Chapter Summaries

Luo Bin learned that Kong An had taken Kong Chen’s corpse and warned Golden Peace Temple not to interfere. At the Old Temple, Kong An tortured Lu Li into becoming Black City Monastery’s Corpse-Stripping Relic, while the temple transformed into a living purgatory.

• Zhang Yunxi told Luo Bin that Kong Chen’s family had left Nanping City, and Luo Bin showed him the inkstone and brush he had received from the Nether Market.
• A monk from Golden Peace Temple reported that Kong An had come asking for Abbot Kong Chen and then taken his remains; Luo Bin told the monk to reveal the truth if Kong An returned and to keep their meeting secret.
• Luo Bin, Zhang Yunxi, and Hu Jin left after Hu Jin persuaded the monk not to pursue Kong Chen’s body or seek further help.
• At the Old Temple, Kong An confronted Lu Li over killing his master and stopped her from taking her own life by striking the bell.
• Kong An chained Lu Li to the bell and tortured her into becoming a Corpse-Stripping Relic, leaving her alive and conscious.
• Kong An dragged Kong Chen’s corpse through the Old Temple, which had become a horrifying place filled with ritual artifacts and tormented figures.

Zhang Yunxi, Luo Bin, and Hu Jin entered a village in search of Lu Li, where they encountered a Fierce Prison and the ghostly creature called the Ogress. A girl with scissors attacked their Red Cord as the Ogress charged, leaving the three in immediate danger.

• After reaching the village, Zhang Yunxi warned Luo Bin that Six Yin Mountain targeted souls and tied the three of them together with a Red Cord.
• Luo Bin led Zhang Yunxi and Hu Jin into the village, where the Paper Crane’s direction looped them back toward the entrance.
• Hu Jin identified the place as a Fierce Prison, and Zhang Yunxi explained that the piglike creature approaching them was an Ogress.
• A black-faced girl crawled between Hu Jin’s legs and cut at the Red Cord while the Ogress charged at all three.

Luo Bin, Zhang Yunxi, and Hu Jin fought off a relentless Ogress in the village, using the Five Thunder Pestle and help from Fourth Master Gray. When their attacks failed to stop her, Luo Bin released the black golden toad, which brought her down just outside the residence.

• A girl appeared and vanished after Luo Bin struck her with the Five Thunder Pestle, while Zhang Yunxi and Hu Jin's copper coins and talismans failed to stop the charging Ogress.
• Luo Bin struck the Ogress with the Five Thunder Pestle, and Zhang Yunxi led the group away, but the Ogress recovered and chased them again.
• Hu Jin explained that Ogresses could only be killed with cypress wood, while Zhang Yunxi suspected Lu Li had altered their behavior or that their deathly aura made them seem like corpses.
• Zhang Yunxi led the group toward a large residence as Fourth Master Gray gouged out the Ogress's eyes, but she still tracked them by scent.
• Luo Bin released the black golden toad, which leaped onto the Ogress's head and bit into her skull, bringing her down in front of the group.

Luo Bin and his companions found Chen Zu in Youyang Residence and learned that a Green Wraith’s opera trapped everyone who heard it. As the singer performed, Chen Zu’s dead wife and children appeared as ghosts and urged him to join them.

• Luo Bin saw a little girl reappear behind the Ogress’s corpse as Zhang Yunxi led the group through the residence.
• Zhang Yunxi and Luo Bin found Chen Zu bound in a room after discovering three mutilated corpses nearby.
• Hu Jin freed Chen Zu, who revealed that a Green Wraith’s opera singer had frightened his family and could prevent them from leaving.
• The four men entered the main hall and listened to the ghostly singer perform without interrupting her.
• Chen Zu’s ghostly wife and children appeared at the threshold, called to him, and told him he could not leave before hearing the whole opera.

Luo Bin and Zhang Yunxi tried to escape the Main Hall while a paper-thin opera performer trapped them and attacked. As Zhang Yunxi searched for the object sustaining her, a figure began emerging from a mirror behind him.

• The paper performer attacked Luo Bin while Chen Zu’s wife and children became ghosts, and Zhang Yunxi used Jade Coins and Paper Cranes to make them vanish.
• Zhang Yunxi explained that ghosts could reform unless the objects they inhabited were suppressed, and the group found the front gate replaced by an opera stage.
• Zhang Yunxi went to search the Main Hall for the performer’s object while Luo Bin stayed to hold her off.
• Luo Bin suspected the performer was stalling because another danger threatened Zhang Yunxi, so he sent Hu Jin and Chen Zu to find him.
• Zhang Yunxi searched a red trunk of opera equipment as a figure silently emerged from the dressing-table mirror behind him.

Zhang Yunxi was captured by a hidden Six Yin Mountain practitioner, while Luo Bin fought the Opera Singer ghost and discovered the others were trapped inside a mirror. The young practitioner incapacitated Luo Bin and Fourth Master Gray and reached for the Black-Gold Toad, despite Hu Jin warning him not to touch it.

• Zhang Yunxi struck a ghost in the dressing mirror with a Jade Coin, but a hidden attacker paralyzed him with a Bronze Club and dragged him into a concealed chamber.
• Luo Bin used the Black-Gold Toad and Fourfold Compass to pin down the Opera Singer ghost, then went looking for Zhang Yunxi and the others.
• Luo Bin found Hu Jin convulsing and was attacked by a ghost emerging from the mirror, but the Black-Gold Toad forced it back inside.
• Hu Jin warned Luo Bin to cover his ears, but a hidden practitioner rang a Calling Bell and incapacitated him and Fourth Master Gray.
• The young man from Six Yin Mountain accused Luo Bin of killing his Senior Brother and harming his Senior Sister, then reached for the Black-Gold Toad despite Hu Jin's warning.

Luo Bin and Hu Jin survived the young man's attack after the black-gold toad poisoned him, then found Zhang Yunxi and Chen Zu alive. As Luo Bin recognized a clue in the skeleton, Zero Hall learned that Zhou Yi had died and the old man hurried to report it.

• The black-gold toad poisoned the young man, whose body rotted away until only a skeleton remained.
• An old man at Zero Hall saw Zhou Yi's wooden plaque fall and realized Zhou Yi had died while Lu Li was still alive.
• Hu Jin recovered with a dark-gold pill, and Luo Bin noted that the Calling Bell was destroyed while An Kong had taken the Bronze Club.
• Luo Bin found Zhang Yunxi and Chen Zu unconscious in a bedchamber, removed a nail from Zhang Yunxi's forehead, and helped both men recover.
• Zhang Yunxi prompted Luo Bin to reconsider the skeleton, and Luo Bin recalled a saying about a corpse buried upside down in a golden well.

Luo Bin and his companions escaped the village after uncovering Lu Li’s hidden residence and recovering ritual artifacts, then returned to South Flat. On the third night, Luo Bin saw a young practitioner’s ghost draining his yang energy, but the Fourfold Compass failed to hold it and the ghost vanished.

• Zhang Yunxi and Luo Bin sealed the mirror and removed the bone and artifacts associated with the Opera Ghost, while Chen Zu recovered the Hairpin and his family’s bodies.
• Chen Zu used the Hairpin to make the Opera Ghost vanish, and the group left the village without being attacked as the Fierce Prison dispersed.
• During the journey back, Luo Bin told Chen Zu that Kong An held Lu Li and might be able to withstand Six Yin Mountain.
• After two days of rest in South Flat, Luo Bin continued to feel watched despite Fourth Master Gray and the Black-Gold Toad detecting nothing.
• On the third night, Luo Bin saw a young practitioner’s ghost sucking white vapor from him and struck its head with the Fourfold Compass, but it vanished after he briefly lost his vision.

Luo Bin became trapped in a repeated courtyard illusion that Rewind exposed, then discovered the Fourfold Compass reacted to a mysterious inkstone. After Luo Bin unexpectedly attacked Zhang Yunxi while trying to examine it, Zhang Yunxi found a face bulging from Luo Bin’s chest.

• Luo Bin repeatedly opened and closed the courtyard gate, believing he was trying to leave, until Rewind revealed he had never moved from the spot.
• Zhang Yunxi arrived with Wenya, and Luo Bin described the strange experiences and the ghostly interference.
• Luo Bin realized the Nether Workshop inkstone might be involved and tested it with the Fourfold Compass, which showed a projecting needle before shifting to a sinking needle.
• Luo Bin tried to touch the inkstone with the Five Thunder Pestle, but his body suddenly struck at Zhang Yunxi instead.
• Zhang Yunxi told Luo Bin to hold his breath and focus, then examined the inkstone and saw a face faintly bulging from Luo Bin’s chest.

Luo Bin learned that the face on his chest belonged to a living person whose soul had bonded with him through the Talisman Inkstone. He and Zhang Yunxi sought Xie Qing’s help, and Xie Qing asked whether the soul was driving Luo Bin to kill him.

• Zhang Yunxi used blood and the Talisman Inkstone to reveal a talisman that had bound a living person’s soul to Luo Bin.
• Luo Bin called Chen Zu and learned that the young practitioner who left the inkstone had gone to the Thousand Buddha Grottoes decades earlier.
• Zhang Yunxi kept watch while Luo Bin rested, and Fourth Master Gray guarded the face on his chest through the night.
• At daybreak, Zhang Yunxi took Luo Bin to meet Xie Qing, who agreed to help in exchange for Luo Bin solving another problem.
• Xie Qing examined the face, inkstone, and talisman, confirmed the symbiotic bond, and asked Luo Bin if he wanted to kill him.

Xie Qing explained that the Talisman Inkstone’s lingering soul was influencing Luo Bin and could eventually take control of him, so they decided to locate the person connected to it. Xie Qing sent Luo Bin’s awareness into that person’s body, where Luo Bin discovered a prisoner in an underground cell and heard a woman behind a nearby door before someone emerged.

• Xie Qing explained that the soul in the Talisman Inkstone might guide Luo Bin to its owner or eventually possess him, and Zhang Yunxi agreed they had to resolve the connection.
• Xie Qing used blood from his eye socket to send Luo Bin’s awareness into another person, warning him to remain calm and remember what he saw.
• Luo Bin found himself inside the body of a prisoner in a dim underground cell and examined the barred door and surrounding corridor.
• Luo Bin heard a woman moaning behind the opposite iron door, and after her cries stopped, the door opened and someone came out.

Luo Bin saw Kong An speaking with a prisoner and was forcibly expelled from the vision, then returned to his own body. After Xie Qing pulled him back, Luo Bin reported what he had seen but remained troubled by the strange encounter with his reflection.

• Luo Bin recognized Kong An as the man who had left the iron door and heard him offer a prisoner a chance to become the Black Rakshasa in exchange for enhancing the temple's feng shui.
• Kong An sensed someone watching and cast a spell that knocked Luo Bin out of the vision.
• Luo Bin awoke trapped in a jade coffin, where his apparent other self attacked him and shouted for him to get out.
• Xie Qing pulled Luo Bin back into his body, spat blood, and was steadied by Zhang Xiyun.
• Luo Bin told Zhang Xiyun and Xie Qing that Kong An had imprisoned a man and wanted him to enhance the temple's feng shui.
• Luo Bin studied his reflection and sensed that something about it was not right.

Xie Qing explained how Luo Bin’s separated soul had gone astray and returned to his original body, revealing that Luo Bin had mistaken Luo Shan’s appearance for his own. Luo Bin concluded that his original body was alive inside a jade coffin, and he and Zhang Yunxi left to find a way to reunite him with it while avoiding the man pursuing them.

• Xie Qing explained that his perception technique had sent Luo Bin’s separated soul astray before they managed to summon it back.
• Luo Bin used Rewind to realize he had seen Luo Shan rather than himself and that his original body was alive in a jade coffin.
• Xie Qing warned that Luo Bin’s soul and original body would grow more attuned over time and said he could only try to suppress the soul.
• Luo Bin and Zhang Yunxi thanked Xie Qing and left, agreeing to find a way to resolve Luo Bin’s condition.
• Luo Bin wondered whether Mr. Mao had summoned his soul before and why his original body was being sustained in a coffin.

Luo Bin had the mark on his chest suppressed with Six Yin Mountain ritual artifacts, then asked Chen Zu to investigate a mysterious Mr. Mao connected to two missing people named Luo Bin and Luo Yong. When Chen Zu tried to sense the soul hidden in a bone, Six Yin Mountain noticed him, and he rushed to warn the Southern Heaven Taoist Abbey.

• Zhang Yunxi heated a bronze club and branded Luo Bin’s chest, making the face-shaped mark disappear for the time being.
• Luo Bin rested, then went to the funerary workshop and asked Chen Zu to investigate the missing Luo Bin and Luo Yong and find the man called Mr. Mao.
• Chen Zu described his grief over his family’s deaths and urged Luo Bin to grow strong enough to oppose Six Yin Mountain.
• Luo Bin discovered that the talisman on the young man’s bone had developed tiny holes and handed it to Chen Zu.
• Chen Zu sensed a black-clad man in a hall surrounded by kneeling followers, realized Six Yin Mountain had noticed him, and set off to warn Mr. Xiyun at the Southern Heaven Taoist Abbey.

Luo Bin refused to sacrifice Chen Zu and went to the Old Temple to confront Kong An, hoping to turn Six Yin Mountain against a stronger opponent. Inside the temple, he found Lu Li being made to strike a bell and encountered the deranged Bai Guanli.

• Luo Bin stopped Chen Zu from going to the Southern Heaven Taoist Abbey and told him to move Mr. Yunxi somewhere safe while Luo Bin tried to deal with the crisis.
• Luo Bin traveled to Lake Island and found the Golden Peace Temple shut and the Old Temple's newly painted gates unattended.
• Luo Bin entered the Old Temple with Fourth Master Gray possessing him, then followed the sound of a bell and screams to a side hall.
• Luo Bin saw Lu Li, naked and covered in bloody patterns, swinging into a bronze bell as a human Bell-Striking Pestle.
• Bai Guanli appeared, calmly eating a roasted rat and staring hungrily at Fourth Master Gray.

Luo Bin found Bai Xian and Xu Lu imprisoned beneath the Old Temple while Kong An was away, but he refused to free them without first drawing out the wisp of soul Xu Lu claimed was inside him. Xu Lu insisted their karmic bond required Luo Bin to save him, and Luo Bin prepared to act as Xu Lu watched anxiously.

• Bai Guanli ignored Luo Bin and Fourth Master Gray, caught a rat, and left the hall.
• Luo Bin followed Fourth Master Gray to a side hall and found Bai Xian chained inside an underground cell.
• Bai Xian begged Luo Bin to save her, while a prisoner in the opposite cell watched him.
• Luo Bin recognized the prisoner as Xu Lu, who asked to be freed and said Kong An was building a terrifying place with sacrificial victims.
• Xu Lu told Luo Bin that a wisp of his soul was inside him and demanded rescue because the Talisman Inkstone had formed a karmic bond between them.
• Luo Bin rejected Xu Lu's claim that he was obligated to save him and took out his brocade pouch as Xu Lu reacted with alarm.

Luo Bin refused Xu Lu’s offer and returned the Talisman Inkstone, then entered Mahavira Hall to wait for Kong An. Kong An arrived and greeted Luo Bin with unexpected reverence and gratitude, leaving Luo Bin wary and unsure how to respond.

• Luo Bin rejected Xu Lu’s demand to be released before extracting the symbiotic soul, returned the Talisman Inkstone, and left him imprisoned.
• Xu Lu realized Luo Bin had been his last chance to escape and despaired over being trapped for more than a decade.
• Luo Bin surveyed Mahavira Hall, saw Kong Chen’s corpse hanging beneath the statue, and considered the danger posed by Kong An and the Deity.
• Fourth Master Gray alerted Luo Bin when Kong An appeared in the training courtyard and entered Mahavira Hall.
• Kong An thanked Luo Bin for bringing him a consort, a guardian Taoist, and his Master’s killer, then respectfully asked why Luo Bin had returned.

Luo Bin warned Kong An that people from Six Yin Mountain might come after him, but Kong An welcomed the prospect and spoke of his plans for the Old Temple. After following the Black-Gold Toad to recover his essence-devouring gu, Luo Bin discovered the Old Temple’s horrific prisoners and questioned whether he could continue working with Kong An.

• Luo Bin warned Kong An that Six Yin Mountain might send someone to kill him, but Kong An said he wanted to use the visitors as Bell-Strikers.
• Kong An asked why Luo Bin had left Thousand Miao Village, and Luo Bin explained that his fight with the Old Miao King had been a misunderstanding.
• Kong An said the Old Miao King might transform into a being like Sinpo or something resembling a deity, then left to perform lotus tempering.
• Luo Bin realized that Kong An’s Bright Consorts were subjected to cruel treatment, while a captive boy in a sack cried for help nearby.
• The Black-Gold Toad led Luo Bin to a storeroom, where he found and reclaimed the essence-devouring gu before it could be eaten.
• Luo Bin discovered more than ten chained, emaciated people hanging in a room and began doubting whether he could work with Kong An.

Luo Bin questioned whether his growing ruthlessness was leading him away from the righteous path, then used Primordial Calculation to set a trap in the old temple. As Bai Guanli entered the talisman array, Luo Bin invoked a powerful technique and felt his strength drain away.

• Luo Bin reflected on how his actions and temperament had changed, comparing himself with practitioners such as Zhang Yunxi, Xu Lu, and Bai Guanli.
• Luo Bin used the Fourfold Compass and his knowledge of Primordial Calculation to locate a vegetable garden south of the Mahavira Hall.
• Luo Bin arranged Jade Turtle Talismans into the Sixteen Hexagrams of the Li Palace and ordered Fourth Master Gray to lure rats with their scent.
• Fourth Master Gray urinated to draw rats, and Luo Bin killed several and placed his knife behind a Jade Turtle Talisman.
• Bai Guanli appeared, entered the talisman layout, and pulled out Luo Bin's knife.
• Luo Bin shouted, "Upper Brightness, lower Fire Hexagram, sunfire true!" and felt his strength drain from his body.

Luo Bin used Emotion Flower Fruit to sustain the Sunfire Truth that helped Bai Guanli regain his senses, then discovered that strange gu worms were controlling him. After the Golden Silkworm Gu removed them, Bai Guanli began meditating, possibly on the verge of becoming a Perfected Being.

• Luo Bin consumed two portions of Emotion Flower Fruit to keep Sunfire Truth active while Bai Guanli struggled against the worms and regained some lucidity.
• Bai Guanli recalled how Kong An and Bai Su had manipulated events, then vomited and clawed at himself as worms moved beneath his skin.
• Luo Bin suspected Kong An had controlled Bai Guanli with gu worms and placed the Golden Silkworm Gu on his forehead to draw them out.
• The Golden Silkworm Gu emerged weakened after eating the worms, while Bai Guanli sat down and began chanting Taoist purification verses.
• Luo Bin kept quiet as Bai Guanli's breathing steadied and wondered whether he was about to advance from the half-step Perfected Being realm.