Chapter Summaries

In the capital, the Empress Dowager plotted to win the Blood Rain Demon Venerable before the Female Emperor could claim him, while Zheng Heng prepared an ambush for his arrival. In Little Black Village, hundreds of identical Xiaodies appeared at the courtyard, leaving the Blood Rain Cult disciples facing another wave of ghosts.

• The Empress Dowager learned that the Female Emperor was collecting portraits of the Blood Rain Demon Venerable and decided to send him her intimate underclothing and meet him secretly.
• Zheng Heng learned the Demon Venerable was expected in the capital within two days and ordered Misty Rain Tower experts to ambush him at the city gates.
• Zheng Heng planned to gather 9,999 silk-tree blossoms to declare his love for Guan Qinghan.
• At a capital courtyard, a woman performing opera awakened paper spectators at midnight and wondered whether the Demon Venerable could defeat Hundred Ghosts Roam at Night.
• Hundreds of identical Xiaodies arrived at the entrance to Xiaodie's courtyard, terrifying the Blood Rain Cult disciples.

Fang Yang destroyed the Xiaodie ghosts with his soul lamp and absorbed their beads, restoring and strengthening Ye Qinghong. In the quiet village, he asked the Blood Rain Cult disciples how his Fifth Disciple had disappeared, and their leader began recounting what happened.

• Fang Yang used a ghostly flame to burn the Xiaodie ghosts and collected the beads they left behind.
• Fang Yang absorbed most of the beads and gave one to Ye Qinghong, restoring his injuries and advancing him to a two-leaf Dharma Body.
• Ye Qinghong kissed Fang Yang in thanks, while Fang Qinghan asked the Princess Consort to teach her bedroom arts.
• Fang Yang asked the Blood Rain Cult disciples how his Fifth Disciple had disappeared, and their leader began describing their first days in the village.

Fang Yang and his companions witnessed a ghost marriage in the Pear Garden and followed its wedding procession into the real venue. The wedding guests were paper figures, and the Blood Rain Cult disciples were forced to drink while Fang Yang calmly surveyed the garden.

• A ghostly Pear Garden appeared in the courtyard, revealing a wedding chamber with two chained coffins.
• A woman resembling the missing hall master thrust her spear, and a Blood Rain Cult disciple became a paper figure and vanished.
• Fang Yang opened the gate and accepted an invitation to the wedding, leading everyone to the Pear Garden.
• Paper figures toasted the Blood Rain Cult disciples, who were unable to refuse their drinks.
• Fang Yang caught two paper figures that approached him and casually squeezed them.

Fang Yang and his companions were led into a ghost wedding, where he shattered the coffins and crushed the steward’s shadow attack. The paper figures and other spirits were left trembling before him.

• Fang Yang’s Life Lamp burned two paper figures to ashes, and the remaining figures resumed drinking with the Blood Rain Cult disciples.
• A figure resembling Fang Yang’s fifth disciple performed opera onstage, but the scene vanished when midnight arrived and the guests reverted to paper figures.
• The steward led Fang Yang and the others to the wedding hall, where two coffins stood ready for the ghost marriage.
• As the steward began the first wedding bow, Fang Yang demanded that the bride and groom appear and smashed both coffins.
• The steward attacked Fang Yang with shadow tentacles, but Fang Yang tore them apart, stomped the steward into a puddle, and absorbed it.

Fang Yang exposed and burned the ghost bride’s paper effigies in the Pear Garden, then confronted the Blood Rain Cult Disciples about their hidden master. When he burned away their disguises, he revealed that they had been dead for three months and that malevolent ghosts had been hiding inside them.

• Fang Yang shattered the coffins, revealed the bride, and killed the paper groom.
• The bride recognized Fang Yang and tried to persuade him to marry her, but he mocked her and refused to bow to Heaven and Earth.
• Fang Yang used his Life Lamp’s flames to burn the bride’s paper effigies and set the Pear Garden ablaze.
• Fang Yang accused the middle-aged man and the Blood Rain Cult Disciples of serving a hidden master, but the middle-aged man denied it.
• Fang Yang burned away their illusions, revealing their decayed corpses and the malevolent ghosts carrying red lanterns within them.
• The Princess Consort of the Southern Pacifying King reacted with fear, while Ye Qinghong remained composed with the Clear Shadow Sword ready.

Fang Yang revealed that he had seen through the Blood God's scheme and lured him out, but the Blood God trapped Fang Yang and the others in a ghost domain. As the Blood God's enormous hand descended, Guan Qinghan despaired while Ye Qinghong stood fearlessly beside his master.

• Fang Yang burned the evil ghosts and confronted the bride while waiting for the hidden enemy to appear.
• The Blood God emerged, and Fang Yang exposed how devotional incense was meant to weaken his divine soul and spiritual power.
• The Blood God unleashed a river of red mist that imprisoned Fang Yang, Ye Qinghong, Guan Qinghan, and the others in a ghost domain.
• Guan Qinghan recovered her memories of what had happened before and realized they were trapped in what might be a Grade B forbidden ground.
• The Blood God grew stronger by absorbing candle flames and struck at the trapped group with an enormous hand.
• Guan Qinghan closed her eyes in despair, while Ye Qinghong remained beside Fang Yang without fear.

Fang Yang shattered the Blood God's Ghost Domain and overpowered him, only for the Blood God to use villagers as hostages while fleeing. Fang Yang rejected the threat, killed the villagers, and exposed them as something other than humans with black flames.

• Fang Yang used his Life Lamp, Profound Heaven Strategy, and Formless Demon Body to break the Blood God's claw, Ghost Domain, and chains.
• Fang Yang struck the Blood God down, and the weakened Blood God called on the bride to help him.
• The bride left Fang Yang's embrace but watched without intervening as the Blood God tore away the village mist and seized the surviving villagers with blood chains.
• The Blood God threatened Fang Yang with the villagers and fled, but Fang Yang killed them one by one rather than submit to his coercion.
• Fang Yang cast black flames over the villagers and corpses, revealing that the villagers were not truly human.

Fang Yang defeated the Blood God and caught the Strange Bride’s clone after seeing through her illusions. He forced her to reveal where his fifth disciple was, but the chapter ended before she answered.

• Fang Yang killed the Blood God and consumed the light that escaped from his body.
• The Strange Bride scattered into identical illusions and tried to flee, but Fang Yang caught the real one and exposed her as a clone.
• Fang Yang questioned the Strange Bride about her true body, and she seized his fifth disciple as a hostage.
• Fang Yang recognized that his fifth disciple was only a wisp of divine sense and shattered it, then bound the Strange Bride.
• Fang Yang asked the Strange Bride again where his disciple was, but she had not yet answered.

Fang Yang learned that the Strange Bride had used a fragment of his fifth disciple’s divine soul to lure him, then punished her for harming his disciple. In Kyoto, the Female Emperor prepared to receive him and, at Mo Ke’s urging, changed into an elaborate palace dress despite her anger and discomfort.

• The Strange Bride confessed that she had taken a fragment of Fang Yang’s fifth disciple’s divine soul and used its aura to lure him to the village.
• Fang Yang burned the Strange Bride away, explaining that he had come to punish anyone who harmed his disciples.
• The Strange Bride revealed that her avatar still carried the disciple’s divine soul, so the disciple had sensed Fang Yang’s actions.
• Kyoto’s people gathered at the city gates, excited by rumors that the Blood Rain Demon Venerable would arrive.
• The Female Emperor told Mo Ke that the Divination Pavilion had been destroyed and asked whether her master could resolve the great calamity.
• Mo Ke urged the Female Emperor to dress beautifully for Fang Yang, and the Female Emperor changed into a palace dress before asking whether Mo Ke was satisfied.

The Female Emperor and the Empress Dowager both prepared to win over the Demon Venerable, while concealing their rivalry behind a fragile truce. At Jade Lake, Zheng Heng waited for Guan Qinghan to arrive.

• Mo Ke applied makeup to the Female Emperor and urged her to accompany the Demon Venerable through Maple Forest to secure his help for the common people.
• The Empress Dowager learned that the Female Emperor had dressed in a palace skirt and resolved to compete with her for the Demon Venerable.
• The Empress Dowager sailed to the Imperial Painted Boat and confronted the Female Emperor, accusing her of wanting the Demon Venerable.
• The Female Emperor and the Empress Dowager exchanged threats but ultimately agreed not to interfere with each other as they waited.
• Zheng Heng waited by his flying carriage for Guan Qinghan, convinced that they belonged together despite the Yanqi Sect's decline.

Fang Yang studied the Demon Venerable’s diary and prepared to meet the Tang Kingdom’s Female Emperor, while Zheng Heng set out to rescue Qinghan. Fang Yang arrived at Jade Lake with Guan Qinghan and Ye Qinghong, approaching the Female Emperor’s Painted Boat as the crowd watched.

• Zheng Heng rallied Misty Rain Tower’s experts to kill the demon and rescue Qinghan, though they admitted they would protect him if the demon was not injured.
• Fang Yang read the Demon Venerable’s diary about his romance with the Female Emperor and planned to use its details to win her over.
• Fang Yang sensed an ancient, oppressive presence in the Capital City but left it uninvestigated and sent his carriage toward Star-Seizing Temple in Kyoto.
• Fang Yang flew ahead toward Kyoto, while Guan Qinghan and Ye Qinghong followed him.
• Fang Yang arrived at Jade Lake and walked across the water toward the Painted Boat as Guan Qinghan followed and Ye Qinghong guarded him from the crowd.

Fang Yang crushed the Four Great Masters and other challengers who tried to stop him from reaching the Female Emperor’s Painted Boat. He confronted the Female Emperor with teasing remarks and left her facing him as he continued toward the boat.

• Zheng Heng ordered the Four Great Masters to kill Fang Yang and rescue Guan Qinghan.
• Fang Yang killed the first three masters with successive steps, while his overwhelming strength terrified the onlookers.
• Fang Yang immobilized the remaining challengers and drew jade plaques from his robes.
• The Female Emperor confronted Fang Yang, who teased her about their supposed past meeting and promised she would never forget him.
• Fang Yang continued toward the Painted Boat as the Female Emperor watched him, dragon qi rising around her.

Fang Yang overwhelmed the guards confronting him at Jade Lake and boarded the Imperial Painted Boat, while the Female Emperor struggled to maintain her composure against his teasing and embrace. The chapter ended with the rain calming as Fang Yang reached the boat and Mo Ke continued brewing tea.

• Fang Yang advanced toward the Imperial Painted Boat, killing two experts by stepping on their heads and intimidating the two remaining guards.
• The guards' allies watched in shock as Fang Yang's aura froze one expert before he could attack.
• The Female Emperor tried to evade Fang Yang, but he caught her around the waist and teased her as she grew furious.
• Fang Yang took his fourth step and reached the painted boat while blood fell across Jade Lake.
• The Female Emperor watched Fang Yang arrive, and Mo Ke continued preparing four cups of tea.

Fang Yang reunited with Mo Ke on Jade Lake and tried to judge the true nature of his seemingly ordinary second disciple. Ye Qinghong then provoked the Female Emperor and announced that she and Fang Yang had married, leaving Mo Ke stunned and Fang Yang with more questions about her power and motives.

• Fang Yang observed that Mo Ke gave off no spiritual qi yet seemed to merge naturally with her surroundings, and she asked whether he still resented her for leaving without goodbye.
• Mo Ke stayed close to Fang Yang, while the Tower Spirit nearly called her Mother before Fang Yang's killing intent stopped her.
• The Female Emperor challenged Fang Yang and warned that cultivators must not disrupt Great Tang or she would kill them.
• The Empress Dowager departed after saying she would talk with Fang Yang until dawn, angering the Female Emperor.
• Ye Qinghong presented Mo Ke with a wedding gift and told her to call her Master's wife, revealing that she and Fang Yang had married.
• Mo Ke was left bewildered, while Fang Yang questioned whether she had concealed her strength and whether she had ever been controlled by the Demon Venerable.

Fang Yang’s meeting with Mo Ke and the Female Emperor ended in embarrassment after the Empress Dowager teased him and Ye Qinghong introduced Yue’er as their daughter. Outside Kyoto, Lian Yue arrived from the Blood Rain Cult, determined to join the unfolding plans despite her weakened condition.

• The Empress Dowager flirted with Fang Yang and gave him a warm undergarment, angering the Female Emperor and provoking Ye Qinghong’s displeasure.
• The Female Emperor and the Empress Dowager left, while Fang Yang considered exploring the Imperial Harem that night.
• Ye Qinghong brought Yue’er to Mo Ke and introduced her as Fang Yang and Ye Qinghong’s daughter, asking Yue’er to call Mo Ke Auntie Mo.
• Lian Yue reached the mountains outside Kyoto after leaving the Blood Rain Cult, weakened by the loss of much of her Red Dust Decision.
• A peaceful lantern followed Lian Yue and blocked her path as she tried to continue onward.

At the Star-Seizing Temple, Mo Ke mourned her sister’s sacrifice and prepared to meet Second Senior Sister, hoping to show her another side of their master. Meanwhile, Lian Yue fought growing numbers of yin souls and, moved by memories of her master, resolved to approach him despite her wavering Dao Heart.

• Mo Ke recalled that her elder sister and other members of the Mo Family had willingly become yin souls, and she lamented the sacrifices made for their plan.
• Mo Ke sent Second Senior Sister a message and prepared to visit her at the Star-Seizing Temple, hoping she would learn more about their master before deciding what to do.
• Mo Ke played chess beneath the lanterns, then left the temple to meet Second Senior Sister.
• Lian Yue destroyed a fierce yin soul with her Red Dust Art, but the growing number and strength of yin souls left her coughing and weak.
• Lian Yue remembered her master’s care and the Red Dust Gu he had refined for her, then decided to seek him out and question him.

Fang Yang examined the Female Emperor’s bedchamber and found her calligraphy declaring her hatred and desire to kill him, though he questioned how that fit with the love described in the Demon Venerable’s diary. As he considered the tangled motives surrounding Capital City, Guan Qinghan arrived at his room late at night, visibly conflicted.

• Fang Yang entered the Female Emperor’s forbidden bedchamber and surveyed its modest furnishings.
• Fang Yang read the Female Emperor’s calligraphy, which repeatedly condemned him and demanded his death.
• Fang Yang wondered whether the Female Emperor’s love had turned to hatred or whether the Demon Venerable’s diary had concealed the truth.
• Fang Yang considered the Empress Dowager’s unusual invitation and the mysterious motives of those in Capital City.
• Guan Qinghan stood in Fang Yang’s room late at night, biting her lip as he asked what had brought her there.

Guan Qinghan convinced herself that her attraction to Fang Yang was merely a heart demon and decided to use the forbidden technique Severing the Threads of Affection. She began the ritual by offering herself to him, but her familiar, instinctive gestures made her doubt her resolve as Fang Yang drew her into his embrace.

• Guan Qinghan concluded that her desire for Fang Yang came from a heart demon and resolved to sever her feelings with the Heavenly Demon Sect's forbidden technique.
• Guan Qinghan undressed and asked Fang Yang to show her favor, intending to make this her last night with him.
• Fang Yang covered her with her clothes again and said he would not force her, but Guan Qinghan knelt and placed his hand on her head before realizing what she had done.
• Guan Qinghan insisted that she needed to face her heart demon and proceed with the ritual, so Fang Yang let her clothes fall and gathered her into his arms.
• Guan Qinghan wrapped her arms around Fang Yang's waist, then froze again.

Guan Qinghan used Severing the Threads of Affection to inspect her Dao Heart and discovered it was buried beneath countless threads of love for the Demon Venerable. She used a costly secret technique to inspect his Dao Heart, only to find a lifeless abyss with no threads of affection.

• Guan Qinghan activated Severing the Threads of Affection and summoned a Snow Mirror to examine her Dao Heart.
• Guan Qinghan found her Dao Heart buried beneath countless threads of affection for the Demon Venerable and realized her love for him had seeped into her bones.
• As the threads wound around her Dao Heart, Guan Qinghan struggled against her growing desire and feared the art would deepen her attachment.
• Guan Qinghan used the secret technique Peering into the Dao Heart despite its heavy cost.
• The Snow Mirror revealed the Demon Venerable's Dao Heart as a dark, lifeless abyss without any threads of affection for her.

Guan Qinghan refused to accept Fang Yang’s indifference and chose to make him remember her by spending the night with him. As she tried to leave, Mo Ke arrived at Fang Yang’s bedchamber and opened the door.

• Guan Qinghan shattered the Snow Mirror and declared that she willingly chose to stay with Fang Yang.
• Guan Qinghan pushed Fang Yang onto the bed, determined to leave a lasting impression on him.
• Afterward, Guan Qinghan told Fang Yang that she had bestowed her favor on him and bit his hand to leave a mark.
• Guan Qinghan tried to leave but heard someone approaching the bedchamber.
• Mo Ke arrived with a lantern, called Fang Yang her Master, and opened the door to find him sitting on the bed.