Chapter Summaries

Zhou Yi traveled through the desolate Jing Prefecture, where he killed a flock of demonic crows before taking shelter from a mountain storm. In a ruined temple, he heard of year-long ghost trouble in Guning and met Du Si, a scholar from Hengyang bound for the Capital.

• Zhou Yi gave flatbread to a starving stranger near an abandoned village and continued toward Coiled Snake Mountain.
• Red-eyed demonic crows attacked Zhou Yi, and he killed them with a streak of sword light.
• The stranger emerged after Zhou Yi left and realized that the dead crows had been his only protection and source of survival.
• Zhou Yi entered Coiled Snake Mountain and took shelter from a torrential rain in a ruined mountain god's temple occupied by merchants.
• The merchants discussed ghost trouble in Guning, then Du Si arrived and introduced himself as a scholar from Hengyang traveling to the Capital.

Zhou Yi joined Du Si and a caravan in a mountain god’s temple, where the travelers praised the practical demon-warding advice from Tales of the Executioner. After Zhou Yi told them a story about catching a ghost, the merchants exposed a disguised weasel demon, but the temple suddenly transformed into a magnificent palace.

• Zhou Yi met Du Si and the caravan leader, who showed him copied advice from Tales of the Executioner and shared how it had helped them escape a ghost wall.
• The merchants asked Zhou Yi about the Luo Capital, and he instead told them a story about Song Bo capturing a ghost for a reward.
• A soaked young woman claiming to be Miss Huang arrived at the temple, but the caravan leader and merchants ambushed her with blades and spears after she drank rice wine.
• The woman’s human skin collapsed, revealing a wounded white-furred weasel demon that fled from the temple.
• The ruined temple transformed into a glittering palace filled with red curtains, incense, and the sound of women laughing.

Zhou Yi watched a group of traveling merchants struggle against the Yellow Weasel Spirit’s illusion while considering ways ordinary people could defend themselves from demons. Yan Chixiao arrived, shattered the illusion, killed the spirit, and treated the poisoned merchants, leaving Zhou Yi introduced to the Demon-Expelling Commandant.

• The Yellow Weasel Spirit trapped the merchants in an illusion, wounded several of them, and targeted their leader while Zhou Yi stayed hidden and observed.
• Zhou Yi reflected on teaching ordinary people practical ways to recognize and resist demons, ghosts, and monsters.
• Yan Chixiao’s shout and spear broke the illusion, revealing that he had killed the Yellow Weasel Spirit in the mountain god temple.
• Zhou Yi introduced himself as a clerk of the Ministry of Works, Demon-Slaying Bureau, and Yan Chixiao identified himself as a Demon-Expelling Commandant.
• Yan Chixiao roasted the Yellow Weasel Spirit and gave its flesh to the poisoned merchants, whose wounds began to recover.

Zhou Yi and Yan Chixiao traveled toward Hengyang after learning that its prefect had been using the Demon-Slaying Bureau’s detection artifact to capture ghosts. Zhou Yi doubled back to the mountain god’s temple, where he confronted the human-turned mountain god behind the weasel spirit’s illusion.

• Du Si admitted he regretted not learning martial arts, and Zhou Yi encouraged him to keep studying before jokingly telling him to beat anyone named Bo'an.
• Wu Sanpeng and the merchants told Yan Chixiao and Zhou Yi that ghosts had repeatedly wiped out households in Hengyang, while the prefect kept the Demon-Slaying Bureau’s detection artifact running to find them.
• After the rain stopped, Wu Sanpeng and Du Si headed south while Zhou Yi and Yan Chixiao rode north toward Hengyang.
• Zhou Yi left a magical avatar in the bushes and returned to the mountain god’s temple, where he found a grand palace surrounded by monstrous beasts.
• Zhou Yi killed the beasts with sword light, confronted the mountain god, and accused him of sinking into depravity and consorting with demons.

Zhou Yi exposed and destroyed the Coiled Snake Mountain god, discovering that the god had been a Heart Demon Dao Lord avatar. In Tong County, the Heart Demon Dao Lord learned that the avatar had died, suspected Zhou Yi wielded the Pure Yang Immortal Sword, and left to pursue the sword.

• Zhou Yi revealed the Coiled Snake Mountain god’s demonic nature and burned the ghosts and monsters in the temple with Earthly Pole True Flame.
• The mountain god tried to escape through the earth veins, but Zhou Yi pinned them with the Purple Ying Sword and uprooted the temple, exposing thousands of buried bones.
• The mountain god blamed the people for destroying his temple and golden body, so Zhou Yi crushed him and learned that he had been an avatar of the Heart Demon Dao Lord.
• Master Xin, the Heart Demon Dao Lord’s identity at the Chu Household school, sensed the avatar’s death and recognized the sword and dharma power from its memories.
• Master Xin abandoned his plan to refine the Chu Household’s young master, left the school, and traveled to Flying Cloud Province to alert the Blood Demon Path Lord about the immortal sword.

Zhou Yi and Yan Chixiao tracked a corpse demon to the Cui Mansion in Hengyang County, where Yan Chixiao defeated a Silver Corpse and Zhou Yi finished it off with lightning. The local Demon-Slaying Bureau commandants arrived as the skies cleared, while the City God and Earth God investigated the unexplained storm.

• Zhou Yi and Yan Chixiao entered Hengyang County and searched for demons, with Zhou Yi using Wind-Calling and Rain-Summoning to detect corpse aura.
• Zhou Yi traced the aura to a dry well in the Cui Mansion's rear courtyard, where a Silver Corpse emerged.
• Yan Chixiao pinned the Silver Corpse with iron spears and cleaved it in two with his sword.
• The supposedly dead Silver Corpse tried to bite Yan Chixiao, but Zhou Yi struck it with lightning and gained two years of Dao Attainment.
• A dozen Demon-Slaying Commandants arrived fully equipped, while the clouds dispersed and the City God and Earth God sent their officers to investigate the storm.

Zhou Yi returned to Zhou Family Village and reunited with his family during a homecoming banquet, while discovering through his Spirit Eye Technique that the seemingly lively village was a ghostly ruin. He concealed what he saw and joined the celebration, leaving the mystery of the village unresolved.

• Ji Gang explained that Hengyang's Demon-Slaying Bureau kept its Demon-Observing Disc running because corpse ghosts had attacked repeatedly, and Yan Chixiao chose not to investigate further.
• Zhou Yi parted from Yan Chixiao and rode to Zhou Family Village, where a girl told him that his father was at Ninth Grandpa's house and Second Sister had returned for her wedding visit.
• Zhou Yi used the Spirit Eye Technique and saw that the village was ruined and its residents, including the children, were dead spirits; he healed the girl's wound with lunar essence and gave her candy.
• The girl led Zhou Yi through the village to Ninth Grandpa's house, where his parents and brothers welcomed him home.
• Zhou Yi greeted his relatives and attended the banquet, answering questions from the villagers and giving sweets to the children.

Zhou Yi discovered that Zhou Family Village had become a grave mound concealing a ghost-refining formation, and learned from his father that rebels had massacred the village ten years earlier. After sending his father’s soul back into the formation, Zhou Yi flew toward Hengyang to investigate the local gods’ possible involvement.

• At a wedding feast, Zhou Yi gave Second Sister a hairpin and his sister-in-law a jade bracelet before pretending to pass out from drink.
• Zhou Yi stopped a towering shadow wearing the hairpin from attacking villagers, then found his sister-in-law in the ancestral hall and sealed her after she revealed that someone had taken her child’s soul.
• Zhou Yi awoke at dawn beside the ruins of Zhou Family Village and used the Bloodline Soul-Summoning Art to call his father out of the grave mound.
• Zhou Yi calmed his father’s resentment and learned that rebels had slaughtered the villagers after they refused to provide grain and recruits, while an unknown visitor periodically took away the village’s fierce ghosts.
• Zhou Yi returned his father’s soul to the formation and flew toward Hengyang, suspecting the City God or local earth gods had helped keep thousands of souls from entering the underworld.

Zhou Yi confronted Hengyang's City God over his failure to stop the Single-Dragon Fiend and learned the fiend was near the earthquake-stricken mountains west of the city. After rescuing survivors, Zhou Yi found the fiend's Demon Banner raising the dead at a yin pool.

• Zhou Yi stormed Hengyang's City God Temple, knocked the City God from his statue, and pinned the underworld officers beneath his Golden Mace.
• The City God said he had not colluded with the Single-Dragon Fiend but had feared the fiend's threats, and he revealed the fiend's suspected location west of Hengyang.
• Zhou Yi punished the City God with Sword Qi and left the temple after overhearing the City God insist the fiend deserved death.
• Zhou Yi flew through the earthquake zone, carried survivors to safety, and followed the baleful energy to a yin pool formed by the disaster.
• Zhou Yi saw a Demon Banner awakening the earthquake victims' corpses and drawing them into the pool.

Zhou Yi uncovered Hermit Dulong’s role in a corpse-raising scheme tied to the Heavenly Demon Alliance and traveled to Guning to investigate the commandery governor. He and Yan Chixiao discovered Governor Zhao Gongfu and Bureau commander Pang Jiang were knowingly expanding the corpse fields for Zhao’s personal advancement.

• Zhou Yi killed Hermit Dulong and learned from his memories that he had destroyed a village, joined the Heavenly Demon Alliance, and worked with the Guning Commandery Governor to raise ghosts and plant corpses.
• Zhou Yi met Yan Chixiao in Guning, where Yan explained that Ji Gang had arranged to let a Silver Corpse attack the Cui Family Mansion before claiming credit for capturing it.
• Zhou Yi persuaded Yan Chixiao to investigate Governor Zhao Gongfu rather than kill him immediately, hoping to expose his crimes.
• Zhou Yi and Yan Chixiao secretly watched Zhao Gongfu for several nights, and Pang Jiang eventually arrived to discuss Hermit Dulong’s absence.
• Zhao Gongfu told Pang Jiang to continue the corpse-refining scheme, explaining that he needed a spirit pill to advance and dismissing the lives of the victims as insignificant.