Chapter Summaries

Luo Bin exposed the ghost possessing He Lin'an and used talismans and Fate-Suppressing Objects to separate their souls, restoring He Lin'an to his body. He captured the ghost and prepared to question it about the Immortal Ascension Taoist Grounds.

• Luo Bin and his companions hid in Hua Qi’s cave while the Black Rakshakas searched for her outside.
• He Lin'an woke and warned that Hua Qi was connected to the Plague Ghost, but Luo Bin recognized the warning as a diversion and confirmed that a ghost had seized He Lin'an’s body.
• Luo Bin used talismans, a Crane-Bone Nail, and the Hanging Tortoise Mirror to split the possessing ghost’s soul from He Lin'an’s living soul.
• He Lin'an regained control of his body and thanked Luo Bin, Qin Tianqing, and Xiang Ke for saving him.
• He Lin'an revealed that the Immortal Ascension Taoist Grounds had marked the souls of its members to prevent them from exposing its secrets, and Luo Bin captured the remaining Shadow Ghost in a talisman.

He Lin'an explained that the Immortal Ascension Taoist Grounds had been invaded and that Director Wei and the Venue Master were in danger. Luo Bin’s group planned to approach Wu Jinluan’s residence and rescue the Venue Master, then Luo Bin waited at the cave entrance as a lone figure in old-fashioned wedding clothes approached.

• He Lin'an told Luo Bin and the others that remnants of the Heavenly Longevity Taoist Grounds and ghost-cultivating Yin-Yang Practitioners had invaded, captured the Immortal Ascension Taoist Grounds, and enshrined the Plague Ghost.
• He Lin'an warned that Director Wei had been trapped in the earth qi and proposed restoring the Venue Master’s consciousness to disrupt the invaders’ plans.
• Luo Bin decided the group would approach Wu Jinluan’s residence and wait for him, while Fourth Master Gray and Hua Qi’s silvergrass rats would dig tunnels and help guide them.
• Hua Qi offered to help find her brother-in-law, and Luo Bin warned the group to watch out for three black rakshasas.
• Luo Bin took watch at the cave entrance, waited about an hour, and saw a lone figure in black clothes, a round hat, and satin trousers approaching.

Luo Bin’s group reached the Immortal Ascension Taoist Grounds and planned how to confront the possessed leader without attracting the Plague Ghost. As Luo Bin approached a ghostly old man with the White Flower Lantern, the old man collapsed into a heap of colored worms.

• Lü Kan approached Luo Bin at the cave entrance, offered to help him, and left after Luo Bin refused.
• Luo Bin waited for the Black Rakshasas to head east, then led the group out of the cave with He Lin'an.
• He Lin'an guided the group to the Immortal Ascension Taoist Grounds and explained the layout and the possessed leader’s hidden basement.
• Miao Zi sensed a ghostly old man nearby, and Luo Bin used Fourth Master Gray’s possession before rushing toward him with the White Flower Lantern.
• The lantern’s light froze the old man, who then fell apart into red, white, and green worms.

Luo Bin’s group encountered Qin Weizi, whose obsession with finding Luo Xianshen led him away before they could be attacked by his Three Corpse Worms. They began a concealed tunnel plan to infiltrate the Immortal Ascension Taoist Grounds, while Luo Xianshen and Si Yan separately climbed Immortal Cave Mountain toward its supposed safety.

• Luo Bin extinguished the Primordial White Flower Lantern when Qin Weizi transformed into actual Three Corpse Worms, and Qin Weizi left after Luo Bin said Luo Xianshen was on the mountain.
• He Lin'an explained that Qin Weizi’s obsession drove him to search for Luo Xianshen and warned that Lord Tian’s Spring could not stop his actual worms.
• Luo Bin urged the group to secure the Immortal Ascension Taoist Grounds, then planned a precise underground passage with He Lin'an’s diagram and Hua Qi’s Reed Rats.
• Qin Tianqing concealed the digging site with Feng Shui while Hua Qi and Fourth Master Gray sent Reed Rats into the depression to dig.
• Luo Xianshen climbed the eastern side of the mountain with Divine Firmament Mountain’s people, trusting Wu Jinluan’s assurance that the Taoist Grounds would protect them.
• Si Yan climbed the western side toward the Taoist Grounds with a Yin-Yang Practitioner, expecting Luo Xianshen and the gathered Real Persons to meet there.

Wu Jinluan and the survivors of Heavenly Longevity plotted to use the Immortal Ascension Taoist Grounds to capture Luo Xianshen and seize control of the Thunder-Peace Taoist Abbey. After learning that Luo Xianshen had arrived with other Real Persons and Venue Masters, Wu Jinluan prepared to turn Si Yan into a Chasuo and exploit the dangers of Immortal Cave Mountain.

• Wu Jinluan trapped Old Gong in a White Bone Pagoda after Old Gong recognized that Wu Jinluan was possessed by a ghostly being.
• Old Gong refused to reveal who had come with Luo Xianshen, and Wu Jinluan learned that Luo Xianshen was accompanied by six Taoists of Real Person rank and two Venue Masters.
• A Yin-Yang Practitioner reported that Si Yan had been brought to the Tribute Hall, and Wu Jinluan decided to cultivate her into a Chasuo.
• The chapter revealed that Heavenly Longevity's survivors and the Pure Mountain Taoist Grounds had seized the Immortal Ascension Taoist Grounds to possess the monks and Taoists, control Lü Kan, and take revenge on Luo Xianshen.
• Wu Jinluan warned the practitioner not to approach Si Yan, then descended a hidden staircase in the Main Hall to make preparations.

Luo Bin ambushed Wu Jinluan in the Underground Room, using his Gu worms and the White Flower Lantern to subdue him and immobilize the ghosts emerging from his body. Hua Qi captured the ghosts in a White Bone Pagoda, and Wu Jinluan warned that something terrible was about to happen.

• Luo Bin waited in the Underground Room while his Gu worms and Miao Zi hid by the entrance, ready to attack Wu Jinluan.
• Wu Jinluan entered, and Luo Bin's Gu worms poisoned and bound him while a black-and-gold toad pinned his living soul.
• Hua Qi emerged from the hole as numerous female ghosts came out of Wu Jinluan, and Luo Bin's White Flower Lantern froze them in place.
• Liang Geng waited outside the Main Hall, unaware that Luo Bin had infiltrated Wuge.
• Hua Qi used the White Bone Pagoda to capture the female ghosts, and Elder Gong appeared from it and swallowed Wu Jinluan's soul back into his body.
• Wu Jinluan awoke, recognized that Shashaduo had been subdued, and urgently told Luo Bin to release him because something terrible was about to happen.

Luo Bin recognized that Old Gong had eaten the soul possessing Wu Jinluan and learned that enemies had trapped Si Yan, infected Thunder-Peace Taoist Abbey with true worms, and captured the city gods. As Luo Bin prepared to confront the Immortal Ascension Taoist Grounds, Mountain Lord Jingshan Yue gathered hundreds of ghosts, and he emerged with a white lantern, an ocarina, and a strange seven-eyed companion carrying a blood-red wooden sword.

• Old Gong swallowed the soul possessing Wu Jinluan, who warned that the act could bring disaster.
• Old Gong told Luo Bin that Si Yan was trapped, Daoist Luo was being lured to the mountain, the Taoist abbey was infected with true worms, and the Ghost Dean was fighting a plague ghost.
• Luo Bin ordered Wu Jinluan to stay behind, freed him from the silkworm silk, and set Crane-Bone Nails and a Hanging Tortoise Mirror at the basement door.
• At the Immortal Ascension Taoist Grounds, the geomancers learned their Venue Master had died, and Jingshan Yue summoned nine five-prison ghosts and a twenty-eight hell-prison executioner.
• Jingshan Yue and the geomancers released hundreds of ghosts as Luo Bin emerged from the basement with a white lantern and ocarina beside a seven-eyed figure carrying a blood-red wooden sword.

Luo Bin used the White Flower Lantern, Miao King's Ocarina, Yin Hexagram Strangulation, and poison Gu to defeat the Immortal Ascension Taoist Grounds without killing its human practitioners. Wu Jinluan and the others joined him as he prepared to collect the immobilized ghosts.

• Jingshan Yue sent the ghosts after Luo Bin, but the White Flower Lantern froze them and Miao Zi cut down the Judicial Executor evil ghost.
• Jingshan Yue tried to flee, but summoned poisonous creatures blocked the gate and poured into the grounds.
• Luo Bin spoke hexagrams that made dozens of charging practitioners collapse, while Miao Zi and the poison Gu subdued Jingshan Yue.
• The remaining practitioners rushed the Main Hall but fell to Luo Bin's invisible miasma and Black-Gold Toad venom.
• Luo Bin called Wu Jinluan to collect the ghosts, and Wu Jinluan handed him the Crane Bone Nail and Hanging Turtle Mirror.

Old Gong contained the ghosts while Luo Bin and the others gathered at the Immortal Ascension Taoist Grounds, where they learned Luo Xianshen’s group was in grave danger. Lü Kan arrived in a volatile state, and Luo Bin tried to calm him with an offer as Zi Miao moved in behind him.

• Hua Qi and Wu Jinluan collected some ghosts, then Old Gong enveloped the Main Hall and freed the living souls from the Soul-Seizing Persons.
• He Lin'an, Xiang Ke, and Qin Tianqing entered the grounds, and Wu Jinluan warned that Qin Weizi had contaminated the Thunder-Peace Taoist Abbey with True Worms.
• Hua Qi revealed that her Reed Rats had not found her brother-in-law, while Old Gong offered to search for Luo Xianshen despite Wu Jinluan's warning about the Earth Qi Ghosts.
• Lü Kan arrived and accused others of treating him as Luo Xianshen's replacement, then broke down over the abuse and isolation he had endured.
• Luo Bin offered Lü Kan ghosts connected to Luo Xianshen to calm him, while Zi Miao approached Lü Kan from behind.

Luo Bin and Miao Zi tried to restrain Lü Kan, but Qin Weizi’s three corpse worms invaded the group and trapped everyone in terrifying visions. As Qin Weizi advanced, the Immortal Ascension Grounds filled with colored mist and Luo Bin saw his parents and An Kong appear.

• Miao Zi attacked Lü Kan with his twelve Golden Silkworm Gu, while Qin Weizi erupted in fury at the sight of his disciple being hurt.
• Miao Zi’s gu worms enveloped Lü Kan and sealed his escaping earth qi, but Miao Zi’s Medicine Person poison filled the Taoist Grounds.
• Qin Weizi turned into corpse worms under heavenly thunder, then reformed as the worms advanced toward Luo Bin and invaded everyone’s minds.
• Si Yan and the others saw different figures and grew vulnerable to Middle Corpse White while Luo Bin used the White Flower Lantern to scatter Qin Weizi into three corpse worms.
• Luo Bin retreated onto the courtyard wall as white mist rose, then saw Luo Yong and He Lianxin reach for him while Yin Yuan and An Kong appeared behind them.

Luo Xianshen uncovered that Qing Ze'en had been seized by a spirit, while spreading supernatural mist ensnared the people on Immortal Cave Mountain. At the Ascension Ritual Ground, Luo Bin resisted Qin Weizi’s Three-Corpse Worm Mist with Qin Tianqing’s jade slip and fled, but remained trapped and unsure whether help would arrive.

• Luo Xianshen confronted Qing Ze'en about his anxious behavior and used the Divine Firmament Fourfold Defense Mirror to reveal that a spirit had seized him.
• Three-colored mist spread across Immortal Cave Mountain, distorting the emotions of Luo Xianshen’s group and drawing Taoists from the Thunder-Peace Taoist Abbey down the mountain.
• Luo Xianshen resisted visions of Qi Hua and his family after Si Yan warned him that the Insect Corpse was interfering with his mind.
• Qin Tianqing briefly regained clarity with a Heavenly Mechanism Jade Slip and threw it to Luo Bin before the Three Corpse Worms overwhelmed him.
• Luo Bin used the jade slip to clear his mind and fled Qin Weizi’s attack, then wondered whether to wait for help or risk moving through the mist.

Luo Bin escaped the ghosts and Black Rakshasas, then climbed into the Thunder-Peace Patriarch statue to find Lord Tian’s Spring. He reached a jade well, but its inscription revealed that the water was the Three Corpses Spring and warned that drinking it would release the three corpses.

• Luo Bin reasoned that Qin Tianqing had chosen him because he had a chance to escape, then went to the Immortal Ascension Taoist Grounds to capture a ghost and replenish his lamp oil.
• A ghost sprang from the pit, and Luo Bin captured it with the White Flower Lantern before sensing the Black Rakshasas approaching and fleeing.
• Luo Bin recognized that the Thunder-Peace Patriarch statue’s position led toward Lord Tian’s Spring and climbed into a passage through its mouth.
• From inside the statue, Luo Bin saw Qin Tianqing standing stiffly in the courtyard and realized the statue’s breath dispersed the Three Corpse Worm mist.
• Luo Bin crawled through the statue into a chamber and found a jade well of clear blue water, but its inscription identified it as the Three Corpses Spring and warned of its deadly effect.

Luo Bin resisted the urge to drink from Lord Tian's Spring and rested, unaware that three true worms were hiding in its water. Elsewhere, Wei Youming's standoff with the second Plague Ghost collapsed, unleashing the mountain's dangers as both vanished and the Plague Ghost scattered through the earth energy.

• Luo Bin decided Lord Tian's Spring was too dangerous to drink from and used the Three Altar Great Precepts to suppress the urge it stirred in him.
• Luo Bin fell asleep while three true worms swam in Lord Tian's Spring, unseen by him and Fourth Master Gray.
• Wei Youming continued guarding the second Plague Ghost in the City God Temple and refused to leave before the ghost recovered.
• Elder Gong arrived and urged Wei Youming to help the possessed Taoists and rescue those threatened by Old Qin's madness.
• Elder Gong's trick was exposed, and Wei Youming seized a clump of ghost aura containing part of him as strange worm-filled mist gathered over the hollow.
• Zhou Si and the ghosts vanished, Wei Youming disappeared, and the second Plague Ghost exploded into spreading earth energy, releasing the dangers across Immortal Cave Mountain.

Luo Bin explored a hidden chamber beneath Immortal Mountain Cave and discovered the remains of Heavenly Longevity Abbey Masters alongside a mutilated Thunder-Peace Yang Spirit Patriarch. The clues suggested the abbey’s corpses had reanimated and left, and Luo Bin found that the Patriarch’s great pill was already gone.

• Luo Bin resisted the temptation of Lord Tian's Spring and climbed past sealed chambers toward the surface.
• Luo Bin opened a frequently used stone chamber and found a corpse from Heavenly Longevity Taoist Abbey among thirteen coffins and twelve spirit tablets.
• Luo Bin identified the tablets as belonging to Heavenly Longevity Abbey Masters and found the shattered tablet of a Thunder-Peace Yang Spirit Patriarch in the rearmost coffin.
• Luo Bin concluded that the corpses had undergone sha-transforming and reanimated, explaining the Patriarch’s mutilation and the empty coffins.
• Luo Bin searched the Thunder-Peace Patriarch’s abdomen for his great pill and discovered that someone had already removed it.

Luo Bin sealed a ghostly corpse-worm spirit inside Lord Tian's Spring and climbed out of the mountain ruins, concluding that the Yang Spirit Great Core was somewhere above. The Black-Gold Toad sensed the core and led him toward it, while Luo Bin entered a side hall and found three portraits of strikingly similar people.

• Luo Bin inferred that the Thunder-Peace Patriarch's Yang Spirit Great Core had been removed after the abbey's disaster, and Fourth Master Gray ate the corpse's eyes and toes.
• A resentful ghost attacked Luo Bin as corpse worms, but Luo Bin drove them down the stairs with the Heavenly Mechanism Jade Slip and pursued them to Lord Tian's Spring.
• Luo Bin trapped the ghostly figure and three corpse worms in Lord Tian's Spring with talismans, then reinforced the stone chamber with more seals.
• After climbing for a day and a half, Luo Bin emerged into the ruins and found no people nearby.
• The Black-Gold Toad sensed the Yang Spirit Great Core and crawled toward it as Luo Bin circled to a nearby side hall.
• Luo Bin entered the clean hall and found three portraits whose subjects looked remarkably alike, though none resembled Zhou Sanming.

Luo Bin followed the Black-Gold Toad through the corrupted Thunder-Peace Taoist Abbey, where he found the Yang Spirit Great Core left unguarded and discovered a living man chained before three coffins. The man’s face was identical to Grandmaster Lei Ping’s, leaving Luo Bin confronted with another mystery.

• Luo Bin examined offerings of bones, skin, and a sword-wounded face, then concluded that the face had a Taoist countenance unlike the Monk-Daoist Thunder-Peace Patriarch in the coffin.
• Two corpse-liberated Taoists poured Blood Rice over the face and ate it while discussing the abbey’s corruption and an outsider monk.
• Luo Bin followed the Black-Gold Toad to the abbey’s main hall and found the Yang Spirit Great Core sitting unguarded on an offering table.
• After sensing another living person, the Black-Gold Toad led Luo Bin through a hidden doorway beneath the offering table.
• Luo Bin entered a dark chamber and found a living man chained to the floor before three coffins, whose face looked identical to Grandmaster Lei Ping’s.

Luo Bin freed Daoist Divine Firmament and learned how Heavenly Longevity’s Dao Corpses had devastated the Thunder-Peace Taoist Abbey. They found Qin Weizi’s coffin, where his corpse had grown dense white feathers, leaving Luo Bin to face the possibility that Qin Weizi had undergone Ascension and could become a Yang Spirit.

• Luo Bin met Divine Firmament, who explained how the former Abbey Masters, the Three Insects, and the Thunder-Peace Patriarch had brought disaster to the abbey.
• Luo Bin used his Gu Worms to free Divine Firmament and gave him Medicine Person Blood to help him stand.
• Luo Bin took the Yang Spirit Great Core, and he and Divine Firmament crossed the abbey while Fourth Master Gray helped them avoid the Corpse Liberation Daoists.
• Luo Bin and Divine Firmament reached the side hall where Qin Weizi was held, and Luo Bin opened the coffin.
• Luo Bin found Qin Weizi’s corpse covered in white feathers and realized that its Corpse Core and Yang Spirit Great Core might let him undergo Ascension.

Luo Bin resolved to summon Qin Weizi’s soul rather than destroy his Corpse Core, while Luo Xianshen struggled against the Blood Corpse’s illusions in the woods. Qin Weizi appeared lucid and reached Luo Xianshen, but his worm-infested form attacked him as he shouted that time was up.

• Luo Bin recognized Yu Xiu as Lü Kan’s wife and learned that her power had grown through their unusual bond.
• Luo Bin told the Divine Firmament Daoist he would summon Qin Weizi’s soul, accepting that the Corpse Worms would disappear whether the attempt succeeded or failed.
• Luo Xianshen resisted the Blood Corpse’s illusions, which preyed on his attachment to Hua Ying and his family.
• A lucid Qin Weizi appeared behind Luo Xianshen, lamented that he could not take him as a disciple, then changed his mind and approached him.
• Qin Weizi grabbed Luo Xianshen’s shoulder and shouted that time was up, but his body broke into corpse worms that surged toward Luo Xianshen’s face.

Luo Xianshen briefly awakened Qin Weizi with the Five Purifications Curse and the Divine Firmament Four Sovereigns Mirror, but Qin Weizi revealed that he had been manipulating him all along. As corpse worms invaded Luo Xianshen and he collapsed under the betrayal, Qin Weizi urged him to stop resisting.

• Luo Xianshen used the Divine Firmament Four Sovereigns Mirror and the Five Purifications Curse to repel and burn Qin Weizi’s corpse worms without destroying him.
• Qin Weizi briefly regained his lucidity, recognized Luo Xianshen, and praised him while mistaking him for Mao Zhan.
• Qin Weizi surrounded Luo Xianshen with worm mist and accused him of abandoning the Yin-Yang Arts and betraying his plans.
• Sun Zhuo’s warning that Qin Weizi was the masked figure behind the theft of Luo Xianshen’s fate echoed in Luo Xianshen’s mind as he struggled to recite the curse.
• Qin Weizi revealed that he intended to reshape Luo Xianshen, while corpse worms invaded his body and left him overwhelmed by grief and betrayal.

Luo Bin summoned Qin Weizi back into his body, but Qin Weizi revealed his greedy and vicious nature and attacked him. As Luo Bin fought back, the Plague Ghost’s influence and the corpse worms were drawn toward the summit, while the danger in the Immortal Ascension Taoist Grounds continued.

• Luo Bin completed a sixty-four-hexagram soul-summoning array, drawing the mist and three-corpse worms from Immortal Cave Mountain into Qin Weizi’s body.
• Qin Tianqing and the others regained their senses as the corpse worms departed, while the Plague Ghost confronted Lü Kan and the three black rakshasas approached Hua Qi.
• Qin Weizi’s soul was summoned away from Luo Xianshen, freeing him from the external influence but leaving him distressed and coughing black blood.
• Qin Weizi revived at the summit, but Luo Bin recognized his false compassion and put away the Great Core; Qin Weizi then broke Luo Bin’s wrist and crushed his shoulder while reaching for it.
• The Daoist Shenxiao attacked Qin Weizi, but his sword lodged in the corpse’s bone, and the Black Gold Toad failed to restrain him.
• Luo Bin struck Qin Weizi’s hand with a talisman and recited an incantation as he prepared to fight back.