Chapter Summaries

Luo Bin exposed Six Yin Mountain’s Life Cores and used the discovery to turn Dai Zhixiong’s attention toward the captives, buying time while he searched for a way out. As the night passed without reinforcements, someone finally knocked at the courtyard gate.

• Luo Bin warned Dai Zhixiong that Six Yin Mountain would seek revenge and suggested the captives carried corpse cores, prompting Dai Yan to search them.
• Dai Yan found a white Life Core on each of the seven Six Yin Mountain Practitioners, and Dai Zhixiong ordered the captives held while keeping them alive.
• Dai Yan stopped one practitioner from sending a message by severing his tongue, then revived him with golden pills.
• Luo Bin and Xu Lu were pinned with poisonous nails and locked in Bai Xian’s room with Bai Xian and Shen Dong, where Luo Bin watched the courtyard and hoped Zhang Yunxi might arrive.
• After the night passed without anyone from Six Yin Mountain appearing, three knocks sounded at the courtyard gate.

Kong An entered the courtyard to retrieve the Six Yin Mountain disciples, then revealed a deadly plan to confront Dai Zhixiong and break the Feng Shui Layout through his own death. As Kong An reached Luo Bin’s room, he called him “Chief.”

• Kong An arrived at Dai Zhixiong’s courtyard and asked him to release the Six Yin Mountain disciples, so Dai Zhixiong initially agreed.
• Kong An revealed that the temple-guarding Daoist, the Bright Consort, and the Black Rakshasa were safe, and Dai Zhixiong realized he had been deceived.
• Dai Yan attacked Kong An, who stunned him with the Three-Character Wisdom King Mantra and struck back as Dai Zhixiong rushed in.
• Kong An used his prayer beads and illusions to attack Dai Zhixiong, while Luo Bin watched and recognized that Kong An was trying to break the Feng Shui Layout.
• Kong An’s legs were severed, but he continued forward on his knees and reached Luo Bin’s room, where he called him “Luo Bin,” “Mr. Luo,” and “Chief.”

Luo Bin and the others escaped the courtyard while Kong An stayed behind and killed himself, leaving Luo Bin to wonder whether the monk had changed in a single moment. As they drove toward the City God Temple, Luo Bin’s rewind revealed clues about Dai Zhixiong’s dangerous strength and Kong An’s final choice.

• Kong An freed Luo Bin, Bai Xian, Xu Lu, and Shen Dong, and Luo Bin retrieved the Golden Silkworm Gu, the black-gold toad, and the wounded Fourth Master Gray.
• Luo Bin urged the others to flee instead of taking Dai Zhixiong’s corpse core, while Xu Lu and Bai Xian questioned his decision.
• Kong An threw his prayer beads, drove a white bone through his own head, and remained behind as the car escaped.
• Luo Bin told the others he had seen Dai Zhixiong’s soul leaving his body and the deity leaving Kong An, then reviewed the scene in his memory.
• Luo Bin concluded Dai Zhixiong might have been suppressing his transformation into an ascended malevolent corpse and wondered whether Kong An had laid down the blade and become a Buddha.

Xu Lu, Luo Bin, and Bai Xian assessed Kong An’s apparent suicide and Dai Zhixiong’s fate, while Fourth Master Gray clung to a stolen golden core. Luo Bin remained cursed by the white bone, and the group hurried toward the City God Temple after Xu Lu warned that the danger there was not over.

• Xu Lu freed Fourth Master Gray, who returned the stolen golden pill and hid it instead of eating it.
• Luo Bin used Rewind to conclude that Kong An had changed his heart, but Xu Lu doubted Kong An had ever believed himself guilty.
• Bai Xian confirmed Kong An was dead and reflected that he had saved them despite their history, then silenced Xu Lu when his explanation upset her.
• Luo Bin and Xu Lu reasoned that the deity had swallowed Dai Zhixiong’s projecting soul, though reinforcements from Six Yin Mountain could change the outcome.
• Luo Bin found the white bone back in his pocket, and Xu Lu warned that its curse had taken hold and that the danger remained.
• Luo Bin urged Shen Dong to drive faster because he feared Zhang Xiyun and the others might be in trouble at the City God Temple.

Luo Bin and his companions reached the City God Temple, where the On-Duty City God and the Night Watch were sheltering Zhang Xiyun, Hu Jin, and Chen Zu. The Night Watch consumed the cursed bone’s remnant soul to hide Luo Bin from Six Yin Mountain, but the On-Duty City God left him with an unsettling question about his health.

• Luo Bin tended to Fourth Master Gray, the black-gold toad, and the weakened Golden Silkworm Gu as Shen Dong drove them toward the temple.
• Luo Bin, Xu Lu, and Huang Zhili reached the City God Temple, where the On-Duty City God greeted them and said Zhang Xiyun and the others were safe inside.
• Luo Bin spotted the Night Watch in the temple rafters and gave it the cursed white bone at Xu Lu’s urging.
• The Night Watch consumed the bone’s remnant soul, and Xu Lu explained that this would prevent Six Yin Mountain from tracking them.
• The Night Watch leaned close to Luo Bin to inspect him, and Huang Zhili asked whether Luo Bin was feeling all right.

After escaping the City God Temple, Luo Bin and his companions learned that Huang Zhili might have used them to deal with Kong An and that he believed Luo Bin had caused someone’s death. At Chen Zu’s safe house, they planned their next moves as Fourth Master Gray and the Golden Silkworm Gu neared death, and Xu Lu offered to trade the Talisman Inkstone for help finding a tomb with an ascended benevolent corpse.

• Xu Lu deduced that Huang Zhili had known about Kong An and intended to use Luo Bin and his companions to eliminate him before claiming credit.
• Chen Zu sheltered the group at his villa, where Zhang Yunxi warned them not to contact Huang Zhili because he thought Luo Bin deserved to die and had caused someone’s death.
• Luo Bin told Zhang Yunxi about the fight with Kong An and Dai Zhixiong, and Zhang Yunxi concluded that Dai Zhixiong needed the Corpse Core to suppress Lingling’s transformation into an ascended malevolent corpse.
• Fourth Master Gray confirmed Zhang Yunxi’s theory but remained gravely injured, while Luo Bin revealed that Hu Xing had been refined into pills.
• Luo Bin proposed that he and Bai Xian travel to Divine Firmament Mountain while Zhang Yunxi and Hu Jin went to Jinyang, taking Fourth Master Gray to seek treatment at the Nether Market.
• Xu Lu offered to lead Luo Bin to a rumored tomb containing an ascended benevolent corpse in exchange for the Talisman Inkstone, pointing out that Fourth Master Gray and the Golden Silkworm Gu might otherwise die.

Luo Bin agreed to Xu Lu’s arrangement and rested at Chen Zu’s home, while worrying about the body-swapping mystery involving Luo Shan. A City God Temple attempt to draw out Luo Bin’s soul failed, and Huang Zhili learned only that Luo Bin’s mother thought her son was doing well.

• Luo Bin agreed to Xu Lu’s deal, and Xu Lu shared information about their plans and uncertainties.
• Chen Zu served everyone sweet fermented rice soup and arranged rooms so they could recover.
• Luo Bin wondered whether he occupied Luo Shan’s body while Luo Shan occupied his, then fell asleep with Fourth Master Gray on his chest.
• A gauze-hatted figure and Luo Bin’s dead mother appeared to call him, but Luo Bin’s body opened its eyes with a strange, cold gaze and both apparitions vanished.
• Huang Zhili discovered that the Day Patrol had been dispersed while trying to draw out Luo Bin’s soul.
• Huang Zhili revived Luo Bin’s mother with incense and questioned her, but she only said her son was doing well before he restrained her with an iron chain.

Gonpo awoke with a mysterious power after freezing to death and turned a flock of sheep against his aunt and uncle. After recovering from a disturbing dream, Luo Bin joined the group as they traveled toward the mountains where an ascended corpse was rumored to be, arriving at an abandoned courtyard near a strange cleft in the mountains.

• Gonpo’s aunt and uncle drove him into the blizzard after his mother died, and he froze outside the sheep pen.
• Gonpo awoke with an unfamiliar resolve, calmed the lead ram, and watched it attack his uncle as the flock turned wild.
• Luo Bin woke from a dream about his birth mother, changed into clean clothes, and found Bai Xian keeping watch beside Bai Guanli’s corpse.
• Luo Bin and the others left town after breakfast, and Zhang Yunxi remarked that Luo Bin looked as though he had lost yang energy.
• The group reached an abandoned courtyard beneath two mountains that looked like a single mountain split by a wound, and Xu Lu asked Luo Bin to clear the weeds with his blade.

Luo Bin led Xu Lu and the others to Flood Dragon Mountain to find the Ascended Corpse’s tomb, which Xu Lu had failed to locate. Luo Bin spotted a snake-shaped feature on the sheer cliff that appeared to mark the entrance, but the group had not yet found a way to reach it.

• Hu Jin objected when Xu Lu asked Luo Bin to cut weeds, but Luo Bin reassured him and did the work.
• Xu Lu prepared protective talismans and led Luo Bin, Zhang Yunxi, and Hu Jin from Coiled Snake Town toward Flood Dragon Mountain, leaving Bai Xian behind.
• Xu Lu admitted that his knowledge of yin-yang arts was limited and that he had searched the mountainsides without finding the tomb.
• Luo Bin reasoned that the cliff face could count as a mountainside and examined the ravine with his compass.
• Hu Jin spotted a huge snake-shaped protrusion winding down the cliff, and Xu Lu realized it might mark the tomb entrance.
• Zhang Yunxi asked Luo Bin how they could reach the entrance, while the group faced the sheer drop and rushing river below.

Luo Bin discovered an artificially carved snake formation on Flood Dragon Mountain and found the hidden route to a tomb inside the snake’s mouth. Xu Lu read the inscription at the entrance and burst out in delight.

• Luo Bin identified the snake-shaped carving as an artificial feng shui layout and located a narrow path hidden along the cliff.
• Fourth Master Gray possessed Luo Bin and guided him to the path, where Luo Bin secured a rope for the others to climb.
• Luo Bin, Zhang Yunxi, Xu Lu, and Hu Jin crossed the dangerous cliffside route and reached the carved snake’s head.
• The group entered the snake’s mouth, where Xu Lu read the stone stele and exclaimed, “Good! Good! Good!”

Luo Bin recognized the snake-shaped Feng Shui arrangement as a false entrance and led the group up the mountain to a hidden passage, where they reached a chamber containing a snake-bone coffin. Min Nan and his men followed behind, intending to kill Zhang Yunxi.

• Xu Lu urged Hu Jin to keep hope and ambition, and the group prepared to enter the tomb.
• Luo Bin identified the lower snake entrance as a decoy and found iron rings that led up to a hidden entrance in the cliff.
• Luo Bin, Zhang Yunxi, Hu Jin, and Xu Lu climbed to the upper entrance and entered its twisting, dark passage.
• Min Nan arrived with four men, recognized Zhang Yunxi, and ordered his men to follow the group so he could kill him.
• The group reached a sealed chamber containing a coffin made of densely packed snake bones, and Hu Jin prepared to open it.

Luo Bin and his companions discovered that the Feathered Benevolent Corpse had shed its skin and found a woman joined to a huge white snake beneath the coffin. As the snake attacked, Luo Bin struck back with his Five Thunder Pestle.

• Hu Jin opened the coffin, revealing a hollow Feathered Benevolent Corpse skin covered in white feathers.
• Luo Bin recognized the ragged opening as evidence that the corpse had shed its skin rather than been flayed.
• Zhang Yunxi followed a pale face into a hole beneath the coffin, and Luo Bin, Hu Jin, and Xu Lu pursued him through a passage filled with shed snake skins.
• Luo Bin and the others found the woman joined to a huge white snake and realized the burial chamber's feng shui had sustained it as she ascended.
• Zhang Yunxi struck at the snake with jade coins, and Luo Bin drove his Five Thunder Pestle into its mouth as it lunged at him.

Luo Bin, Zhang Xiyun, and Xu Lu fought a snake bound to an ascended Benevolent Corpse in the tomb passage. After Xu Lu’s talisman suppressed the creature and it fled deeper into the tomb, Xu Lu urged Zhang Xiyun to lead the pursuit.

• Luo Bin struck the snake with the Five Thunder Pestle and Woodcutter’s Knife, but it resisted and injured him and Zhang Xiyun.
• Xu Lu used his Five Mountains Life-Suppressing Talisman to loosen the snake’s coils around Luo Bin.
• Luo Bin attacked the ascended Benevolent Corpse with a Bone-Cleaving Knife, but failed to sever it as the snake fled into the tomb passage.
• Luo Bin checked on Zhang Xiyun, whose injuries were unexpectedly light, and Xu Lu praised him as a good man.
• Xu Lu said they should pursue the snake, then admitted he could not lead through the darkness and asked Zhang Xiyun to go first.

Zhang Yunxi and the others searched the burial chamber and found an epitaph hidden inside the Snake Coffin, revealing the buried woman's plan to transform through stripping and change. As they grasped the danger of the snake crossing the mountain, Zhang Yunxi insisted that it could become a Jiao but never a yang dragon.

• Zhang Yunxi called off Luo Bin's attempt to lead the way and brought everyone back to the burial chamber to search for an inscribed stele.
• Xu Lu borrowed Luo Bin's blade and broke apart the Snake Coffin, uncovering a stone stele bearing an epitaph.
• Zhang Yunxi and Xu Lu interpreted the verse as a warning that the snake might transform and cross the mountain, an outcome Zhang Yunxi said was impossible.
• Luo Bin realized that stripping and transformation could separate the snake from the ascended corpse and let them become beings capable of affecting the mountain.
• Zhang Yunxi declared that a snake could enter the water and become a dragon yin, but must never cross a mountain and become a yang dragon.

Zhang Yunxi and Xu Lu explained the Ascended Corpse’s plan and prepared to trap the snake before it could emerge. As the group waited, Xu Lu drew a complex talisman with his own blood, leaving Luo Bin dizzy from looking at it.

• Xu Lu explained that the Ascended Corpse intended to control the mountain’s feng shui through the ghosts trapped in its hells.
• Zhang Yunxi assigned Luo Bin to pin the snake’s vital point with Copper Pins and told Xu Lu to suppress its head; when Xu Lu balked, Hu Jin agreed to attack its eyes with the Bronze Club instead.
• Xu Lu confirmed that the stone tablet marked the air vent and stayed in the burial chamber to prepare a talisman.
• Xu Lu used blood from his chest wound to draw the complex talisman, and Luo Bin became dizzy when he tried to study it.

Zhang Yunxi, Luo Bin, Hu Jin, and Xu Lu tried to suppress the snake and retrieve the corpse Pill without disturbing the tomb’s Feng Shui. The Feathered Benevolent Corpse awakened, attacked them, and Luo Bin’s soul vanished while his body remained behind.

• Zhang Yunxi burned the corpse skin, and a snake lunged from the hole as Xu Lu used a talisman on the stone stele to freeze it.
• Luo Bin drove ritual Nails into the snake until Xu Lu collapsed and the snake fell beside the Snake Coffin.
• Zhang Yunxi and Hu Jin helped Luo Bin pull the snake from the hole, but the talisman fell away and the Feathered Benevolent Corpse opened her eyes.
• The Feathered Benevolent Corpse shattered the Snake Coffin, struck Zhang Yunxi and Hu Jin into the wall, and coiled around Luo Bin to drain his essence.
• A second woman’s face appeared on the corpse and sucked at Luo Bin’s fontanelle, after which his soul vanished while his body stayed motionless.

Luo Bin’s soul returned to his body inside a coffin, while Zhang Yunxi, Xu Lu, and Hu Jin struggled to suppress the Feathered Benevolent Corpse. Luo Bin discovered that a woman was pinned beneath him and gripping his arms, leaving him unable to escape.

• Xu Lu, Zhang Yunxi, and Hu Jin used ritual artifacts to suppress the Benevolent Corpse, but Xu Lu’s knife could not pierce her tough skin.
• Zhang Yunxi explained that the corpse and snake were bound together, while Xu Lu ordered the others to search for Luo Bin and sought a way to extract the corpse core.
• Luo Bin regained awareness inside a coffin, where Luo Shan cowered and warned him that the Revered Master would return and kill him.
• Luo Bin realized he was trapped and saw five fingers embedded in each of his upper arms.
• Luo Bin turned his head and found a faintly breathing woman beneath him, then struggled to free his right arm from her grip.

After Luo Bin’s soul vanished and his body seemed beyond saving, he suddenly awoke and drank the Feathered Benevolent Corpse’s blood, recovering as his companions watched in fear. He removed the corpse core and subdued the freed snake and corpse with a glance, leaving Xu Lu stunned by how strange Luo Bin had become.

• Xu Lu urged Hu Jin and Zhang Yunxi to abandon Luo Bin and leave the tomb to seek reinforcements, while Zhang Yunxi struggled to accept that Luo Bin was dead.
• Luo Bin opened his eyes, alarming Xu Lu and Zhang Yunxi with his eerie presence.
• Luo Bin bit through the Feathered Benevolent Corpse’s neck and drank her blood, healing himself as Fourth Master Gray licked the spilled blood and recovered.
• Luo Bin freed himself from the snake’s coils, took a knife from Hu Jin, and cut open the corpse’s abdomen to retrieve its core.
• The talisman and inkstone fell, but when the snake and corpse were freed, both recoiled from Luo Bin’s glance, leaving Xu Lu dumbfounded.

Yuan Yinxin took control of Luo Bin’s body and brought his soul back from a coffin, while Luo Bin struggled to escape and learned Mao Yousan was seeking Adept’s Corpse Bones. Luo Bin returned to the burial chamber amid signs of Yuan Yinxin’s intervention, and his attention fixed on the jade turtle talisman formation.

• Yuan Yinxin, controlling Luo Bin, extracted a snake gallbladder and fed it to the Black-Gold Toad, then used fingers and Jade Turtle Talismans to perform a calculation.
• Luo Bin, trapped in a coffin, scraped a hole in its lid with a female corpse’s nails and crawled into a cave, but suddenly felt himself pulled away.
• Mao Yousan asked Xianshen and a Tang Suit gentleman for eight sets of Adept’s Corpse Bones, then sensed that the Jade Corpse had separated from Luo Bin.
• Luo Bin returned to the burial chamber holding two fingers, with blood on his hand and wounds on the Feathered Benevolent Corpse and snake.
• Zhang Xiyun questioned Luo Bin’s changed demeanor, and Luo Bin stared at the Jade Turtle Talisman formation.

After recovering his soul, Luo Bin and the others escaped the Tomb Chamber, only to encounter the snake-infested corpse of Min Nan on the Ridge-Descending Snake. As more hole-riddled figures appeared, Luo Bin hurried onward while Xu Lu stayed behind to confront them.

• Luo Bin realized Yuan Yinxin's control depended largely on his body, and Zhang Yunxi explained what had happened while Luo Bin's soul was gone.
• Luo Bin led the group out of the Tomb Passage, where they spotted Min Nan waiting by the Ridge-Descending Snake's head.
• Fourth Master Gray attacked Min Nan, but snakes erupted from his corpse and revealed that he had died inside the Snake-Heart Prison.
• Xu Lu covered Min Nan with talismans as the group descended, and Hu Jin took Min Nan's pack before his body fell into the Yin Dragon's waters.
• More snake-riddled corpses appeared, so Luo Bin hurried along the wooden-stake path while Xu Lu stayed behind to face them.