Chapter Summaries

Luo Bin’s group rested in the Primordial Calculation Lineage’s Taoist Grounds while another band of Auspicious Qi Town survivors ran into a deadly fog. Following Fourth Master Gray into a hidden room, Luo Bin found the remains of someone trapped in the mountain and a blood-carved accusation, but the identity of the villain remained unknown.

• Luo Bin brought his group into the Taoist Grounds, where they cleaned a place to rest and eventually fell asleep while Fourth Master Gray and Xu Lu’s Gray Immortal kept watch.
• Fang Jinyan, Lu Ke, and thirteen survivors hurried through the forest, suspecting another group had reached the mountain ahead of them and broken their agreement.
• Lu Ke ordered the survivors to close their eyes and keep walking through the thickening fog, but a poisoned spike struck one of them and figures carrying bowls approached.
• Fourth Master Gray woke Luo Bin and led him into a hidden corridor, where Luo Bin opened a room filled with landscape paintings and found a shriveled corpse behind a desk.
• Luo Bin read a note about Mr. Zhou being held under restriction and saw the words “Villain! Villain! Villain!” carved into the desk in blood.

Luo Bin secretly examined ritual artifacts taken from a corpse, then learned that a white mist and a beggar were pursuing the survivors toward the Main Hall. As the group prepared for their arrival, Xu Lu proposed letting Dai Xingjie lead and using the newcomers as scouts or bait.

• Luo Bin searched the corpse, took its compass, Eight-Trigram Mirror, Copper Awl, and other artifacts, then studied their features through Rewind.
• Fourth Master Gray warned the group, and Luo Bin learned that only seven pursuers remained and the white mist, with a beggar inside it, would reach them within ten minutes.
• Dai Xingjie argued that the group should prioritize its own survival and said they could kill the approaching pursuers if necessary.
• Xu Lu urged Luo Bin to let Dai Xingjie lead, and Luo Bin agreed.
• Xu Lu suggested using the approaching survivors as scouts or bait and killing anyone who refused, and Dai Xingjie enthusiastically approved.

Luo Bin and Xu Lu took control of the Taoist Grounds after Xu Lu used a Paper Talisman to immobilize Dai Xingjie, who had been trapping and threatening his companions. The newcomers introduced themselves and questioned the group’s strength, while Xu Lu asked how they should deal with Dai Xingjie.

• Dai Xingjie ordered Luo Bin to open the door for five people fleeing through the white mist, and Luo Bin let them into the Taoist Grounds.
• Dai Xingjie demanded that the five obey his orders, and Lu Ke agreed on their behalf.
• Xu Lu feigned a whisper to Dai Xingjie, then struck him with a Paper Talisman that left him unable to move or speak.
• Xu Lu explained that Dai Xingjie had set traps and threatened those who resisted, and the five newcomers introduced themselves.
• Fang Jinyan asked about Luo Bin and Xu Lu’s sects and whether they had an elder nearby, while Xu Lu asked the group how to deal with Dai Xingjie.

Luo Bin and the others left Auspicious Qi Town with five trapped practitioners, casting Dai Xingjie into the deadly mist after Shangguan Xingyue called for his death. After ten days of travel, they reached Elephant Mountain, the entrance to Primordial Calculation, where Fourth Master Gray suddenly noticed something nearby.

• Lu Ke and the other practitioners agreed Dai Xingjie was too dangerous to spare, but they struggled to harm his corpse-like body.
• Shangguan Xingyue suggested throwing Dai Xingjie into the mist, and Luo Bin agreed; the group cast him outside the Taoist grounds.
• Luo Bin connected a final letter to Yuan Yinxin, Zhou Ling, and a past expedition into the Primordial Calculation Mountain Gate, but could not confirm what had happened.
• Xu Lu and the five practitioners searched the Taoist grounds, found another final letter, and then set out with Luo Bin's group.
• After about ten days, the travelers reached Elephant Mountain, which Fang Jinyan identified as the true entrance to Primordial Calculation.
• As Luo Bin prepared to use Six Yin Mountain's ritual artifact to locate life qi, Fourth Master Gray squeaked, and Luo Bin turned toward what it had spotted.

Luo Bin’s group reunited with other practitioners on Elephant Mountain and planned to seek entry to Primordial Calculation. Following the Crystal Bottle’s goldfish away from the others, Luo Bin discovered a strange valley and recognized it as the Land of the Elephants’ End, leaving him stunned at the supreme feng shui formation before him.

• Fang Jinyan introduced Luo Bin’s group to Tao Kan’s party and then to Liu Daojian’s party as the practitioners reunited on Elephant Mountain.
• Tao Kan and Fang Jinyan proposed resting before discussing how to approach Primordial Calculation’s outer gate at midnight.
• Shangguan Xingyue warned Xu Lu that the others could not enter the Mountain Cabinet without her master’s permission and urged him to persuade them to leave.
• Luo Bin used the Crystal Bottle’s goldfish to locate a route, which pointed toward the foot of the mountain rather than its slopes.
• Luo Bin traveled alone with Fourth Master Gray and found a valley filled with feather-covered, elephant-shaped earthen mounds.
• Luo Bin recognized the valley as the Land of the Elephants’ End and realized the mounds formed a supreme feng shui formation.

Luo Bin discovered an elephant graveyard and Turtle Ruins at Primordial Calculation’s entrance, then returned to find the practitioners preparing to climb Elephant Mountain. As the group planned their route, Tao Kan confronted Luo Bin for scouting ahead, having learned that he had gone out earlier.

• Luo Bin recognized the elephant corpses and feathered turtle shells as an extraordinary Feng Shui layout, but refused to disturb or take anything from the site.
• Luo Bin told Xu Lu about the elephant graveyard and Turtle Ruins, and Xu Lu accepted that they had to join the main group’s route.
• Zhao Jing summoned Luo Bin, Xu Lu, and Shangguan Xingyue to a midnight meeting about reaching the Primordial Outer Abbey.
• Tao Kan explained that the group should follow the spring beneath Elephant Mountain’s trunk, and the practitioners agreed to let him lead.
• After someone whispered to him, Tao Kan questioned Luo Bin about scouting Elephant Mountain earlier.

Luo Bin joined the practitioners as Liu Daojian used his pangolin to locate an Elephant Tomb in the valley. Tao Kan ordered them to dig into one of the ascended elephant corpses for a pill, leaving Luo Bin worried about disturbing the resting place.

• Luo Bin deflected questions about scouting Elephant Mountain, while Xu Lu rebuked Liu Daojian for asking about their Gray Immortals.
• Luo Bin swore that Fourth Master Gray had found no treasure, and Tao Kan restored harmony by proposing they depart the next day.
• Liu Daojian revealed a pangolin whose heightened sensitivity to vital energy could lead them to treasure, then used it to guide the group toward the valley.
• The practitioners discovered that the hills in the valley were ascended elephants forming an Elephant Tomb, and Tao Kan praised Liu Daojian for finding it.
• Tao Kan persuaded the group to seek a corpse pill and ordered them to dig into the elephant directly ahead.

Luo Bin and Shangguan Xingyue tried to protect the Elephant-End Turtle Ruins as Liu Daojian’s group searched for treasure. The group captured a living feng shui tortoise and carried it away, despite warnings that killing it would bring disaster, leaving Xu Lu anxious about what would happen next.

• Shangguan Xingyue led Luo Bin and the others to a pool, where she recognized a living old tortoise among the shells anchoring the ruins and quietly sent it into the water.
• After one elephant corpse was cut open and yielded no treasure, Liu Daojian said the pangolin still wanted to search deeper, while Shangguan Xingyue warned that disturbing the tortoises could break the feng shui and block access to the Outer Heaven Temple.
• Lu Ke and a crowd arrived dragging the old tortoise, and Liu Daojian recognized it as what he had been seeking.
• Tao Kan ordered the group to carry the tortoise away so they could kill and eat it, rejecting Shangguan Xingyue’s warning that disaster would follow.
• Luo Bin stopped Xu Lu from confronting the group, then questioned whether Shangguan Xingyue had deliberately revealed the tortoise; she pointed out that Liu Daojian would have found it anyway.
• After the group left with the tortoise, Luo Bin said something would happen, and Xu Lu asked why they had not warned the others plainly.

Shangguan Xingyue led Luo Bin and the others to a concealed spot as the practitioners slaughtered Old Tortoise, then a hidden creature attacked Liu Daojian and tore out his eyes. The group blamed Luo Bin's party, but Fang Jinyan defended them before Lu Ke suddenly stopped speaking.

• Shangguan Xingyue said they had overlooked a crucial possibility and led Luo Bin and the others toward the pool.
• Lu Ke and the practitioners killed Old Tortoise and butchered him for food.
• Shangguan Xingyue chose a concealment hexagram, and Fang Jinyan and Lu Ke approached Luo Bin's group with roasted turtle meat.
• Liu Daojian tried to entice Fourth Master Gray and the other Gray Immortal, but a pale, black-feathered creature appeared behind him and tore out his eyes.
• Tao Kan and the practitioners accused Luo Bin's group of attacking Liu Daojian, while Fang Jinyan insisted a ghost had done it and stood up for them.
• Lu Ke challenged Fang Jinyan, then abruptly fell silent as everyone reacted with shock.

After the Old Tortoise’s death released a wisp of an Ascended Malevolent Soul, Shangguan Xingyue forced the practitioners to confront the danger and exposed those with hidden motives. Most of the survivors knelt and accepted her as their master, while seven people remained outside her protection as the soul continued to hunt.

• The turtle-faced ghost emerged from Lu Ke and killed him, then possessed another practitioner, who was accidentally killed by the crowd trying to destroy it.
• An old man explained that killing the Old Tortoise had let a wisp of the suppressed Malevolent Corpse escape, and ordered the practitioners to form a circle and use Fate-Suppressing Objects.
• Five suspicious practitioners rushed toward Luo Bin’s group, but Shangguan Xingyue told Daoist Bai to knock them down and demanded that they kneel and acknowledge her as their master.
• The old man used a Talisman Crossbow to destroy the ghost on one practitioner, killing him with the next shot, while Shangguan Xingyue warned that more people would die if they relied on the arrows.
• Tao Kan, Fang Jinyan, and the other ordinary practitioners knelt before Shangguan Xingyue after Bai Xian drove away the ghost with a lightning talisman.
• Shangguan Xingyue left seven practitioners outside her protection and taunted them as the escaped soul continued to threaten the group.

Shangguan Xingyue forced the surviving practitioners to surrender slivers of their life souls and refused to let them break open the Primordial Divination mountain gate. She declared that she and Luo Bin were going home, then headed toward the turtle’s corpse shell while Luo Bin warned Xu Lu to be careful.

• The Turtle-Faced Evil Soul emerged from a practitioner’s neck, and the old man killed it with a crossbow bolt, leaving the others to kneel before Shangguan Xingyue.
• Shangguan Xingyue demanded that everyone surrender a sliver of their life souls, and Bai Xian’s pressure compelled even the Copper Ruler practitioner to comply.
• Shangguan Xingyue gave Luo Bin porcelain bottles containing the life souls and told him Fourth Master Gray could control anyone who disobeyed.
• A practitioner argued that the group should break open the Primordial Divination mountain gate, but Shangguan Xingyue refused and accused them of trying to rob her home.
• Shangguan Xingyue said the practitioners would serve as ghosts scouting the way, then walked toward the turtle’s corpse shell as Xu Lu whispered to Luo Bin that she seemed strange.

Shangguan Xingyue anchored a wandering soul to the tortoise shell and led Luo Bin’s group along a hidden path toward Primordial Calculation. Meanwhile, Bai Zihua and Bai Yi pursued Zhou Sanming toward the mountain, debating whether to follow him inside and capture him.

• Shangguan Xingyue inscribed a talisman on the tortoise shell, turning it into an anchor for a gatekeeper soul that could remain by the Elephant-Trunk Waters.
• Xu Lu questioned whether Shangguan Xingyue had tampered with Bai Xian, and Luo Bin explained that she had chosen to protect the group.
• Shangguan Xingyue led Luo Bin and the others onto a hidden bluestone path recreated by Yin Yuan’s seal and continued toward Primordial Calculation.
• Bai Zihua and Bai Yi arrived at Elephant Mountain after Zhou Sanming abducted a Real Person elder and five red-robed Taoists while fleeing.
• Bai Zihua proposed following Zhou Sanming into Primordial Calculation and capturing him for the rewards, while Bai Yi warned that entering the mountain was too dangerous.

Bai Zihua’s group encountered a malevolent soul on Elephant Mountain, while Zhou Sanming used his Calling Bell to ambush two Red-Robed Taoists. Farther up the mountain, Shangguan Xingyue guided Luo Bin and the others around deadly wood and stone spirits, leaving them to continue along a safe route.

• A malevolent soul gouged out a Red-Robed Taoist’s eyes, and Bai Zihua exposed and destroyed its manifested form with thunder and fire.
• Bai Zihua ordered one disciple to carry the injured Taoist away while the others continued up the mountain with him and Bai Yi.
• Zhou Sanming stopped the disciple in the woods and used his Calling Bell to knock him and the injured Taoist unconscious.
• Shangguan Xingyue sent a man ahead, and branches dragged him into the canopy, where he was assimilated into a tree.
• Xu Lu identified the canopy and skull-like stones as liang spirits that assimilated people, and the group spotted fate-suppressing ritual artifacts left among the leaves.
• Shangguan Xingyue directed another man along a safe detour, then led Luo Bin and the others back to the stone path.

Luo Bin realized that the chi, mei, wang, and liang guarding Primordial Calculation were tied to its hidden history, while Shangguan Xingyue refused to explore farther because she intended to defend the outer temple from Mr. Zhou. The chapter ended with Shangguan Xingyue rejecting Luo Bin’s request to join his group.

• Shangguan Xingyue sent scouts past a hot spring, where a childlike spirit dragged one man beneath the water while the next scout survived.
• The group reached a Mountain God Temple beside a burial mound, and Che Che entered first with five practitioners following him.
• Inside the temple, Luo Bin recognized the statue as a Xiao Ba and concluded that chi, mei, wang, and liang were the true entrance to Primordial Calculation.
• Luo Bin suspected that someone had taken the chi-and-xiao creation and mei from Primordial Calculation, causing Ba Xiao to lose control and an evil spirit to form.
• Shangguan Xingyue said she would stay at the outer temple to defend it from Mr. Zhou, who she expected to return for what he had taken.
• Luo Bin asked Shangguan Xingyue to come with them, but she refused to leave the outer temple.

Luo Bin and Xu Lu pieced together how Primordial Calculation might recreate its Heaven Veil, while Shangguan Xingyue began restoring the Outer Observatory and preparing to face Zhou Sanming. The chapter left Luo Bin concerned about the scale of Shangguan Xingyue’s plans as he and his companions continued through the mountain.

• Luo Bin told Xu Lu that Shangguan Xingyue’s father had been handed over to Yuan Yinxin, explaining why he kept his distance despite her feelings for him.
• Luo Bin theorized that Primordial Calculation had used chi, mei, a xiao, and a Nightmare Corpse to create a mountain god and veil Heaven, while Xu Lu warned that the Taoist Ground held many corpses.
• Luo Bin and Xu Lu left the Mountain God Temple and found Fang Jinyan planting flowers in the Outer Observatory after Shangguan Xingyue had taken the others to explore it.
• Fang Jinyan said he intended to stay and help Shangguan Xingyue restore Primordial Calculation, while Luo Bin and Xu Lu discussed the risks of her plans.
• Luo Bin suggested Shangguan Xingyue’s convictions might let her emerge into black, and Xu Lu warned she might use mei to control multiple corpses, including those in the Final Turtle Ruins.

Luo Bin, Xu Lu, and Bai Xian descended Elephant Mountain and found the talisman pillars separating it from Primordial Calculation’s inner Mountain Gate, then continued toward the Gathering Lecture Mountains. Meanwhile, Bai Zihua reached the Mountain God Temple and confronted Shangguan Xingyue, who vanished and reappeared around him as a strange presence loomed overhead.

• Xu Lu led Luo Bin and Bai Xian down the path into the Outer Observatory, while Bai Zihua used a thunder curse that scattered the mountain spirits and strange creatures throughout the forest.
• After descending Elephant Mountain, Luo Bin and Xu Lu examined the sixteen talisman pillars and identified the surrounding mountain formation as the Gathering Lecture Mountains.
• Luo Bin used the Twenty-Four Layers Compass to survey the route toward Primordial Calculation’s Main Abbey as the group crossed the mountains over several days.
• Bai Zihua arrived at the Mountain God Temple after being deceived and attacked by strange people on the mountain, then accused Shangguan Xingyue of harboring Zhou Sanming and demanded Luo Bin.
• Shangguan Xingyue told Bai Zihua that Luo Bin belonged to neither of them, disappeared from his sight, and reappeared as a strange face appeared above him.

Bai Yi’s strike left Shangguan Xingyue gravely wounded, while Zhou Sanming and his followers were driven away from Elephant Mountain. Three days later, Luo Bin and his companions discovered that the mountain had become a heaven-veiled land and continued toward the true summit, where an immense pillar stood above a landscape of tombs.

• Bai Yi’s sword pierced Shangguan Xingyue during the Mountain God Nightmare’s attack, and the mist vanished along with the grave and strange creatures.
• Zhou Sanming realized that he and his followers had been expelled from Elephant Mountain, which had veiled the heavens again.
• Fang Jinyan carried the unconscious Shangguan Xingyue into the Outer Observatory, where Che Che tried to stop him from reaching her Porcelain Bottle.
• Dai Xingjie entered the Mountain Gate as a weakened living corpse and confronted Che Che and Fang Jinyan.
• Luo Bin, Xu Lu, and Bai Xian reached the mountain’s upper slopes and realized Elephant Mountain had become a heaven-veiled land like Cabinet Mountain.
• Luo Bin identified the grounds marked “Carrying an Umbrella” as a tomb and spotted a vast mountain pillar farther above, which Xu Lu believed housed Primordial Calculation and the corpses.

Luo Bin, Xu Lu, and Bai Xian crossed Primordial Calculation’s twenty-four burial peaks and climbed to its immense compound, where Luo Bin realized the entrance and path might be a trap. He led the others back along the path, but the sunlight returned as he walked steadily toward an abyss.

• Luo Bin explained that the twenty-four peaks held different burial configurations and warned Xu Lu that breaking Primordial Calculation’s rules could trigger lethal traps.
• The three climbed a rope ladder up the mountain pillar, and Luo Bin chose not to use a House Immortal possession talisman so he could face the feng shui himself.
• They reached Primordial Calculation’s towering timber walls and enormous gates, and Xu Lu tried to vault up the steps.
• Luo Bin stopped Xu Lu, questioned whether the path and gates were intended for people to use, and turned back with Bai Xian following.
• Xu Lu followed them as the sunlight vanished, then returned; Luo Bin walked forward with his eyes closed despite an abyss ahead.

Luo Bin led Xu Lu and Bai Xian through Primordial Calculation’s dangerous grounds and discovered a hidden yang residence above its yin residence. When Bai Xian’s condition worsened, Luo Bin prepared to use the Feng Shui there to treat her, and Xu Lu suggested that Luo Bin’s yin nature made him the antidote.

• Luo Bin stopped Xu Lu from approaching the stone path’s edge and showed him the forbidden mountain-gazing view, which nearly made Xu Lu and Bai Xian collapse.
• Luo Bin pulled Xu Lu and Bai Xian onto the gravel path, then led them up through a hollow tree into a lush, inhabited-looking residence above the yin grounds.
• Xu Lu celebrated entering the Taoist Grounds and walked ahead, while Luo Bin noticed red and black threads appearing on Bai Xian’s face.
• Luo Bin carried the group to the central Taoist Grounds, where they passed a dead person and entered a building containing an elaborate water feature.
• Luo Bin laid out his compass and the four-part dish to find a suitable place to treat Bai Xian, while Xu Lu drew a knife and told him to let some blood, calling him the antidote.

Luo Bin helped Bai Xian expel the entity inside her by balancing her yin and yang with his blood, the Human-Skin Garment, and the Black-Gold Toad. He then explored Primordial Calculation’s abandoned courtyards, following the goldfish’s pull to the Life courtyard, where he found a feathered corpse-transformed person.

• Luo Bin let Bai Xian drink his blood until Xu Lu realized the yin energy alone was not enough to expel the entity.
• Luo Bin told Xu Lu to cover Bai Xian with the Human-Skin Garment, and the Black-Gold Toad suppressed the entity as it emerged and fled into the garment.
• Bai Xian recited an incantation after the entity left, and Xu Lu concluded that her yin and yang energies had balanced into true Yin-Yang Arts.
• Luo Bin refused to let Xu Lu take Bai Xian back to the talisman arts lineage and followed the goldfish deeper into the compound.
• Luo Bin explored the Bird and Treading courtyards, finding dead captive birds and changing into a pair of unusual cloth shoes.
• Luo Bin entered the Life courtyard and found a motionless feathered corpse-transformed person standing by a cabinet.