Chapter Summaries

Luo Bin and the others watched Black City Monastery’s battle turn desperate as Kong An summoned powerful deities and Mao Zhan was nearly destroyed. Tang Wu revealed that Zhang Shouyi had attained the Divine Yang Spirit, while Luo Bin prepared a risky move using Zi Miao’s blood and Gu insects.

• Liu Yinping’s sword pressed Kong An while Mao Zhan attacked the pursuing deities and the Old Sinpo tried to possess Kong An.
• Luo Xianshen and Zhang Poxuan engaged Ba Qin, while a deity emerging from Kong An drove the Old Sinpo away and helped him counter Liu Yinping.
• Kong An’s Black Rakshasas combined into the Angba Body Deity, which struck Mao Zhan down and tried to devour his scattered soul.
• Tang Wu emerged with Zhang Shouyi’s Divine Yang Spirit, struck the Angba Body Deity, and pulled Mao Zhan’s soul back together.
• Luo Bin gave Fourth Master Gray Zi Miao’s Blood Heart, then cut himself and Zi Miao before Gu insects enveloped them both.

Luo Bin used Miao Zi’s life force to empower three Yang Spirit hosts, then let Mao Zhan possess him so they could break apart Angba Body’s deity and expose its true form. After severing the Black Rakshasa Deputy Chief Seat’s head, Luo Bin and Mao Zhan continued fighting Angba Body as the battle’s outcome began to turn.

• Luo Bin accepted Miao Zi’s life force and used three enhancement hexagrams to strengthen Luo Xianshen, Zhang Poxuan, and Tang Wu.
• Luo Bin summoned Mao Zhan into his body, and Mao Zhan used Taoist arts to drag away and weaken Angba Body’s principal deity.
• Luo Bin lit the White Flower Lantern, revealing the deity, and Mao Zhan used Luo Bin’s sword to sever the Deputy Chief Seat’s head and several of its hands.
• Angba Body’s true form lunged at Luo Bin, who leaped onto the main hall roof as Mao Zhan cast another spell against it.
• Luo Bin charged at Angba Body’s true form and swung the lightning-struck blood-peach sword in a talisman-shaped strike.

Luo Bin and the others unleashed three Altar-Opening Thunder Methods against Ba Qin and Kong An, leaving both badly injured and their deities nearly destroyed. The Patriarchs withdrew from their hosts, and Miao Zi collapsed after his vitality was exhausted.

• Luo Bin and Mao Zhan struck the true Angba Body with a sword and Thunder Method, scattering it and shifting the battle in their favor.
• Mao Zhan targeted Kong An with the Thunderstruck Blood Peach Sword and summoned green-and-crimson altar-opening heavenly thunder as Ba Qin rushed to Kong An's side.
• Bai Zi and Zhang Poxuan opened altars, and their two bolts of heavenly thunder struck the gathered deities and the two Bosin.
• Ba Qin was left kneeling and severely burned, while Kong An stood with much of his limbs charred away and his aura weakened.
• Bai Zi, the Celestial Master Temple Patriarchs, and Mao Zhan left their hosts, and Luo Bin sank to one knee as Miao Zi fell with his vitality drained.

Luo Bin and the others discovered that Ba Qin had summoned the remaining Sinpos and a horde of Black Rakshasas, leaving their force badly outmatched. As the elders prepared to flee, Luo Bin insisted they stay, with the battle still raging and the threat centered on Kong An.

• Luo Bin returned the remaining blood to Miao Zi, then carried him to Qin Tianqing, Xu Lu, and the others while watching the battle.
• Ba Qin revealed the deity Gundasangbu, blocked Liu Yinping's attacks, and Mao Zhan disintegrated after explaining Gundasangbu's place among the deities.
• Four Sinpos and many Black Rakshasas arrived, while Kong An began chanting with kapala beads made from Black Rakshasa bones.
• Kong An's chant prompted a call for the Real Person elders to summon their Patriarchs, but Zhang Poxuan, Tang Wu, and Luo Shenxian were too depleted to do so readily.
• Luo Muye urged the group to retreat, while Xu Lu argued that they had to kill Kong An before he escaped.
• Qin Tianqing recommended leaving, but Luo Bin firmly insisted that they stay.

As Wei Youming and the others attacked the Cham Black Rakshasas, Kong An’s Offering Mantra turned them into sacrifices and unleashed the mind-disturbing Sa Gods. With the group’s resistance crumbling, Kong An asked Luo Bin to return as his Chief Seat.

• Qin Tianqing urged Luo Bin and Xu Lu to retreat, while Xu Lu insisted they stake their lives and the elders continued inviting their Patriarchs.
• Kong An chanted the Offering Mantra as Wei Youming, Luo Bin, and the Taoist ghosts attacked the Cham Black Rakshasas.
• The Cham Black Rakshasas died without resisting, and grotesque deities emerged from their bodies as the chant spread through Black City Monastery.
• Luo Muye explained that the Sa Gods used the dead as sacrifices and that their influence would drive most people mad, while the Red-Robed Taoists’ minds began to falter.
• Kong An stood and asked Luo Bin whether he would remain Venue Master, become Miao King of Three Perils Mountain, or return as Kong Chen, his Chief Seat and disciple.

Liu Yinping destroyed his Great Core to cripple Ba Qin and wound the Sinpos, but the Taoists remained surrounded until Living Buddha Deduo and a host of Lamas arrived. Zhang Poxuan called for the Taoists to finish off Black City Monastery, while Ba Qin offered to let them leave and Elder Gong rejected his terms.

• Xu Lu exploded his ghostly body to break Kong An’s influence, but the Black Rakshasas still overwhelmed the exhausted Taoists.
• Liu Yinping used the Nine Swords of the Pure Yang Taoist Abbey and destroyed his Great Core, killing himself while badly injuring Ba Qin and the Sinpos.
• Ba Qin ordered the Black Rakshasas to attack, and Tang Wu rallied the Taoists to form their ranks.
• Two Buddhist staffs struck Sinpos, and Living Buddha Deduo arrived with a huge gathering of Lamas and Ascetic Monks, surrounding the Black Rakshasas.
• Zhang Poxuan identified himself as a True Cultivator of the Heavenly Master Temple and urged the Taoists to summon their Grandmaster and slay the enemy.
• Ba Qin offered to let the Taoists leave, but Elder Gong mocked his offer.

Kong An killed Ba Qin and challenged the Tibetan Lands’ claim to judge who could become a Buddha. Living Buddha Deduo answered by clubbing Kong An to death, then was torn apart by vultures, leaving the monastery’s deities and monks on the verge of conflict as Qin Tianqing ordered everyone to flee.

• Living Buddha Deduo agreed that Kong An could be dealt with, but Ba Qin tried to hand him over and Kong An killed Ba Qin with Gau Bone Beads made from Black Rakshasa bones.
• Kong An revealed that he had been a Living Buddha in past lives and argued that Deduo and the old Buddhas should face the same judgment as him.
• Kong An challenged Deduo to say whether a killer could lay down the blade and become a Buddha, trapping Deduo between sparing Kong An and condemning himself.
• Deduo leaped at Kong An and smashed him with his Buddhist staff, but vultures then dragged Deduo into the air and devoured him.
• The monks and deities prepared to confront one another, so Qin Tianqing ordered the elders and disciples to leave Black City Monastery immediately.

Luo Bin broke away from the retreating Taoists to free the Black Prison’s captives before escaping the mist-covered Black City Monastery. At the riverbank, the survivors regrouped and prepared to return home, while Luo Bin asked whether Tianji Mountain might have a Pill Corpse.

• Luo Bin left the protective group and went with Xu Lu and Wei Youming to free the prisoners in the Black Prison using Miao Zi’s gu worms.
• Xu Lu and Luo Bin announced their names to the captives as the locks were corroded, and a large crowd fled the monastery.
• Luo Bin saw the gray mist engulf the Black City Monastery and reflected on Senior Mao Zhan and the deity trapped inside.
• Luo Bin rejoined the Taoists at the riverbank, where Qin Tianqing explained that the one who veiled the heavens had once been human and that Deduo had defeated him through shared principles.
• Qin Tianqing said Xiang Ke was bringing the convoy, and Luo Bin asked whether Tianji Mountain had a Pill Corpse.

Luo Bin and Qin Tianqing discussed obtaining Corpse Cores and considered Hu Taiqing’s offer to help, while Luo Bin weighed Rinpoche’s warning about white-eyed wolves following the group. At noon, Zhang Poxuan invited Luo Bin to the Celestial Master Abbey on the Grand Celestial Master’s behalf, but Luo Bin refused, and Qin Tianqing challenged the urgency of the abbey’s business.

• Qin Tianqing agreed to seek Corpse Cores with Luo Bin, and Hu Taiqing offered information and help from Nine-Peak Iron Temple Mountain.
• Luo Bin followed Luo Muye away from the group, then privately told Qin Tianqing that Rinpoche had warned him a pack of white-eyed wolves was trailing them.
• Luo Bin concluded the wolves would follow him regardless and said he was making sensible use of the warning by bringing in suitable help.
• Luo Muye did not return by noon, and Zhang Poxuan invited Luo Bin to the Celestial Master Abbey for a discussion with the Grand Celestial Master.
• Luo Bin refused the invitation, and Qin Tianqing pointed out that Heavenly Mechanism Mountain’s occupation by the Unlived Persons was already a grave matter.

Luo Bin and his companions left the Tibetan Lands after reflecting on Deduos's death and Kong An's fate. When Luo Bin woke at a service area, Gu Worms covered him, including twelve Gu Silkworm Gold Bars clinging to his face, and he called someone in alarm.

• Xu Lu declined to travel to Four-Rules Mountain and asked Luo Xianshen to have Female-One Patriarch check Bai Xian for deities.
• Hu Taiqing and Luo Bin discussed Luo Muye's possible atonement, while Qin Tianqing suggested they leave the debate aside and get into the car.
• Luo Bin and Qin Tianqing saw a monk making full-body prostrations along the road, and Qin Tianqing said Deduos's death had helped others live and passed on Buddha-nature.
• Luo Bin deduced that Kong An had been eaten by the Sa God before his death and that his sacrifice had triggered the Heaven-Veiling Object.
• After the group left the Tibetan Lands, Luo Bin woke at a service area to find Gu Worms covering the vehicle and twelve Gu Silkworm Gold Bars protruding from his face.
• Luo Bin wondered whether the Gu Worms were protecting him or signaling a danger, recalled the Rinpoche's prophecy, and dialed a phone number.

Luo Bin discovered that the White Flower Lantern was close to breaking and repaired it before its ghosts could escape, then traveled with the Taoists to Iron Temple Mountain. At the mountain abbey, Fourth Master Gray recognized the approaching newcomer as White-Eyed Wolf.

• Luo Bin found White Silkworm Gu clinging to the White Flower Lantern and realized Jingshan Yue was among the ghosts whose souls might escape.
• Luo Bin felt a chilling presence from the lantern, found a split in one of its petals, and repaired it with petals and the Dragon-Whisker Needle.
• Luo Bin told Heaven-Dumping Qin about the incident, and the group rested briefly before resuming their journey.
• Luo Bin and the Taoists reached Iron Temple Mountain on the evening of the third day and entered its abbey.
• Fourth Master Gray sensed a musky stink, then recognized the newcomer entering the courtyard as White-Eyed Wolf.

Luo Bin and his companions met Chang Xin at Nine-Peak Iron Temple Mountain and learned that he was Mao Yousan’s registered disciple, easing their suspicions. After settling in, Luo Bin and Xu Lu discussed the danger posed by White-Eyed Wolf and Yuan Yinxin, and Luo Bin explained that he hoped to consult a Mountain Embryo Spirit to help Mao Yousan.

• Hu Taiqing explained that Chang Xin practiced Spirit-Riding Emergence with White Wolf and was both the Abbey Master's personal disciple and Mao Yousan's registered disciple.
• Fourth Master Gray recognized Chang Xin's connection to Mao Yousan, and Luo Bin and Chang Xin awkwardly accepted one another as fellow disciples.
• Hu Taiqing left to report to the Abbey Master, while Chang Xin escorted Luo Bin, Qin Tianqing, and Shangguan Xingyue to their rooms.
• After Fourth Master Gray slipped away, Luo Bin and Xu Lu privately assessed Chang Xin and agreed they should leave once they obtained information the next day.
• Luo Bin told Xu Lu that reaching a Mountain Embryo Spirit might reveal why Heaven-Veiling Objects formed and help Mao Yousan either succeed or abandon his plan.

Luo Bin resolved to help Mao Yousan avoid becoming an uncanny thing, but Jingshan Yue used Wei Youming’s name badge to appear to possess him and attack Luo Bin with the damaged White Flower Lantern. After Luo Bin repaired the lantern, a white-eyed figure appeared at the window.

• Luo Bin decided that his greatest goal was to help Mao Yousan avoid becoming an uncanny thing within the Heaven-and-Earth Veil.
• Wei Youming appeared beside Luo Bin’s bed holding the Primordial White Flower Lantern, while Green Ghosts trapped Luo Bin in the Fierce Prison.
• The black-and-gold toad disrupted the attack, and Wei Youming caught a finger emerging from the lantern’s hole.
• Jingshan Yue appeared from the smoke clutching Wei Youming’s name badge as ghosts in striped hospital gowns swarmed toward her.
• Luo Bin sealed and repaired the lantern, then spotted an enormous white-eyed head at the window.

Luo Bin realized Pure Mountain Taoist Grounds had likely refined Wei Youming into a Myriad Evil Ghost and that Jingshan Yue had once sought to cultivate an equally dangerous Infant Ghost. Wei Youming left Jingshan Yue trapped among the vengeful ghosts and asked Luo Bin to destroy the Infant Ghost, ending with the ghosts continuing their revenge.

• At Pure Mountain Taoist Grounds, Jingshan Yue’s senior brothers failed to summon her soul back and suspected her fate was connected to Song Fang and the Myriad Evil Ghost.
• Luo Bin reasoned that Jingshan Yue and Pure Mountain Taoist Grounds had targeted Wei Youming, possibly refining him into a Myriad Evil Ghost.
• Luo Bin viewed Wei Youming’s Fierce Prison, where ghosts tormented Jingshan Yue and Wei Youming refused to let Luo Bin destroy her soul.
• Wei Youming explained that the ghosts were avenging Song Fang and asked Luo Bin to use his sword to annihilate the Infant Ghost.
• Jingshan Yue pleaded with Luo Bin as the ghosts drained her, while Wei Youming said the Infant Ghost might escape if left unsupervised.

Luo Bin destroyed the child soul of a mother-and-child fiend and learned that the Pure Mountain Taoist Grounds had cultivated the dangerous ghost. At Iron Temple Mountain, Abbey Master Liu Taixuan welcomed him with medicinal gifts, then privately asked him to obtain an additional corpse core and led him away to explain.

• Luo Bin pinned the Infant Ghost with the Black-Gold Toad and destroyed it with the Thunderstruck Blood Peach Sword.
• The corpse of Jingshan Yue rose at the Pure Mountain Taoist Grounds, and the Senior Brother ordered his juniors to protect her soul after realizing the child soul had been slain.
• Luo Bin told Qin Tianqing and Shangguan Xingyue that the Ghost Dean would watch the mother soul, while Chang Xin assured them that the Iron Temple Mountain Abbey Master wanted to meet him.
• Liu Taixuan greeted Luo Bin, credited Mao Yousan with saving Iron Temple Mountain from the outer five elements, and gave him medicinal herbs to help heal his injuries.
• After sending Chang Xin away, Liu Taixuan asked Luo Bin to obtain an extra corpse core and led him into a passage to explain his request.

Luo Bin reunited with the crippled Shi Gan on Iron Temple Mountain and learned how Yuan Yinxin had destroyed Sawu Mountain’s power and broken Shi Gan’s resolve. Luo Bin vowed to deal with Yuan Yinxin, and Shi Gan responded with an emotional applause.

• Liu Taixuan led Luo Bin through the guarded halls of Iron Temple Mountain to meet a hidden Cult Leader.
• Luo Bin recognized the frail man as Shi Gan, who explained that his bones had been extracted, his bonded Immortal Creature captured, and his cultivation lost.
• Shi Gan recounted how Yuan Yinxin and Yi Yi had devastated his followers and turned the outer five elements against him, leaving him convinced that Sawu Mountain could not recover.
• Luo Bin urged Shi Gan not to give up and declared that Yuan Yinxin was a fugitive who had usurped another’s home.
• Luo Bin vowed to purge Yuan Yinxin from the primordial calculation lineage, and Shi Gan clapped in response.

Luo Bin stopped Shi Gan from succumbing to despair after Yuan Yinxin appeared, then brought Qin Tianqing and Shangguan Xingyue to investigate Shi Gan for hidden tampering. Shangguan Xingyue found Yuan Yinxin’s soul lodged in Shi Gan and used the Seven Yin Talismans to burn it away, though Shi Gan was left weaker and Shangguan Xingyue was exhausted.

• Luo Bin recognized that Yuan Yinxin had affected Shi Gan and used the Primordial White Flower Lantern to interrupt his influence.
• Luo Bin stopped Shi Gan from striking himself and urged him to recover and preserve Sawu Mountain Abbey’s legacy.
• Luo Bin agreed with Liu Taixuan to seek at least two corpse cores, then brought Qin Tianqing and Shangguan Xingyue to examine Shi Gan.
• Qin Tianqing found nothing suspicious, but Shangguan Xingyue used a blood talisman to reveal a living soul Yuan Yinxin had hidden in Shi Gan’s fontanel.
• Shangguan Xingyue used her own soul and the Seven Yin Talismans to burn away Yuan Yinxin’s hidden soul, leaving Shi Gan weaker and herself pale and unsteady.

Luo Bin and his companions learned that the Pure Mountain Taoist Grounds on Golden Altar Mountain might hold the Pill Corpse they needed. Qin Tianqing believed the grounds had been left nearly empty, while Luo Bin connected its Venue Master to Song Fang and asked for more information before they acted.

• Shangguan Xingyue warned that the Blackblood Vine could exploit the ghosts in the Witch Ghost Pool, and Qin Tianqing urged them to prepare countermeasures.
• Luo Bin and the others told Liu Taixuan that Shi Gan had a hidden injury and returned to their lodgings, where Luo Bin shared medicinal broth with Shangguan Xingyue.
• Chang Xin showed them a map of Golden Altar Mountain and explained that its Pure Mountain Taoist Grounds held a rare feathered mother-and-child Corpse Fiend suited to producing a Pill Corpse.
• Qin Tianqing declared that the grounds would be easy to enter because most of its inhabitants had likely left, but Chang Xin cautioned that it was dangerous and guarded by many ghosts.
• Luo Bin linked the Venue Master's history to Song Fang, Wei Youming, Jingshan Yue, and Luo Xianshen, then asked Chang Xin whether he had a more complete map of the grounds.

Luo Bin’s group investigated the suspicious, unmapped half of the mountain range and climbed Golden Altar Mountain, where Shangguan Xingyue sensed a great corpse drawing on the mountain’s life force. They discovered Jingshan Yue atop a red coffin, nourished by three people, with Wei Youming appearing beside her.

• Luo Bin concluded that the map’s vague half and the known entrances to other supernatural sites made the mountain range suspicious, so he decided to investigate with Chang Xin and a large party of spirit mediums.
• After two days of travel and a day on foot, the group reached Golden Altar Mountain, where Shangguan Xingyue sensed four streams of qi and warned that a powerful corpse was being nourished there.
• The group rejected digging a tunnel and entered the mountain directly, finding burial mounds, green ghosts, and no living people along the way.
• Following the streams of life force, Luo Bin’s group reached a hall where three people fed their life force to Jingshan Yue, who lay atop a blood-red coffin with a hand protruding from her swollen abdomen.
• Wei Youming appeared beside Jingshan Yue, and the three people looked horrified when they saw Luo Bin’s group.

Luo Bin and his companions confronted Fu Yu and two masters at the Pure Mountain Taoist Grounds, killed them, and captured their ghosts. They discovered that Jingshan Yue’s ascended jade corpse was linked to the mountain, and Qin Tianqing began considering how to take it without causing the mountain to collapse.

• Luo Bin recognized that the life force sustaining Jingshan Yue’s corpse came from three men and that the surrounding corpses had become Lü Kan’s earth qi ghosts.
• Hu Taiqing confronted Fu Yu and his companions, who claimed ties to the Jiao Mountain Taoist Grounds and threatened retaliation if Jingshan Yue’s corpse was harmed.
• Qin Tianqing ordered the masters killed after Fu Yu revealed Jingshan Yue was the Mountain Lord’s daughter; White Wolf bit through Fu Yu’s neck, and Luo Bin trapped the escaping souls for Hu Taiqing to collect.
• Wei Youming spread the Fierce Prison across the hall to prevent any ghosts from escaping, while Xu Lu examined Jingshan Yue’s corpse and warned that its life force was linked to the mountain.
• Qin Tianqing said taking the Pill Corpse required preparation, and Xu Lu asked what he intended to do; Qin Tianqing replied that Xu Lu had just given them the solution.