Chapter Summaries

After surviving an attack with help from an unseen ally, Luo Bin retraced his route toward the Talisman Arts Lineage and found the mountain paths changing around him. A mountain ghost blocked their way, and Luo Bin began backing away after announcing he had a clever plan.

• Xu Shanding was thrown to the ground during his contest with the entity posing as Luo Bin, then struggled toward the mountain, believing Luo Bin had been injured more severely.
• Luo Bin recovered after an unknown person helped him, and he thanked the unseen ally while Bai Xian questioned whether someone from the Talisman Arts Lineage was responsible.
• Luo Bin accepted that Bai Xian's warning might be right and carefully led the group back along their earlier route.
• The group encountered shifting paths and a strange face, and Miao Tu suggested the changes might involve corpse-ghosts or disrupted seals around the Talisman Arts Lineage.
• A one-legged mountain ghost carrying a rattle drum appeared, and Bai Xian explained its dangers.
• Luo Bin said he had a clever plan and began backing away from the mountain ghost.

Luo Bin planned to escape the mountain forest by raft while Xu Shanding returned to the Talisman Arts Taoist Grounds to take Xu Lu to the Mountain Summit and split his soul. Xu Lu resisted, warning that Xu Shanding’s actions would defy fate, and grew alarmed as he suspected his great-grandfather had taken the Suppressing Wood.

• Luo Bin told Miao Yun and Miao Tu to build a raft so they could follow the waterway back to the Talisman Arts Lineage.
• Xu Shanding returned with an injured divining hand, accused Luo Bin of hiding a terrifying nature, and announced that he would take Xu Lu to the mountain and split his soul.
• Xu Shanding immobilized Xu Sangang and the other elders with talismans, then led Xu Lu out of the Main Hall.
• Xu Lu noticed Xu Jiuqu was missing and tried to persuade Xu Shanding that taking him away would provoke Luo Bin and bring bloodshed.
• Xu Shanding struck Xu Lu and ordered him up the mountain, prompting Xu Lu to demand that his great-grandfather show him the Suppressing Wood.

Xu Shanding knocked Xu Lu unconscious and took him up the mountain while Luo Bin and his companions crossed the river toward Ghost Mountain to rescue him. As the Blood Moon reddened, the Twenty-Eight Hell Prisoner began resisting Luo Bin’s control.

• Xu Shanding rebuked Xu Lu for straying from Talisman Arts, knocked him unconscious, and ordered Xu Sangang to carry him up the mountain.
• Luo Bin, Bai Xian, Miao Yun, and Miao Tu traveled toward Ghost Mountain on a bamboo raft poled by the Twenty-Eight Hell Prisoner.
• Luo Bin reasoned that the Talisman Arts Lineage might imprison or damage Xu Lu’s soul, and told Bai Xian to avoid killing its members while they searched for him.
• As the Blood Moon intensified, corpses and restless gu worms gathered around the raft, but Luo Bin decided they had to keep going.
• The Twenty-Eight Hell Prisoner smiled at Luo Bin, and he traced talismans to strengthen his control as its grin returned and the bodies hanging from it began to swell.

He Huangdao followed Luo Bin’s group down the river, hoping to reclaim the ghost ferryman and recover his children’s souls. As Luo Bin’s raft crossed beneath the Blood Moon, the ghost ferryman vanished, corpse-ghosts swarmed the water, and Luo Bin realized the river’s danger was part of a larger unexplained phenomenon.

• He Huangdao pursued Luo Bin’s raft, while hidden Yin Spirits promised to retrieve He Dongsheng’s and He Qin’s souls and the ghost ferryman’s possession vessel.
• Miao Yun, Miao Tu, and Bai Xian noticed the growing number of corpses, the ghost ferryman’s laughter, and the Blood Moon still hanging in the sky after nine in the morning.
• The Twenty-Eight Hell Prisoner hooked a corpse from the river, then vanished as hands reached for the raft.
• Luo Bin, Bai Xian, and the black-gold toad warded off the water corpses, and Miao Yun and Miao Tu rowed the raft onward.
• Luo Bin used Rewind and found his watch and compass frozen, then connected the unnatural darkness to the strange dangers of other Taoist Grounds.

As the blood moon rose over the Taoist Grounds, Xu Lu urged Xu Sangang to help him use the roaming ghosts to recover his severed soul, while He Huangdao planned to exploit the chaos to seize control of the Grounds. Luo Bin and his companions encountered the escaped Ghost Ferryman on the water.

• Xu Lu asked Xu Sangang to hand him over to Luo Bin and proposed letting a ghost devour his severed soul so he could reclaim it.
• He Huangdao realized that the blood moon would leave the three Taoist lineages' resident experts occupied and plotted to possess disciples and take their places.
• Ghosts began crying and then laughing as the mist dispersed, and corpse-like figures crawled from the hanging coffins toward Luo Bin's raft.
• Miao Tu spotted a boat ahead, where the Ghost Ferryman stood with a pole as strange corpses scurried around it.

Luo Bin and his companions were pursued across the blood-moon waters as ghosts emerged from He Dongsheng’s flag and three Grandmasters attacked with Yin Spirit Projection. They boarded Ghost Ferryman’s boat, leaving He Huangdao and the injured Grandmasters behind.

• Ghost Ferryman escaped the seal, cleared corpse-ghosts from the raft, and warned Luo Bin that other ghosts and pursuers were approaching.
• Ghosts poured from He Dongsheng’s flag, and Bai Xian used a thunder incantation to scatter them; Ghost Ferryman then hooked the spirits of He Dongsheng and He Qin.
• Luo Bin and Bai Xian struck three approaching Yin Spirit projections with a Wood-Striking Thunder talisman and thunder spell, forcing them to retreat.
• Ghost Ferryman brought his boat alongside the raft and told Luo Bin and the others to board, while He Huangdao urged the Grandmasters to stop them.
• Luo Bin, Miao Tu, Miao Yun, and Bai Xian boarded Ghost Ferryman’s boat as He Huangdao watched from behind.

Luo Bin exposed Ghost Ferryman’s plan and helped Bai Xian defeat him with the Bright Consort’s power. As the Ghost Ship continued along the Hanging River, another boat filled with wreaths, paper figures, and Corpse-Ghosts followed them.

• Ghost Ferryman explained that He Dongsheng’s father, He Younian, was the Deputy Grounds Master who oversaw the Yin Spirit shrine, and warned the group about the Lesser Earth Aspect Taoist Grounds’ cruelty.
• Luo Bin questioned why Ghost Ferryman had rescued them and suspected the stretch of river was where he killed people.
• Ghost Ferryman attacked Luo Bin, while bald ghostly creatures lunged at Bai Xian; Bai Xian released the female ghosts and invoked the Bright Consort’s power.
• The Bright Consort subdued Ghost Ferryman, who burst into green mist, and Bai Xian used a Prayer Wheel to keep his soul from reassembling.
• Luo Bin spotted another boat following them, crowded with wreaths and paper figures, while a woman holding an Oil Lamp watched from aboard.

Luo Bin and his companions returned to the Talisman Arts ritual grounds during the Blood Moon, where they faced conflicting warnings from Xu Jiuqu and Xu Lu about a deadly ghost and the unrest. Luo Bin questioned Xu Lu’s identity, leaving the group unsure which man was sincere.

• Bai Xian brought Luo Bin, Miao Yun, and Miao Tu ashore, and the Bright Consort Deity entered her Human-Skin Garment.
• The group found themselves back at the Talisman Arts ritual grounds, where escaped corpse-ghosts threatened them.
• Xu Jiuqu urged them into a courtyard, claiming the interiors were safe and identifying himself as the Venue Master.
• Xu Lu appeared from the woods and warned them that Xu Jiuqu was a Shadow Ghost using illusions to lure them into danger.
• Xu Jiuqu claimed Xu Lu was a ghost formed from a severed portion of his soul, while Xu Lu insisted the Third Consecrated Elder would not harm him.
• Luo Bin stopped Bai Xian from approaching Xu Lu and asked why he could not summon Hu Erniang.

Bai Xian exposed the being impersonating Xu Lu, and Xu Jiuqu explained that Xu Lu’s soul had been split. Luo Bin refused to take Xu Lu to the other Taoist grounds, insisting he would take him away, while Xu Jiuqu pleaded for his help recovering the lost strand of Xu Lu’s soul.

• Bai Xian pierced the false Xu Lu with the Bronze Sword, recognized the deception, and tried to summon Xu Lu’s soul before Xu Jiuqu ushered everyone into the courtyard.
• Xu Jiuqu explained that Xu Lu’s obsession would keep wandering the Taoist Grounds after the Third Consecrator’s actions split his soul.
• Xu Jiuqu asked Luo Bin to take Xu Lu to the Ten Paths of the Heavenly Heart or Immortal Ascension Mountain, but Luo Bin said he would take Xu Lu away and seek a way to restore his missing soul.
• Luo Bin warned Xu Jiuqu that He Huangdao and forces from the Lesser Earth Aspect were approaching, and urged him to alert the other Taoist grounds and their disciples.
• Xu Jiuqu revealed that part of his own shadow had been eaten and asked Luo Bin to help recover Xu Lu’s lost strand of soul.

Luo Bin challenged Xu Jiuqu and Xu Changzhi over whether Xu Lu’s actions had truly harmed the Talisman Arts Lineage, then learned how to find and deal with the Sacrifice Ghost that had taken part of Xu Lu’s soul. Xu Jiuqu went to confront the danger at the main peak while Xu Changzhi received a powerful talisman to help protect the disciples.

• Xu Jiuqu pleaded with Luo Bin to help Xu Lu, but Luo Bin asked what would happen if the other Consecrated Elders refused to spare him.
• Xu Changzhi argued that Xu Lu’s destruction of Little Earth Aspect’s Mountain Gate had brought danger to the Talisman Arts Lineage and accused Luo Bin of neglecting its fate.
• Luo Bin countered that Little Earth Aspect could have become a greater threat if Xu Lu had not exposed it, and said Xu Lu deserved better than to be blamed for the danger.
• Xu Jiuqu told Luo Bin that the ghost who had taken part of Xu Lu’s soul was the Sacrifice Ghost, explained how it could be suppressed beneath the water, and gave Xu Lu’s location.
• Xu Jiuqu headed to the main peak to face the threat there and gave Xu Changzhi a Wind-Concealing, Qi-Gathering, Nine-Star Sand-Sealing Dragon-Suppressing Talisman to help defend the disciples.

Luo Bin considered the Talisman Arts Lineage’s hidden Yin Spirit Projection experts, then followed Xu Jiuqu’s trail into the woods with Bai Xian while leaving Miao Yun and Miao Tu behind. At Heavenly Dragon Ridge, Xu Lu woke after Xu Sangang removed the talismans binding him, learned that more than a decade had passed, and was left grieving the time he had lost.

• Luo Bin deduced that the Talisman Arts Lineage might have concealed Yin Spirit Projection experts, and Xu Jiuqu admitted the Third Consecrator had acted too harshly before offering Luo Bin a talisman.
• Bai Xian accepted Xu Jiuqu’s talisman, and Xu Jiuqu and Xu Changzhi split up to deal with the threat from Little Earth Aspect.
• Bai Xian warned that the Blood Moon’s resentful qi had made the ghosts unusually vicious, while Fourth Master Gray told Luo Bin that Xu Lu and Second Madam Hu were far away.
• Luo Bin left Miao Yun and Miao Tu hidden in the courtyard and went into the woods with Bai Xian to pursue Xu Jiuqu’s trail.
• Xu Sangang removed the restraints and talismans from Xu Lu, who woke and asked about his rescue and the demonic monk.
• Xu Sangang told Xu Lu that the demonic monk was dead and that more than a decade had passed; Xu Lu grieved that he had wasted so much time and could not catch up.

Xu Lu’s lost soul had changed his disposition and left him doubting his Yin-Yang Arts, while Xu Sangang realized the change might prevent him from reclaiming his soul. During the Blood Moon, He Huangdao and two projected Yin Spirit patriarchs arrived seeking revenge on Xu Lu and threatening the Talisman Arts Lineage.

• Xu Sangang concluded that Xu Lu would need to draw the Five Elements Soul Suppression Hundred Aspects Unification Talisman to recover his lost wisp of soul, but Xu Lu’s changed disposition left him with little hope of doing so.
• Xu Lu sensed three people approaching the mountain, while Xu Sangang could see only one unfamiliar man with a killer’s physiognomy.
• Xu Sangang placed the Wind Concealment Qi Gathering Nine Stars Sand Sealing Dragon Suppression Talisman over the door when two Divine Yin Spirit patriarchs appeared outside as projections.
• He Huangdao recognized Xu Lu and accused him of killing his son and harming his daughter, while the patriarchs tried to enter the room.
• Xu Lu denied knowing He Huangdao and questioned his accusations, prompting He Huangdao to threaten to make Xu Lu destroy the Talisman Arts Lineage in revenge for what he had done to the Little Earth Aspect Lineage.

Xu Sangang and Xu Lu held He Huangdao and the yin spirits back behind a talisman-covered door while Luo Bin and Bai Xian confronted the Sacrifice Ghost at the River God Temple. The Bright Consort destroyed the ghost, but the Ghost Ferryman seized the smoke containing the soul fragment cut from Little Xu as mist engulfed both boats.

• Xu Sangang reinforced the door with talismans, resisted He Huangdao's offers, and provoked him while Xu Lu prepared to keep their enemies inside.
• Luo Bin and Bai Xian found the wounded Sacrifice Ghost beside a paper boat and approached the River God Temple in secret.
• Bai Xian released the Bright Consort, who drew out the Sacrifice Ghost and shattered him with her prayer wheel and mantra.
• Luo Bin called for Bai Xian to perform Soul Summoning as the Sacrifice Ghost's white-breathed soul fragment drifted toward her.
• The Ghost Ferryman hooked the soul fragment with his bamboo pole and returned to his ghost boat, prompting Luo Bin to warn that it was the piece cut from Little Xu.
• Mist rose from the Hanging River and began enveloping the paper boat and ghost boat.

Luo Bin and Bai Xian failed to recover Xu Lu’s soul fragment after the River Lady and the Ghost Ferryman took it, so they retreated to the River God Temple to avoid approaching threats. Bai Xian’s Thangka showed Xu Lu’s life was nearly extinguished, while Fourth Master Gray warned he was too far away to reach in time, leaving Luo Bin uncertain what to do.

• Bai Xian drove back the corpse-ghosts at the Hanging River, but the Ghost Ferryman hooked away the fragment of Xu Lu’s soul.
• Luo Bin decided they had to abandon the soul fragment and find Xu Lu’s body before the Little Earth Aspect’s people could reach him.
• Luo Bin and Bai Xian fled into the River God Temple after the black-gold toad warned that something was approaching.
• Luo Bin recognized the figure calling outside as a deception and kept Bai Xian from opening the temple doors.
• Bai Xian unfolded the Thangka life talisman and saw that the colors representing Xu Lu were fading; Fourth Master Gray warned that Xu Lu was too far away to reach in time.
• Luo Bin stared at his trembling fingers, hesitating as he tried to decide what to do.

Luo Bin realized Xu Lu had been moved and was in grave danger as Little Earth Aspect attacked the Talisman Arts Taoist Grounds. He Huangdao’s attempt to have one of two Yin Spirit Projection patriarchs possess Xu Lu neared completion, while Xu Shanding could not leave his post guarding the dragon vein.

• Luo Bin concluded that the Third Consecrator had taken Xu Lu away and feared that several Yin Spirit Projection practitioners from Little Earth Aspect had attacked the Talisman Arts Taoist Grounds.
• Mao Yousan sensed an overwhelming foreboding while refining the Dao corpses, abandoned his work, and began setting up a defensive formation.
• He Huangdao burned through Xu Sangang’s talisman defenses with blood and flammable liquid, then let two Yin Spirit Projection patriarchs compete to possess Xu Lu.
• Xu Shanding divined that Xu Lu was about to die but remained at the Golden Well Acupoint Eye because leaving would expose the mountain to ghosts and fierce corpses.
• One patriarch forced the other out of Xu Lu and began taking over his body as Xu Lu resisted attempting a deadly talisman; the possessing spirit said he would support Xu Lu’s wife in Xu Lu’s body.

Luo Bin used the first hexagram to divine Xu Lu’s fate and discovered that Xu Lu had likely suffered Soul Seizure. By combining Fate-Suppressing Objects and Hexagram Speech Manifestation, Luo Bin pierced the barrier around Xu Lu’s fate, but the reading foretold mounting misfortune and left Xu Lu’s fate unresolved.

• Luo Bin realized Xu Lu might have been possessed through Soul Seizure and panicked when he could not divine Xu Lu’s fate.
• Luo Bin took Bai Xian and Fourth Master Gray to a raft on the Hanging River and used Lama Agong’s Thangka to keep Xu Lu’s image from fading.
• Luo Bin weighed down his fate with a Compass and the Black-Gold Toad, then cast Hexagram Speech Manifestation and successfully divined Xu Lu’s fate.
• Luo Bin interpreted the Difficulty hexagram as matching Xu Lu’s recent trials and warning that his pursuit of Ma Heidao’s inheritance would bring misfortune.
• The Black-Gold Toad croaked across the river as Luo Bin’s reading ended, while Xu Lu’s fate remained uncertain.

Luo Bin risked his life to complete a divination hexagram and alter Xu Lu’s fate during the projected Yin Spirit’s attempt to seize his body. He completed the hexagram with unexpected help from Mao Yousan, but the black-gold toad and Bai Xian sensed a new danger as Luo Bin spotted a mountain in the distance.

• Luo Bin used his fingers to alter the hexagram and resist the Yin Spirit’s soul seizure, bleeding from all seven openings as he struggled to finish it.
• Xu Lu regained enough will to resist the Fourth Grand Grounds Master, but He Huangdao and the Third Grand Grounds Master raised his hands so the Yin Spirit could control his body and cast seals.
• Fourth Master Gray fed Luo Bin medicinal human blood while Bai Xian urged him to stop, but Luo Bin kept trying to move his locked ring finger.
• Mao Yousan sensed Luo Bin’s peril through their Talisman Seals and followed the hexagram’s momentum, helping Luo Bin complete the final two lines.
• Luo Bin completed the hexagram and the spirit possession pressure vanished, but the black-gold toad cried out in alarm as he saw a mountain in the distance.

Xu Shanding left the Dragon-Spine Golden Well to save Xu Lu after his divination revealed a path to preserve the Talisman Arts Lineage, and he trapped the fourth Grand Grounds Master's Yin Spirit. As Xu Shanding fought the third Grand Grounds Master, Xu Sangang's corpse tripped He Huangdao and his animated head bit into He Huangdao's neck.

• Xu Lu spat blood as the fourth Grand Grounds Master's Yin Spirit was blasted from his body and could not possess him again.
• Xu Shanding appeared at the doorway and sealed the fourth Grand Grounds Master's Yin Spirit inside a jade talisman.
• Xu Shanding explained that he had left the Golden Well after his ninth hexagram revealed Xu Lu's changed fate and a chance to stop Little Earth Aspect.
• The third Grand Grounds Master tried to kill Xu Lu, but Xu Shanding struck him with a Gold-Leaf Talisman and attacked with his jade talisman.
• He Huangdao lunged at Xu Shanding, but Xu Sangang's corpse tripped him and Xu Sangang's head bit into his neck.

Xu Shanding suppressed the Little Earth Aspect’s Yin Spirits and realized that Luo Bin’s First Hexagram had altered several fates, then gave Xu Lu the talismans and went to jump into the Golden Well. As the fourth Grand Grounds Master’s Yin Spirit moved to possess Xu Lu, Xu Lu began drawing a talisman despite years of believing he could not.

• Xu Shanding immobilized He Huangdao and the other Yin Spirit with jade talismans while Xu Sangang’s reanimated head consumed He Huangdao.
• Xu Shanding explained that Xu Lu’s lost memories and damaged aptitude stemmed from his soul-splitting and impatience, then recognized that Luo Bin’s First Hexagram had changed their fates.
• Xu Shanding gave Xu Lu the two talismans and headed for the Golden Well, telling him to save others as he had been saved.
• The fourth Grand Grounds Master’s Yin Spirit reappeared and threatened to possess Xu Lu, whose incomplete soul made him vulnerable.
• Xu Lu used his palm as paper and his finger as a brush to begin drawing a talisman, despite doubting that he could do it.

Luo Bin realized that changing Xu Lu’s fate had disrupted the dragon vein and released the corpse-ghosts, who were fleeing the Talisman Arts Taoist Grounds. After exposing a Shadow Ghost posing as Xu Jiuqu, Luo Bin used the Heavenly First Purple Flower Lantern on the real Xu Jiuqu and revealed an unknown soul possessing him.

• Luo Bin explained that the Third Consecrator had likely saved Xu Lu, but the intervention had weakened the dragon vein and caused upheaval.
• Luo Bin, Bai Xian, and Fourth Master Gray returned to the courtyard, where Miao Yun and Miao Tu escaped just before it collapsed.
• Luo Bin and the others saw corpse-ghosts heading toward the edge of the Talisman Arts Lineage’s territory, and Luo Bin feared the consequences of changing Xu Lu’s fate.
• Luo Bin struck down a Shadow Ghost disguised as Xu Jiuqu, then saw the real Xu Jiuqu emerge from the woods.
• Luo Bin shone the Heavenly First Purple Flower Lantern on Xu Jiuqu, exposing an old, unknown soul inside his body.