Chapter Summaries

Black Snake returned to the Azure Cloud Monastery and learned that the Ghost King had defeated the cultivators, driving survivors to seek refuge there. When Holy King Hall’s ghosts came to slaughter them, Black Snake went out to confront the Ghost King and protect the monastery.

• Black Snake swallowed the ginseng and headed back toward the Spirit Realm, but turned aside to investigate the Azure Cloud Monastery.
• Black Snake found the monastery crowded with wounded cultivators and fleeing families, then learned that the Ghost King had survived the battle and the cultivators had lost.
• Black Snake returned to the Stone Terrace, found the Spring Well altered, and decided it would protect the monastery if no one else came.
• Holy King Hall’s ghosts gathered at the mountain and advanced on the monastery in force.
• Black Snake identified the Ghost King among the approaching spirits, rose into the air, and descended the stone steps to face them.

Black Snake unleashed a storm of lightning that drove Ghost King and the strongest ghosts from the mountain road, saving the Azure Cloud Monastery from the ghost horde. He returned to his cave, then sent out his primordial spirit and prepared a sword on the Stone Terrace.

• Ghost King confronted Black Snake on the mountain road and offered to spare the Daoists if Black Snake let him kill everyone else in the Azure Cloud Monastery.
• Black Snake unleashed seven or eight branching bolts of thunder, wiping out most of the ghosts as Ghost King and several powerful ghosts escaped.
• The people inside the Azure Cloud Monastery celebrated when the ghost horde disappeared, while Black Snake worried that killing so many souls might hinder his cultivation.
• Black Snake returned to his mountain cave, sent his primordial spirit to the Stone Terrace, and formed a longsword at his waist.

Black Snake prepared to face the returning Ghost King and fought alongside Little Feather and Red on the Stone Terrace. As the battle continued, Black Snake used its sharpened perception to anticipate the ghosts’ moves and stay ahead of them.

• Black Snake waited on the Stone Terrace as cultivators left the temple and the Ghost King returned with a dozen greater ghosts.
• The cultivators looked to Black Snake for help, and the young Abbot watched from the great hall as Black Snake summoned Red and Little Feather.
• Black Snake, Little Feather, and Red joined battle against the Ghost King and its greater ghosts.
• A greater ghost attacked Black Snake from the flank, but its claws failed to pierce Black Snake’s hard body, and it was destroyed by scorching blood energy.
• Black Snake dodged the ghosts’ attacks and calculated several moves ahead while fighting across the Stone Terrace.

Black Snake and its allies defeated the Ghost King’s forces on the Stone Terrace, but the Ghost King escaped after an unfamiliar expert approached. The newcomer then called Black Snake a demon and demanded that it come with him to atone for its killings.

• Black Snake wore down the Ghost King’s forces while Red Clothes fought recklessly and Xiao Yu raced through the battle.
• As dawn approached, Black Snake sensed a powerful stranger coming up the mountain and pulled Red Clothes away from the fight.
• The Ghost King seized the chance to flee with its two remaining Ghost Generals, and Red Clothes reluctantly returned to the World Spirit.
• The stranger arrived as the monastery’s people celebrated the victory, while Black Snake suspected the Ghost King’s glance toward him had been unusual.
• The old man addressed Black Snake as a demon and ordered it to come with him to dissolve its murderous intent.

Black Snake revealed himself as a Yang Spirit Great Demon and rejected the old man’s demand that he repent and submit to a hundred years in a tower. After Black Snake fled into the forest, the old man tried to rally the monastery against him, but Black Snake returned in a gigantic form and cursed him.

• The old man confronted Black Snake, whose immense snake phantom and calm exposure to sunrise revealed him as a Yang Spirit Great Demon.
• The old man urged Black Snake to repent and spend a hundred years listening to scriptures, while Black Snake looked toward the Abbot and received no support from the frightened crowd.
• Black Snake accused the crowd of forgetting how he had fought the ten thousand ghosts, then mocked the old man and escaped with a burst of lightning.
• The old man declared that he would drive the demon from the mountain and tried to pressure the Azure Cloud Monastery into joining him.
• A gigantic Great Black Snake charged through the forest, and Black Snake cursed the old man for trespassing in the mountains he had occupied first.

Black Snake and Xiao Yu confronted the old man and his ghostly Heavenly Kings at Azure Cloud Monastery, but the Abbot stopped the fight and both sides withdrew. Black Snake rested in a secluded gorge, sent Xiao Yu back to the Spirit Realm, and planned how to investigate and retaliate against the old man while recovering his strength.

• Xiao Yu feinted at the old man while Black Snake dodged his attacks and the old man's golden-armored ghost guards appeared.
• The Abbot ordered everyone to stop fighting at Azure Cloud Monastery, and the old man and Black Snake withdrew.
• Black Snake reached a misty gorge, told Xiao Yu to return to the Spirit Realm, and stayed behind to recover.
• Black Snake reflected on the failed chance to destroy the Ghost King of the Holy King Hall and decided to learn more about the old man's sect before striking back.
• Black Snake considered speaking with the Abbot and planned to return to the Spirit Realm after nightfall.

After the Ghost Plague ended, the Abbot and two Mystic Sect masters agreed that Black Snake should be allowed to remain on the mountain, while Black Snake returned to the Spirit Realm and noticed its cultivation had advanced. When the boy offered incense at the Dragon King Temple ruins again, Black Snake rushed to confront him, and the boy said he had a real reason.

• Two Mystic Sect masters told the Abbot that the Holy King Hall's Yin Souls had nearly been wiped out and the Ghost Plague was over.
• The masters urged the Abbot not to drive Black Snake away, and the Abbot wondered who had taught the snake its swordsmanship.
• Back in the Spirit Realm, Black Snake found its cultivation had improved after stopping the Ghost Plague and waited for the old man to seek revenge.
• Stories about Black Snake spread through the Mortal Realm, and Black Snake used thunder to block the incense devotion they generated.
• Black Snake searched its books for a name, then heard that the boy had gone to the Dragon King Temple ruins to offer incense again.
• Black Snake confronted the boy at the ruins, and the boy replied that this time he really had something to ask.

Black Snake rushed to Oxhead Rock to stop a forced sacrifice being carried out in his name, but the girl sank before he could reach the shore. He rescued her from the river and sensed a large creature approaching underwater.

• The lad told Black Snake that the town master planned to sacrifice a sixteen-year-old girl as his bride at Oxhead Rock that day.
• Black Snake hurried downstream and found the girl at Oxhead Rock, where the town master threatened her and ordered villagers to send her into the river.
• The girl jumped into the River with blue bricks tied to her ankles, believing she would soon reunite with her father.
• Black Snake cut the rope, lifted the choking girl, and brought her to the surface away from Oxhead Rock.
• Black Snake sensed an approaching creature roughly twenty feet long moving through the water downstream.

Black Snake rescued the drowning bride while fighting and killing a strange Demonic Beast in the River. After he brought her to a reef, she asked him to take her with him.

• Black Snake lifted the drowning girl with an undercurrent while he faced an unfamiliar Demonic Beast in the River.
• Black Snake studied the creature’s clumsy attacks, then coiled around it, bit its belly, and poisoned it.
• Black Snake pushed the exhausted girl onto a reef, then returned underwater and devoured the Demonic Beast.
• Black Snake surfaced beside the girl, who stared at him through tears without showing fear or disgust.
• The girl pleaded with Black Snake to take her with him.

Black Snake agreed to help the rescued bride leave the River, then went to punish the Village Elder who had arranged the Dragon King's wedding. He trapped the Elder in a terrifying dream and left him gravely ill.

• Black Snake noticed his cultivation blockage weakening after he saved the girl and asked where she wanted to go.
• The girl said she would go anywhere, and Black Snake told her to wait on the rock until nightfall.
• Black Snake returned after sunset, saw the girl still waiting, and headed for the town to confront the Village Elder.
• Black Snake slipped into the Village Elder's residence and trapped him in a nightmare in which a fanged boy chased him.
• Black Snake left the Elder with leaking vital essence and a grave illness that would begin the day after tomorrow.

Black Snake helped a desperate girl reach the Azure Cloud Monastery, hoping she could find safety there. As he pondered whether good deeds could resolve the lack in his cultivation, he guided her up the mountain toward the monastery.

• Black Snake found the boy who had offered him incense and told him to give his flatbreads and eggs to Sister Wang.
• Black Snake appeared as a great serpent and directed Sister Wang to seek refuge at the Azure Cloud Monastery near Lin Family Crossing.
• Sister Wang trusted Black Snake’s advice and walked through the night toward the monastery while he watched over her from above.
• Back in the Spirit Realm, Black Snake considered whether entering the human world and doing good deeds could mend the lack in his cultivation.
• When Sister Wang reached the monastery’s mountain fork, Black Snake waited disguised as a little boy and led her up the steps.

Black Snake brought the exhausted girl to the Azure Cloud Monastery and asked the Abbot to take her in. The Abbot agreed, and the girl entered the monastery while Black Snake disappeared into the ravine, sensing that the obstruction within him might have loosened slightly.

• Black Snake led the girl in her filthy wedding dress up the mountain to the Azure Cloud Monastery.
• The Abbot agreed to take the girl in to repay Black Snake for protecting the monastery during the Ghost Calamity, and the girl broke down in tears.
• The Abbot warned Black Snake to avoid appearing before people because humans and demons followed different paths.
• The Abbot told Black Snake that he had fulfilled their agreement from a hundred years earlier and offered to send him to the ancestral monastery, but he ignored the offer.
• The Abbot led the girl into the Azure Cloud Monastery, explaining that Black Snake was a Yang Spirit after he vanished.
• Black Snake sensed that the obstruction inside him might have loosened slightly.

Black Snake ignored the River monsters’ attempts to claim his Dragon King title and refused a boy’s plea to protect the villagers. As peace returned, he considered finding a school, while a mirage of his mountain appeared above Azure Cloud Temple and stirred the temple master’s longing to visit the spirit realm.

• River monsters spread conflicting stories and demands for a Dragon King Temple, while Black Snake watched them divide the villagers’ offerings without concern.
• In the boy’s dream, Black Snake rejected his plea to return as Dragon King and warned him to take a broader view when misfortune came.
• Black Snake decided he should find a school but worried about gaining admission, then returned to tending and patrolling his mountain.
• A mirage showing the mountain and Black Snake appeared above Azure Cloud Temple, and the temple master recognized him and wished she could visit the spirit realm.

Black Snake worried about finding a scholar to recommend him to school, while Hu Changqing warned that outsiders who had seized river offerings might target him. After six quiet days of practice, a sleepy Daoist named Lin Wei arrived from Pillowstar Mountain and fell asleep standing before him.

• Xiao Yu asked why Black Snake was troubled, and he explained that he wanted to attend school but had no one to recommend him.
• Hu Changqing visited, discussed the outsiders who had seized river offerings, and warned that Black Snake might be their next target.
• Hu Changqing offered to investigate the outsiders, while Black Snake chose not to involve Cloud Immortal Hall in the danger.
• Black Snake practiced the Abbot's sword movements as six quiet days passed on the mountain.
• Xiao Yu and Black Snake spotted a Yin Spirit approaching, and the visitor identified herself as Lin Wei of Pillowstar Mountain.
• Black Snake asked Lin Wei what brought her to the mountain, but she fell asleep standing before she could answer.

Lin Wei persuaded Black Snake to join Pillowstar Mountain as a mountain-guarding spirit beast while allowing him to keep protecting the Azure Cloud Monastery. After he asked whether Xiao Yu could come too, Lin Wei agreed to ask the elders, and Black Snake began considering a name for himself.

• Lin Wei offered Black Snake a place at Pillowstar Mountain, but he initially refused.
• Lin Wei explained that he could serve at the Library Pavilion, cultivate peacefully, and still protect the Azure Cloud Monastery, so Black Snake agreed to join.
• Lin Wei recorded Black Snake's aura with a jade talisman, then fell asleep beneath an ancient pine while Black Snake tended his spirit herbs.
• Lin Wei praised Black Snake's herbs, and he asked if Xiao Yu could accompany him to Pillowstar Mountain; Lin Wei agreed to consult the elders.
• Lin Wei asked Black Snake what his name was, prompting him to realize he should choose one.

Black Snake chose the name Jin Si and visited the grave near Azure Cloud Monastery to remember someone he hoped to find again through cultivation. Back in the Spirit Realm, he agreed to become Pillowstar Mountain’s mountain-guarding spirit beast alongside Xiao Yu, then sensed that something bad might happen to him elsewhere.

• Lin Wei explained how cultivators chose names, and Black Snake settled on Jin Si after recalling that he had once been the fourth in a group.
• Jin Si traveled to the mortal world, sat beside a grave near Azure Cloud Monastery, and resolved to cultivate harder so he could find her.
• A messenger delivered an urgent letter to the Azure Cloud Monastery, and the Abbot sent two Daoists down the mountain that night.
• Jin Si told Xiao Yu that he had accepted the invitation to become a mountain-guarding spirit beast on Pillowstar Mountain and had asked for a place for her too.
• When Xiao Yu asked where Pillowstar Mountain was, Jin Si admitted he did not know and planned to ask Hu Changqing at the Cloud Immortal Hall.
• After four quiet hours at the cliff, Jin Si sensed that something bad was going to happen, and he and Xiao Yu suspected the matter concerned him somewhere else.

The Ghost King killed the two Daoists who had gone down from Azure Cloud Monastery, and Black Snake Jin Si set out to confront him. Jin Si reached the ancient tomb complex and stopped beside its dry well, while Red Robe remained unable to join him in daylight.

• The Ghost King entered the County Seat at night, extinguishing lanterns as he went, while the Abbot sensed danger and the two Daoists felt a presence approaching.
• Black Snake Jin Si searched the mountains for danger but found nothing, then learned that the two Daoists had been killed and returned to Azure Cloud Monastery.
• The Abbot recognized that the Ghost King had targeted the monastery and Jin Si, but she chose not to ask Jin Si to avenge the Daoists.
• Jin Si left the monastery to confront the Ghost King, and Little Feather told him that Red Robe was angry because she could not come during the day.
• Jin Si traveled to the ancient tomb complex and landed beside a dry well that radiated a deathly chill.

Black Snake entered the Underworld alone to hunt the Ghost King, sneaking through the ruins until he found his target. He waited behind cover for an opening and began his ambush as wandering souls drifted between them.

• Black Snake sealed the well, left his body as a primordial spirit, and crossed into the Underworld alone.
• He landed in the ruined hall and spent two hours silently observing the area, where few yin souls remained after his earlier Thunderstorm.
• Black Snake spotted an intact courtyard where a woman wrote among maid-like yin souls, then continued searching.
• He found the Ghost King cultivating within dense black mist and carefully crept to within five zhang.
• When wandering souls drifted past the Ghost King, Black Snake recognized his chance to attack.

Black Snake fought the Ghost King in the Underworld and discovered that the woman in a ruined courtyard might be the Ghost King's weakness. After Black Snake killed her and drove the Ghost King into a grief-fueled frenzy, the battle neared its end as the Red-Dressed Female Ghost arrived.

• Black Snake attacked the Ghost King, but his opening strike hit the Ghost King's shoulder instead of his core.
• The Abbot received a message at Azure Cloud Monastery and hurried toward the town with several Daoists as the Red-Dressed Female Ghost swept past them toward the Ancient Well.
• Black Snake remembered a rumor that the Ghost King had taken a bride and struck down the bewildered woman in the courtyard.
• The Ghost King howled over the woman's ashes, and Black Snake baited him into fighting recklessly before using a ruined tower ship to gain an advantage.
• Black Snake resumed his precise attacks as the Ghost King grieved and weakened, and the Red-Dressed Female Ghost arrived to find him badly wounded.

Black Snake and Red Clothes fought the Holy King Hall's Ghost King, and Black Snake killed it through a series of feints despite his exhausted Primordial Spirit. He escaped the Dry Well and returned to his great serpent form beneath the moon.

• Red Clothes attacked the Ghost King in a frenzy while Black Snake calculated their moves and prepared a powerful strike.
• Black Snake feinted a killing blow to expose the Ghost King's back, then drove his sword through its vital point as it turned toward Red Clothes.
• Black Snake pinned the convulsing Ghost King down and urged Red Clothes to attack until its blackish-red core shattered.
• Black Snake rushed out of the Dry Well and reflected that he should lure Ghost Creatures into the world of the living before fighting them again.
• The Great Black Snake rested beside the Dry Well as yin qi dissolved against his scales and a demonic bird glided across the moon.