Chapter Summaries

Zhu Xiang sacrificed his essence blood to repair the failing formation, but the Netherworld yin energy overwhelmed his efforts and left him dying. Xiao Hua arrived to rescue the surviving scholars, and Zhu Cheng reached his son as Zhu Xiang warned him to stay away from the formation.

• Zhu Xiang insisted on staying to repair the formation, and Brother Song sent him out of the Earthwalker Shuttle so it could escape.
• You Zhongquan left the shuttle to help Zhu Xiang, but the formation erupted and its Netherworld Wind tore through them both.
• An oracle-bone inscription drained Zhu Xiang's essence blood and formed a Confucian Classics figure that briefly repaired the formation before the backlash shattered it.
• Xiao Hua arrived, took the scholars and unconscious You Zhongquan to safety, and found that the formation prevented him from moving Zhu Xiang.
• Zhu Xiang asked Xiao Hua to tell Zhu Cheng that he had failed, but Zhu Cheng arrived and reassured his son before Zhu Xiang warned him not to approach the formation.

Zhu Xiang died as Youwang Ghost Cave’s array collapsed, but Xiao Hua saved his soul and escaped with Zhu Cheng. As more ghost caves sounded across Fengxiang Kingdom, Zhu Cheng explained the legend of an ancient ghostly calamity and the Nine Cauldrons’ role in protecting the Nine Provinces, and he agreed to help Xiao Hua investigate.

• Zhu Xiang told Zhu Cheng he had never been suited to be a hero and urged his father not to force his younger son before his soul was dragged from his body.
• Xiao Hua used a rainbow bridge from the willow branch to save Zhu Xiang’s soul, then flew out with Zhu Cheng as Youwang Ghost Cave’s array collapsed and netherworld qi erupted.
• Xiao Hua and Zhu Cheng saw three pillars of netherworld qi, and Zhu Cheng explained that his family knew only of Youwang Ghost Cave and had not expected the wider crisis.
• Zhu Cheng recounted a legend that an ancient Confucian empire had become a ghost prison during a Ghost Festival, and he explained that the Nine Cauldrons protected the Nine Provinces from ghostly creatures.
• After strange sounds indicated ghost caves near Wuyuan County and Fanchang County, Zhu Cheng agreed to accompany Xiao Hua to investigate them.

Xiao Hua brought Zhu Cheng to meet Xun Qing and Zeng Jing, descendants of ancient Confucian families who had come to guard ghost caves. After a seventh ghost cave sounded in Fanchang County, Zhu Cheng feared that a ghost prison had emerged and wondered how they could stop it.

• Xiao Hua and Zhu Cheng met Xun Qing, who revealed that the Xun family, like the Zhu family, had declined and still guarded a ghost cave.
• Xiao Hua told Xun Qing that Zhu Xiang had sacrificed his life to seal the Youwang Ghost Cave, and Xun Qing thanked the Zhu family on behalf of Jingyue County.
• A sixth strange sound came from Fanchang County, and Xiao Hua brought Zhu Cheng and Xun Qing there to investigate.
• Xiao Hua and Zhu Cheng met Zeng Jing, a butcher descended from the Zeng family who had come to guard a ghost cave despite having no cultivation.
• A seventh strange sound rang out, and Zeng Jing learned that seven ghost caves had opened; Zhu Cheng feared a ghost prison had emerged.

Xiao Hua discovered that the Zhu, Zeng, and Xun families had all lost their ancestral shrines as nine ghost holes opened across three towns. As the Ten Thousand Ghosts Night Parade began under a blood moon being devoured, Xiao Hua learned that hundreds of thousands of starving villagers faced death from the surging Underworld yin energy.

• Zhu Cheng revealed that the Zhu family had lost its ancestral shrine, and Zeng Jing and Xun Qing said their families had lost theirs as well.
• After the ninth ghost hole appeared, Xiao Hua gave Zeng Jing pills and offered Xun Qing Spirit Awakening Liquid for his dull-witted son.
• Xiao Hua and Zhu Cheng surveyed the nine ghost holes and saw blood threads and mist spread across the region.
• The blood moon brightened as the Ten Thousand Ghosts Night Parade began, and Zhu Cheng warned that the intensified yin energy could devastate the starving villagers.
• The moon began to disappear in a Heavenly Dog Devouring the Moon, and Zhu Cheng asked Xiao Hua whether wandering souls had emerged from the ghost holes.

Xiao Hua confronted countless wandering souls pouring from the nine Youwang Ghost Caves as the Netherworld Wind intensified, while Zhu Cheng returned to defend Zhu Family Manor after Xiao Hua gave him a Rejuvenation Pill. As Xiao Hua tried to protect the nearby towns, a powerful force arose beneath them, sealed the region, and began drawing in the Netherworld qi and wandering souls.

• Xiao Hua saw wandering souls emerge from all nine ghost caves and spread across the mountains and plains toward three nearby towns.
• Zhu Cheng revealed that the Zhu family curse and his exhausted essence blood had left him near death, so Xiao Hua gave him a Rejuvenation Pill and sent him back to defend Zhu Family Manor.
• Xiao Hua attacked the approaching wandering souls with heavenly lightning, destroying more than a tenth of them before questioning whether the souls were truly hostile.
• A blood-colored light rose from beneath the towns, froze the blood of living beings, and blocked Xiao Hua's attempts to summon lightning and extend his divine sense.
• A dark-green point of light appeared and grew into a vast opening, drawing in the Netherworld qi from all nine caves and the wandering souls.

As the blood moon vanished, Xiao Hua fought the underground ghost creature by collecting the netherworld aura and wandering souls it needed to emerge. He protected the three towns with green-robed Xiao Hua’s help, but the ghost creature began emerging in a death-qi domain, leaving Xiao Hua to face it alone.

• Xiao Hua realized the ghost creature’s blood domain restricted his abilities, so he transformed into his Dharma manifestation and tried to stop it from emerging.
• Xiao Hua used the Other Shore willow branch to collect wandering souls, injured the ghost creature, and stored the branch along with some souls and netherworld aura in his space.
• Xiao Hua used his divine sense to seize most of the netherworld aura and wandering souls, then collected what poured from the nine ghost acupoints.
• As the Heavenly Dog swallowed the blood moon, green-robed Xiao Hua reported that he had roughly protected the three towns before disappearing.
• The ghost creature burst from the light hole in black death qi, and Xiao Hua concluded that it needed its domain to survive on the Cangxian Continent.

Xiao Hua and the wooden statues of Zhu Xi, Zengzi, and Xun Zi attacked an Underworld Judge that had escaped the Nine Returns Seeking the Mother Formation. As the Three Saints unleashed their full power, the Judge tricked Xiao Hua into wasting a strike from his willow branch and remained alive.

• The Underworld Judge emerged from the hole of light and tried to devour Xiao Hua's soul, but Soul Cultivator Xiao Hua repelled it with Three Corpse Yin Thunder.
• The wooden statues of Zhu Xi, Zengzi, and Xun Zi appeared and used Vast Righteous Qi to tear apart the Judge's domain and attack it.
• The Judge countered with a vermilion brush and strange characters, but the Three Saints' attack broke through its defenses and shrank its body.
• The Judge revealed that it had passed through the Nine Returns Seeking the Mother Formation and sent a message to its true body; Zhu Xi, Zengzi, and Xun Zi decided to launch a final assault.
• As the Three Saints ignited their statues, Xiao Hua attacked with the willow branch, but the Judge sacrificed its vermilion brush to block the strike, leaving the branch heavy and Xiao Hua's attack spent.

Xiao Hua fled after the Underworld Judge destroyed the Three Saints, but the Judge used a soul-seizing chain to capture him and drag him back. The Judge revealed that he wanted the Other Shore and identified himself as an Underworld Judge.

• Xiao Hua fled as the Three Saints joined forces against the Underworld Judge, who pierced their wooden statues with metallic qi and destroyed their wills.
• The Three Saints' fire pillar badly injured the Judge, but he pursued Xiao Hua, protecting himself from yang qi with his official robe.
• Xiao Hua used Lightning Evasion to escape, while the Judge sent his robe sash after him as a soul-seizing chain.
• The chain swept aside Xiao Hua's lightning, bound his mysterious dark cloud, suppressed Soul Cultivator Xiao Hua and Little White, and dragged him back to the Judge.
• The Judge told Xiao Hua that he pursued him for the Other Shore and said he was an Underworld Judge.

Xiao Hua tried to trick the Ghostly Judge into taking Other Shore, then used the willow branch to strike him after surrendering a Cosmic Bag. The attack weakened the Ghostly Judge but missed, and he retaliated against Xiao Hua with Primordial Qi and soul-attacking chains.

• The Ghostly Judge admitted that he had engineered the Zhu, Zeng, and Xun families’ decline and offered Xiao Hua rewards for cooperation in exchange for Other Shore.
• Xiao Hua pretended to hand over Other Shore by offering a Cosmic Bag, while the Ghostly Judge threatened him with tightening chains.
• After the Ghostly Judge pulled the Cosmic Bag into his mist, Xiao Hua summoned Other Shore and launched a ten-colored rainbow at him.
• The Ghostly Judge teleported away from the rainbow, but its passage destroyed another thirty percent of his black mist.
• The Ghostly Judge attacked Xiao Hua with golden Primordial Qi, piercing his left shoulder, as the chains transformed into serrated teeth and lunged for his soul.

Xiao Hua and his incarnations fought the Ghostly Judge, while Soul Cultivator Xiao Hua used Nether and Dark characters and Blood Sea water to break into Soul Knot Heaven and seize control of the soul-binding chain. Xiao Hua trapped the Ghostly Judge with six Nine Provinces Ding, but the ghost resisted their attacks, leaving Xiao Hua searching for a way to finish him.

• Confucian cultivator Xiao Hua attacked the Ghostly Judge with Sorrowful Soul Severing and Five Qi True Thunder while Xiao Hua struck with Mountain Power, injuring the ghost with Buddhist light.
• Soul Cultivator Xiao Hua transformed into green seal characters, absorbed over a hundred Nether Fruits, and summoned an image of the Yellow Springs and blue skies as the ghost artifact battered the dark cloud and restrained him.
• Xiao Hua realized Netherworld qi or Blood Sea water could help soul cultivation advance, and Soul Cultivator Xiao Hua absorbed Blood Sea water and entered Soul Knot Heaven.
• Soul Cultivator Xiao Hua emerged with Underworld primal force, seized the soul-binding chain, and helped Xiao Hua restrain the Ghostly Judge with six Nine Provinces Ding while green-robed Xiao Hua blocked the escape route with spirit fire.
• The Ghostly Judge survived the Five Qi True Thunder and struck back at the cauldrons, while Xiao Hua considered using the demonic blade or awakening Buddha Bodhi before sensing approaching wandering souls and vicious ghosts.

Xiao Hua absorbed the Origin of Metal and captured the Ghostly Judge, then contained the remaining ghosts and netherworld qi as Heavenly Dog Devouring the Moon ended. He learned that more than three hundred thousand villagers had died, and green-robed Xiao Hua warned him that the vanished light hole might hold something strange.

• The Ghostly Judge rushed into Xiao Hua's space, where the Origin of Metal separated from the black mist and entered Xiao Hua's bones.
• Xiao Hua realized that the Ghostly Judge's greed for the Other Shore had led to his defeat, and that the Origins of Fire and Earth had drawn the Origin of Metal into Xiao Hua's space.
• As the blood moon reappeared and the ghostly disaster subsided, Xiao Hua collected the netherworld qi and wandering souls from the nine ghost apertures.
• Xiao Hua withdrew the formations around Wuyuan County, Jingyue County, and Fanchang County, and green-robed Xiao Hua reported that more than three hundred thousand villagers had died.
• Green-robed Xiao Hua reminded Xiao Hua that the light hole where the Ghostly Judge had emerged might contain something strange.

Xiao Hua located the concealed ancestral shrines of the Zhu, Zeng, and Xun families and discovered that the family registry silk brocade he had obtained from Old Madam Zhu could reveal them. After the crisis, he returned to Zhu Family Manor, where Zhu Cheng thanked him and arranged disaster relief for the devastated towns.

• Xiao Hua found a hidden Sumeru Buddha Array underground but decided not to break it recklessly, then used the family registry silk brocade to cover its speck without opening the ancestral shrine.
• Xiao Hua concluded that descendants of the Confucian families, such as Zhu Cheng, were also needed to open the shrine, and he put the booklet away.
• Xiao Hua returned to Zhu Family Manor and met Zhu Cheng, who had become young again after taking the Rejuvenation Pill.
• Xiao Hua told Zhu Cheng that the families might no longer need to guard the ghostly aperture, though he advised them to keep watch for a while.
• Xiao Hua urged Zhu Cheng to prioritize relief for the more than three hundred thousand people who had died or been affected, and Zhu Cheng dispatched family disciples to aid the three counties.
• Zhu Cheng argued that Xiao Hua should publicize his role in saving the region, despite Xiao Hua's concern about attracting the Immortal Palace's attention.

Zhu Cheng explained why Xiao Hua could safely reveal his cultivation by building popular support and forming alliances amid the Immortal Palace’s political rivalries. Xiao Hua then met Zeng Jing, whose family had survived the night, while Zeng Jing was startled to see Zhu Cheng despite believing Zhu Xiang had died.

• Xiao Hua asked Zhu Cheng for the Zhu family genealogy and had him accompany him to find Zeng Jing and Xun Qing.
• Zhu Cheng told Xiao Hua that public gratitude and alliances could protect him, and that the Immortal Palace might welcome a powerful Daoist cultivator amid its conflict with Buddhism and Ancestor Hongmeng.
• Xiao Hua and Zhu Cheng reached Zeng Jing’s home, where Zeng Jing’s wife revealed she had known he left during the night and Gou’er woke hungry.
• Xiao Hua apologized for forgetting to bring food, and Zeng Jing rushed out to greet him before recognizing Zhu Cheng and reacting in confusion.

Xiao Hua helped the Zhu, Zeng, and Xun families and prepared to search for their ancestral hall. After his Spirit Awakening Liquid restored Xun Mi’s intelligence, Xun Mi offered a Rejuvenation Pill to his father, and Xiao Hua left with the families to find the hall.

• Zhu Cheng offered to support Zeng Jing’s family, and Xiao Hua revealed that the Zhu, Zeng, and Xun families shared a mission and ancestral ties.
• Xiao Hua gave Spirit Awakening Liquid to Gou’er and Zhu Cheng, saying the three families could use it to awaken their descendants’ intelligence.
• Xiao Hua and Zhu Cheng visited Xun Qing in Jingyue County, where Xun Qing showed them his family genealogy and agreed to seek the Xun ancestral hall.
• After taking Xiao Hua’s Spirit Awakening Liquid, Xun Mi regained his memories and asked for a Rejuvenation Pill to give his father.
• Xun Qing took the pill and regained his youth, then followed Xiao Hua toward the ancestral hall with Zhu Cheng and Zeng Jing.

Xiao Hua brought Zhu Cheng, Xun Qing, and Zeng Jing to the hidden ancestral shrine and used their family genealogies and blood essence to reveal it. After forcing his way through the shrine’s bloodline barrier, he entered, while a cold shadow seized Zeng Jing and he followed the others inside.

• Xiao Hua led Zhu Cheng, Xun Qing, and Zeng Jing deep underground to a hidden point and explained that the bone fragment and Silk Brocade could reveal their families’ ancestral shrine.
• Zhu Cheng, Xun Qing, and Zeng Jing each added blood essence to their family genealogy, causing their names to combine with the Silk Brocade and reveal a massive shrine beneath the earth.
• Zhu Cheng, Xun Qing, and Zeng Jing entered the shrine through clouds matching their family colors, but the barrier rejected Xiao Hua because he was an outsider.
• Xiao Hua struck through the Buddhist formation beneath the primordial array and tore open the clouds to enter the ancestral shrine.
• A cold shadow descended, froze Zeng Jing briefly, and then Zeng Jing entered the shrine with a strange smile.

Xiao Hua and the three descendants entered the Zhu family ancestral hall, where the True Explanation of the Heavenly Book appeared. The man disguised as Zeng Jing seized the book and fled, and Xiao Hua pursued him into a battle against a vastly stronger Confucian cultivator.

• Zhu Cheng, Xun Qing, and Zeng Jing knelt before the ancestral hall doors, begged their ancestors' forgiveness, and entered with Xiao Hua.
• Xiao Hua told the three Literary Saints that the Ghostly Judge had been slain and their descendants' curse had been broken, while Zhu Cheng, Xun Qing, and Zeng Jing praised his help.
• The True Explanation of the Heavenly Book appeared over the altar, but the impostor posing as Zeng Jing seized it and the three wooden statues before escaping through the wall.
• Xiao Hua pursued the impostor, who emerged in the form of a Confucian scholar and fled through the air; Xiao Hua caught up and forced him out of hiding with the Kunlun Mirror and Eye of Delusion Breaking.
• The Confucian cultivator grabbed Xiao Hua, but Xiao Hua's body endured the attack and his Soaring Flood Dragon Scissors wounded the cultivator's arm.
• The enraged Confucian cultivator unleashed spatial fissures that trapped Xiao Hua within several li and surged toward him.

Xiao Hua trapped the Confucian cultivator inside a formation of his scattered Nascent Souls and used their combined lightning tribulation to defeat him. After securing the cultivator’s soul and gathering the newly advanced Nascent Souls, Xiao Hua carried the unconscious Zeng Jing to the ancestral shrine, where Zhu Cheng and Xun Qing asked what had happened.

• Xiao Hua released dozens of scattered Nascent Souls, who formed the Duotian Star Array and drew tribulation lightning around themselves and the Confucian cultivator.
• The scattered Nascent Souls endured their lightning tribulation, grew stronger, and redirected the converging lightning toward the Confucian cultivator and Xiao Hua.
• The combined lightning tribulation badly wounded Xiao Hua, destroyed the Confucian cultivator, and left three battered wooden statues behind.
• Xiao Hua struck down the cultivator’s emerging phantom with the Spirit Severing Primordial Light, then used green-robed Xiao Hua and the Kunlun Mirror to destroy another phantom and collected the cultivator’s soul.
• Xiao Hua gathered the newly advanced scattered Nascent Souls back into his body, picked up the wooden statues, and carried the unconscious Zeng Jing to the ancestral shrine, where Zhu Cheng and Xun Qing questioned him.

Xiao Hua obtained the three primordial Qi seeds hidden in the sages’ wooden statues and discovered that the True Explanation of the Heavenly Book described a possible path to creating Human Qi. He left the ancestral hall with Zhu Cheng, Xun Qing, and Zeng Jing, still intent on finding the final Heavenly Heart and gathering all Nine Cauldrons.

• Xun Qing, Zeng Jing, and Zhu Cheng prayed before the ancestral statues, causing another True Explanation of the Heavenly Book to appear for Xiao Hua.
• Xiao Hua read the text and explained that the sages’ conjecture could be dangerous, then received permission from Zhu Cheng, Xun Qing, and Zeng Jing to take what was hidden inside the statues.
• Xiao Hua drew three colored primordial Qi sparks from the statues into his middle dantian, where the Six Cauldrons and Heavenly Heart reacted.
• Xiao Hua realized that the primordial Qi might be Heavenly Souls and the cauldrons’ destiny might be Earthly Spirits, with Human Qi potentially arising once he found the final Heavenly Heart and gathered all Nine Cauldrons.
• Xiao Hua experienced a vision of cause and effect that expanded his space, then returned after three days and asked Zhu Cheng whether he had seen anything.
• Zhu Cheng said he had seen nothing, and Xiao Hua told him they would leave.

Xiao Hua returned with Zhu Cheng, Zeng Jing, and Xun Qing after resolving the ancestral hall’s crisis and helping end the famine. While he arranged for Zeng Jing and Gou'er to take pills and met the Confucian cultivators he had rescued, the Nether Fruit Tree in his Yin aspect of space grew dramatically, with Zhu Xiang’s soul resting within it.

• Xiao Hua left the ancestral hall with Zhu Cheng and Zeng Jing, then sent Xun Qing to bring the Xun family disciples to Zhu Family Manor.
• Xiao Hua praised Zhu Cheng for settling the famine in three towns and gave Zhu Cheng’s son Zhu Bing spirit pills and Spirit Awakening Liquid.
• Xiao Hua told Zeng Jing to bring Gou'er so they could take pills to break their curse, then released the rescued Confucian cultivators from the flying shuttle.
• Song Zixiong and the other Confucian cultivators learned Xiao Hua’s identity and asked about Zhu Xiang and You Zhongquan; Xiao Hua said Zhu Xiang had died and You Zhongquan had survived.
• Zhu Cheng led the Confucian cultivators to Zhu Xiang’s mourning hall while Xiao Hua entered the Yin aspect of space and saw the Nether Fruit Tree had grown enormously around the souls from the ghost caves.

Jade Slip Xiao Hua established Zhu Xiang as a future Underworld Judge and learned that Xue Xue would govern the Yin aspect of space, while Xiao Hua considered a journey to the Divine Demon Blood Swamp to build ties with Confucian cultivators. The chapter left him bringing the Zhu, Zeng, and Xun families together and urging them to regard one another as kin.

• Jade Slip Xiao Hua placed a crystalline thread and the Soul-Hooking Brush in Zhu Xiang's soul, entrusting him with the future duties of an Underworld Judge.
• Jade Slip Xiao Hua recognized that Xue Xue's soul would establish order in the Yin aspect of space, while the Heavenly Dao would sustain the cycle of Yin and Yang.
• Song Zixiong and several Confucian cultivators bid farewell to Xiao Hua, who gave them supplies to aid disaster-stricken regions.
• Song Zixiong told Xiao Hua that the Chu family had invited cultivators to search for God Demon Chess in the Divine Demon Blood Swamp, and Zhu Cheng urged Xiao Hua to use the gathering to form alliances.
• Xun Qing, Xun Mi, and Zeng Yan arrived, and Xiao Hua summoned the Zhu family disciples before explaining the shared ancestral halls and asking the Zhu, Zeng, and Xun families to become kin.