Chapter Summaries

After Chi Ke died, Black Snake continued its solitary life and gradually forgot the people of Lone Crag Courtyard. A century later, Black Snake saw Fox’s changing yin spirit form as signs of human activity in the valley began to increase.

• Chi Ke’s phantom bid farewell to Black Snake, Fox, and fat Weasel before fading away beside his grave.
• Black Snake returned to its routine, and as a hundred years passed, memories of Chi Ke and Lone Crag Courtyard faded.
• Black Snake considered conserving energy by stopping unproductive molts and focusing on growing larger and strengthening its scales.
• Fox arrived in a strange half-human, half-fox yin spirit form and demonstrated that it could change back into a fox.
• Black Snake dismissed yin spirit transformation as unnecessary and continued prioritizing physical growth and survival.
• More people began entering the valley to gather herbs and other mountain goods, while avoiding Giant Rock and Lone Crag Courtyard.

Three mountain gatherers visited the ruins of an old Medicine Field, where the young man dreamed of finding immortal treasures. After a tiger pursued Fox and then fled from an unseen threat, Black Snake appeared, drank from the pool, and the men built a small stone shrine beside the ruins.

• The old man led the burly man and the young fellow to the ruined house and told them stories of an immortal cultivator, a Pill Furnace, and the Black Snake on Lone Crag.
• Fox raced past the ruins toward Lone Crag, and a tiger's roar sent the three men scrambling to the foot of a cliff to build a fire and prepare crude spears.
• The tiger approached the men but turned toward the silent hillside and bounded away into the woods.
• Black Snake came to the pool, drank his fill, and returned to the mountainside while ignoring the men and Fox.
• The three mountain gatherers stacked stones beside the ruined wall and built a small stone shrine.

The mountain folk built a Small Temple for Black Snake, while its faintly glowing stone house slowly attracted its notice. After years of watching humans and cultivating, Fox and Fat Weasel left the Valley to seek further opportunities, leaving Black Snake alone atop Giant Rock.

• The mountain folk built the Small Temple, worshipped Black Snake as the Snake Immortal, and left offerings as travelers began visiting it.
• Black Snake sensed a faint glow inside the stone house near the pool but soon forgot about it as the light gradually grew.
• Fox and Fat Weasel began using their yin spirits to watch humans, learn their language, and imitate their behavior near the temple.
• Over the passing seasons, Fox and Fat Weasel advanced their cultivation and became increasingly able to appear and speak like humans.
• After the Continuous Rainy Season ended, Fox and Fat Weasel indicated they intended to leave, and Black Snake watched them run toward the world beyond the mountains.

Black Snake watched a new recluse arrive at Giant Rock and struggle to survive in the mountain courtyard. After two months away hunting, Black Snake found him still alive but so thin that he no longer seemed worth eating.

• A thin man climbed to the ruined courtyard at Giant Rock and excitedly discovered an enormous Pill Furnace.
• The man found Dripping Water Crag, began farming near the old house shell, and saw rabbits and rats destroy his seedlings before rain flooded his shelter.
• Black Snake watched the man labor and wondered why he released prey and sat motionless despite his exhaustion.
• After hunting elsewhere for two months, Black Snake returned and found the man alive but emaciated, then lost interest in him as food.

Black Snake watched years pass as neighbors came and went, villagers settled in the valley, and offerings at the Small Temple became customary. After two bloodstained residents of Lone Crag Courtyard fled into the first snowfall, he wondered whether he should make changes himself.

• A thin, withdrawn man moved into the courtyard, then left after a wildcat startled him and he smashed his belongings.
• Villagers built a new stone Small Temple, settled in the meadow, and began bringing incense and offerings to honor Black Snake.
• Armed newcomers carrying the smell of blood occupied Lone Crag Courtyard and slipped out at night.
• During a cold, dry winter, villagers crowded the Small Temple with offerings as snow seemed near.
• Black Snake went to the Small Temple, heard its mysterious sounds, and watched two bloody residents flee with bundles.
• As snow began to fall, Black Snake wondered whether he should make some changes himself.

Black Snake spent the winter learning to reshape its Yin Spirit and visited a village to study a human child as a model. By spring, it had avoided shedding, noticed a newcomer moving into Lone Crag Courtyard, and headed to the river to replenish its strength.

• Black Snake practiced shrinking and stretching its Yin Spirit, gradually gaining control over its shape.
• After four full moons, Black Snake visited a village at night to observe humans and chose a sleeping boy’s form as a model.
• Black Snake returned to its cavern and spent the winter repeatedly attempting to shape the Yin Spirit into a human figure.
• When spring came, Black Snake found no signs of shedding, and a newcomer moved into the long-deserted Lone Crag Courtyard.
• Hungry after winter, Black Snake went to the river to catch fish and noticed hollowed-out wooden shells floating near the banks.

Black Snake left the river after a fisherman accidentally snagged him in a net and returned to the mountains, where he encountered a village boy and a frightened old man. He settled back on Giant Rock, while the old man remained terrified of his presence.

• A fisherman cast his net repeatedly and caught several fish before Black Snake became tangled in it underwater.
• Black Snake shook off the net, and the fisherman rowed to shore in terror, believing he had angered the Dragon King.
• Black Snake left the river, passed through the village, and approached a boy catching crayfish by a stream.
• The boy asked Black Snake whether he was the Snake Immortal, but Black Snake did not understand him and returned to the valley.
• Black Snake basked on Giant Rock and inspected his elderly neighbor, who spotted him and hid inside his house.
• The old man stayed inside, trembling with fear for more than ten days.

Black Snake ignored an old man who recited scripture at him, while the man mistakenly believed he was reforming the snake. After Black Snake returned from a thunderstorm, the old man tried to tame a venomous viper and was bitten, leaving Black Snake to watch as he began to die.

• The old man approached Black Snake on Giant Rock and read scripture aloud, while Black Snake treated him as harmless noise.
• Villagers gathered at the Snake Immortal Temple to make offerings, and the old man denounced their worship as wicked rites.
• The old man declared that his scripture had made Black Snake docile, then tried and failed to command or touch him.
• Black Snake left for the mountain peaks to meet an approaching thunderstorm, while the old man waited through days of rain.
• After the storm, the old man tried to touch a viper, was bitten, and fled downhill before collapsing and vomiting.
• Black Snake watched the old man weaken and realized his new neighbor was going to die.

Black Snake continued tempering his Yin Spirit, improving his memory and physical strength as he learned to shape it. He visited the village to observe people, encountered a strange man called the fool, and followed three adults and two children into the mountains at dawn.

• Black Snake shaped his Yin Spirit into a rough human form and realized that the practice strengthened his intelligence and body.
• After many seasons of practice, Black Snake formed fingers and traveled toward the village to study how people moved.
• Black Snake's Yin Spirit encountered a shabby, ordinary man at the village entrance, who first threw stones at him and then followed him while calling him a temple.
• Black Snake searched three households for sleeping children but found no special images, then returned to his body beneath a cliff.
• At dawn, Black Snake followed three adults and two children as they left the village, while the travelers discussed the Dragon King's protection and hopes for a good harvest.

Black Snake discovered that his Yin Spirit needed bones, then spent years developing its skeleton, blood vessels, and humanlike form through trial and error. The chapter ended as five riders escorted village men away, and the men prayed to the Snake Immortal Temple for the village’s protection and their safe return.

• Black Snake found a human skeleton and realized that his Yin Spirit needed bones, so he forged a snake skeleton for it.
• Black Snake spent three full moons by the river forging human bones, then returned to the valley and continued practicing his cultivation over the years.
• Black Snake fashioned blood vessels for his Yin Spirit, established a simple circulation of energy, and absorbed more moonlight and rain energy.
• Years later, Black Snake’s Yin Spirit appeared as a little boy and sat at the stone temple while five riders passed through the valley.
• Five riders escorted able-bodied village men away, and the men offered incense at the Snake Immortal Temple and prayed for the village and their safe return.

Black Snake saw bandits attack and burn a village, mistook the fire as a threat to himself, and hunted them down during a torrential rainstorm. By dawn’s darkness, he had killed the entire bandit party.

• Black Snake noticed that mostly women, children, and elders remained in the mountains as autumn arrived.
• A group of bandits attacked the village, killed villagers, stole livestock, and set the Thatched Huts alight, starting a mountain fire.
• Black Snake heard the survivors describe the arson, became enraged, and rushed toward the village to kill those responsible.
• The bandits fled the burned village and camped by the river as heavy rain extinguished the mountain fire.
• Black Snake attacked the bandits in the darkness, dragging them away and killing them one by one.
• Black Snake killed the bandit leader after the man begged for mercy and tried to ambush him.

After surviving the winter, Black Snake encountered an old Daoist who warned that cultivators wanted his body and urged him to leave the valley. Black Snake accepted that staying was dangerous and set off beyond the mountains.

• The villagers found Black Snake eating the bandits’ horses and wept over their murdered relatives after learning every bandit had died.
• Black Snake returned to his cave, cultivated through the winter, and emerged in spring to hunt prey near Giant Rock.
• Black Snake sensed an old Daoist on Giant Rock and recognized the immense power within him.
• The old Daoist explained that cultivators sought Black Snake as a resource and advised him to leave the valley before he was hunted.
• Black Snake descended past the little stone shrine and slithered toward the world beyond the mountains.

Black Snake fled across the mountains and settled in a remote cave, where he lived for two centuries as a complex of human buildings grew nearby. Curious about his neighbors, he transformed into a boy and approached their gate, but a girl saw him and the residents mistook him for a mountain spirit.

• Black Snake traveled through the mountains for over half a month before choosing a high summit and a dry cave as his new home.
• He lived alone on the mountain for two hundred years until people built a large complex halfway up the slope.
• Black Snake watched the women living there, grew accustomed to their morning and evening recitations, and began drinking from a stream near their buildings at night.
• Wanting to see the residents more closely, Black Snake left his body and transformed into a little boy before approaching the 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 returned to his body and fled into the forest as the residents came back outside with lanterns.

Black Snake hunted wolves and later a wild boar while avoiding the Azure Cloud Monastery, whose Daoists chose to watch him rather than drive him out. As winter approached, he entered dormancy to cultivate, while his yin spirit took human form and listened to the monastery’s evening lessons from afar.

• Black Snake ambushed and ate a wolf, while a young female Daoist asked her master whether they should subdue the monster and was told to observe its nature first.
• Black Snake kept away from the monastery after recalling the imposing figure he had seen there, though he continued to drink from a favored mountain water source at night.
• Months later, Daoists gathering fruit found a partly eaten wild boar, examined its poisoned remains, and hurried away without noticing Black Snake nearby.
• As the weather turned cold, Black Snake retreated into a cave and entered dormancy to cultivate.
• Black Snake’s yin spirit took human form, listened to the monastery’s evening chanting from a tree, and stayed away from its main hall.

Black Snake became fascinated by a Female Daoist’s moonlit sword practice and began imitating her each night. After learning to form a sword from his Yin Spirit’s energy, he waited eagerly for her to practice again as snow covered the temple grounds.

• Black Snake watched the Female Daoist practice sword forms and awkwardly copied her movements from a rock.
• He kept practicing nightly and realized his Yin Spirit could not hold a physical sword.
• Black Snake discovered he could condense a sword from his Yin Spirit’s energy and practiced with it until dawn.
• He began forming the sword more easily and waited on the rock for the Female Daoist as snow fell over the temple.
• The Female Daoist finally opened her door and stepped outside.

Black Snake emerged from hibernation, drank from the spring, and encountered White Deer, whose Yin Spirit Excursion brought him to the Azure Cloud Temple. Black Snake stayed in his mountain home as spring visitors began arriving at the temple.

• Black Snake woke after winter, found the snow melted, and worried about how to approach the people at the temple.
• At night, Black Snake drank from the spring and sensed a deer with spiritual energy approaching the mountain gate.
• White Deer spotted Black Snake, told him to move away, and then failed to pass through the mountain gate before his Yin Spirit returned to his body.
• Black Snake decided not to relocate and went hunting after realizing he had not eaten since waking.
• Over the next few days, Black Snake watched people carry supplies and visitors up to the busy Azure Cloud Temple.

A white deer appeared at Azure Cloud Monastery and was dismissed by the Abbot as a false auspicious omen, while Black Snake discovered it was working with a sinister cultivator. Before dawn, the deer lured Black Snake into a chase to the mountain’s foot, where the man waited across a pool.

• The white deer presented itself at Azure Cloud Monastery, but the Abbot refused to let it enter and warned her disciples that it was seeking to gain access through deception.
• After the pilgrims departed, Black Snake saw a middle-aged man burying several things with the white deer watching nearby.
• The man approached Black Snake, invited him to follow, then threatened him when Black Snake did not respond, before leaving with the deer.
• Black Snake returned to the monastery to listen to the Evening Liturgy and learn swordsmanship through Yin Spirit Separation.
• Just before dawn, the white deer charged Black Snake and fled, drawing him into pursuit until they reached a pool where the man waited on the opposite bank.

Black Snake fought off a pack of rotten mad dogs sent by White Deer and a man, then failed to catch them as they fled. While searching for them days later, he encountered an Azure Cloud Monastery Daoist whose soul had left her body, and nearby uncanny creatures began closing in.

• A man used a Bone Whistle to summon festering mad dogs, which swarmed Black Snake and bit him.
• Black Snake crushed the dogs’ bones and defeated the pack, then pursued White Deer and the man with his yin spirit before they escaped.
• Black Snake waited at the foot of the mountain for four days but did not find White Deer or the man.
• Black Snake saw Daoists carry an unconscious female disciple toward the Azure Cloud Monastery and remembered that the area was where the two offenders had buried something.
• Black Snake found the girl’s soul beneath a tree, stayed with her as she cried, and sensed several uncanny creatures approaching.

Black Snake escorted a lost girl through the haunted mountain to the Azure Cloud Monastery, then returned to the summit to cultivate in the storm. The girl recovered at the monastery, where her master explained that a crude ghost-wall trap had frightened her and that she was safe.

• Black Snake killed the whispering creatures surrounding the girl and led her toward the Azure Cloud Monastery.
• The girl followed Black Snake through the darkness and thanked him at the monastery steps before he sprang away.
• Black Snake searched for the two disciples who had smeared rotten flesh on him, then hurried to the summit as rain began.
• Lightning struck Black Snake on the summit, and the storm washed away the corpse stench from his mouth and body.
• The girl told her master she felt well, and he explained that a clumsy ghost-wall trap had caused her ordeal.

The Abbot advised his disciple to let her bond with Black Snake develop naturally, while Black Snake tracked rumors of Mount Ding to find the Mad Dog leaders. The snake located the sinister man in a village compound and prepared to ambush him in the rain.

• The girl told the Abbot how Black Snake had rescued and escorted her, and he advised her to repay the favor by guiding the snake if they met again.
• The Abbot decided the bond could protect his spiritually gifted disciple and help Black Snake awaken its intelligence, while cautioning against direct interference.
• Black Snake waited in vain for the Mad Dog leaders near the Azure Cloud Monastery, then overheard travelers mention a white deer and Mount Ding.
• Black Snake traveled to a crossroads, listened for directions, and followed travelers toward Mount Ding through the fields and woods.
• Black Snake detected the sinister man inside a village compound and planned to approach through the stream under cover of rain and cooking smoke.