Chapter Summaries

The group found the concealed Ancient Well, used it and the first pool to determine their location, and set out toward the Central Altar. As they gathered herbs along the route, Duan Rong searched for Azure Flame Grass, and Su Xinjue discovered what he was seeking.

• Duan Rong threw a boulder into roadside weeds, revealing the Ancient Well and allowing the group to confirm their location on the map.
• The group marked their entry point and chose Guo Tian's safer route, which had water resupply points, over Xu Hui's shorter path.
• The group gathered divine herbs as they traveled, while Duan Rong searched shaded spots for Azure Flame Grass.
• Duan Rong told Du Wan he needed three mature stalks of Azure Flame Grass, and Du Wan began helping him search.
• Su Xinjue questioned Du Wan about the shaded spots, learned Duan Rong was seeking Azure Flame Grass, and left after noticing Duan Rong watching them.

Guo Tian's group traveled through the God and Demon Ruins at night and stopped at a pool to rest, where Xu Hui tested the water. When Su Xinjue returned alone from the darkness, Duan Rong recognized that the figure was an evil entity, which revealed itself as a crimson-clad bride.

• Guo Tian divided the group into two teams that took turns keeping watch as they traveled through the night.
• Guo Tian led the group to a water source, and Duan Rong accompanied Xu Hui as he tested the dark pool with a silver needle.
• Jiang Hanyan and Su Xinjue went away from the group, and Su Xinjue soon returned alone without their torch.
• Duan Rong warned Lu Chu that the approaching figure was not Su Xinjue, pointing out its blood-red embroidered shoes.
• Duan Rong's Phosphorus Crystal Flying Needles stopped and crumbled as the figure vanished and a crimson-clad bride appeared.

Duan Rong fought the Ghost Bride ghostly entity after discovering its illusions and shadow hands could enthrall the group. He identified the darkness beneath its corpse vessel as its true body, wounded it with Divine Soul Thorns, and fled with the others as Jiang Hanyan and Su Xinjue returned to face the threat.

• The Ghost Bride ghostly entity enthralled the group with a familiar face beneath its veil and sent ghost-faced Red Veils descending toward them.
• Duan Rong woke from the illusion, destroyed three ghost faces with Divine Soul Thorns, and freed Guo Tian, Du Wan, and the others from their trance.
• Duan Rong realized the entity’s true body was the dense darkness beneath its feet, then struck it with three Divine Soul Thorns and drove its shadow hands away.
• Duan Rong picked up an abandoned Red Veil and led the group away from the pool as the wounded entity screamed.
• Jiang Hanyan and Su Xinjue returned with torches, and Guo Tian warned them that the ghostly entity was there.
• Jiang Hanyan and Su Xinjue saw the Ghost Bride ghostly entity straightening beside the pool as its screams stopped.

Duan Rong led the group away from the Ghost Bride evil spirit and explained how he had fought it, while a hidden Ghost Infant Evil Spirit emerged from the pool and followed their trail. After the group learned more about the danger and set out to find Azure Flame Grass, they reached a rubble-filled passage and prepared to cross beneath it.

• A Ghost Infant Evil Spirit crawled out of the pool after the Ghost Bride evil spirit left and hurried after Duan Rong's group.
• Duan Rong and the others reached daylight, and Duan Rong recounted the battle by the pool and the Ghost Bride evil spirit's abilities.
• Duan Rong tried to read the blood-red veil with Read Artifact Spirit, but the Data Panel said it was formed from sinister yin energy and could not be read.
• Guo Tian thanked Duan Rong for saving him and promised to repay him, while the group agreed to help search for Azure Flame Grass.
• The group reached collapsed boulders and, following the map's advice, prepared to pass through the hollow space beneath the rubble in their nighttime formation.

The group entered the hollow beneath the collapsed rocks and encountered a Ghost Infant Evil Spirit that attacked Jiang Hanyan. Duan Rong drove it off with a Red Veil and found a leaf from mature Azure Flame Grass, leaving him convinced the rare herb grew somewhere in the darkness.

• Guo Tian led the group through a crack beneath the collapsed rocks, and they advanced through the dark hollow in formation.
• Yang Sui saw bloodshot eyes behind him, while Duan Rong and Su Xinjue noticed signs that something was following them.
• A Ghost Infant Evil Spirit leaped onto Jiang Hanyan, but Duan Rong and Guo Tian could not strike it without risking her injury.
• The Ghost Infant fled when Duan Rong’s Red Veil fell from his backpack, and the group realized it feared the veil.
• Duan Rong found a leaf from mature Azure Flame Grass beneath the veil and concluded that the herb grew somewhere in the hollow.

After escaping the Ghost Infant, the group discovered an indelible lip print on Jiang Hanyan’s neck. Duan Rong returned alone to the ruins to search for Azure Flame Grass and followed its scent to a place covered in leaves.

• The group reached daylight, where Su Xinjue found a bluish-black lip print on Jiang Hanyan’s neck that would not come off even after Jiang Hanyan rubbed it until she bled.
• Duan Rong told the others to wait two hours and went back into the ruins to search for mature Azure Flame Grass, carrying the Red Veil for protection.
• Duan Rong tested Divine Sense Scan and confirmed that the ruins’ dense God and Demon Will blocked it.
• Duan Rong returned to the spot where the Ghost Infant had attacked and used the scent of crushed Azure Flame Grass leaves to track the grass.
• Duan Rong followed scattered leaves to a patch of ground nearly carpeted with Azure Flame Grass leaves.

Duan Rong used the Red Veil and Illusory Bewitchment to outmaneuver the Ghost Infant and obtain three stalks of mature Azure Flame Grass. He left the creature behind with the Red Veil still in hand, having learned that Illusory Bewitchment could briefly control an evil spirit if he targeted its true body.

• Duan Rong kicked down the rubble wall and found the Ghost Infant hiding among mature Azure Flame Grass, with the walls and ground smeared in crushed grass juice.
• Duan Rong advanced with the Red Veil to test how close he could get, then retreated when the Ghost Infant hissed and turned ferocious.
• Duan Rong used Illusory Bewitchment on the Ghost Infant’s brow and chest, but both attempts failed to reach its true body.
• Duan Rong realized the Ghost Infant’s true body was in its lips and used his last Illusory Bewitchment to freeze it briefly.
• Duan Rong swiftly harvested three stalks of mature Azure Flame Grass, stored them in the Black Jade Box, and backed away while holding the Red Veil.
• Duan Rong left the Ghost Infant and concluded that Illusory Bewitchment could affect evil spirits only briefly when aimed at their true bodies.

Duan Rong and the team crossed the vast corpse of a God or Devil while reasoning about the Ghost Infant’s mark on Jiang Hanyan. They spotted the Ghost Bride rushing toward them, and Duan Rong and Guo Tian concluded that retreat offered no safe route.

• Duan Rong returned with three stalks of Azure Flame Grass and asked Su Xinjue whether the Kiss of the Ghost Infant on Jiang Hanyan’s neck had changed.
• Duan Rong realized that the lip print was a sentient part of the Ghost Infant Evil Spirit’s true body as the group continued along the map’s route.
• The team found a massive, incorruptible God or Devil corpse blocking their way and climbed across its body to reach the next road.
• Du Wan spotted a red dot approaching across the corpse, and Jiang Hanyan identified it as the Ghost Bride before the others could see clearly.
• The Ghost Bride sped toward the team, and Duan Rong and Guo Tian said they could not retreat because both available routes led into danger or away from their goal.

Duan Rong and the others faced the “Ghost Bride” Evil Spirit in daylight, trying to understand why it followed them before it suddenly attacked Jiang Hanyan. Duan Rong used his last Divine Soul Thorn to drive it away, then asked his fellow disciples to guard him while he cultivated more.

• Du Wan urged the group to flee, but Guo Tian and Duan Rong insisted they stay together and face the evil spirit.
• Duan Rong warned everyone not to look at the Ghost Bride’s Red Veil, and the group tested its reactions by stepping back and circling past it.
• Duan Rong tossed the Red Veil aside, but the evil spirit ignored it and stayed motionless as the group began to pass.
• The evil spirit sent hair from beneath its Red Veil to seize Jiang Hanyan, and Su Xinjue let go while the others struggled to pull her free.
• Duan Rong used his final Divine Soul Thorn on the darkness beneath the evil spirit, forcing it to release Jiang Hanyan and retreat.
• Duan Rong confirmed to the group that he had used a Divine Soul Thorn and asked them to protect him while he cultivated more.

Duan Rong realized the Ghost Bride Evil Spirit was pursuing Jiang Hanyan because she bore the Kiss of the Ghost Infant, while Guo Tian decided the group could no longer keep bringing her along. The chapter ended with the group stopped in the darkness as the Ghost Bride Evil Spirit followed nearby.

• Duan Rong finished condensing Divine Soul Thorns as the group prepared to travel through the coming night, while Jiang Hanyan remained vacant and unresponsive.
• The Ghost Bride Evil Spirit attacked Jiang Hanyan again, but Duan Rong struck it with a Divine Soul Thorn and forced it back into the darkness.
• Duan Rong deduced that the Ghost Infant had left its Kiss on Jiang Hanyan to draw the Ghost Bride Evil Spirit away, and that the Ghost Bride was searching for the Ghost Infant.
• Duan Wan spotted the Ghost Bride Evil Spirit following the group, and Guo Tian stopped everyone and declared that they could not keep bringing Jiang Hanyan with them.

Duan Rong used the Ghost Bride’s Red Veil to remove the Kiss of the Ghost Infant from Jiang Hanyan, driving away the pursuing evil spirit. After escaping the night unharmed, the group reached the main road through the God and Demon Ruins and hoped their bad luck had ended.

• Guo Tian proposed abandoning Jiang Hanyan, but Duan Rong explained that the Ghost Bride had been pursuing the ghost infant aura on her and tried using the Red Veil to save her.
• Duan Rong pressed the Red Veil against Jiang Hanyan’s neck, and, with Lu Chu, Du Wan, and Su Xinjue holding her still, removed the Kiss of the Ghost Infant.
• The Ghost Bride disappeared, and Jiang Hanyan regained consciousness and thanked Duan Rong before the group hurried away.
• The group traveled through the night without another attack, rested after dawn, and later reached the back of the God and Devil corpse’s head.
• The group crossed the corpse’s right arm and little finger to reach a broad bluestone road, where Du Wan hoped their bad luck had ended.

The God and Demon Heavenly Sound opened the God and Demon Illusion and drew Duan Rong and the others into Jiang Hanyan’s traumatic memory of a bandit massacre. They learned that Jiang Hanyan’s obsession was to kill Meng Zongqiu, Wu Mingfu, and Li Tang, the three bandit chiefs who had destroyed her family.

• Lu Chu and Du Wan discussed their progress as the group rested beside a pool, but the God and Demon Heavenly Sound suddenly announced the illusion’s opening.
• The God and Demon Will chose Jiang Hanyan, and the group’s surroundings transformed into a village being massacred by bandits; they found themselves as starving children with no cultivation.
• Meng Zongqiu exposed and beheaded a man who tried to trick him into leaving, then returned with his bandits after they looted the village.
• Duan Rong and the others asked Jiang Hanyan about her obsession, and she revealed that Wu Mingfu had killed her father, Li Tang had killed her mother, and Meng Zongqiu had to die as their leader.

Duan Rong, Jiang Hanyan, and the other children were taken to the Mountain Stronghold as laborers, where they discussed how to kill the three chiefs despite losing their cultivation. After reaching the stronghold, they were sent to sleep in the kitchen workers’ quarters, leaving their next move unresolved.

• Jiang Hanyan told the others that the bandits had captured them to work and named the three chiefs and their cultivation levels.
• Jiang Hanyan insisted they could regain their cultivation and eventually kill the chiefs, while Duan Rong suggested that killing might not require Martial Arts.
• Meng Zongqiu’s caravan entered the Mountain Stronghold, and he ordered the grain delivered and the captured women brought to the feast.
• Two bandits took Duan Rong and the other children to He Chong, who cut their ropes and sent them to sleep in the kitchen workers’ shared quarters.
• Duan Rong and the other eight ignored the children fighting over rotten leaves, found space on the bed, and fell asleep from exhaustion.

Duan Rong used his exceptional knife skills to attract Old Man He's attention in the main kitchen. Old Man He tested him in the Small Kitchen, then chose him over Wang Long as his new assistant.

• Old Man He woke the children with his Willow Branch Whip and supervised their meager breakfast before assigning them kitchen and dishwashing work.
• Duan Rong impressed the children and Old Man He by cutting vegetables with remarkable speed and precision, while secretly using his Devour Artifact Spirit on the kitchen knives.
• Old Man He brought Duan Rong to the restricted Small Kitchen and challenged him to mince beef for steamed buns.
• Duan Rong minced the beef with extraordinary skill, prompting Old Man He to send Wang Long back to the main kitchen and keep Duan Rong as his assistant.

Duan Rong learned the routes to the three chiefs’ quarters while delivering their meals, and he realized that poisoning Meng Zongqiu would be extremely difficult. Unable to find poisonous herbs or a way to safely kill Li Tang, he began to consider surviving and rebuilding his strength in the Mountain Stronghold, even if it took years.

• Old Man He showed Duan Rong the routes to the chiefs’ quarters and warned him not to mix up their meals.
• Duan Rong saw that Meng Zongqiu lived behind a guarded bunker, where servants were made mute and illiterate, and judged him too cautious to poison easily.
• Old Man He delivered a meal to the Second Chief’s empty courtyard, then introduced Duan Rong to Li Tang as the new meal carrier.
• Duan Rong recognized a woman taken during the village slaughter among Li Tang’s companions and left with Old Man He after serving the meal.
• Duan Rong searched roadside weeds for poisonous herbs but found none, while Guo Tian considered how impossible it would be to cultivate martial arts on their meager rations.
• Old Man He gave Duan Rong a private meal with meat, and Duan Rong considered enduring years in the Mountain Stronghold until he could defeat the chiefs.

Duan Rong searched the Mountain Stronghold for poison while working in the kitchen, but found only a few weakly toxic herbs. After Wang Long attacked him in the night, Duan Rong nearly strangled him and left him terrified.

• Duan Rong finished his kitchen work, then searched the Mountain Stronghold for poisonous herbs but found only three stalks of Cat's Eye Grass.
• Duan Rong delivered dinner to Li Tang and saw him use a silver needle to test the food before assaulting his mistress.
• Duan Rong returned to the shack exhausted and fell asleep while Guo Tian and the others finished their chores.
• Wang Long attacked Duan Rong with a rolling pin, but Duan Rong dodged, pinned him, and choked him until he nearly passed out.
• Duan Rong warned Wang Long not to attack again and struck him with the rolling pin, leaving Wang Long frightened and with no resentment left.

Duan Rong found and secretly stole a poisonous Pigeon Plate Flower with Guo Tian’s help, then exchanged information about the stronghold’s leaders and defenses. He learned the armory and granary keys were held by Wu Mingfu and Li Tang, while Meng Zongqiu’s fortress seemed extremely difficult to breach.

• Duan Rong spotted a Pigeon Plate Flower growing on a courtyard roof and confirmed its stamens could poison someone to death.
• Duan Rong returned at night with Guo Tian, climbed onto the roof, and plucked the flower before broken tiles alerted the old man inside.
• Duan Rong wrapped the poisonous flower and told Guo Tian he had not decided whom to poison.
• Guo Tian reported that Meng Zongqiu kept the stronghold’s treasures in a fortress, while Wu Mingfu controlled the armory and carried its key.
• Guo Tian also told Duan Rong that Li Tang controlled the food supply and carried the granary key.

Duan Rong extracted poison from the Pigeon Plate Flower and used the woman’s open rouge box to poison the Third Chief, Li Tang. After Li Tang left to drink with Wu Mingfu’s guard, the abused woman tried to take her own life but lost her resolve, and Li Tang returned drunk as she reapplied her makeup.

• Duan Rong baked the Pigeon Plate Flower, collected its poisonous powder, and decided to target Li Tang because he could not reach Meng Zongqiu.
• Duan Rong told Guo Tian he planned to act, and Guo Tian offered him a sharpened iron nail for protection.
• Duan Rong waited until Li Tang’s woman opened her rouge box, then spilled the poison powder onto the rouge while pretending to pick up a dropped food-box lid.
• A guard summoned Li Tang to drink with Wu Mingfu’s man, and Li Tang left his room with the guard.
• The woman considered suicide, prepared a noose, then abandoned the attempt and fell asleep after crying.
• The woman began fixing her makeup when Li Tang returned drunk.

Li Tang died after eating poisoned cold tofu salad, and Meng Zongqiu investigated the meal while suspecting the woman who had been in the room. Wu Mingfu then seized Old Man He and accused him of poisoning Li Tang, asking about Duan Rong, who had delivered the food.

• Li Tang returned drunk, ate cold tofu salad, and collapsed dead from poison before he could reach the bed.
• The woman discovered Li Tang's body, and his guards summoned Wu Mingfu and Meng Zongqiu.
• Meng Zongqiu questioned the woman, who said Li Tang had eaten the untested cold tofu salad after returning from Wu Mingfu's drinking party.
• Meng Zongqiu tested the tofu with a silver needle as Wu Mingfu went to confront Old Man He.
• Duan Rong told Guo Tian that something might happen, then Wu Mingfu dragged Old Man He from bed and accused him of poisoning Li Tang.
• Old Man He said Duan Rong had delivered Li Tang's meals for the past few days.

After Li Tang died from poisoning, Meng Zongqiu questioned Old Man He, Duan Rong, and the woman, but found no clear culprit and summoned poison expert Hu Jin. As Hu Jin arrived at the Mountain Stronghold, Duan Rong was still tied up in the courtyard and watched the physician’s medicine box closely.

• Wu Mingfu brought Old Man He and Duan Rong before Meng Zongqiu, who investigated the cold tofu salad and concluded it contained no poison.
• Meng Zongqiu sent Wu Mingfu to Cangfang Town to fetch Hu Jin and ordered Old Man He, Duan Rong, the woman, and Li Tang’s two Guards tied up.
• Duan Rong’s companions worried about his arrest, but Guo Tian and Lu Chu urged the children to sleep; Wang Long privately hoped Duan Rong would not return.
• The next morning, the children learned that Li Tang had been poisoned, and Guo Tian, Jiang Hanyan, and Lu Chu wondered if Duan Rong had done it.
• Wu Mingfu brought Hu Jin to the Mountain Stronghold the following afternoon, and Meng Zongqiu led him to Li Tang’s courtyard, where Duan Rong fixed his eyes on Hu Jin’s medicine box.