Chapter Summaries

Luo Bin returned to the Mahavira Hall and heard Kong An explain his plan to build a Black City Monastery on Lake Island. Kong An offered him the role of chief Black Rakshasa and drew him into the monastery’s rites, leaving Luo Bin facing a forced initiation.

• Luo Bin returned to the Mahavira Hall, where he found Kong An back and the trapped boy at the threshold.
• Kong An told Luo Bin that he planned to establish a new Black City Monastery on Lake Island and needed more flesh lotuses to build a Lotus Tower.
• Kong An offered Luo Bin the position of chief Black Rakshasa, describing the role as a vessel for Deity and promising him protection and guidance.
• Kong An said Luo Bin would perform the final day of rites to turn a Bright Consort into a Rakshasa, then make a flayed corpse vessel from a man he had kept for more than ten years.

Luo Bin learned that Kong An’s monastery used human corpses as Corpse-Stripping Relics and resolved to stop him, but Kong An led him toward Lu Li after sensing that strangers had entered. The chapter ended with Kong An and Luo Bin facing the old man and eight others from Six Yin Mountain.

• Kong An showed Luo Bin the Lotus Tower, and Luo Bin saw visions of the Bright Consorts, Kong Chen, and other people turned into Corpse-Stripping Relics.
• Luo Bin decided Kong An had to die and that he had to save people, but he continued pretending to accept the role of chief Black Rakshasa.
• Kong An praised Luo Bin’s resolve and led him toward the Side Hall, where he stopped after detecting unwelcome visitors.
• Kong An called Luo Bin the prospective chief and went to retrieve a bone-fitted monk’s staff before heading toward the bronze bell with Luo Bin following.
• An old man in a black Tang suit and eight companions stood beside the bell after setting down Lu Li, and An Kong greeted the old man as the master of an old woman.

Kong An fought Zhou Ling and the Six Yin Mountain disciples, resisting their Yin-Yang Formation while Luo Bin helped disrupt their attack. As Zhou Ling launched a deadly counterattack, Kong An invoked the power of his bone prayer wheel and surged forward with overwhelming strength.

• Zhou Ling explained that he had come to retrieve Lu Li's remains and ritual artifacts because Zhou Yi, his young grandson, had been killed.
• Kong An used the Calling Bell and Bronze Club to injure the eight Six Yin Mountain disciples, but Zhou Ling protected himself with a talisman and ordered the formation to attack Kong An's soul and vital breath.
• Kong An reversed the stolen vital breath, then refused to accept Zhou Ling's claim that Six Yin Mountain wanted no conflict with him.
• Zhou Ling changed the formation into a killing assault, and Luo Bin used the Yin hexagram to halt one disciple as another attacked Kong An.
• Kong An spun his bone prayer wheel, struck down the disciple attacking him, and charged forward with an aura that made Luo Bin suspect a god had taken possession of him.

Luo Bin helped Kong An survive Six Yin Mountain’s soul attack, then escaped the temple to free a captive boy. When Kong Chen’s ghost pursued him, Luo Bin struck Kong Chen’s remains with the Five Thunder Pestle, breaking the illusion and seemingly granting him release.

• Luo Bin immobilized one of Zhou Ling’s men, but Kong An killed him while Zhou Ling’s Copper Beads struck Kong An and appeared to destroy his soul.
• Zhou Ling ordered his men to capture Luo Bin for his knowledge of primordial calculation, and Luo Bin summoned Fourth Master Gray and fled behind Kong An.
• Kong An revived and used the Lotus Tower to ensnare the Six Yin Mountain men, giving Luo Bin time to escape and free the boy from a sack.
• Luo Bin told the boy to reach the dock and row away, then headed toward the side hall where Xu Lu and Bai Su were imprisoned.
• Kong Chen’s ghost lunged at Luo Bin, but Luo Bin struck the apparition’s crown with the Five Thunder Pestle and shattered the illusion, splitting Kong Chen’s remains beneath the Golden Buddha.

Luo Bin returned to the Old Temple and freed Xu Lu and Bai Xian, then sent them toward the pier while he went to find Bai Guanli. In the Side Hall, Kong An defeated Zhou Ling and revealed that the Revered Master’s soul had been destroyed.

• Luo Bin entered the Side Hall, saw the bodies crushed beneath its walls, and continued toward the Underground Room with Fourth Master Gray.
• Xu Lu tried to kill himself when footsteps approached, but Luo Bin stopped him and explained that the people he had drawn there had trapped Kong An.
• Luo Bin broke into Bai Xian’s chamber, cut her chains, and helped her escape with Xu Lu.
• Luo Bin told Bai Xian that Bai Guanli was close to breaking through, then sent her with Xu Lu toward the pier while he headed to the Fire Hexagram direction.
• Kong An defeated Zhou Ling and his fellow disciples, drained their vital essence, and said that the Revered Master’s soul had been scattered because Zhou Ling came.

Bai Guanli broke through the Old Temple’s darkness and used Divine Firmament Mountain Taoist arts to prepare for a fight with Kong An. Luo Bin realized Kong An had become part of the chain of cause and effect, and Bai Guanli activated a talisman against him as Kong An took on the pose of a sacred statue.

• Luo Bin reached Bai Guanli while Fourth Master Gray urged him to flee, and Bai Guanli emerged from his incantation with a renewed, imposing presence.
• Bai Guanli broke open a small area of the Old Temple with the Prison-Breaking Incantation and asked Luo Bin for the corpse core, but the golden gu silkworm had cocooned it.
• Bai Guanli used Divine Firmament Mountain incantations and the Gray Immortal Spirit-Inviting Talisman to augment his strength without the corpse core.
• Kong An arrived with the possessed survivors of Six Yin Mountain, who dragged Kong Chen’s soulless corpse, and asked Luo Bin whether he would be a sacrifice or a servant to the Deity.
• Luo Bin explained that Kong An’s theft of the Rainbow Pill had made him part of the cause-and-effect chain, and Bai Guanli touched the talisman with blood to set it against Kong An.
• Kong An twisted into the same strange pose he had used against the old Miao King and appeared like a sacred statue.

Bai Guanli summoned heavenly thunder that devastated Kong An and the ghosts possessing him, but Kong An remained dangerous, and the people from Six Yin Mountain escaped during the attack. Luo Bin and Bai Guanli fled, leaving Kong An motionless as worms began crawling from his wounds.

• Kong An gathered the Old Temple’s ghosts and deities around himself as Bai Guanli invoked a thunder talisman and struck him with heavenly lightning.
• Kong An’s Lotus Tower and most of the ghosts around him were destroyed, while the hurled Buddhist Staff crushed Bai Guanli’s chest.
• Bai Guanli explained that a deity still possessed Kong An and that neither of them could safely approach him to finish the fight.
• Luo Bin realized the people from Six Yin Mountain had escaped when the ghosts left Kong An to bear the thunder, and Fourth Master Gray warned that they might encounter the others near the dock.
• Kong An threw a charred rib at Luo Bin, but Bai Guanli knocked it aside, and they hurried away as worms crawled from Kong An’s wounds.

Luo Bin carried the gravely wounded Bai Guanli out of the Old Temple while Xu Lu and Bai Xian waited near the dock. Xu Lu used leaf talismans to trick the approaching Six Yin Mountain Practitioners into collapsing the dock, but they escaped the lake and staggered away.

• Luo Bin carried Bai Guanli toward the dock as the old Taoist’s breathing grew weaker.
• Bai Xian spotted a boat approaching, and Xu Lu recognized its injured passengers as Six Yin Mountain Practitioners pursuing Luo Bin.
• Zhou Ling ordered the group to capture Xu Lu and Bai Xian, but Xu Lu concealed them with leaf talismans.
• The Six Yin Mountain Practitioners followed the false talismans onto the dock, which collapsed and dumped all seven into the lake.
• Xu Lu explained that his talismans had caused the dock to collapse, but the soaked practitioners climbed ashore elsewhere and escaped.

Luo Bin reunited with Bai Xian and Xu Lu after escaping the underground chamber with the dying Bai Guanli, but the Corpse Core was already trapped inside his Golden Silkworm Gu Seed. As Xu Lu tried to stabilize Bai Guanli in a vehicle, Bai Guanli began Corpse Liberation, and Bai Xian could no longer reach him.

• Luo Bin brought Bai Guanli ashore, where he reunited with Bai Xian and Xu Lu, who had escaped the collapsed dock.
• Xu Lu tried to return to Kong An, but Luo Bin stopped him and explained that Kong An was gravely wounded and approaching him would be too dangerous.
• Bai Xian explained that Bai Guanli had exhausted his strength to activate the Divine Firmament Mandate Talisman, while Luo Bin revealed that he had already used the Corpse Core to save his Golden Silkworm Gu Seed.
• Shen Dong arrived in a vehicle and drove Luo Bin, Bai Xian, Xu Lu, and Bai Guanli away from the lakeside.
• Bai Guanli's vitality stabilized as he formed a hand seal, but Bai Xian froze before touching him and Xu Lu recognized that Bai Guanli had begun Corpse Liberation.

Luo Bin learned why Bai Guanli had used corpse liberation and shocked Xu Lu with his command of Golden Silkworm Gu and Fourth Master Gray. When Luo Bin suppressed a blood-red bone, Xu Lu realized it marked him as the killer of a powerful Six Yin Mountain figure.

• Xu Lu explained that corpse liberation let a perfected master temporarily die and awaken years later, while Bai Xian said Bai Guanli had used the method improperly and described its risks.
• Xu Lu revealed that Luo Bin’s corpse core had gone to the Golden Silkworm Gu after the Gu were damaged saving him, and Bai Xian reacted with distress.
• After learning that Luo Bin raised Golden Silkworm Gu and could channel Fourth Master Gray, Xu Lu questioned how Luo Bin had learned so many arts in only two years.
• As Shen Dong asked whether they should visit the Taoist temple or go outside the city, Luo Bin took out a blood-tinged white bone and pressed it with the Five Thunder Pestle.
• Xu Lu told Luo Bin that the bone could no longer be discarded because Luo Bin had killed someone from Six Yin Mountain, and he worried that Luo Bin had made them mortal enemies.

Luo Bin brought Bai Xian, Bai Guanli, and Xu Lu to his courtyard, where Xu Lu recovered his soul and taught Luo Bin the River Chief Corpse-Slaying Talisman. Xu Lu urged Luo Bin to reconcile with Six Yin Mountain, but Bai Xian revealed that Luo Bin's Primordial Calculation was Innate Divination, a supposedly extinct lineage, leaving Xu Lu shocked.

• Luo Bin took the group to his courtyard and arranged rooms for Bai Xian, Bai Guanli, and Shen Dong while insisting he would not involve Bai Xian or Xu Lu in his troubles.
• Xu Lu used the Talisman Inkstone to draw out and recover his soul, then carved loose strokes of the River Chief Corpse-Slaying Talisman for Luo Bin to study.
• Xu Lu urged Luo Bin to apologize to Six Yin Mountain and offer them the Yin-Yang Arts inheritance, but Luo Bin refused, citing their crimes and the deaths of Chen Zu's family.
• Xu Lu proposed that a Six Yin Mountain rebel might have caused the conflict and offered to mediate after learning Luo Bin's lineage was Mountain Cabinet.
• Bai Xian said Primordial Calculation was Innate Divination, a lineage believed to have disappeared, and Xu Lu stared at Luo Bin in disbelief.

Luo Bin learned that Six Yin Mountain’s pursuit was tied to his Primordial Calculation inheritance and agreed to accompany Bai Xian to expose Bai Su and protect the Three Miao. After resting at the Old Temple, he woke to find Bai Guanli recovering and Xu Lu asking for his help with something during the two days before they left.

• Luo Bin recounted how he had become entangled with Lu You, Lu Li, and Six Yin Mountain, while Xu Lu reasoned that a high-ranking man’s death had driven the conflict.
• Xu Lu proposed revealing that Cabinet Mountain preserved the Primordial Calculation Lineage, but Luo Bin explained that Cabinet Mountain and its lord were inaccessible.
• Bai Xian warned that Bai Su could slander the Three Miao, so Luo Bin agreed to accompany her to Divine Firmament Mountain and testify against him.
• Xu Lu arranged to stay at the Old Temple for three days, and Luo Bin drew three Gray Immortal Spirit-Inviting Talismans before falling into a long sleep.
• Luo Bin woke to see Bai Guanli healing in the sunlight and found Xu Lu cooking noodles; after they ate, Xu Lu asked him to help her try something during the remaining two days.

Luo Bin agreed to help Xu Lu use feng shui to contain Kong An at Jin'an Lake, while realizing he needed to apply Primordial Calculation beyond combat. As Luo Bin headed for White Buddha Temple, Dai Zhixiong pursued clues to find him, and Zhang Yunxi’s attempt to divine the danger brought on a sudden omen.

• Xu Lu explained how restoring Lake Island’s feng shui could create a Murderous Great Yellow Spring and draw Six Yin Mountain toward Kong An, and Luo Bin agreed to help evacuate the island through White Buddha Temple.
• Luo Bin thanked Xu Lu for helping him recognize the importance of using feng shui to resolve problems, and the two set out for White Buddha Temple.
• Dai Zhixiong learned that Zhang Yunxi had moved his Taoist Grounds to Nanping City and vowed to find Luo Bin and recover the Corpse Core.
• At the City God Temple, Zhang Yunxi decided to return to Luo Bin despite Hu Jin’s warning that Primordial Calculation could trigger a tribulation.
• Zhang Yunxi’s cloth pouch split and spilled its copper coins, and Hu Jin saw a crack appear between his eyebrows as Zhang Yunxi began forming a divination seal.

Zhang Yunxi sensed a deadly threat linked to Dai Zhixiong and was forced to seek shelter at the City God Temple, while Luo Bin and Xu Lu investigated the feng shui around Jin'an Lake. Xu Lu suspected the City God Temple had failed in its duties and warned that Six Yin Mountain’s people might still be pursuing them, as both Luo Bin’s and Xu Lu’s physiognomic patterns changed.

• Zhang Yunxi stopped calculating after sensing danger, and Hu Jin saw signs of death in a bronze mirror and tried to call Luo Bin.
• A Day Patrol appeared outside the City God Temple, and a pale man invited Zhang Yunxi, Hu Jin, and Chen Zu inside to avoid danger in South Flat.
• At Jin'an Lake, Xu Lu explained the embankment’s feng shui layout and said he intended to use it to take everyone away without killing anyone.
• Xu Lu told Luo Bin that Kong An should not have been able to evade the City God Temple’s Day Patrol and Night Watch, and he suspected the temple had neglected its duty.
• Xu Lu sensed that Six Yin Mountain’s people might still be near and claimed he and Luo Bin could handle them, while Luo Bin noticed signs of death in his own pattern and changes in Xu Lu’s.

Xu Lu used talismans and a dump truck’s load of construction debris to block Jin'an Lake’s outlet, causing the dam to break and restoring its Murderous Great Yellow Spring feng shui. As eerie light returned to the island and a yellow moon appeared in the water, Luo Bin and Xu Lu approached the lake, wary of what might emerge.

• Xu Lu borrowed Luo Bin’s Talisman Inkstone and drew talismans along the channels, then blinded the bronze qilins at the bridge.
• At seven o’clock, a dump truck crashed onto the bridge and poured construction debris into a channel, blocking the outflow and suppressing the raging water.
• Xu Lu returned the inkstone to Luo Bin as a loan, and they ran toward the embankment.
• The dam cracked and burst, sending water gushing out as the lake took on a murderous chill and its moonlit reflection turned yellow.
• Luo Bin gripped his Five Thunder Pestle and feared An Kong might appear, but Xu Lu said An Kong would not come down and joked that he could serve time as a ghost.

After Luo Bin and Xu Lu altered Golden Peace Temple’s feng shui, they left Jin'an Lake while Kong An struggled to survive and began making prayer beads from his own bones. Luo Bin’s unease persisted, and when he could not reach Zhang Xiyun, he suspected Six Yin Mountain might have targeted him instead.

• Bai Zhi told Luo Bin that the temple’s monks were safe, and Luo Bin explained that Jin'an Lake’s feng shui had been corrected and warned him not to return to Lake Island.
• Kong An resisted the ghostly mist and his failing body, crawled out of the Old Temple, and ground pieces of his brow and leg bones into prayer beads.
• Luo Bin and Xu Lu crossed the restored river and left Jin'an Lake, while Fourth Master Gray showed no signs of danger.
• Zhou Ling and his followers secretly tracked Luo Bin and Xu Lu, then collected soil from Luo Bin’s footprint in a Crystal Bottle as they planned an ambush.
• Luo Bin noticed that his sense of danger remained despite the signs of death disappearing, suspected Six Yin Mountain had gone after Zhang Xiyun, and failed to reach him by phone.

Zhang Yunxi, Hu Jin, and Chen Zu confronted Huang Zhili in the City God Temple, where the On-Duty City God tried to keep them from leaving. As Zhang Yunxi fought the Night Watch and Hu Jin called Luo Bin for help, Luo Bin and Xu Lu arrived at the Courtyard and discovered their shadows leaning forward.

• Huang Zhili revealed that he knew Kong An had preyed on people in South Flat and said Zhang Yunxi had to stay because his associates were changing Jin'an Lake’s feng shui.
• Zhang Yunxi attacked the Night Watch after Huang Zhili said Luo Bin deserved to die, and Hu Jin and Chen Zu joined the fight.
• Hu Jin called Luo Bin, warned him that Dai Zhixiong had arrived, and told him to come to the City God Temple because Huang Zhili would not let them leave.
• Luo Bin and Xu Lu reached the Courtyard and headed toward the City God Temple, intending to collect Shen Dong and avoid disturbing Taoist Bai Guanli’s body.
• Fourth Master Gray rushed to the courtyard gate, and Luo Bin noticed that both his and Xu Lu’s shadows leaned forward.

Luo Bin and Xu Lu discovered that Dai Zhixiong’s Six-Arts Fangshi had surrounded the courtyard, and they fought to escape before being captured. The Fangshi brought them inside, while newcomers arrived and warned that someone had beaten them to it.

• Fourth Master Gray sensed Hu Xing’s scent in the courtyard, but Luo Bin realized the person inside was not Hu Xing and warned Xu Lu that danger was waiting.
• Six Fangshi emerged from the shadows and blocked Luo Bin and Xu Lu’s retreat; Luo Bin and Xu Lu defeated two of them as they tried to break through.
• A faster Fangshi stabbed Luo Bin in the abdomen, but Luo Bin released the Black-Gold Toad and tried to counterattack.
• The Fangshi seized the Black-Gold Toad and held Luo Bin and Xu Lu at knifepoint, then ordered them taken into the courtyard.
• The Fangshi dragged in their fallen companion and the severed head, and a car arrived as several people hurried over, saying someone had beaten them to it.

Dai Zhixiong captured Luo Bin and Xu Lu and demanded the corpse core, while Luo Bin tried to protect his companions and the Golden Silkworm Gu. Dai Zhixiong broke open the Gu’s cocoon and discovered the corpse core was nearly depleted and cracked, leaving his next move uncertain.

• Zhou Ling led Six Yin Mountain disciples to encircle Dai Zhixiong’s courtyard after finding evidence of Luo Bin and Xu Lu’s fight.
• Dai Zhixiong rebuked Xu Lu, wounded his knees, and threatened to refine him after Xu Lu insulted him.
• Dai Zhixiong severed the Black-Gold Toad’s tongue, pinned it to the table, and showed that its poison could not harm him.
• Dai Yan searched Luo Bin for the corpse core and found it inside the Golden Silkworm Gu’s Insect Cocoon.
• Dai Zhixiong broke the cocoon despite Luo Bin’s warning, revealing a frail Golden Silkworm Gu and a corpse core with only a fraction of its vitality and a tiny crack.

Dai Zhixiong went berserk after Luo Bin broke Chen Lingling’s corpse core, but Xu Lu’s claim that the Talisman Arts lineage had cores made him consider trading Xu Lu for one. After Dai Zhixiong caught Six Yin Mountain’s men spying, Luo Bin fixed his gaze on Zhou Ling, leaving the danger unresolved.

• Dai Zhixiong smashed the corpse core and attacked Luo Bin and Fourth Master Gray in fury.
• Xu Lu taunted Dai Zhixiong and suggested that the Talisman Arts lineage could provide another corpse core, prompting Dai Zhixiong to question whether Xu Lu was worth one.
• Dai Zhixiong sensed someone spying and ordered the Six-Arts Fangshi to capture them.
• Dai Zhixiong’s men brought Zhou Ling and his injured Six Yin Mountain disciples into the courtyard, where Zhou Ling explained they had come to capture Luo Bin.
• Dai Zhixiong accused Luo Bin of causing trouble, and Luo Bin stared at Zhou Ling as Zhou Ling sensed danger.