Chapter Summaries

Black Snake and River Ash escorted the feverish Hu'er upstream while Xiao Yu fetched medicinal broth and pursuers watched from the banks. As night fell, Black Snake warned Xiao Yu to stay away and urged River Ash to race for Lin Family Crossing by morning because Hu'er’s condition remained critical.

• Black Snake sent Xiao Yu ahead to fetch medicine while he and River Ash continued escorting Hu'er’s family past the watchers on the banks.
• Xiao Yu returned with steaming medicinal broth, and Hu’er’s mother carefully fed it to the feverish child.
• The boat stopped at a riverside village, where the family received hot food and Hu’er nibbled a boiled duck egg before they set off again.
• When Hu’er still had not recovered, Xiao Yu flew to the valley to find Xu Jin and later returned with another jar of medicinal broth.
• As sunset approached, Black Snake told Xiao Yu to stay away for the night, then insisted River Ash travel at full speed so they could reach Lin Family Crossing by morning.

Black Snake fought off the ghosts and corpse monsters attacking the boat carrying a feverish child and his parents, while River Ash steered them toward a physician. After the battle, Xiaoyu watched Xu Jin prepare medicine for the child, though Xu Jin remained baffled that his earlier treatment had failed.

• The child's father begged Black Snake to save Hu'er, but Black Snake said he had no medical knowledge and urged them to hold on until they reached a physician.
• Black Snake charged into the ghostly attackers, destroying vengeful ghosts while River Ash steered the boat and the family watched in fear.
• When an evil cultivator cast a spreading darkness over the river, Black Snake returned to his snake body and dispelled it with a hiss.
• Black Snake plunged underwater and tore apart corpse monsters and reanimated corpses, scattering most of the evil cultivators' creatures.
• Xiaoyu watched from a fence as Xu Jin searched his medical books and prepared another dose of medicine for the child.

Black Snake, River Ash, and Xiao Yu fought through the Heretic Cultivators’ river blockades while escorting Hu'er to Lin Family Crossing. Hu'er briefly improved after taking medicine but died just as they reached the crossing, leaving his parents to curse those who had harmed him.

• Black Snake and River Ash continued down the river as Heretic Cultivators felled trees to block their route, and Black Snake used mist and attacks from underwater to break through.
• Black Snake fought off more enemies while exhausted, then noticed that Hu'er’s life was fading despite their efforts to reach Lin Family Crossing.
• Xiao Yu brought medicine to the boat, and Hu'er briefly regained some color and smiled, though the demons sensed the medicine had not truly helped him.
• Black Snake broke through another blockade as dawn approached, and the boat neared Lin Family Crossing without further obstacles.
• Hu'er died in his mother's arms as the boat reached the crossing, and his parents mourned while cursing the humans and demons who had harmed him.

After the River battle, the Abbot told Black Snake that its desperate efforts to protect the fallen Upper Realm visitor had brought him kindness and warmth, whatever fate had decided. Black Snake returned to the Azure Cloud Monastery, resumed its quiet routine, and reunited with He Ning, who began teaching it a character.

• The Abbot explained to Black Snake that its efforts to save the visitor mattered because they let him feel kindness before he died.
• Black Snake traveled through the spring mountains, gathering medicinal herbs to strengthen itself before returning to the Azure Cloud Monastery.
• Black Snake resumed its quiet life at the monastery, listening to evening prayers and guarding the path to the summit.
• He Ning recognized Black Snake’s wounds and confirmed that rumors about the great black snake fighting on the River were true.
• He Ning examined Black Snake’s scratches, accepted that its deceptive fighting style was its way of surviving, and began teaching it a character on a gray brick.

More than fifty years passed as Black Snake cultivated on the mountain, learned from He Ning, and watched her grow old. Hoping to prolong her life, he searched the deep mountains for sentient ancient ginseng, but found none and continued searching.

• After recovering from the River incident, Black Snake noticed subtle improvements in his cultivation and swordsmanship and stayed on the mountain while the turmoil passed.
• Black Snake heard pilgrims discuss the River snake's rumored Flood Dragon Transformation and learned that young men returning from forced labor had been left exhausted and near death.
• Black Snake gathered herbs, practiced cultivation and swordsmanship, and followed his routines through many seasons as He Ning's hair gradually turned white.
• More than fifty years after He Ning began teaching him, she admitted she had found no way to make up for what Black Snake lacked in his cultivation.
• Black Snake began searching distant mountains for sentient ancient ginseng that might extend He Ning's life, but found only ordinary old roots despite searching for over twenty years.
• The Abbot watched Black Snake continue his fruitless search and sighed.

Black Snake accepted that He Ning was nearing the end of her life, then witnessed her farewell after she died. With He Ning gone and the monastery master preparing to leave, Black Snake was left alone on the mountain and understood that her lantern would never shine over the Stone Terrace again.

• Xiao Yu reported that no spirit ginseng remained, and Black Snake returned to the Azure Cloud Monastery to sit with He Ning.
• He Ning recalled their past and told Black Snake she had stayed alive for his sake, while Black Snake urged her to stop holding on for him.
• At dawn, Black Snake saw He Ning in a vision as she offered him advice and encouragement before fading away.
• Black Snake attended He Ning's simple funeral, where the monastery master said he was leaving and advised Black Snake to seek what he lacked in the human world.
• Black Snake followed his usual routine at the Spring Well and Stone Terrace, then realized He Ning's lantern would never shine there again.

Black Snake guarded Azure Cloud Monastery in solitude after the old Abbot and Daoists departed, reaching three hundred years of age and spending its days gathering herbs and cultivating. After destroying a monster near the mountain junction, Black Snake remembered He Ning and the old days, then returned to its cave to continue striving for four limbs and face the long years ahead.

• Black Snake watched the Abbot and the Daoists leave, then kept the agreement to guard the mountain as the monastery became ordinary under a new Abbot.
• More than a decade passed, and Black Snake gathered herbs and pine cones before hibernating in its cave through the winter.
• Black Snake used Yin Spirit Separation to find and kill a low-threat monster near the junction below the mountain.
• Black Snake checked the seals at the Iron Pavilion, cleared away offerings, and remembered He Ning while watching Azure Cloud Monastery from a tree.
• Black Snake returned to its cave, continued cultivating its body, and reflected on the two centuries remaining before the next stage of its life.

Black Snake met Li of Mount Ding, who invited him to Mount Ding, but Black Snake declined to leave Azure Cloud Monastery. When a ghost king caused a calamity in a neighboring county, Black Snake expected other cultivators to deal with it, but two months later the crisis was still ongoing.

• Black Snake practiced swordsmanship in the snow and watched White Deer carry Li of Mount Ding to the mountain road.
• Li greeted Black Snake, lamented Azure Cloud Monastery's decline, and invited him to visit Mount Ding, but Black Snake chose to stay.
• Black Snake returned to his cave and resumed cultivation until spring arrived.
• Little Feather told Black Snake that a ghost had devoured its master, called itself a ghost king, and killed several hundred people.
• Government officers sought help from Azure Cloud Monastery, but the monastery did not intervene, and a Mount Ding expert later went to vanquish the ghost.
• Two months passed, but the Ghost Calamity had still not subsided.

Black Snake developed a method to attract lightning during the rainy season, strengthening its body and spirit as repeated bolts struck the mountain peak. After sensing something familiar, Black Snake secretly glided toward a small town near the river channel where a feng shui master had once placed a seal.

• Black Snake heard from Xiao Yu that the Ghost King had held a wedding procession, while the visiting cultivators had not fought it.
• As the rainy season began, Black Snake devised a Lightning Attraction method and repeatedly drew bolts to the summit.
• Black Snake absorbed the lightning and rain vapor, growing stronger as the lightning strikes continued for nearly a month and drew pilgrims to the Azure Cloud Monastery.
• Black Snake heard that an epidemic had killed hundreds in a neighboring county town and sensed that something about it was false.
• Black Snake sensed something familiar, floated down the mountain, and followed an old route toward the town and the sealed river channel.

Black Snake investigated cultivators preparing to open a sealed dry well, then returned to the Azure Cloud Monastery and left human affairs alone. Years later, he visited the aging Xu Jin, who spoke of unrest and doubted he would ever ascend.

• Black Snake overheard cultivators discussing opening the sealed dry well and sensed they were dealing with a vicious being they called the Ghost King.
• Black Snake returned to the Azure Cloud Monastery, smashed the offerings at the iron pavilion, and silenced the resentful voice from the Spring Well with the threat of lightning.
• Black Snake gathered medicinal herbs and watched signs of growing turmoil in the human world, but chose to focus on cultivating.
• Several years later, Black Snake found Xu Jin aged and gray-haired, still working his hillside fields with a new Yellow Dog at his cottage.
• Xu Jin warned Black Snake to avoid the unrest and said he might live another hundred years but did not expect to ascend; Xiao Yu suggested helping him occupy a mountain cave, and Xu Jin refused.

Black Snake discovered that officials were searching the River for a flood dragon and returned to the valley, where they questioned Xu Jin about the creature. After the officials left, Black Snake emerged from the waterfall pool as Xu Jin worked in the field.

• Black Snake noticed the River seemed to be dwindling and went fishing beneath the moon.
• He found that Government Office cultivators were searching the River with Demon-Seeking Compasses and returned to the little valley.
• Three officials found Xu Jin and asked whether he had seen the black flood dragon.
• Xu Jin told them the supposed flood dragon was actually a great black snake, and the leader explained that the court sought its dragon aura to stabilize the land's fortunes amid coming turmoil.
• The officials left disappointed, and Black Snake rose from the pool beneath the waterfall.

Black Snake returned to the Azure Cloud Monastery under cover of a storm and kept hidden as war drew near. While gathering herbs in the mountains, he discovered outlaws and an evil spirit attached to their chief, prompting him to suspect that spirits might also be aiding powerful figures.

• Black Snake waited for rain, then swam upstream through a flood and returned to the Azure Cloud Monastery without being seen.
• Black Snake hid on the monastery’s mountain while hearing rumors of conscription, taxes, and war.
• As the monastery shut its gates and unfamiliar cultivators stayed away, Black Snake began gathering medicinal herbs for his cave.
• Black Snake found about thirty blood-scented outlaws occupying an abandoned temple in a remote hollow.
• Black Snake detected an evil spirit whispering to the Bandit Chief and wondered whether spirits were aiding the figures behind the coming wars.

Black Snake watched a massive battle devastate the County Seat, then learned that a wealthy cultivator intended to seize Azure Cloud Monastery. After hiding its body outside the city, Black Snake sent its yin soul into the burning County Seat to search for the marked boy, but found the streets filled with violence and spiritual threats.

• Black Snake observed two armies fight on the plain, saw one side collapse after a mistake, and watched the aftermath spread into widespread looting and fires.
• A cultivator leading more than a hundred soldiers demanded that Azure Cloud Monastery’s Daoists leave and surrender the monastery buildings, then departed after threatening them.
• Black Snake followed the soldiers toward the County Seat, hid its body in an irrigation channel, and sent its yin soul over the city wall.
• Black Snake found no sign of the marked boy and crossed the burning city toward a grand compound, passing corpses, looters, and a heretic cultivator gathering yin souls.
• Black Snake used lightning power to dispel the baleful aura affecting its spirit body and leaped over a band of rogue soldiers.

Black Snake infiltrated a rebel commander’s compound and attacked the men who kept evil spirits, killing their spirits while remaining unseen by the guards. He wounded the commander’s remaining spirit, but a protective charm stopped his sword before the commander grabbed a dangerous saber and struck back.

• Black Snake tracked his target to a compound backyard and identified three evil spirits among the reveling men.
• After waiting for the gathering to grow drunk, Black Snake entered the backyard, where the guards could not see him.
• Black Snake seized and destroyed the fat man’s evil spirit, causing the fat man to collapse unconscious.
• The commander summoned two armored evil spirits, and Black Snake maneuvered around them to wound and disperse one.
• Black Snake battered the remaining spirit and hurled it into the commander, then thrust his sword at him, but a golden protective sheen stopped the blade.
• The commander seized a saber that could harm a Yin Spirit and swung it at Black Snake, who dodged.

Black Snake killed the rebel commander who had threatened the Azure Cloud Monastery and resumed his quiet life, but renewed fighting brought a band of rebel soldiers to the monastery gate. They claimed they wanted to offer incense, while Black Snake watched from behind the Iron Pavilion as the elderly Daoist refused them entry.

• Black Snake killed the unconscious fat man, lured the rebel commander through a small door, and ambushed him from behind, tearing out his soul before fleeing.
• Black Snake returned to Stone Terrace and believed he had ended the threat to the Azure Cloud Monastery, while the damaged soul he had bitten could no longer speak.
• Black Snake resumed gathering herbs and encountered an old man sitting beside a ruined house, who showed no fear of the enormous snake.
• After fighting resumed near the County Seat, Black Snake saw about seventy rebel soldiers approach the Azure Cloud Monastery and hide in the grass beside the Mountain Road.
• Two rebel soldiers knocked on the Mountain Gate and asked to offer incense, but the elderly Daoist refused to open it as the sky darkened.

Black Snake defended Azure Cloud Temple from soldiers who attacked its gate, killing them and disposing of their bodies. As war dragged on for ten years and the temple dwindled to five Daoists, he continued guarding the mountain and discovered that someone was coveting the temple.

• Female Daoists barricaded the Mountain Gate as soldiers besieged the temple and tried to break in.
• Black Snake killed the attacking soldiers in the darkness and carried their seventy-odd corpses to the foot of the mountain.
• The soldiers’ bodies were eaten by crows and stray dogs, and the army camp sent no one to investigate.
• War continued for ten years, leaving Azure Cloud Temple nearly empty and the surrounding fields and villages deserted.
• Black Snake kept practicing, gathering herbs, and guarding the mountain, and he noticed that someone was secretly coveting Azure Cloud Temple.

Black Snake investigated reports of a Ghost King and discovered an ancient ruin in the underworld, where a massive ship lay stranded. Back on the mountain, Black Snake watched human families and Demon Spirits settle into a fragile, mutually protective life.

• Black Snake killed the remaining bandits and ate several horses and mules, then worried over the declining rainfall.
• Black Snake entered the underworld and learned that a Ghost King controlled a region of ruins linked to the living world.
• Black Snake traced the Ghost King's territory to the dry square well and found an enormous ship and ancient stone ruins there.
• Black Snake returned to the mountain and continued guarding it as the monastery's Daoists gradually forgot about the spirit beast.
• Black Snake saw mountain families and Demon Spirits living together, with the people offering incense and the spirits protecting them.

Black Snake continued guarding the Azure Cloud Monastery as the long war subsided, and villagers returned to rebuild their settlement and restore life to the mountain. After hearing that the Daoists wanted to honor him for his protection, he had a vivid, unsettling dream of guarding a mysterious passage beside a vast muddy river, leaving him puzzled about what he had seen.

• Black Snake killed and ate a wild boar, then drove off a tiger that approached his meal.
• Black Snake noticed signs that another visitor had come to negotiate for the mountain, whose safety had drawn the attention of people seeking to buy the Azure Cloud Monastery.
• After more than twenty years of war, villagers and six Daoists arrived, and the monastery and nearby village began to thrive again.
• Daoists proposed building a shrine or divine image to thank Black Snake, but they shelved the idea, and he resolved to remember their kindness and ease their nightmares.
• Black Snake dreamed that he guarded a passage beneath a vortex beside an immense muddy river, then woke troubled by the dream and its unfamiliar loss of control.

After his hundred-year promise to guard the mountain ended, Black Snake decided to find work catching rats in the town below. He left with eggs as payment and showed mercy to a rat close to becoming a spirit.

• Black Snake listened to Evening Liturgy, then descended into town to look for work.
• He caught a rat that had bitten a child and received four eggs from the family.
• At a wealthy household, Black Snake found a rat stealing grain and stopped the old man from killing it because it was close to becoming a spirit.
• The old man let the rat return to its hiding place and paid Black Snake four eggs, after which Black Snake departed into the night.

Black Snake gathered medicinal herbs by day and tried to earn eggs by offering his services in town at night. When a young man sought him out to help his father, Black Snake followed him to a house shrouded in yin energy.

• Black Snake harvested and tended medicinal herbs in a hidden mountain hollow, clearing shrubs and branches so the plants could grow.
• At dusk, Black Snake set up his rat-catching sign beside the town well, but received no work before nightfall.
• A young man asked Black Snake to drive away an evil spirit afflicting his father after Azure Cloud Temple had closed for the night.
• Black Snake followed the young man to his home and saw a dim oil lamp and a heavy pall of yin energy.