Chapter Summaries

After learning that the Tang Family had sent a bounty-hunting force to kill them, Zhang Rong and the others fled Zhang Family Village. An ambush forced them into a fight, but the larger main force soon approached.

• Zhang Rong contacted Grandmaster Xiang Long, who revealed that the traitor was under Tang Family protection and that a group had been sent to kill them for a million each.
• Zhang Rong told the group that Grandmaster had arranged for hidden supporters to infiltrate the enemy, but the connection failed before he could identify them.
• Shi Xiu put out the fire, and the group packed supplies and fled Zhang Family Village to find high ground.
• An arrow narrowly missed the narrator when he fell and knocked Zhang Rong down, and the group came under attack from nine crossbowmen.
• The group fought back and wounded several attackers, who fled, but the narrator warned that they were likely scouts.
• Lights appeared nearby as the main force approached, and the group ran.

With the five companions scattered and the blizzard making it impossible to hide for long, the narrator used his knowledge of the terrain and improvised traps to ambush enemy search parties. He killed six pursuers and armed himself with a repeating crossbow, then finished off the last of a second group.

• Zhang Rong ordered the five companions to split up as dozens of enemies pursued them.
• The narrator shook off his pursuers but realized the cold and blizzard made it too dangerous to remain hidden.
• He followed tracks to a group of three and lured them toward a snow figure, killing them with his blade and a repeating crossbow.
• The narrator found another group of three approaching and posed as a snow-covered body to ambush them.
• He shot two men and chased down and killed the third with his blade.

Chen Mo found the wounded Zhang Rong hiding in a hollow and left him with food, water, a crossbow, and warm clothing. After returning to the bodies of the men he had killed to take a jacket, Chen Mo disguised himself as a grieving survivor and attacked two approaching men.

• After searching for nearly an hour, Chen Mo heard movement by a ledge and discovered Zhang Rong hiding in a hollow with a serious wound to his right leg.
• Zhang Rong explained that a wolf pack had attacked him and the men pursuing him, and he believed he would either be captured or freeze to death.
• Chen Mo gave Zhang Rong food, water, and his repeating crossbow, then left his padded coat with him and told him to stay hidden.
• Chen Mo returned to the bodies of his victims and put on an outdoor jacket for warmth.
• When two men approached with repeating crossbows, Chen Mo smeared blood on his face, pretended to mourn one of the dead men, and then lunged at them with a knife.

Chen Mo tried to trick a squad of seven into chasing imaginary enemies, but they caught him and recognized him as the man who had helped bring down their organization. As the squad beat him, a black bear charged toward them.

• Chen Mo scavenged food and a watch from two corpses, then killed three more people before dawn.
• Chen Mo tried to ambush a seven-person squad after luring them with a false story, but a tall man saw through him and threw him down.
• The squad leader questioned Chen Mo, struck him, and demanded his name; Chen Mo gave the false name Wu Yanzu.
• One squad member recognized Chen Mo and blamed him for the authorities' crackdown and the imprisonment of their comrades.
• The squad attacked Chen Mo, who spotted a black bear nearby and warned them as it charged.

Chen Mo survived a black bear attack after using Bewildering Soul Formation to confuse the bear, then escaped the hunters pursuing him. As a crowd surrounded him and attacked, Song Xiaotian arrived with a staff.

• A black bear killed the man who had recognized Chen Mo, while the tall hunter tried to use Chen Mo as bait.
• Chen Mo confused the bear with Bewildering Soul Formation, then exposed the invisible tall hunter by throwing a stone at him.
• Chen Mo fled as the bear attacked the tall hunter, and later searched for Zhuge Ming and the others without finding them.
• A dozen or so hunters surrounded Chen Mo as he rested and attacked when he refused to surrender.
• A metallic clink announced Song Xiaotian's arrival, and Chen Mo recognized the sound of short batons connecting.

Song Xiaotian rescued the narrator from an ambush in the mountains, and the narrator learned Grandmaster had drawn the attackers there as part of a plan involving the Tang Family and a traitor. After learning that sixty-two enemies were on the mountain, the narrator and Song Xiaotian split up to find Zhuge Ming and the others, while Song Xiaotian hinted that another ally was with him.

• Song Xiaotian appeared among the attackers and knocked them all down without killing them.
• The narrator killed the attackers who had tried to escape, while Song Xiaotian backed away from the blood.
• Song Xiaotian explained that a traitor had revealed Qingyang Temple's two squads to the Tang Family, and Grandmaster had used the betrayal to lure the attackers into the mountains.
• Song Xiaotian warned the narrator that the group numbered sixty-two and included a fugitive leader with a Level A Wanted Notice.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian agreed to search separately for Zhuge Ming and the others, using a Satellite Phone to stay in contact.
• Song Xiaotian revealed that another ally had joined them but refused to identify the person.

The narrator returned to Zhang Family Village to find Shi Xiu and another senior fellow disciple captured, but An Ning poisoned their guards and freed them. The chapter ended with An Ning recognizing the narrator and running to him.

• The narrator learned from an enemy that two companions had been taken to the Abandoned Village, killed him, and headed back to Zhang Family Village.
• The narrator found Shi Xiu and another senior fellow disciple bound and badly injured, with seventeen or eighteen enemies guarding them.
• The enemies summoned An Ning to complain about her noodles, and she admitted she had added too much poison.
• The poisoned guards collapsed and died, while An Ning searched their bodies and took their cash.
• The narrator called out to An Ning, who recognized his voice and ran toward him.

Chen Mo reunited with An Ning after eight months apart and rescued Zhang Rong, who had been left hiding in a pit. After catching up on news from home, Chen Mo and the others prepared to leave the mountain.

• Chen Mo embraced An Ning, while Song Xiaotian brought back an injured Zhuge Ming, who mistook her for an enemy before learning she was Chen Mo's girlfriend.
• An Ning told Chen Mo about her life and studies at Qingyun Temple, and Song Xiaotian realized Zhang Rong was missing.
• Chen Mo found Zhang Rong in a pit, carried him back to Zhang Family Village, and Song Xiaotian treated his injuries.
• While burying the enemy dead, Chen Mo heard from Song Xiaotian about Sun Tianyang's death and other news from home.
• Grandmaster called Song Xiaotian, who told everyone to pack up and prepare to head down the mountain.

After returning to Qingyang Temple, the narrator reunited with his master and reported what happened in the villages and the mysterious cave. Grandmaster arranged for someone to investigate the cave and told him that Chen Yanchu had come looking for him and Zhang Rong.

• The narrator parted from An Ning and Song Xiaotian at the foot of Qingyang Temple’s mountain, and An Ning gave him her stolen money to spend.
• The narrator and the others returned to Qingyang Temple, washed, changed into clean Daoist robes, and ate dinner.
• The narrator told Grandmaster about Shen Zhiyi, Gou Dan, the two villages, and the cave where he had seen someone who looked exactly like himself.
• Grandmaster asked the narrator to draw the cave’s location and called his eldest senior brother to investigate it.
• Grandmaster told the narrator that Chen Yanchu had visited Qingyang Temple and asked for him and Zhang Rong by name.

After returning to Qingyang Temple, the narrator and the others learned that Sun Zhaoming had betrayed them to the Tang Family. Grandmaster ordered Sun Zhaoming executed under the Mohist Sect’s rules, leaving his fellow disciples to watch as the elders carried out the sentence.

• Grandmaster and the elders returned to Qingyang Temple with Sun Zhaoming, then summoned both groups to the Steward's Office.
• Grandmaster confronted Sun Zhaoming about betraying the temple and recalled how he had raised and supported him.
• Sun Zhaoming said the Tang Family had threatened his wife and child, while Zhang Rong and the narrator's Master condemned him for not seeking their help.
• Sun Zhaoming confessed that he had revealed the temple's activities, the people involved, the narrator's presence, and where the junior brothers were hiding.
• Zhang Rong tried to strike Sun Zhaoming, but the narrator, Xiang Yifeng, and Martial Uncle Jingming restrained him.
• Grandmaster ordered several Martial Uncles to take Sun Zhaoming outside and behead him under the Mohist Sect's rules.

After Sun Zhaoming betrayed Qingyang Temple to the Tang Family, Zhang Rong and the others grieved his treachery and feared the Tang Family had learned the narrator’s identity. The narrator discovered that Grandmaster spared Sun Zhaoming and carried him away, apparently erasing his memories and leaving Qingyang Temple’s future uncertain.

• Zhuge Ming and Zhang Rong recalled how Qingyang Temple had once helped Sun Zhaoming and condemned him for betraying them to the Tang Family.
• Zhang Rong warned that Sun Zhaoming had exposed the group and might have revealed the narrator’s identity to the Tang Family.
• The narrator returned to the dormitory building to care for sick junior disciples and later spotted Grandmaster carrying the unconscious Sun Zhaoming toward the main gate.
• The narrator realized Grandmaster had spared Sun Zhaoming, who would likely wake with his memories of Qingyang Temple erased and live as an ordinary citizen.

Chen Mo and Zhang Rong met Chen Yanchu, a girl troubled by dreams of Shen Zhiyi, and realized she was likely Shen Zhiyi reincarnated. Chen Yanchu left Qingyang Temple with a protective talisman, while Chen Mo and Zhang Rong concluded that fate had brought her back to them.

• Chen Mo celebrated a lively New Year at Qingyang Temple with the temple’s many children and prayed for his loved ones’ safety and the Tang Family’s end.
• Master told Chen Mo that Chen Yanchu had come to see him and Zhang Rong with her parents.
• Chen Yanchu’s parents explained that she had been dreaming of a woman who froze to death, and Chen Yanchu described the woman as wearing a floral padded jacket.
• Chen Yanchu said the woman had told her to find Chen Mo and Zhang Rong at Qingyang Temple, leading them to suspect she was dreaming of Shen Zhiyi.
• Chen Yanchu’s father said she had changed her name two years earlier, and she explained that she liked it because their first meeting was like snow.
• Chen Mo gave Chen Yanchu a protective talisman, and she left two packets of biscuits with him and Zhang Rong before departing with her parents.

Chen Mo learned that an investigator found no murals or coffin in the cave, and Grandmaster advised him that the cave’s unusual magnetic field may have caused hallucinations. With only a month left before his return to Lanjiang City, Chen Mo met Hu Zhiwen, who came to Qingyang Temple about his father’s strange dream as the elderly Professor Hu neared death.

• Grandmaster told Chen Mo that an investigator found an ordinary cave with thin air and magnetic anomalies, and suggested Chen Mo’s visions had been hallucinations or effects of distorted time and space.
• Grandmaster warned Chen Mo to focus on training during his final months at Qingyang Temple and said everyone would lie low for at least six months because of Sun Zhaoming’s betrayal.
• Chen Mo and the other disciples spent the following months training and taking occasional Feng Shui jobs, while time passed until only a month remained before Chen Mo returned to Lanjiang City.
• Hu Zhiwen visited Qingyang Temple, and Chen Mo learned that Hu Zhiwen was the son of the respected scholar Hu Guoqing.
• Hu Zhiwen told Grandmaster that his father was close to death and had made arrangements for it, but had recently dreamed that someone wanted to keep him alive.

Hu Zhiwen told Grandmaster that a masked man had repeatedly stopped Underworld Deputies from taking his father’s soul, while seven corpses appeared in the Hu family courtyard. Grandmaster and Chen Mo suspected an outsider was using Seven Deaths for a Life to keep Old Mr. Hu alive, and Chen Mo guessed the Tang Family was behind it.

• Hu Zhiwen recounted Old Mr. Hu’s dream in which a masked man drove away Underworld Deputies trying to take him away.
• Hu Zhiwen said Old Mr. Hu saw seven gruesomely murdered corpses in the courtyard after the masked man sent the deputies away again.
• Grandmaster explained that the men were Living Human Underworld Deputies sent to reap Old Mr. Hu’s soul before his natural death.
• Grandmaster agreed to go to the Hu family home with Hu Zhiwen after lunch to investigate the masked man and the seven corpses.
• Chen Mo concluded that an outsider was likely using Seven Deaths for a Life to keep Old Mr. Hu alive and guessed the Tang Family was behind it.

Grandmaster and his granddisciple traveled to the Hu Family to investigate the threat against Professor Hu, whom they believed the Tang Family might be targeting for something he possessed. After arranging to summon an Underworld Deputy to collect Professor Hu’s soul, they waited for a reply while Grandmaster explained Professor Hu’s calm acceptance of death.

• During their stop at City A, Grandmaster warned that the Tang Family might force Professor Hu to reveal what they wanted after saving his life.
• Grandmaster and his granddisciple arrived at the Hu Family home that evening and found Professor Hu gravely ill and close to death.
• Professor Hu asked Grandmaster to resolve the trouble threatening him, and Grandmaster planned to summon the Underworld Deputy who had previously come for him.
• Grandmaster burned a Death Writ to request help from the Underworld and prepared to read its response from three incense sticks.
• While they waited, Grandmaster explained that Professor Hu’s study of the Book of Changes had helped him understand life and death as part of a natural cycle.

The narrator learned about Grandmaster’s history and his connection to Song Xiaotian’s family before helping escort Professor Hu’s soul with the Underworld Deputies. After a mysterious rooster crow halted the group, Grandmaster silenced it with a conjured tiger, but the deputies stopped again when something ahead frightened them.

• Grandmaster explained that Song Qingshan had been his master and that he had established Qingyang Temple with help from Qingyun Temple and Song Fei.
• Grandmaster said the nearby Living Human Underworld Deputies would collect Professor Hu’s soul that night and gave the narrator a talisman for their out-of-body escort.
• At the Late Zi Hour, the narrator left his body and joined Grandmaster, Professor Hu’s Earth Soul, and three Underworld Deputies.
• The deputies bound Professor Hu’s hands with an Iron Chain and led him through the walls and out onto the street, with Grandmaster and the narrator following.
• A false rooster crow frightened the deputies and Professor Hu, so Grandmaster conjured a tiger whose roar silenced the crowing.
• The group continued down another street, but the deputies stopped and retreated in terror at something ahead.

Grandmaster failed to escort Professor Hu to the City God Temple after a Masked Man threatened to kill Professor Hu and two captured souls. Back in the waking world, Grandmaster concluded that the Tang Family wanted Professor Hu to find a way to avoid the Fate Pattern defects caused by Seven Deaths for a Life.

• Grandmaster created a bridge across a bottomless chasm and led Professor Hu and the Underworld Deputies toward the mountain route to the City God Temple.
• A Masked Man cut the bridge, and Grandmaster returned the group safely to the cliff's edge.
• The Masked Man threatened to kill Professor Hu and two captured souls if Grandmaster tried to stop him.
• Grandmaster called off the escort, and the Underworld Deputies withdrew their chain from Professor Hu before the group returned home.
• After waking, Grandmaster told the narrator that the Tang Family wanted Professor Hu to research a way to avoid the defects of Seven Deaths for a Life.

Professor Hu told Grandmaster and the narrator how Tang Tianming had once sought his advice about the Dao, good and evil, and living forever. Grandmaster revealed that Tang Tianming had committed crimes and was the one preventing Professor Hu from dying, leaving the professor stunned.

• Professor Hu described his worsening health and said he had dreamed someone was preventing him from dying.
• Grandmaster asked Professor Hu about Tang Tianming, and Professor Hu recalled that Tang had donated money to his student aid fund after seeking guidance.
• Professor Hu explained how he had challenged Tang’s reasoning about the Dao, yin and yang, and whether evil was natural.
• Professor Hu said he had warned Tang against seeking unorthodox methods to escape the Dao’s natural laws.
• Grandmaster told Professor Hu that Tang had gone down a path of no return and was preventing him from dying, and Professor Hu sat bolt upright in shock.

Grandmaster explained that Tang Tianming planned to use seven deaths for a life to keep Professor Hu alive and exploit his knowledge, but Professor Hu chose to finish his final lecture and accept death. The group gathered to escort him to the City God Temple and stop Tang Tianming from taking his soul.

• Grandmaster told Professor Hu that Tang Tianming had arranged seven people to extend his life and wanted him to research a way around the flaws in his fate pattern.
• Professor Hu considered ending his life to spare the seven people, but Grandmaster explained that Tang Tianming could still seize his three souls and revive him.
• Professor Hu proposed giving his final lecture the next day and going to his death in daylight, when the Tang Family would have less chance to steal his body.
• Grandmaster told Chen Mo that he should return to visit Qingyang Temple after leaving for the South, and Chen Mo promised to come back whenever needed.
• Zhang Rong, Xiang Yifeng, Chen Mo's master, and others arrived, and the group planned to escort Professor Hu after his lecture.
• Grandmaster offered Professor Hu a poison pill for the plan, and Professor Hu took it before Grandmaster could finish explaining.

Professor Hu taught his final class while the Daoist temple group guarded him against the Tang Family. After the class, he asked to be taken to the underground parking garage so the teachers and students would not be affected by what happened next.

• Professor Hu said goodbye to his son and daughter-in-law, then Zhang Rong carried him to the car for the trip to school.
• Professor Hu insisted on teaching despite the school administrators’ concerns, and the auditorium filled with students and teachers for his final class.
• Professor Hu told the audience he was terminally ill, urged the students to cherish their time, and dismissed the class.
• The narrator wheeled Professor Hu away while the others kept watch, and Professor Hu asked to be taken to the underground parking garage.