw wandering souls that appeared to have suffered terribly before dying, then returned to the mountain as autumn arrived and chose not to visit Xu Jin.
• He Ning told Black Snake that heretic cultivators were using people with particular birth charts to make medicine.
• After He Ning went inside, Black Snake wondered when powerful masters would stop the heretic cultivators and worried that he might not be able to fish in the River next spring.

Black Snake discovered a Plague Ghost hidden beneath the Mountain Road and used its lightning energy to purge the contamination it caused. The old Fox suspected a Rat Demon from the Gray Household in the County Seat was responsible and hurried to investigate.

• Black Snake saw the Abbot and three Daoists leave the mountain to hunt the Heretic Cultivator, then watched them return over a month later as winter arrived.
• While patrolling, Black Snake found a Plague Ghost under a paving brick and destroyed it with a sword strike, but gray contamination began spreading through its yin spirit.
• Black Snake cleared the contamination with lightning energy and pursued the Rat Demon that had fled underground, but stopped when it sensed it had gone too far from its body.
• Black Snake asked the old Fox about the ghost, and the old Fox identified it as a Plague Ghost that could bring plague.
• The old Fox feared a member of the Gray Household in the County Seat had caused the incident, and Black Snake agreed to wait at the little waterfall while the Fox investigated.

Black Snake learned from Hui Laosan and the old Fox how powerless small creatures could be, then defended the mountain from plague-maddened animals. After Azure Cloud Monastery burned the beasts’ bodies, Black Snake returned to shaping his body and resolved to persevere.

• Black Snake questioned Hui Laosan, learned that another Rat Demon had fled after burying evil objects, and let Hui Laosan go.
• The old Fox explained that powerless creatures could not argue their case, then left for the North Slope.
• Black Snake heard that an epidemic had struck the County Seat and later noticed nearly a hundred plague-maddened beasts charging up the mountain.
• Black Snake used his sword to kill the beasts on the Mountain Road, suspecting their murky aura resembled the Plague Ghost’s.
• Daoists from Azure Cloud Monastery burned the beasts’ corpses, and Black Snake continued shaping his body in his cave.

Black Snake confronted a possessed Heretic Cultivator who killed himself, dragging them both into the Underworld. There, Black Snake found his way back to his distant living body while the Heretic Cultivator’s tainted soul drew the attention of dangerous aberrations.

• Black Snake left his cave to drink at Spring Well and spotted a suspicious figure at the foot of the mountain.
• Black Snake identified the wounded visitor as a mad Heretic Cultivator and prepared to kill him, but the man blamed Azure Cloud Monastery for ruining his pursuit of longevity.
• The Heretic Cultivator cut his own throat, and a strange darkness pulled Black Snake away from his body and into the Underworld.
• Black Snake sensed that his connection to his living body still remained and detected countless aberrations and evil spirits nearby.
• The Heretic Cultivator shouted and attacked the aberrations, drawing more of them as Black Snake warned that he would be killed again.
• Black Snake realized the demon’s lingering poison had tainted the Heretic Cultivator’s yin soul, which risked becoming an evil spirit or aberration.

Black Snake escaped the underworld after slaying its monstrosities and the Heretic Cultivator, then recovered at the Azure Cloud Monastery and studied what He Ning learned about the land of the dead. Black Snake concluded that the underworld was vast and dangerous, but that learning to open a path into it might provide a way to dispose of enemies.

• Black Snake fought through the monstrosities, used the Heretic Cultivator's yin soul as a shield, and destroyed both the cultivator and the final monstrosity.
• Black Snake cleansed the foul qi from its yin spirit and climbed the mountain until it reconnected with its physical body at the Mountain Gate of the Azure Cloud Monastery.
• He Ning explained that she had feared Black Snake would not wake before the incense burned out, and Black Snake recounted being dragged into the underworld.
• Black Snake recovered by absorbing mountain mist and rising sun qi while reflecting on the underworld's terrain and dangers.
• He Ning brought folk-lore books she had gathered from the monastery library, and Black Snake learned about important places in the land of the dead.
• Black Snake decided to avoid the underworld unless necessary, but considered learning to open a path there to send opponents into it.

Black Snake watched the Azure Cloud Monastery’s New Year’s Eve celebrations, then passed twenty uneventful years as its people grew older. When He Ning reunited with the now-renowned physician Chen An, Black Snake glimpsed two strange figures beside him.

• On New Year’s Eve, He Ning gave Black Snake warm food and told it that eating it would keep it safe year after year.
• Black Snake spent the following years practicing cultivation, patrolling for minor supernatural disturbances, and attending He Ning’s lessons as twenty springs and autumns passed.
• Black Snake noticed white strands in He Ning’s hair and watched her grow quieter, while its yin spirit advanced enough for it to appear before people and lift light objects.
• He Ning brought Chen An, now a famous physician, to the vegetable garden, where he spoke about his work and the illness that still tormented him.
• Black Snake briefly saw two half-beast, half-human figures beside Chen An; they saluted Black Snake and vanished when it looked again.

Black Snake learned about a vanished statue that had become an evil spirit, then traveled downstream and reunited with Xu Jin. Xu Jin explained the secret art behind the statue’s transformation, and the two set aside the matter to cultivate beneath the moon.

• Chen An left the mountain, and He Ning told Black Snake that a statue in a neighboring county had vanished and become an evil spirit.
• Black Snake refined its body while swimming downstream and met River Ash, who shared stories of life, work, and saving money.
• Black Snake traveled down the River overnight, returned to the Valley, and found Xu Jin working in the Herb Garden.
• Black Snake told Xu Jin about the runaway statue, and Xu Jin consulted an old book to explain that the secret art could serve good or evil purposes but could turn failed practitioners into harmful spirits.
• Black Snake and Xu Jin discussed cultivation and past troubles, then went to Lone Crag to gaze at the moon and cultivate.

Black Snake and Xiao Yu traveled across the mountains to investigate a strange cave filled with spiritual qi. Inside, they found the charred remains of a failed cultivator, which crumbled to dust, and stayed by the entrance as rain returned.

• Xiao Yu told Black Snake about a strange cave five mountains away, and he agreed to explore it with her.
• After rain delayed their departure, Black Snake and Xiao Yu crossed ridges and climbed toward the cave at the summit.
• They found the cave entrance beneath a lightning-struck tree and detected traces of lightning, spiritual qi, and a faint human presence inside.
• Black Snake and Xiao Yu entered the cave and found a lightning-scorched cultivator lying on a stone bed.
• The cultivator’s body, clothes, and hairpin crumbled into dust, leaving Black Snake and Xiao Yu to speculate about who he had been.

Black Snake and Xiao Yu were attacked near the mysterious cave by a man wielding an iron rod, and they fought back before fleeing down the mountain. Black Snake drew the pursuer away from Xiao Yu and raced toward the valley as the man continued chasing.

• Black Snake sensed a concealed attacker near the cave, and the man struck Xiao Yu with a projectile that injured her wing.
• Black Snake hid Xiao Yu and circled back to assess the attacker, who carried an iron rod and began tracking them through the forest.
• Xiao Yu doubled back and disoriented the man with her piercing cry, allowing Black Snake to strike him while lightning was drawn to his iron rod.
• The man tore the burned skin from his palm, retaliated with the rod, and drove Black Snake to retreat after injuring its flank.
• Black Snake and Xiao Yu fled down the mountainside as the man pursued them and hurled iron pellets; Black Snake signaled Xiao Yu to split off while it continued toward the valley.