Chapter Summaries

Luo Bin and Bai Xian found their route to the stone brain sealed after Underground Palace men destroyed the corpses in the cave, leaving Bai Xian on the verge of cultivation deviation. When Xu Lu realized the mountain was cracking because the Corpse-Liberation Immortal’s head had been removed, he stayed behind to stabilize it while Luo Bin and the others fled; Bai Xian then turned back to help Xu Lu.

• Hu Lin and Lin Zi declared themselves followers of the Way of the Immortals, cut apart their bodies, and exploded, sealing the passage with blood and spreading corpse worms.
• Bai Xian’s distress over the blocked route triggered signs of cultivation deviation, but Luo Bin helped her calm herself with an incantation.
• Xu Lu arrived with Huang Bing and two others after the mist cleared, and Luo Bin warned him that Underground Palace people had attacked and the stone brain might already be gone.
• Xu Lu realized that the Corpse-Liberation Immortal’s head had been removed and that the mountain’s cracks threatened to release Sword Mountain Prison.
• Xu Lu used blood talismans in an attempt to stabilize the mountain and sent Luo Bin and Bai Xian away.
• Bai Xian stopped on the way down and told Luo Bin to go ahead because she would not let Xu Lu die alone.

As Eastwatch Mountain began collapsing, Shangguan Xingyue and Fang Jinyan escaped with the corpse-liberated immortal’s head. Little Earth Aspect disciples and their elders surrounded them outside the mountain, and Shangguan Xingyue refused to surrender the head.

• Bai Xian took three Medicine Person Blood Pills from Luo Bin before the mountain began to split apart.
• Luo Bin led his group down the shaking mountain while Shangguan Xingyue and Fang Jinyan descended with the corpse-liberated immortal’s head.
• Shangguan Xingyue explained that the Underground Palace disciples had willingly sacrificed themselves to trigger Corpse Liberation.
• Shangguan Xingyue and Fang Jinyan reached the mountain’s foot but were surrounded by Little Earth Aspect disciples and elders.
• The old man accused Shangguan Xingyue of killing disciples, destroying the sanctuary, releasing the corpse-liberated immortal, and stealing its treasure.
• Shangguan Xingyue declared that she would keep the head and fight to the death as the disciples began forming an array.

Luo Bin led Huang Bing and the others down the collapsing mountain and spotted a crowd of Little Earth Aspect members fighting Shangguan Xingyue and Fang Jinyan. As Shangguan Xingyue weakened under their attacks and He Younian’s life-consuming Fate Pointing, she revealed Primordial Calculation and began turning the battle around.

• Luo Bin guided Huang Bing, Miao Yun, Miao Tu, and Fourth Master Gray down the unstable mountainside, warning them not to stop until they were clear.
• Fourth Master Gray detected Shangguan Xingyue and Fang Jinyan’s captors, and Luo Bin’s group saw dozens of Little Earth Aspect members encircling the pair below.
• Luo Bin decided to wait for an opening while Shangguan Xingyue and Fang Jinyan struggled against the crowd’s Fate-Suppressing Objects and attacks.
• He Younian used an effigy and a Chen Hour Water incantation to injure Shangguan Xingyue, sacrificing his own lifespan in the process.
• Shangguan Xingyue used Primordial Calculation to kill one of her attackers and recover her strength, astonishing the crowd and exciting He Younian.

He Younian attacked Shangguan Xingyue and Fang Jinyan, who were driven to the brink until Luo Bin arrived with a swarm of mountain creatures. Luo Bin confronted the Lesser Earth Aspect sect, but Shangguan Xingyue and Fang Jinyan did not recognize him.

• He Younian accused Shangguan Xingyue of killing his grandchildren and used his hexagram arts to make her cough blood.
• Fang Jinyan urged Shangguan Xingyue to take the Fate Pill and prepared to sacrifice himself, but a voice from Cloudmist Mountain interrupted them.
• Luo Bin's ocarina summoned vast swarms of mountain rats, snakes, and insects that disrupted the Lesser Earth Aspect sect's formation.
• He Younian demanded to know who Luo Bin was and accused him of causing the calamity.
• Luo Bin appeared on a ledge, but Shangguan Xingyue and Fang Jinyan failed to recognize him.

Luo Bin used the celestial immortal great precepts, Mountain Rats, venomous insects, and gu worms to intimidate He Younian and the Little Earth Aspect. He Younian saw through the chant’s lack of power, rallied his disciples, and revealed a talisman-covered human-skin mask as a deathly aura emerged from his body.

• Luo Bin recognized Shangguan Xingyue and Fang Jinyan, hid his identity, and attacked the Little Earth Aspect with Mountain Rats and venomous insects while reciting the precepts.
• He Younian failed to carve Luo Bin’s features and begged him to stop, fearing that Cloudmist Mountain’s forces could threaten the Little Earth Aspect.
• Luo Bin found himself unable to stop chanting as the chaos wounded and killed He Younian’s disciples.
• He Younian realized the chant was not harming him, called Luo Bin’s tricks a deception, and ordered his disciples to form ranks.
• He Younian tore off a talisman-covered human-skin mask, revealed his aged face, and began radiating a deathly aura.

Luo Bin used the Ten Commandments Corpse Prison’s mark and the Thunderstruck Blood Peachwood Sword to wound He Younian’s projected Yin Spirit, but the fight was interrupted when Kong An’s deity appeared beside Shangguan Xingyue. The deity recognized Luo Bin as its Chief Seat and moved to attack He Younian as he rushed back toward his body.

• He Younian’s Yin Spirit Projection wiped out the attacking Mountain Rats and venomous insects, giving the Lesser Earth Aspect Taoist Grounds disciples time to regroup.
• Luo Bin recited an incantation that let him see He Younian’s Yin Spirit, then used the Great Precepts of the Three Altars to restrain him.
• Luo Bin stabbed He Younian’s forehead mark with the Thunderstruck Blood Peachwood Sword, electrocuting and injuring his Yin Spirit while the backlash badly damaged Luo Bin’s hand.
• A mist spread from Shangguan Xingyue, revealing Kong An’s six-eyed, six-eared deity, which called Luo Bin its Chief Seat and identified He Younian as a sacrifice.
• Luo Bin pulled the sword free and staggered back, while He Younian’s Yin Spirit fled toward his body and then spotted the deity poised to bite his neck.

Luo Bin helped Shangguan Xingyue defeat He Younian’s projected yin spirit, then traded a piece of brainstone for her departure. As Luo Bin reunited with his companions, Fourth Master Gray scolded him for letting Shangguan Xingyue take the Corpse-Liberation Immortal’s head and most of its brainstone.

• Luo Bin used the Three-Altars Great Precepts while the six-eared, six-eyed deity attacked He Younian’s projected yin spirit and devoured it.
• He Younian died, and the Lesser Earth Aspect Taoist Grounds’ disciples panicked and fled with his corpse.
• Shangguan Xingyue told Fang Jinyan that her deity, not Tang Yu, had killed He Younian’s projected yin spirit, though Tang Yu had helped.
• Shangguan Xingyue gave Tang Yu a small piece of brainstone and left with the Corpse-Liberation Immortal’s head.
• Fang Jinyan speculated about Tang Yu’s origins and his connection to Cloudmist Mountain and the Cloud Dream Taoist Grounds as he and Shangguan Xingyue departed.
• Luo Bin met Yun Miao, Tu Miao, and Huang Bing, while Fourth Master Gray scolded him for allowing Shangguan Xingyue to take most of the brainstone and the head.

After Eastwatch Mountain collapsed, Luo Bin feared Xu Lu and Bai Xian had been buried and sent the Mountain Rats to search. The six-eared, six-eyed deity appeared before Luo Bin, called him the Chief Seat and a sacrificial offering, then vanished.

• Luo Bin wrapped the stone brain and refused to assume Xu Lu had left the summit.
• Eastwatch Mountain shook and collapsed, burying much of the clearing and transforming its peaks into rounded mounds.
• Fourth Master Gray said Xu Lu’s scent had disappeared, and Luo Bin ordered the Mountain Rats to search for him alive or dead.
• Fourth Master Gray warned that Xu Lu might refuse to live without Bai Xian, while Huang Bing, Miao Yun, and Miao Tu grieved.
• The six-eared, six-eyed deity appeared before Luo Bin, called him the Chief Seat and a sacrificial offering, and inhaled his scent.
• Luo Bin reached for his peachwood sword, but the deity vanished before he could draw it.

Luo Bin and his companions found Xu Lu and Bai Xian alive at a well in Fuding Village after the mountain collapsed, though Xu Lu appeared unconscious and near death. Fourth Master Gray exposed Xu Lu as faking his condition, and Xu Lu woke up protesting that he had been the one in danger.

• After Fourth Master Gray returned from searching the collapsed mountain without finding Xu Lu, he picked up Xu Lu's scent and led Luo Bin toward Fuding Village.
• Luo Bin found Xu Lu and Bai Xian drenched beside a well, and realized they had survived the collapse by taking refuge in the dragon yin water.
• Bai Xian asked Luo Bin to help Xu Lu, whose breathing was weak despite taking two medicinal human-blood pills.
• Luo Bin examined Xu Lu and wondered whether the ordeal had injured his soul, while Fourth Master Gray suddenly bit him below the belly.
• Xu Lu sprang up, chased Fourth Master Gray, and protested that he had nearly died; then he realized he could understand Fourth Master Gray's words.

Xu Lu explained how he and Bai Xian escaped the collapsing cave, while Luo Bin revealed he had recovered the stone brain. Their discussion of the deity and Shangguan Yuexingguan's possible plans ended when Luo Bin sensed an unseen watcher stirring something inside him.

• Fourth Master Gray exposed Xu Lu's feigned distress, but Xu Lu kept up the act and Bai Xian remained deceived.
• Xu Lu explained that he and Bai Xian escaped the cave by using a water dragon after his divinations revealed a slim chance of survival.
• Luo Bin showed Xu Lu and Bai Xian the recovered stone brain and recounted how he obtained it.
• Bai Xian and Xu Lu explained that the deity might have followed Dai Zhixiong before turning to Shangguan Yuexingguan, and Xu Lu speculated she could become master of the Underground Palace.
• Luo Bin left the village and sensed that someone in the shadows was watching them and stirring unrest within him.

After escaping Eastwatch Mountain, Luo Bin’s group returned to Dingshan Town and learned that a survivor of the Lesser Earth Aspect Taoist Grounds had witnessed their actions. They rested in Yinchang City, then prepared to split up, while Luo Bin kept the captured prison guard and He Dongsheng’s soul under wraps.

• Bai Xian and Xu Lu speculated that the Lesser Earth Aspect Taoist Grounds had used the Corpse-Liberation Immortal to bring Sword Mountain Prison under control before killing her.
• Luo Bin led Xu Lu, Bai Xian, and the others out of Fuding Village and back toward Dingshan Town.
• He Huangdao, the Lesser Earth Aspect Taoist Grounds’ Corpse Keeper, arrived at the village with He Dongsheng’s and He Qin’s bodies and mourned their deaths.
• Luo Bin’s urge to chant faded after the group reached Dingshan Town, where he revealed that someone had been watching them from the shadows.
• The group rested in Yinchang City for two days and decided to send Huang Bing back to Da Xiang City while Yun Miao and Tu Miao drove Luo Bin, Xu Lu, and Bai Xian toward Xu Lu’s sect.
• Luo Bin continued to conceal He Dongsheng’s soul and the captured prison guard, wary of examining them so close to Eastwatch Mountain.

Xu Lu brought Luo Bin and the others to the Talisman Arts lineage’s hidden grounds and stunned its disciples with his abilities. After introducing his guests, Xu Lu left Xu Changzhi shocked to learn that Luo Bin was the current grounds master of Primordial Calculation.

• Xu Lu explained the three lineages’ locations and the northern branch dry dragon to Luo Bin during their journey.
• The group left their car and walked through the altered feng shui until they reached the Talisman Arts gateway, where Xu Lu warned them not to look at the talismans.
• Xu Changzhi and the Talisman Arts disciples welcomed Xu Lu back, then questioned whether he had achieved emergence from darkness.
• Xu Lu summoned Second Madam Hu and used her power to bewitch a disciple, who wandered into the river, then demonstrated Tibetan scripture chanting to impress the gathered disciples.
• Xu Lu introduced Bai Xian and Luo Bin, identifying Luo Bin as the current grounds master of Primordial Calculation, and Xu Changzhi reacted in disbelief.

Xu Lu introduced Luo Bin and the Moon-Shaped Stone to the Talisman Arts lineage, then left Luo Bin and his companions in a welcoming riverside courtyard. That night, Luo Bin interrogated He Dongsheng’s ghost, who revealed the Small Banner held a powerful, starving prison captive and warned him about the Core Carving.

• Xu Lu presented Luo Bin’s Moon-Shaped Stone to Xu Changzhi, who recognized it as proof of Primordial Calculation’s inheritance, and then departed with the Talisman Arts disciples.
• Luo Bin, Miao Tu, Miao Yun, and Bai Xian settled in a riverside courtyard, where the Talisman Arts lineage treated them warmly and explained the nearby boundaries and dangers.
• Luo Bin prepared his room with Seven Yin Arts Talismans and the black-gold toad, then summoned He Dongsheng using the Heaven Origin Soul-Sealing Talisman.
• Luo Bin told He Dongsheng that He Younian was dead, the Lesser Earth Aspect mountain gate had collapsed, and He Dongsheng’s sister’s Brainstone was in his possession.
• He Dongsheng explained how to use the Small Banner and said its ghost was a twenty-eight prison captive who had reached eight or nine thousand evil and needed nine living souls at intervals.
• After Luo Bin mentioned the Core Carving and the riverside location, He Dongsheng panicked and urged him to leave, warning him about the ghost depicted on it.

Luo Bin tore open the seal containing a powerful Water Ghost, while the disturbance roused corpses along the Hanging River and brought Talisman Arts elders to his courtyard. The ghost ended up pinned beneath a strange turtle and Luo Bin's peachwood sword as he questioned it and held up a garment that appeared to be made of human skin.

• Luo Bin added Primordial Fiend-Subduing Talismans around the carved pit, then tore away its sealing talisman and faced the Water Ghost as it attacked him.
• The released ghost's green mist and resentful qi stirred the Hanging River, sending floating corpses and Walking Corpses toward the shore.
• Xu Changzhi, the Fourth Elder, and the Fifth Elder led Talisman Arts disciples to Luo Bin's courtyard to protect him from the disturbance.
• Bai Xian blocked the Fifth Elder from entering, but the resentful qi suddenly dispersed before a scream came from inside Luo Bin's room.
• The door burst open to reveal the Water Ghost pinned beneath a strange turtle, with a crimson peachwood sword through its head, while Luo Bin asked if it had made up its mind and displayed a strange garment.

Luo Bin subdued the Twenty-Eight Hell Prisoner and learned that the Talisman Arts Lineage kept dangerous ghosts and corpses suppressed beneath its sanctuary. He stayed at the riverside courtyard, but as Xu Lu failed to return over several days, Luo Bin began to suspect something was wrong.

• The Twenty-Eight Hell Prisoner escaped into Luo Bin's Human-Skin Garment, and He Dongsheng entered it after Luo Bin assured him the garment's restrictions would keep him safe.
• Luo Bin apologized to Xu Changzhi, Xu Jincheng, and Xu Chaobai for the disturbance, and the elders explained that the lineage's sanctuary suppressed nearby vicious corpses and evil ghosts.
• After the elders left, Fourth Master Gray urged Luo Bin to investigate the Talisman Arts Lineage, but Luo Bin refused and went to sleep.
• Luo Bin spent the next few days resting at the courtyard while Yun Miao and Tu Miao tended their gu insects and Bai Xian practiced.
• Xu Lu did not return after discussing separation with Luo Bin and the others, making Luo Bin suspect something was wrong.

Luo Bin learned that Xu Lu had not left the Taoist Grounds, but the elders refused to let him meet Xu Lu and ordered the guests to leave. Luo Bin insisted he would stay until Xu Lu personally asked him to go.

• Luo Bin questioned Xu Tao about Xu Lu's disappearance and learned that Xu Lu might have traveled to seek approval from Heavenly Origin and Earth Aspect.
• After waiting two more days without news, Luo Bin possessed Fourth Master Gray, who revealed Xu Lu was still nearby and agreed to guide Luo Bin after receiving Medicine Person's blood.
• Xu Changzhi, Xu Jincheng, and Xu Chaobai told Luo Bin that Xu Lu was unwell and that the Taoist Grounds would not accept Bai Xian as a student.
• Xu Jincheng announced that an important event required all outsiders to leave, and Xu Changzhi offered to escort Luo Bin and Bai Xian out.
• Luo Bin refused to leave without seeing Xu Lu and said only Xu Lu could personally ask him to go.

Luo Bin agreed to leave the Talisman Arts Lineage after deciding that fighting its elders would only put Xu Lu in a worse position, then resolved to support Xu Lu. Inside the lineage, Xu Lu argued with an ancient relative who opposed his plans and wanted him appointed as an enshrined guardian.

• Xu Changzhi assured Luo Bin and Bai Xian that Xu Lu was safe but had to make a choice about his identity and future, and he could not let them see him yet.
• Luo Bin accepted the elders’ escort out of the Talisman Arts Lineage, reasoning that Xu Lu would be safe and that a fight would harm him and his companions.
• After Xu Changzhi left them, Luo Bin explained that the elders had seemed sincere and that he wanted to support Xu Lu rather than abandon him.
• Xu Lu left the hall briefly, returned to find an old man seated before him, and complained that he opposed Xu Lu’s plans to marry Bai Xian and pursue several inheritances.
• The old man offered to arrange a marriage for Xu Lu while insisting that he become an enshrined guardian, and Xu Lu mocked him for meddling.

Xu Lu learned that the Talisman Arts Lineage had sent Bai Xian and Luo Bin away and demanded he become a consecrator or face confinement and soul-severing. After the Third Consecrator left to decide his fate, Xu Jiuqu resolved to seek support from the other Taoist Grounds and keep Xu Lu safe until then.

• Xu Lu confronted the Talisman Arts elders for rejecting Bai Xian and trying to force him into becoming a consecrator.
• Xu Jiuqu revealed that Bai Xian and Luo Bin had left two days earlier, and the Third Consecrator demanded that Xu Lu accept the role or face ten years of confinement and having part of his soul severed.
• The Third Consecrator explained that he feared Xu Lu’s connections and plans would endanger the Mountain Gate, while Xu Lu lamented that his plans to help Bai Xian and confront Kong An had collapsed.
• After the Third Consecrator left, Xu Jiuqu questioned whether the lineages had become too cautious and argued that Xu Lu could bring new methods and vitality to them.
• Xu Jiuqu decided to consult the other Taoist Grounds’ Venue Masters and consecrators, urging the others to protect Xu Lu until he returned.

Xu Lu asked Second Madam Hu to help him escape house arrest, but she urged him to wait and grow stronger. At the Hanging River, Xu Shanding placed talisman wards to keep Luo Bin away from Xu Lu, and Luo Bin suddenly collapsed in agony outside the woods.

• Xu Lu asked Second Madam Hu to bewitch his guards, but she said she could not overpower the monsters holding him.
• Xu Lu told Second Madam Hu to think of a way to help him before the blood moon, when Great-Grandfather would return to the summit.
• Xu Shanding failed to divine Luo Bin and used wooden figures and talismans to declare the woods forbidden and the waterways impassable.
• Xu Shanding tried to continue divining, but his fingernails began lifting and bleeding as a force countered his talisman arts.
• Luo Bin collapsed outside the woods in severe pain, and Bai Xian stopped Yun Miao and Tu Miao from touching him.
• The Black Gold Toad leaped onto Luo Bin's back, and he drank medicinal human blood to endure its poison.

Luo Bin endured a devastating attack while trying to reach a hidden pool, then used a Star-Moon Shield Hexagram to lessen his pain. His attempt to resist whoever was divining him cracked Mao Yousan’s talisman, and Xu Shanding discovered that an old soul inhabited a younger man’s body.

• Bai Xian chanted protective incantations as the Cinnabar Tortoise’s shell pressed into Luo Bin’s back and the black-gold toad struggled to withstand its heat.
• Fourth Master Gray tried to pull the black-gold toad off Luo Bin, but Luo Bin crawled toward a hidden pool while suffering severe pain and bleeding.
• Luo Bin invoked the Star-Moon Shield Hexagram, and moonlit water gathered around him, cooling the toad and reducing his pain before another surge of agony struck.
• At the Hanging River, Xu Shanding drew a talisman in blood and raised his hand, causing a vivid red handprint to appear on Luo Bin’s back.
• Mao Yousan noticed that the Jade Talisman Plaque matching the mark on Luo Bin’s back had cracked, then rang his bell and confronted the force trying to divine Luo Bin.
• Xu Shanding lost the nails on his remaining fingers and realized that an old soul wearing a younger man’s body was preventing him from divining Luo Bin.