Chapter Summaries

Luo Bin fought his way through the burial chamber’s doors and followed the passage toward Shangguan Xingyue, Huang Ying, and Hu Jin. Meanwhile, Shangguan Xingyue prepared to leave and used her divination art and a Flower Affection fruit to ensnare Dai Tong, leaving him dazed as she slipped away.

• Luo Bin discovered red-fuzzed Fangshi behind the doors and burned them with the Lightning-Struck Chestnut Heartwood.
• Luo Bin found the passage indicated by the Gray Immortal and sensed that Shangguan Xingyue was nearby.
• Shangguan Xingyue told Huang Ying to prepare to leave and learned that no one had followed her to the stone room.
• Shangguan Xingyue lured Dai Tong inside, swallowed Emotion Flower Fruits, and used her divination art to cloud his mind.
• Shangguan Xingyue left Dai Tong dazed and under her influence.

Luo Bin entered a glowing cavern in the mountain mausoleum and was surrounded by more than a hundred hostile Fangshi. He used the Sixteen Hexagrams of the Zhen Palace to hold them back, but eight green-skinned Fangshi broke the formation, leaving him trapped among them.

• Hu Jin worried that Shangguan Xingyue’s order to leave would expose them to danger, but Shangguan Xingyue arrived and told them to go.
• Luo Bin found that the burial chambers were empty of bodies and suspected the Six-Arts Fangshi had refined the dead into pills.
• The Gray Immortal sensed danger in a glowing cavern, where more than a hundred strange Fangshi emerged from holes in the walls and surrounded Luo Bin.
• Luo Bin fought toward the eastern side of the cavern and formed the Sixteen Hexagrams of the Zhen Palace with copper coins, keeping the Fangshi outside.
• Eight green-skinned Fangshi stepped into the formation at different positions and broke its hexagrams, leaving Luo Bin trapped.

Luo Bin fought the Fangshi in the Limestone Cave, but a hidden Six-Arts Fangshi wounded him and forced him to rely on the Gu Worms and Calling Bell to escape. The enemy struck back with a concealed weapon, shattering Miao Gu’s Clay Jar and piercing both Miao Gu and Luo Bin with an arrow.

• Luo Bin narrowly avoided the Fangshi leader’s razor attack, but the man slashed open his right arm and demanded to know what had happened to his senior brother.
• Miao Gu sent Gu Worms over Luo Bin’s body and carried him up the Limestone Cave wall, where he faced the hidden Fangshi from above.
• The Fangshi identified Luo Bin’s Gray Immortal, Gu Worms, and Gu-Bound Person, then asked where his third senior brother was.
• Luo Bin rang the Calling Bell twice, briefly suppressing the Fangshi, but the man resisted and used a concealed weapon to stiffen Luo Bin’s body.
• Miao Gu directed the Gu Worms to move Luo Bin to the right, but an arrow shattered the Clay Jar and pierced Miao Gu and Luo Bin.

Luo Bin and Miao Gu fought Dai Sheng and the Fangshi in the Underground Palace, turning the battle with Miao Gu’s blood leeches. As more Fangshi arrived and escape seemed unlikely, Shangguan Xingyue appeared with Hu Jin and Huang Ying, and Luo Bin stopped Miao Gu from attacking her.

• Dai Sheng used the palace mechanisms and arrows to wound Luo Bin and Miao Gu, while Luo Bin repeatedly shook the Calling Bell to hinder him.
• Miao Gu’s Gu leeches emerged from the black blood and overwhelmed Dai Sheng as Luo Bin kept him immobilized with the bell.
• Miao Gu warned Luo Bin that they could not proceed deeper into the Underground Palace and had to escape before more Fangshi arrived.
• Luo Bin and Miao Gu sensed approaching people, and Shangguan Xingyue appeared with Hu Jin and Huang Ying.
• Miao Gu sent Gu worms toward Shangguan Xingyue, but Luo Bin told him to stop and said she meant no harm.

Luo Bin reunited with Hu Jin and Huang Ying in the Underground Palace while Shangguan Xingyue restrained the living-corpse Fangshi and prepared to remain behind. After learning that Dai Zhixiong might make her refine living people, Shangguan Xingyue refused to abandon her chosen path and left, while Luo Bin escaped with help from Miao Gu.

• Shangguan Xingyue used talismans to immobilize the living-corpse Fangshi and explained that failed Fangshi pill refinements had created them.
• Shangguan Xingyue warned Luo Bin about the exit barrier, obtained a token for Hu Jin, and arranged for Miao Gu to give her some gu worms.
• Hu Jin told Shangguan Xingyue that Dai Zhixiong refined living people, making her realize he might have intended her to turn Luo Bin into a medicinal ingredient.
• Luo Bin warned Shangguan Xingyue that Dai Zhixiong was not sincere and offered other ways for her to grow stronger, but she chose to forge her own path and returned to the passage.
• Dai Sheng warned that Shangguan Xingyue would be punished, and Luo Bin suggested she might outmaneuver Dai Zhixiong before Miao Gu pulled the arrow from Luo Bin and took control of Dai Sheng.

Shangguan Xingyue framed Dai Tong while strange gu worms attacked the Underground Palace, and Luo Bin’s group escaped into daylight with Miao Gu badly affected by the sun. They left Miao Gu sheltered in a wooden tub and returned to the mountainside, while the Gray Immortal appeared beside a pill in a jade chamber beneath the Underground Palace.

• Shangguan Xingyue accused Dai Tong of trying to take advantage of her, as other disciples reported gu worms killing people in the Underground Palace and Dai Zhixiong appeared.
• Luo Bin and his companions left the Underground Palace, and Luo Bin noticed that the bronze statue seemed to move as they passed.
• In the sunlight, blood-leech gu consumed Dai Sheng, while Miao Gu’s skin began to burn; Miao Miao placed him in a hollowed wooden tub for protection.
• Luo Bin’s group set off on their return journey, leaving Dai Sheng’s discarded skin behind and carrying Miao Gu in the tub.
• The Gray Immortal reached a jade coffin containing a faintly breathing woman and greedily watched a pill resting in a water-filled jade bowl.

A Gray Immortal stole the corpse core from Dai Zhixiong’s jade chamber, damaging the female corpse before escaping through a hole in the ceiling. Shangguan Xingyue recognized it as one that had followed Luo Bin, and Dai Zhixiong was left enraged as it got away.

• The Gray Immortal took the corpse core from the bowl, causing the Jade Bi and the female corpse to decay.
• Dai Zhixiong opened the secret passage and found the damaged corpse, then struck at the Gray Immortal and severed its tail.
• Dai Zhixiong chased the Gray Immortal through the Jade Chamber as it evaded his blades and attacks.
• The Gray Immortal swallowed the corpse core and escaped through a hole into the chamber above.
• Shangguan Xingyue recognized the fleeing Gray Immortal as one that had followed Luo Bin, but let it escape.
• Dai Zhixiong reached the upper chamber too late and roared in fury as the Gray Immortal vanished.

Luo Bin and his companions escaped the Underground Palace as the Gray Immortal emerged with Dai Zhixiong’s stolen Corpse Core. Luo Bin chose to keep the treasure despite Hu Jin’s warnings, while Dai Tong realized Dai Zhixiong would discover the theft.

• Shangguan Xingyue recognized that the Gray Immortal had escaped through the qi vent beneath the pill furnace, and Dai Zhixiong rushed after it.
• Luo Bin identified the qi vent outside the Underground Palace, and the wounded Gray Immortal burst out and spat a Corpse Core into his hand.
• Hu Jin warned Luo Bin that taking the Corpse Core would make Dai Zhixiong his enemy, but Luo Bin decided to keep it because Dai Zhixiong already wanted him dead.
• Luo Bin put away the Corpse Core and led the group onward, while Dai Tong saw what happened and feared Dai Zhixiong would turn the Underground Palace upside down.

Hu Xing and the others fled toward Barrier Pass with the stolen Corpse Core while a powerful Fangshi pursued them. Luo Bin chose to stay behind and fight, realizing he might be able to use the Corpse Core to anchor his life and survive.

• Hu Xing sensed someone following the group from the south-southwest, and Miao Miao warned that the Blood Leech Gu could no longer be activated without gu blood.
• Luo Bin told Hu Jin to take the others toward Barrier Pass while he stayed behind to confront their pursuer, and he gave Hu Jin Dai Sheng's talisman.
• Hu Xing explained that the Corpse Core held immense life force and might save Luo Bin in a crisis, prompting him to realize it could anchor his life.
• Luo Bin told Hu Jin to leave without hesitation and promised to catch up after killing their pursuer and taking the talisman from his body.

Luo Bin accepted Hu Xing’s Spirit-Inviting Talisman and became possessed by Fourth Master Gray, gaining heightened senses and extraordinary speed. He lured Dai Tong toward Gravemound Ridge and prepared a sixteen-palace death formation, where the confrontation was about to begin.

• Hu Xing gave Luo Bin her last Spirit-Inviting Talisman and explained that it would let Fourth Master Gray help him.
• Luo Bin placed the talisman on his shoulder, understood Fourth Master Gray’s warning to kill Dai Tong, and sensed his pursuer nearby.
• Luo Bin took the Corpse Core and ran toward Gravemound Ridge, while Dai Tong pursued him, hoping to seize the core and capture him.
• Luo Bin reached the ridge’s summit, arranged jade talismans into a sixteen-palace death formation, and stood at its center.

Luo Bin tested Yin Hexagram Strangulation on Dai Tong, but the attack failed and the backlash left him badly injured. He swallowed the Corpse Core and used a complete primordial-calculation incantation to kill Dai Tong, then began swelling as the Core repaired his body, while Fourth Master Gray warned that he would explode.

• Luo Bin used Yin Hexagram Strangulation against Dai Tong, but Dai Tong resisted the attack and Luo Bin suffered severe backlash.
• Dai Tong recognized Luo Bin as a Cabinet Mountain disciple and demanded the Corpse Core and Fourth Master Gray.
• Luo Bin rang the Calling Bell to stop Dai Tong briefly and swallowed the Corpse Core raw.
• Dai Tong tried to flee, but Luo Bin spoke a complete primordial-calculation incantation that caused Dai Tong's organs to fail and his head to be severed on a sharp stone.
• The Corpse Core healed Luo Bin even as his body swelled, and Fourth Master Gray warned that Luo Bin was going to explode.

Luo Bin survived the corpse core’s overwhelming power, while its effects also awakened his original body and stirred strange changes in others. After recovering at Gravemound Ridge, he collected Dai Tong’s belongings and fled the mountain, fearing Dai Zhixiong’s response.

• Luo Bin’s body was overwhelmed by the corpse core, while Fourth Master Gray drank his blood.
• Luo Bin’s original body awakened in the cave, and the female corpse beneath him began breathing steadily.
• Yuan Yinxin regained strength, moved despite Ba Xiao’s suppression, and stared at Qin Que, who had taken Ba Xiao’s appearance.
• Shangguan Xingyue felt a powerful connection surge through the Underground Palace and wondered what her Junior Brother had done.
• Luo Bin woke after the corpse core fell from his mouth, found the core depleted, and gathered the Jade Turtle Talismans.
• Luo Bin searched Dai Tong’s body, then hurried down the mountain to avoid facing Dai Zhixiong.

Luo Bin escaped Gravemound Ridge with Hu Xing, Miao Miao, Hu Jin, and Huang Ying, while Dai Zhixiong realized the Underground Palace had been exposed and vowed to recover the Corpse Core. Back at their lodgings, they discovered Bai Wei had disappeared after succumbing to qi deviation, and Luo Bin offered Hu Xing the depleted Corpse Core as she set out to find him.

• Luo Bin escaped the Mountain Pass and joined Hu Xing, Miao Miao, Huang Ying, and Hu Jin at their getaway car.
• Dai Zhixiong found Dai Tong's remains, realized Luo Bin had used the Corpse Core, and concluded that the Underground Palace's location was exposed.
• Luo Bin returned to the rented courtyard with his companions and found Zhang Xiyun waiting, while Bai Wei was missing.
• Hu Xing and the House Immortals discovered signs that Bai Wei had left after succumbing to qi deviation.
• Hu Xing said she would search for Bai Wei, and Luo Bin offered her the depleted Corpse Core.

Hu Xing left to find Bai Wei after the Corpse Core was found depleted, while Zhang Yunxi explained its nature and the danger of Bai Wei losing control. Luo Bin then suffered a sudden, severe pain in his head and collapsed forward.

• Hu Xing accepted that the Corpse Core had been depleted and went to find Grandpa Bai before his loss of control became dangerous.
• Zhang Yunxi examined the Corpse Core and concluded that Yuan Yinxin might have absorbed its excess life force through his connection with Luo Bin.
• Zhang Yunxi explained that the Corpse Core could recover in powerful Feng Shui and might help Bai Wei reach Five Immortals Spirit Medium, potentially rivaling a Real Person Level Taoist.
• Zhang Yunxi warned that Bai Wei might have an evil House Immortal and that a Spirit Medium who lost control could not be brought back.
• Luo Bin worried that Dai Xiong Zhi would find them, then felt intense pain in his head and pitched forward as Zhang Yunxi cried out.

After Kong An forced out Luo Bin’s essence-devouring gu, Miao Miao and Zhang Yunxi treated Luo Bin while he remained unconscious. At Southern Heaven Taoist Abbey, Lu Li confronted Chen Zu and accused the Nether Market and the abbey of colluding to harm her junior brother.

• Miao Miao, Zhang Yunxi, Hu Jin, and Huang Ying carried the collapsed Luo Bin into the courtyard and realized his essence-devouring gu had been forced out but not killed.
• Zhang Yunxi fed Luo Bin zhongshan baijiao and hui river jade essence, and Luo Bin’s tense expression began to ease.
• At Southern Heaven Taoist Abbey, Chen Zu gave Little Celestial Master Zhang Xuanyi two rare medicinal ingredients in exchange for the abbey’s support of the Nether Market.
• A Taoist reported that Lu Li of Six Yin Mountain had arrived to question Elder Yin, and Chen Zu tried to leave the hall.
• Lu Li entered and accused Chen Zu and Southern Heaven Taoist Abbey of colluding to harm her junior brother.

Lu Li confronted Zhang Xuanyi at the Southern Heaven Taoist Abbey, believing he had killed Lu You and Xiao Ke and taken the thunderstruck wood. After she overwhelmed the Taoists with her Calling Bell, Zhang Xuanyi counterattacked and prepared a lightning technique as the abbey’s Taoists and Chen Zu watched.

• Lu Li concluded that a Taoist had destroyed Xiao Ke’s Taoist Grounds and identified Zhang Xuanyi as the likely culprit, while suspecting Chen Zu had betrayed her and exposed Lu You.
• Chen Zu told Zhang Xuanyi and Yin Qingquan that Lu Li was connected to Xiao Ke and the destruction of the Jade Hall Taoist Grounds, prompting them to attack her.
• Lu Li rang her Calling Bell, incapacitating Zhang Xuanyi and the Taoists in the Main Hall, then advanced on Zhang Xuanyi with Bronze Clubs.
• Zhang Xuanyi recovered, struck Lu Li twice in the chest, and sent her crashing into a bronze cauldron.
• Zhang Xuanyi formed seals to summon heavenly lightning as Yin Qingquan, the other Taoists, and Chen Zu left the Main Hall.

After recovering from the destruction of the essence-devouring gu, Luo Bin arranged for his companions to seek refuge in Thousand Miao Village and left Jishui City with Zhang Yunxi and the others. On the road, Luo Bin realized Hu Xing had lied about giving up on Bai Wei, while Zhang Yunxi had stopped the group outside the city to wait for something.

• Luo Bin woke unharmed, learned Zhang Yunxi had used the Zhongshan baijiao and Hui River jade essence to help restore him, and agreed to leave Jishui City by noon.
• Luo Bin persuaded Miao Miao to shelter Zhang Yunxi, Hu Jin, and Huang Ying in Thousand Miao Village, despite her concerns about bringing outsiders there.
• Hu Xing returned after finding Bai Wei devoted to a Willow Immortal, and Zhang Yunxi gave her the gray corpse core after she agreed to return to Sawu Mountain.
• The group left Jishui City, but Zhang Yunxi ordered the driver to stop outside town and said they would wait another day.
• Luo Bin used Rewind to review Hu Xing's earlier conversation and realized she had lied about abandoning Bai Wei; Zhang Yunxi revealed that he was waiting for “it.”

Luo Bin and the others waited on the road as signs of imminent disaster appeared, but Zhang Yunxi trusted three signs of gain and told them to keep waiting. Fourth Master Gray arrived with the corpse pill, and Zhang Yunxi offered to share Feng Shui and fortune-telling knowledge with Hu Jin before Fourth Master Gray eagerly took Luo Bin’s pills.

• Luo Bin saw signs of death on his own palms, Zhang Yunxi’s face, and the foreheads of Hu Jin, Miao Miao, and Huang Ying.
• Hu Jin urged Zhang Yunxi to leave, but Zhang Yunxi cited three signs of gain and decided they should wait longer.
• A strange sound came from the car, and Zhang Yunxi ordered the disciple to drive because Fourth Master Gray had arrived.
• Fourth Master Gray gave Luo Bin the corpse pill, leading Luo Bin to suspect Hu Xing was doomed and that Dai Zhixiong was pursuing the creature.
• Zhang Yunxi explained Fourth Master Gray’s choice and offered to exchange Feng Shui insights with Hu Jin, who reacted with excitement.
• Fourth Master Gray tried to get Miao Miao’s gu worms, then snatched the dark gold pills Luo Bin offered and vanished.

Luo Bin and his companions traveled to the deserted outer stockade near Thousand Miao Village, where Miao Miao prepared a safe place for them to stay. After Dai Zhixiong threatened them over the Corpse Core, Luo Bin ended the call and the group arrived at the stockade, where Miao Miao planned to lead them into Thousand Miao Village the next day.

• Dai Zhixiong called Luo Bin through Hu Jin's phone and demanded the Corpse Core, but Luo Bin challenged him and hung up after hearing Hu Xing scream.
• Luo Bin and his companions traveled for three days through mountain roads before reaching a trail leading to Thousand Miao Village.
• Miao Miao guided the group into the empty outer stockade and warned them not to touch anything because Gu were everywhere.
• Miao Miao hung wind chimes outside a stilt house, causing the Gu insects to leave it.
• Miao Miao told the group to sleep there and warned Fourth Master Gray not to eat the Gu insects before she went upstairs.

Luo Bin and his companions reached Thousand Miao Village after crossing its dangerous outer defenses. Miao Miao tried to bring them before Granny Li, but Eighth Granduncle insisted that the outsiders be restrained or implanted with Gu, leaving their admission uncertain.

• Luo Bin chose to keep a low profile in the outer village, where Miao Miao explained that Gu-Bound People had gathered beneath their stilt house overnight.
• Miao Miao led Luo Bin, Zhang Yunxi, Hu Jin, and Huang Ying across the Black Snake River and through a mountain tunnel into Thousand Miao Village.
• Eighth Granduncle questioned Miao Miao about bringing outsiders and learned that her grandfather and grandmother had been killed.
• Miao Miao introduced Luo Bin as her grandfather's intended disciple, and Eighth Granduncle recognized that Luo Bin had raised a Life Gu.
• Eighth Granduncle said the other outsiders would need Granny Li's permission and Gu implantation to enter the village, prompting Hu Jin and Zhang Yunxi to object.
• Eighth Granduncle moved to bind Luo Bin, while Miao Miao urged him to cooperate and promised the others would be safe if they followed the rules.