Chapter Summaries

After leaving Lake Island, Luo Bin and his companions settled their affairs in Nanping City and contacted Hu Jin, who was trapped in an underground palace with Huang Ying. Hu Jin gave Luo Bin an address before the call abruptly ended, prompting Luo Bin to demand that Bai Wei explain what he knew about Six Arts Practitioners.

• Kong Chen thanked Zhang Yunxi and Luo Bin for their efforts against Kong An, and the group left Lake Island with Miao Miao following them.
• Bai Wei asked why Luo Bin had saved Miao Miao, and Zhang Yunxi explained that her grandmother had died protecting Luo Bin from the Gu Worm's attack.
• Chen Zu told Luo Bin that the Nether Market had kept news of Lu You quiet, gave him a piece of thunderstruck heartwood, and said Pan Mi's team was protecting Miss Gu.
• Luo Bin called Hu Jin, who said Huang Ying had been assigned to serve tea and water in the underground palace and asked Luo Bin to rescue them.
• Hu Jin gave Luo Bin an address before the call ended, and Luo Bin demanded that Bai Wei explain what he knew about Six Arts Practitioners and their plans.

Bai Wei explained the Six-Arts Fangshi and the hidden dangers facing powerful spiritual lineages, then revealed the old feud that had trapped him and Hu Xing on Cabinet Mountain. As he described their plan to find the Fangshi and their corpse pills, he sensed someone hiding near the abbey and ordered them to come out.

• Bai Wei told Zhang Yunxi and Luo Bin that true Six-Arts Fangshi practiced alchemy, divination, astrology, qi observation, corpse liberation, and the kitchen-god ritual.
• Zhang Yunxi inferred that Heaven constrained powerful lineages, prompting Bai Wei to question how much he knew about Cabinet Mountain and other Veiling Heaven Lands.
• Bai Wei explained that Six-Arts Fangshi had stolen Immortal Creature remains from Sawu Mountain and that he and Hu Xing had been trapped on Cabinet Mountain for twelve years after following Yuan Yinxin.
• Bai Wei said they hoped to find Dai Zhixiong and the Fangshi's hiding place, using Immortal Creature corpses and corpse pills as bait.
• After hearing squeaks near the courtyard wall, Bai Wei ordered the hidden person to come out, and a woman stepped from among the trees.

Shangguan Xingyue was brought before Dai Zhixiong after months of confinement, and he revealed that he had restored her body and wanted her as his disciple. He introduced his mysterious arts but left her decision unresolved.

• Miao Miao approached Luo Bin with a covered bamboo basket while Bai Wei and Hu Xing confronted her with hostility.
• Shangguan Xingyue continued taking pills made from corpses and waited for a chance to escape her underground confinement.
• Dai Ji led Shangguan Xingyue through the confusing passages to a cavern altar, where Dai Zhixiong awaited her.
• Dai Zhixiong explained that he had purified Shangguan Xingyue's body because her life soul had overwhelmed it and revealed that he wanted to take her as his disciple.
• Dai Zhixiong brought Shangguan Xingyue through the altar's cabinets and described his arts of summoning, alchemy, longevity, and surveying the world.

Dai Zhixiong offered Shangguan Xingyue the choice to leave or become his disciple, while Luo Bin learned that the essence-devouring gu had become his life gu and that he would need to follow its keeper. Bai Wei returned with Zhang Yunxi and Hu Xing and refused to let Luo Bin go with the old man.

• Dai Zhixiong told Shangguan Xingyue she could leave if she did not wish to become his disciple, leaving her unsure whether he meant the offer sincerely.
• The old man told Luo Bin that the essence-devouring gu had accepted him as its host and become his life gu.
• The old man insisted Luo Bin must accompany him, explaining that they needed to return to the old temple and find help to kill the mad monk.
• Miao Miao urged Luo Bin to accept the old man's offer, but Luo Bin rejected the supposed good fortune.
• Bai Wei, Zhang Yunxi, and Hu Xing returned, and Bai Wei declared that Luo Bin would not go with the old man.

Luo Bin reconsidered the Miao old man's offer after recognizing that his Essence-Devouring Gu might put his life at risk and that Gu techniques could strengthen his own abilities. The old man gave him a Shell-Devouring Gu to feed with flesh, and Luo Bin accepted by cutting a piece from his finger.

• Bai Wei prepared to confront the old man, but Zhang Yunxi warned him about his arm, and Luo Bin realized Bai Wei's unstable condition left him vulnerable.
• Luo Bin asked the old man whether he could keep him alive if something went wrong with the Essence-Devouring Gu.
• Luo Bin decided the old man's offer could benefit him by adding Gu techniques to his divination and combat capabilities.
• The old man spat blood, fed it to a Shell-Devouring Gu, and told Luo Bin to offer it a piece of flesh.
• Luo Bin cut a small piece of flesh from the little finger of his left hand.

Luo Bin gained the support of Miao Gu, who gave him the shell-devouring Gu and agreed to help keep him alive as he set out to rescue two people. Meanwhile, Lu Li of Six Yin Mountain questioned Chen Zu at the Nanping Underworld Market about her missing junior brother, Lu You.

• The black silkworm ate Luo Bin's finger flesh, entered his sleeve, and Miao Gu gave him the shell-devouring Gu.
• Luo Bin asked Miao Gu to help rescue two people from Dai Zhixiong, and Miao Gu agreed to help keep him alive.
• Miao Gu gave his name, and Miao Miao joined Luo Bin and Zhang Yunxi as they left Nanping City in a seven-seater vehicle.
• Lu Li met Chen Zu at the Old Teahouse and asked whether her junior brother Lu You had visited the Nanping Underworld Market.
• Chen Zu denied knowing Lu You or handling Zhongshan white resin and hui-water jade essence, while Lu Li offered him valuable treasures for a satisfactory answer.

Lu Li questioned Chen Zu about Lu You and Xiao Ke, then followed a life-force trail to Xiao Ke’s abandoned Taoist Grounds. She found the chestnut tree uprooted and realized Xiao Ke had taken the thunderstruck wood.

• Lu Li learned that a gentleman had hired the Nether Market to locate a Spirit Medium and had paid Chen Zu with Hui River jade essence.
• Chen Zu warned Lu Li that Xiao Ke had killed those who sought him and had destroyed the Red Armor Taoist Abbey, while secretly misleading her to protect Golden Peace Temple.
• After Lu Li left, Chen Zu congratulated himself for deceiving her and considered offering the medicinal ingredients she had given him to Zhang Xuanyi.
• Three days later, Lu Li used a goldfish and a charred twig to trace life force into a stone chamber beneath Greedy Wolf Peak.
• Lu Li found the chestnut tree uprooted and concluded that Xiao Ke had taken the thunderstruck wood.

Luo Bin and his companions settled near Jishui City, then planned for him to meet Hu Jin while investigating Dai Zhixiong and rescuing Shangguan Xingyue. Miao Miao joined Luo Bin for the trip and explained that he would need to complete the Bamboo-Splitting Ceremony before she could teach him how to control his Gu.

• Luo Bin and his companions settled into lodgings near Jishui City while Bai Wei recovered from his injuries.
• Zhang Yunxi arranged for Luo Bin and Hu Xing to meet Hu Jin and warned Luo Bin to watch for signs that Hu Jin might have turned against them.
• Miao Miao insisted on accompanying Luo Bin, and Hu Xing agreed to follow them secretly as backup.
• On the drive out of the city, Miao Miao asked Luo Bin whether he had felt his mind being pulled away and explained the essence-devouring and shell-devouring Gu.
• Miao Miao told Luo Bin that he had to pay his respects at Three Miao Cave and complete the Bamboo-Splitting Ceremony before she could teach him Gu arts.

Luo Bin and Miao Miao reached Gravemound Ridge to find Hu Jin, but Luo Bin recognized the mountain as a deadly trap and discovered that Miao Miao faced death there while he did not. He realized Dai Zhixiong’s people planned to capture him and kill his companions, leaving him to decide whether to enter the ridge.

• Luo Bin and Miao Miao arrived at Ludi Village, and Hu Jin texted that Dai Zhixiong had grown suspicious and someone was watching him.
• Luo Bin sensed that Gravemound Ridge occupied the death hexagram and found no warning of danger on his own face.
• Dai Ji waited in a cave, using Hu Jin’s phone to lure Luo Bin to the ridge while following Dai Zhixiong’s orders to bring him back alive and kill the others.
• Luo Bin examined Miao Miao’s features and bones, concluding that she would die three times while he survived.
• Luo Bin recognized that the ridge was a trap and hesitated over whether to risk entering to reach Hu Jin.

Luo Bin tried to leave Ludi Village with Miao Miao after suspecting that Hu Jin’s phone had fallen into the enemy’s hands, but her death signs worsened whenever they approached the mountain pass. He realized Dai Zhixiong had turned the village into a trap with a single dangerous exit and began considering a riskier way out.

• Luo Bin turned back from the route to Gravemound Ridge because he could not be sure Miao Miao would survive the danger ahead, despite her assurances that Miao Gu and the shell-devouring gu could protect her.
• Luo Bin received a message claiming Hu Jin had escaped people trying to kill him, and concluded that someone else was using Hu Jin’s phone to lure him onward.
• As Luo Bin and Miao Miao approached the pass, Miao Miao’s death signs appeared and grew worse, so Luo Bin repeatedly turned back until they were outside Ludi Village.
• Luo Bin examined the pass and realized a rockfall from the adjacent cliff could create a deadly feng shui trap, while the surrounding mountains left the pass as the only visible exit.
• Luo Bin concluded that Dai Zhixiong’s lair encompassed Ludi Village and that Gravemound Ridge and the other routes were dangerous, then came up with a risky alternative that might let them escape with Hu Jin and Huang Ying.

Luo Bin explored Ludi Village with Miao Miao and deduced that it concealed the entrance to Dai Zhixiong’s lair beneath an enclosure configuration. He narrowed the hidden site to either an imperial mausoleum or the ancestral grounds of a powerful family, and resolved to investigate further.

• Luo Bin concluded that Gravemound Ridge and the mountain pass were both traps, then took Miao Miao into Ludi Village to search for another way forward.
• Luo Bin studied the village’s layout with his Compass and realized that the surrounding mountains formed an enclosure configuration too grand for a village.
• Luo Bin inferred that a hidden town and Dai Zhixiong’s lair lay underground, masked by Ludi Village’s surface manifestation.
• Luo Bin dismissed the possibility of learning useful information from the villagers and continued into the hills with Miao Miao.
• Luo Bin considered the enclosure configuration’s possible forms and concluded that the site was either an imperial mausoleum or the ancestral grounds of a family with a high-ranking forebear.

Luo Bin identified the enclosure configuration as Supreme Tenuity and climbed its main mountain with Miao Miao to find the spirit path into an underground palace. Dai Ji searched for them nearby and concluded that Luo Bin had brought someone who used poison, while Luo Bin ended the chapter following the starlight toward a possible entrance.

• Luo Bin found the main mountain and recognized the Feng Shui arrangement as Supreme Tenuity.
• Dai Ji watched for signs of Luo Bin, found footprints and evidence of poison, and suspected he had brought a poison user instead of a Spirit Medium.
• Luo Bin and Miao Miao climbed the mountain in search of the spirit path leading into the underground palace where the person Luo Bin wanted to rescue was being held.
• Miao Miao gave Luo Bin medicinal flatbread, and he ate as they continued upward.
• Luo Bin saw the bright star above the mountain and hurried toward the place where its light seemed to meet the earth.

Luo Bin found a likely Sacred Way entrance on the mountainside but could not locate its opening before Dai Ji closed in. Hu Xing warned that Dai Zhixiong was pursuing them, and Miao Gu proposed poison as their remaining way to fight him.

• Luo Bin identified a rock wall and spring that matched the Sacred Way’s acupoint configuration, then searched the area for an entrance.
• Dai Ji followed Luo Bin and Miao Miao’s trail up the mountain, realizing that Luo Bin’s Yin-Yang Arts had led him toward the Sacred Way.
• Luo Bin searched around the rock wall without success and concluded that digging down to the Underground Palace was beyond his abilities.
• Hu Xing arrived and told Luo Bin and Miao Miao that Dai Zhixiong was following them and had killed someone with a single encounter.
• Miao Gu woke and released gu worms that killed the shrimp and crabs in the spring, then said Dai Zhixiong could not be immune to poison.

Luo Bin and his companions prepared an ambush for the person pursuing them, deciding to use the Shell-Devouring Gu after Miao Gu explained that poison would not work. Dai Ji reached the underground palace gateway, discovered that its shrimp and crabs were gone, and sensed someone nearby as he continued along the path.

• Miao Gu explained that Luo Bin could use the Shell-Devouring Gu, while Hu Xing and Miao Miao would help distract and restrain their pursuer.
• Luo Bin rejected escape as too dangerous because of the site's Feng Shui and arranged for Miao Gu and Hu Xing to create an opening for him.
• The group concealed themselves along the path, and Luo Bin prepared to strike with two Bronze Clubs and release the Shell-Devouring Gu.
• Dai Ji noticed that the gateway's pool was empty and realized Luo Bin had taken the shrimp and crabs, ruining the Feng Shui arrangement.
• Dai Ji continued along the path, then stopped, sniffed, and turned icy with killing intent.

Dai Ji repelled Hu Xing’s Immortal Creatures and exposed Hu Xing, Miao Gu, and Luo Bin by tracking their scents. Luo Bin challenged Dai Ji’s arrogance, and Dai Ji advanced as Luo Bin drew a clapper bell.

• Hu Xing’s Immortal Creatures attacked Dai Ji, but he resisted their poison and enchantment and drove them back with his blades and kicks.
• Dai Ji bit through the Willow Immortal that latched onto his mouth, then taunted Hu Xing for failing to defeat him.
• Dai Ji sensed Luo Bin’s scent and changed direction, disrupting Luo Bin’s planned hexagram attack.
• Dai Ji called out the hidden poison user, and Miao Gu, Hu Xing, and Luo Bin revealed themselves.
• Luo Bin compared Dai Ji with Wen Xiongzhi and questioned whether Dai Ji’s ability matched his arrogance.
• Dai Ji strode toward Luo Bin, who reached for his waist and pulled out a clapper bell.

Luo Bin and Miao Gu turned the fight against Dai Ji by using the Calling Bell and gu worms, blinding him and forcing him to flee. They pursued him until they found signs that he had shed most of the gu worms, and Miao Gu warned Luo Bin that Dai Ji might not be entirely human.

• Luo Bin rang the Calling Bell, stunning Dai Ji and giving Miao Gu's gu worms time to attack him.
• Two winged gu worms destroyed Dai Ji's eyes, and he fled down the mountain.
• Miao Gu climbed onto Luo Bin's back and guided him in pursuit by tracking the gu worms on Dai Ji.
• Dai Ji tore off his clothes and removed nearly all the gu worms, though two remained attached above his head.
• Luo Bin found Dai Ji's discarded garment and crushed gu worms, and Miao Gu warned that Dai Ji's body was too tough for the insects to bite through.
• Luo Bin wondered whether Dai Ji was a Sui Xie, and Miao Gu asked what he meant.

Luo Bin used the Calling Bell and his copper rods to overcome Dai Ji, then sent a black silkworm Gu worm into Dai Ji’s nostril. Dai Ji remained pinned and immobilized as Luo Bin recovered the bell.

• Miao Gu guided Luo Bin toward Dai Ji’s hiding place and warned him to approach quietly.
• Miao Gu fled, and Luo Bin advanced alone, repeatedly shaking the Calling Bell to keep Dai Ji immobilized.
• Luo Bin leaped into the concealed hole and found Dai Ji trapped below, unable to move.
• Dai Ji lunged at Luo Bin, but Luo Bin pierced his palms with copper rods and pinned him to the ground.
• Luo Bin sent a black silkworm into Dai Ji’s nostril, then picked up the Calling Bell as Dai Ji continued to spasm helplessly.

Luo Bin forced Dai Ji to reveal how to enter the Underground Palace, then removed the shell-devouring Gu and left him behind. Seeing Dai Ji’s corpse-like green complexion, Luo Bin realized that practitioners of the Six Arts lineage had merged with a terrifying existence.

• Luo Bin and Miao Gu questioned Dai Ji about Hu Jin and Huang Ying and the shell-devouring Gu, but Dai Ji refused to answer.
• Luo Bin threatened Dai Ji with the Bronze Club, striking it to inflict a severe mental blow until Dai Ji agreed to talk.
• Dai Ji revealed how to find and open the Underground Palace’s main entrance, then begged Luo Bin to spare him and let him go.
• Luo Bin used Miao Gu’s instructions to draw the shell-devouring Gu out of Dai Ji’s face and back into his sleeve.
• Luo Bin and Miao Gu left Dai Ji behind, and Luo Bin recognized his green complexion as evidence that Underground Palace practitioners had merged with a terrifying existence.

Luo Bin entered the Underground Palace’s Sacred Way to rescue Hu Jin and Huang Ying, while Shangguan Xingyue sensed his presence and continued serving Dai Zhixiong. The chapter left Luo Bin inside the deeper palace and Dai Zhixiong preparing Shangguan Xingyue to use a mellified man in alchemy.

• Luo Bin rejected Miao Gu’s offer to retreat and decided to enter the Underground Palace before Dai Zhixiong learned what had happened to Dai Ji.
• Luo Bin opened the hidden stone door, left Miao Miao and Hu Xing outside, and entered the Sacred Way alone with Miao Gu.
• Luo Bin used his blood to reveal the talismans on a Tomb Guardian Beast’s ivory tusk, lighting the Sacred Way and strengthening his connection to Shangguan Xingyue.
• Shangguan Xingyue sensed Luo Bin’s presence but concealed her reaction from Dai Zhixiong as she continued grinding medicinal stones.
• Dai Zhixiong told Shangguan Xingyue that Dai Ji would bring an excellent mellified man for her to use in alchemy.

Dai Zhixiong kept Shangguan Xingyue under watch and sent someone to search for his missing third disciple, while Luo Bin descended into the Underground Palace. There, Luo Bin killed a corpse guardian with Lightning-Struck Chestnut Heartwood and suspected something was controlling it.

• Dai Zhixiong dismissed Shangguan Xingyue, ordered Dai Tong to watch her, and sent the fourth disciple to look for the missing third disciple.
• Luo Bin followed a Gray Immortal through the tomb passages and reached an octagonal chamber with eight doorways and a bronze statue.
• A red-furred corpse guardian attacked Luo Bin, and his Calling Bell had no effect on it.
• Luo Bin realized his ritual artifacts might target people rather than evil entities and used Lightning-Struck Chestnut Heartwood to burn the guardian.
• Luo Bin examined the charred body, suspected it had been controlled, and decided to hide it before continuing.