Recaps

Black Snake planted seeds in the Medicine Field and waited for the Continuous Rainy Season, then visited the Azure Cloud Monastery as the rain arrived. He flew through the storm clouds, absorbed rain essence and lightning, and developed a more accurate way to spit clustered lightning bolts.

• Black Snake cleared weeds from the Stone Terrace and planted seeds in the Medicine Field.
• After two or three months passed without the seeds sprouting, Black Snake sensed the approaching Continuous Rainy Season and entered the Mortal Realm.
• Black Snake reached the Azure Cloud Monastery, drank from the old well, and waited on the summit as visitors arrived and the rain began.
• Black Snake rose into the clouds, absorbed rain essence, and drew lightning from the storm.
• Black Snake repeatedly practiced spitting lightning until he could fire a cluster of bolts that constrained one another and improved his aim.

Black Snake cultivated in the storm clouds while people sealed the Dry Well with a Peachwood Formation, and the New Abbot ordered the Azure Cloud Monastery to put its supernatural legends aside. After the rains ended, Black Snake sensed a fierce clash near the tomb complex but headed to tend his medicine fields instead.

• Black Snake practiced releasing lightning, climbed above the storm clouds, and continued cultivating in the rain.
• Workers built a Peachwood Formation around the Dry Well to keep ordinary yin souls and ghost creatures from escaping while thunder drowned out the voices within.
• The New Abbot rejected the monastery’s legends about demons and forbade the Daoists from discussing spirit monsters or supernatural affairs.
• Black Snake cultivated through the month-long rain, then slept for about three days after the skies cleared as his limbs began to develop.
• Black Snake sensed chaotic spirit power near the tomb complex and suspected the human cultivators had attacked the Ghost King, but went to tend his medicine fields.

Black Snake discovered a mountain lad had found his hidden Medicine Field on Rabbit Tooth Ridge and forced him to leave the herbs behind. Knowing the field was exposed, Black Snake planned to move its plants into the Spirit Realm after harvesting them in autumn and stayed overnight on the ridge.

• Black Snake cleared the Medicine Field and noticed a faint human scent coming from Rabbit Tooth Ridge.
• Black Snake found a mountain lad digging up his oldest ginseng and disturbing the herbs.
• Black Snake told the lad the herbs were his and ordered him to leave; the frightened lad fled, dropping the ginseng.
• Black Snake surveyed the damaged field and decided to move the plants into the Spirit Realm before other people arrived.
• Black Snake stayed on Rabbit Tooth Ridge overnight and watched the moon.

A Suo sought Aunt Liu’s help to claim the medicinal herbs on Rabbit Tooth Ridge, but the Immortals warned him to leave Black Snake alone. After Black Snake frightened off the villagers and accepted their apology, he replanted the damaged herbs.

• A Suo asked Aunt Liu to have the Immortals drive away the Great Black Snake, but she warned him not to touch the herbs or return to the Medicine Field.
• A Suo refused to give up because his family needed money, while Aunt Liu insisted the Immortals were too afraid to intervene.
• Villagers climbed Rabbit Tooth Ridge to search for ginseng and lingzhi, and Black Snake scared them into fleeing down the mountain.
• Granny Liu led the villagers in an apology offering, and Black Snake let the incense burn out without harming them.
• Black Snake replanted the salvageable medicinal herbs and remarked that plants could survive with soil and water.

After learning that the cultivators had lost to the Holy King Hall, Black Snake returned to the Azure Cloud Monastery and found refugees sheltering there. When the Ghost King led a massive force of ghosts up the mountain to kill them, Black Snake prepared to meet the threat.

• Black Snake left the Medicine Field and headed back to the Azure Cloud Monastery after sensing something unusual.
• Black Snake overheard refugees and learned that the cultivators had lost their battle against the Holy King Hall, while the Ghost King remained alive.
• Black Snake found the monastery crowded with wounded cultivators and wealthy families hiding from the ghosts, and decided it would protect the monastery if no one else came.
• The Holy King Hall sent a vast host of wandering souls and vengeful ghosts up the mountain to exterminate the refugees.
• Black Snake spotted the Ghost King in the ghostly army, rose into the air, and moved down the stone steps to confront the approaching evil beings.

Black Snake defended Azure Cloud Monastery from a vast horde of yin souls, driving most of them away with a burst of lightning while Ghost King escaped. He returned to the monastery and sent out his primordial spirit, preparing to face the remaining powerful ghosts at the Stone Terrace.

• Black Snake blocked the ghosts on the mountain path and confronted Ghost King, who offered to spare the Daoists if Black Snake let him kill everyone else.
• Black Snake unleashed branching lightning that nearly wiped out the horde, while Ghost King and the strongest ghosts fled.
• Black Snake worried about the effects of killing so many yin souls, then returned to his cave in Azure Cloud Monastery Back Mountain.
• Black Snake sent his primordial spirit to the Stone Terrace, where a longsword formed at his waist.

Black Snake prepared for the Ghost King’s return and faced his forces on the Stone Terrace with help from Xiao Yu and Red Clothes. As the battle continued, Black Snake anticipated the ghosts’ attacks several moves ahead.

• Black Snake waited outside the temple while cultivators followed it onto the Stone Terrace.
• The Ghost King returned with a dozen powerful greater ghosts, and the frightened cultivators looked to Black Snake for protection.
• Black Snake summoned Red Clothes and Xiao Yu, then drew its sword as the young Abbot watched from the main hall.
• Black Snake, Xiao Yu, and Red Clothes fought the ghosts, and a greater ghost that attacked Black Snake from the flank was destroyed by Xiao Yu.
• Black Snake evaded the enemy attacks and struck with precise sword swings, calculating its next five moves as it fought.

Black Snake and his allies drove the Ghost King’s forces from the Azure Cloud Monastery, but an unfamiliar master arrived as the battle ended. The kindly old man called Black Snake a demon and demanded he return with him to atone for his killing.

• Black Snake wore down the Ghost King’s followers with relentless sword strikes while Red Clothes fought recklessly at the front.
• As an unfamiliar master approached the mountain, Black Snake pulled Red Clothes away, and the Ghost King fled with two surviving Ghost Generals.
• The cultivators celebrated the arrival of the kindly, slightly plump old man, while Black Snake grew suspicious of the Ghost King’s lack of fear.
• Red Clothes returned to the Spirit Realm, and Black Snake wondered how a once-raised Ghost Creature had become a Ghost King.
• The old man told Black Snake that his murderous karmic burden was too heavy and ordered him to return with him, leaving the monastery silent and confused.

Black Snake revealed its Yang Spirit power, rejected the old man’s demand to repent, and escaped into the Azure Cloud Monastery’s Back Mountain. The old man tried to turn the monastery against the demon, but Black Snake returned in a monstrous form and cursed him.

• Black Snake spat at the old man, who unleashed his aura and called the demon incorrigible.
• Morning light confirmed that Black Snake was a Yang Spirit, terrifying the gathered crowd.
• Black Snake accused the crowd of forgetting its defense of them and challenged the old man, who demanded that it kneel and repent.
• Black Snake struck the old man with venom and lightning, then fled into the Back Mountain.
• The old man urged the monastery and the crowd to drive Black Snake from the mountain, while the Abbot grew angry at his provocation.
• Black Snake charged back through the forest in a huge form and shouted that the old man should leave the mountains.

Black Snake and Xiao Yu fought the old man at the Azure Cloud Monastery until the Abbot intervened and forced both sides to withdraw. Recovering in a misty gorge, Black Snake planned to investigate the old man and considered repairing its strained relationship with the Abbot.

• Xiao Yu and Black Snake attacked the old man, who summoned two golden-armored ghosts and repelled their assault.
• The Abbot stopped the confrontation and told the old man and Black Snake to take their fight elsewhere.
• The old man left the monastery, and Black Snake retreated into the forest without responding to the Abbot.
• Black Snake reached a waterfall gorge, told Xiao Yu to return to the Spirit Realm, and rested in the mist.
• Black Snake resolved to learn about the old man's sect and consider other ways to strike back, while contemplating a conversation with the Abbot.

After the ghost plague ended, the Abbot considered how the Azure Cloud Monastery should treat Black Snake, while Black Snake returned to the Spirit Realm and found its cultivation improving. It blocked the incense worship stirred up by Mortal Realm legends, then rushed to the Dragon King Temple ruins and caught the boy offering incense again.

• Two Mystic Sect masters told the Abbot that Black Snake and the Five-Colored Demon Bird had helped stop the ghost plague and urged her not to drive the snake away.
• The Abbot wondered who had taught Black Snake its swordsmanship, but the long-bearded master said its origins were its secret.
• Back in the Spirit Realm, Black Snake noticed its cultivation advancing faster and waited for the wicked old man, who never appeared.
• Legends about the battle at the Azure Cloud Monastery spread through the Mortal Realm, and Black Snake used thunder force to block the incense worship directed at it.
• Black Snake searched through its books for a proper name, then heard the boy’s voice and realized he was offering incense at the Dragon King Temple ruins again.
• Black Snake confronted the boy, who said there really was something this time.

Black Snake learned that the town’s lord was forcing a young woman to become a sacrifice in his name, so he rushed to Oxhead Rock and rescued her from the river. As he surfaced with the girl, he sensed a large creature approaching underwater.

• Black Snake learned from the lad that the town’s lord planned to sacrifice a sixteen-year-old girl as his bride.
• Black Snake hurried downstream to Oxhead Rock and found the girl being threatened by the middle-aged man.
• The girl refused to marry the Dragon King and jumped into the river with a brick tied to her ankle.
• Black Snake cut the rope, lifted the choking girl on his snout, and carried her to the surface.
• Black Snake sensed a creature about twenty feet long approaching through the water.

Black Snake rescued a drowning bride, killed and ate the demonic beast that attacked it, and left the girl alive on a reef. After meeting Black Snake’s gaze, she begged it to take her with it.

• Black Snake buoyed the sinking girl while dodging a strange, dragon-like demonic beast beneath the River.
• Black Snake coiled around the beast, bit its belly, and killed it with venom.
• Black Snake pushed the nearly strengthless girl onto a reef, then returned underwater to eat the beast.
• Black Snake surfaced beside the girl, who stared at it through tears without recoiling.
• The girl asked Black Snake to take her with it.

Black Snake agreed to take the abandoned bride away after sensing that saving her had eased an obstruction in his cultivation. He left her waiting on the reef and went to punish the Village Elder who had arranged the Dragon King bride offering, leaving the man trapped in a terrifying dream and gravely weakened.

• The girl asked Black Snake to take her away, and he told her to stay on the reef until nightfall.
• Black Snake returned after sunset and passed the girl without stopping, heading toward town to deal with the Village Elder.
• Black Snake entered the Village Elder's home and pulled him into a nightmare in which the man was chased through familiar places.
• Black Snake left the Village Elder trapped in a dream within a dream, with his yang essence and vital energy steadily leaking away.

Black Snake helped a distressed girl reach the Azure Cloud Monastery, hoping it could offer her a safe place to live. As he continued searching for what was missing from his cultivation, he guided her up the monastery mountain.

• Black Snake met the boy who had burned incense for him and told him to give his flatbreads and eggs to Sister Wang.
• Black Snake advised the girl to seek refuge at the Azure Cloud Monastery near Lin Family Crossing, and she set off alone.
• Black Snake returned to the Spirit Realm, thanked Xiao Yu, and reflected that helping people in the Mortal Realm might be weakening the obstruction to his cultivation.
• Black Snake sensed the girl nearing the monastery and went to wait near the mountain’s Crossroads.
• The exhausted girl recognized Black Snake as a little boy and followed him up the mountain toward the Azure Cloud Monastery.

Black Snake brought the exhausted girl to the Azure Cloud Monastery and asked the Abbot to take her in, which she agreed to do out of gratitude for his protection. The girl entered the monastery while Black Snake vanished, and he later wondered whether the obstruction within him had loosened slightly.

• Black Snake led the girl up the mountain steps to the Stone Terrace and asked the Abbot to let her stay at the monastery.
• The Abbot agreed to take in the girl, and the girl burst into tears of relief.
• The Abbot warned Black Snake to avoid appearing before people because she distrusted demons, then offered to contact the ancestral headquarters on his behalf.
• The Abbot led the girl into the Azure Cloud Monastery, explaining that Black Snake was a Yang Spirit after he disappeared.
• Black Snake returned to the deep ravine and sensed that the obstruction within his body might have loosened slightly.

Black Snake ignored the River demons’ theft of his offerings and refused a boy’s plea to reclaim his place as Dragon King. Later, a mirage appeared above Azure Cloud Monastery, showing Black Snake patrolling his mountain and leaving the Abbot longing to visit a spirit realm.

• River villagers spread conflicting rumors about monsters and debated building a Dragon King Temple, while Black Snake let the demons take the offerings without interference.
• A boy reached Black Snake through a dream and urged him to return as Dragon King to protect people, but Black Snake refused and advised him to take a broader view of future hardships.
• Black Snake decided he needed to find a village school and worried about getting a recommendation, then tended his spirit medicine and patrolled his territory.
• A mirage appeared above Azure Cloud Monastery, where people saw Black Snake moving through the mountain mist.
• The Abbot recognized Black Snake in the mirage and watched the vision fade, wishing she could visit a spirit realm herself.

The black snake worried about finding a scholar to recommend him to the Village School, then learned that foreign monsters had seized the River’s incense offerings and might target him. After six quiet days, a sleepy Daoist named Lin Wei arrived from Pillowstar Mountain, introduced herself, and promptly fell asleep standing before him.

• Xiao Yu asked why the black snake was troubled, and he explained that he wanted to study at the Village School but lacked a recommendation.
• Hu Changqing visited, said he knew no scholars willing to befriend demonic beasts, and warned that the foreign monsters might target the black snake after taking the River’s incense offerings.
• Hu Changqing volunteered to investigate the outsiders, while the black snake chose not to involve the Cloud Immortal Hall and continued practicing swordsmanship.
• After six uneventful days, Xiao Yu spotted someone approaching, and the black snake sensed that the visitor was a cultivator at the Yin Spirit realm.
• Lin Wei of Pillowstar Mountain greeted the black snake at the cliff’s edge, then fell asleep standing before she could answer why she had come.

Lin Wei invited Black Snake to become Pillowstar Mountain’s mountain-guarding spirit beast, and he accepted after learning he could keep protecting the Azure Cloud Monastery. He also asked to bring Xiao Yu, while Lin Wei’s question about his name left him considering what to call himself.

• Lin Wei offered Black Snake a place at Pillowstar Mountain, but he initially refused twice.
• Lin Wei explained that the Library Pavilion role would be leisurely and would not stop him from guarding the Azure Cloud Monastery, so Black Snake agreed.
• Lin Wei collected some of Black Snake’s aura in a jade talisman, then fell asleep beneath a pine tree.
• Black Snake tended the spirit medicines in the Medicine Field, and Lin Wei praised their growth after waking.
• Black Snake asked whether Xiao Yu could accompany him to Pillowstar Mountain, and Lin Wei said she would speak to the elders.
• Lin Wei asked Black Snake what his name was, prompting him to decide he should choose one.

Black Snake chose the name Jin Si and visited the grave near Azure Cloud Monastery, where he resolved to grow stronger so he could find her. Back in the Spirit Realm, he and Xiao Yu discussed their invitation to Pillowstar Mountain before Jin Si sensed that something bad was happening elsewhere.

• Lin Wei explained how cultivators could choose names, and Black Snake drew on his Gui Water cultivation and fragmentary memories to name himself Jin Si.
• Jin Si visited the grave near Azure Cloud Monastery in the form of a huge snake and, remembering the woman buried there, vowed to become an immortal and increase his cultivation.
• A messenger delivered an urgent letter to the monastery, and the Abbot sent two Daoists down the mountain that night.
• Jin Si told Xiao Yu that he had accepted the invitation to guard the Library Pavilion on Pillowstar Mountain and arranged for her to join him.
• When Xiao Yu asked where Pillowstar Mountain was, Jin Si said he would ask Hu Changqing at Cloud Immortal Hall.
• Jin Si sensed that something bad was happening, and he and Xiao Yu suspected the event involved him and was taking place elsewhere.

The Ghost King killed the two Daoists sent from Azure Cloud Monastery, and the Abbot realized the attack was meant to draw Jin Si into a trap. Jin Si set out to confront the Ghost King and reached the ancient tombs beside a dry well.

• The Ghost King walked through the County Seat at night, extinguishing the street lanterns as he passed.
• The Abbot sensed danger, and the two Daoists later returned to Azure Cloud Monastery dead after a night in the County Seat.
• Jin Si saw that the Abbot understood the Ghost King had targeted the monastery and refused to ask him for vengeance.
• Jin Si left the monastery and headed toward the Underworld, while Xiao Yu told him Red Clothes was angry that she could not come in daylight.
• Jin Si reached the ancient tombs and settled beside a dry well that radiated an icy chill despite the blazing sun.

Jin Si entered the Underworld alone and secretly tracked down the Ghost King. He crept to within five zhang while the Ghost King cultivated, then waited for wandering souls to provide cover for an ambush.

• Jin Si sealed the well with Black Snake and entered the Underworld alone to hunt the Ghost King.
• Jin Si hid in the ruined hall for two hours, observing that the area had been emptied of most yin souls after his Thunderstorm attack.
• Jin Si spotted a strange courtyard where a woman wrote at a table among maidservant spirits, but decided she posed no threat and continued on.
• Jin Si located the Ghost King cultivating in dense black mist atop a rock and secretly mapped a winding approach through the ruins.
• Jin Si stopped five zhang away and waited as wandering souls drifted past the Ghost King, giving him a chance to move closer under cover.

Black Snake fought Ghost King in the Underworld and exploited Ghost King's attachment to a woman to break his composure. As Red Clothes arrived, Black Snake was pressing his advantage against the wounded Ghost King.

• Black Snake ambushed Ghost King, pierced his shoulder, and drove him into a desperate retreat, while the Abbot and several Daoists hurried toward the town after receiving a letter.
• Black Snake remembered a rumor about Ghost King taking a bride and diverted his attack toward the woman in the courtyard.
• Black Snake killed the woman with a sword thrust, and Ghost King abandoned the fight to clutch at her falling ashes.
• Black Snake baited the enraged Ghost King through the ruins and a dilapidated tower ship, then attacked the openings in his guard.
• Red Clothes arrived to find Ghost King battered and riddled with holes.

Black Snake and Red Clothes fought Holy King Hall’s Ghost King, and Black Snake killed him by exploiting his focus on a feinted attack. Afterward, Black Snake escaped the Underworld through Dry Well and returned to the moonlit slope.

• Red Clothes arrived in a frenzy and attacked Ghost King while Black Snake calculated their movements and prepared a powerful sword strike.
• Black Snake feinted a killing blow, drawing Ghost King’s defenses forward and opening him to Red Clothes’s attack.
• Black Snake reversed his sword and pierced Ghost King’s vital point, then held him down while Red Clothes tore at him.
• Ghost King’s remaining core shattered, reducing him to dust and smoke.
• Black Snake raced through the well and emerged on the barren slope, where Great Black Snake rested as yin qi dissolved against his scales.

Black Snake returned from the Underworld after killing a Ghost King, then found his limbs growing rapidly as he absorbed spiritual qi from the Mist Sea. After failing to force the transformation, he realized he needed rainwater and the force of a thunderstorm to complete it.

• Black Snake returned to his body at the Dry Well, thanked the Abbot, and left with Xiao Yu.
• Red Clothes emerged from the well and departed after her resentment had eased; she later thanked Black Snake for avenging her.
• Black Snake told Red Clothes his name was Jin Si, then noticed that his limbs were growing much faster after he killed the Ghost King.
• Black Snake absorbed spiritual qi from the Mist Sea, but his new claws remained trapped beneath his skin despite his efforts.
• Black Snake calmed himself, recalled his intuition, and realized he needed rainwater and a thunderstorm to accelerate his growth.