Chapter Summaries

Master Tiger used a Message Talisman to reach Cui Jiuyang, killed Liang Chen and the other Directorate of Astronomy Daoists, and waited while the Crane Feather healed Cui. Cui awoke beside Master Tiger and Bai Susu, while the abandoned formation continued gathering Snake Demons essence blood into Xu Xian and strengthening its lifeless dragon.

• Master Tiger emerged through a Ghost Gate, saw Cui Jiuyang badly injured, and killed Liang Chen after Liang Chen admitted causing the attack.
• Master Tiger examined Cui, confirmed the Crane Feather was healing him, and questioned Bai Susu about the battle and the Directorate of Astronomy’s plans.
• After hearing Bai Susu’s account and inspecting the formation, Master Tiger concluded the Daoists were trying to create a new emperor, then killed Liang Ji and Liang Gu.
• The Daoists’ bodies vanished, while the blood-red formation continued gathering Snake Demons essence blood into Xu Xian and solidifying the dragon silhouette.
• After nearly an hour, the Crane Feather returned to Cui’s robes, and Cui awoke beside Master Tiger and Bai Susu.

After dying beneath Qi Danshan’s blade, Liang Chen reflected on why the Directorate of Astronomy had lost its imperial support and faced dissolution. The chapter recounted how Liang Quan began learning ordinary Daoist rites to earn a living, leaving the other Daoists uncertain about their future.

• Liang Chen considered how the Directorate of Astronomy’s arts had weakened after the Qing throne fell and dragon qi vanished.
• Liang Quan advised the Directorate’s members to choose their own paths, then began studying folk Daoist arts to survive.
• Daoist Xingliang mistook Liang Quan for a temple worker and invited him to perform rites at a wealthy merchant’s funeral.
• Liang Quan attended the funeral, recited what he could remember, and returned with two strings of copper coins.
• Liang Quan urged the other Daoists to learn skills and find work, while they felt ashamed that he had earned money chanting scriptures.

Liang Chen and his fellow Daoists ambushed Liang Quan and put him into the Otherworldly Dream so they could pursue their False Dragon plan. After Liang Chen and the others died, he found himself trapped before Liang Quan’s immense, silent eyes, while Cui Jiuyang recovered and discovered the False Dragon formation was still accelerating.

• Liang Chen and the other Daoists ambushed Liang Quan, sealed his spiritual power, and placed him on the Otherworldly Dream’s jade bed.
• Liang Quan willingly fell asleep after warning Liang Chen that Zhang He and the Directorate of Astronomy might have no place in the changing age.
• Liang Chen led the Directorate of Astronomy in recruiting cultivators and capturing Snake Demons for the False Dragon ritual, but Cui Jiuyang disrupted their plans and the three fellow disciples died.
• Liang Chen, Liang Ji, and Liang Gu found themselves trapped in darkness before Liang Quan’s enormous, unresponsive eyes.
• Master Tiger helped Cui Jiuyang recover with Old He’s Crane Feather, and Cui Jiuyang noticed the formation was still running as the False Dragon neared solid form.

Cui Jiuyang, Master Tiger, and Bai Susu faced the false dragon as its soul grew stronger after Liang Quan absorbed the souls of Liang Chen, Liang Ji, and Liang Gu. The dragon attacked Bai Susu, and Cui Jiuyang prepared to counter it with the nine Apotropaic Coins.

• Cui Jiuyang and Master Tiger approached the giant cypress to rescue Xu Xian, but its branches attacked them, and Cui Jiuyang spotted a spark of awareness in the false dragon's eyes.
• Inside the Otherworldly Dream Space, Liang Quan absorbed Liang Chen, Liang Ji, and Liang Gu, causing the false dragon's soul to become more complete.
• Cui Jiuyang, Master Tiger, and Bai Susu retreated as the false dragon roared, circled the clifftop, and fixed its gaze on them.
• The false dragon fired lightning at the three, and Cui Jiuyang realized it was targeting Bai Susu to complete its dragon soul.
• Cui Jiuyang sent all nine Apotropaic Coins into the sky to form a thunder formation against the false dragon.

Liang Quan explained how he became the False Dragon’s dragon soul and why the Directorate of Astronomy’s attempt to defy heaven had reached a desperate turning point. Outside, Cui Jiuyang’s Thunder Formation battered the incomplete False Dragon, while Liang Quan urged his three junior brothers to decide whether to sacrifice their souls to preserve their lineage.

• Cui Jiuyang unleashed the Nine Heavens Demon-Slaying Thunderlight Formation, overpowering the False Dragon’s Golden Thunder and Frost Beneath the Moon and striking it repeatedly.
• Inside the False Dragon’s soul, Liang Quan urged Liang Chen, Liang Ji, and Liang Gu to contribute their remaining consciousness, warning that doing so would mean complete annihilation and no rebirth.
• Liang Quan showed the three junior brothers the battle outside and explained that creating the False Dragon was an act against heaven that could destroy their entire lineage.
• Liang Quan revealed that he had opposed the Counterfeit Dragon Technique, but his junior brothers had sealed his spiritual power and used him as the foundation of the Otherworldly Dream.
• Liang Quan explained that he had secretly entered the False Dragon’s body, but Cui Jiuyang’s rescue of Jade-Illuminated Cold had left the dragon soul incomplete and trapped him within it.
• Liang Quan said his human soul could not fully control the Dragon Body and asked the three junior brothers to decide whether they would help preserve the Directorate of Astronomy.

Liang Quan persuaded Liang Chen, Liang Ji, and Liang Gu to sacrifice their souls to complete the false dragon, which then became a powerful, intelligent opponent for Cui Jiuyang and Master Tiger. Their battle turned against them until the false dragon suddenly faltered, leaving the fight’s outcome uncertain.

• Liang Quan asked his three junior brothers to sacrifice their souls for the Directorate of Astronomy, and Liang Chen, Liang Ji, and Liang Gu agreed.
• Liang Quan used the snake corpses to complete the false dragon’s body and divine soul, transforming it into a nimble, fully formed dragon.
• Cui Jiuyang sent Bai Susu down the mountain, then fought the dragon with the Nine Heavens Demon-Slaying Thunderlight Formation and the Little Golden Gong while Master Tiger tried to destroy the formation and its cypress core.
• The false dragon attacked Master Tiger with scale blades and flying fins, preventing him from destroying the formation as Cui Jiuyang struggled to hold it off.
• With Cui Jiuyang’s spiritual power and Master Tiger’s yin qi nearly exhausted, the false dragon suddenly faltered.

Cui Jiuyang and Master Tiger fought the False Dragon while Bai Susu secretly disrupted its Dragon Soul, but after Liang Quan suppressed her influence, the False Dragon turned its attacks on her. When Bai Susu fell unconscious, Xu Xian began causing the False Dragon to freeze with his gaze, and Cui Jiuyang shielded him from its thunder.

• Liang Quan discovered that Jade-Illuminated Cold’s remaining Divine Soul was disrupting the False Dragon and causing it to freeze during battle.
• Liang Quan sent golden thunder toward Bai Susu, but Master Tiger blocked it with his Underworld Office waist token and then stood guard over her.
• As Liang Quan contained Bai Susu’s influence, the False Dragon’s pauses diminished, leaving Cui Jiuyang increasingly outmatched and wounded.
• The False Dragon began freezing again after Bai Susu had fallen unconscious, and its gaze turned toward Xu Xian.
• Xu Xian’s gaze continued to halt the False Dragon, so Cui Jiuyang placed the little Golden Gong in front of him to block the dragon’s thunder.

Cui Jiuyang and Master Tiger fought the weakening False Dragon while Xu Xian’s lingering connection to his stolen demonic power repeatedly disrupted it. The False Dragon grounded itself and turned the battle into a desperate final assault, leaving Cui Jiuyang and Master Tiger gravely injured as it pressed toward Cui.

• Cui Jiuyang discovered that Xu Xian had survived the formation because it had drained his demonic power but left his mortal life origin intact, and Xu Xian’s connection to that power could halt the False Dragon.
• Cui Jiuyang and Master Tiger briefly recovered as the damaged False Dragon’s aura weakened, but Liang Quan sent it diving back into battle before they could fully regain their strength.
• Xu Xian used his last strength to stop the False Dragon from riding clouds, causing it to crash onto the clifftop; Cui Jiuyang rescued Xu Xian, and Master Tiger carried him beside Bai Susu.
• Cui Jiuyang and Master Tiger attacked the grounded False Dragon until both sides were exhausted, and Master Tiger froze half his body while striking its forehead.
• The False Dragon wounded Cui Jiuyang and Master Tiger, then advanced on Cui; Xuansheng and Xuanyun briefly held it back before collapsing into Evil Ghost Pearls.
• Cui Jiuyang blocked a dragon-claw strike with the little Golden Gong and was badly shaken, while Master Tiger staggered up and harassed the False Dragon despite his severe injuries.

Bai Susu detonated her Demon Soul to disrupt the False Dragon, leaving herself gravely weakened but alive. Cui Jiuyang unleashed the Drought Ghost’s sealed Yin Qi to attack the False Dragon, and Master Tiger tried to help control it as it transformed Cui Jiuyang into a jiangshi.

• Bai Susu used her Divine Soul to freeze the False Dragon, then collapsed from the damage and fell from the terrace.
• Cui Jiuyang saw that Xu Xian had caught and tended to Bai Susu, then used the Soul-Anchor Pearl and a Soul Stabilization Spell to steady her soul.
• Cui Jiuyang healed his broken leg with the Crane Feather and released the Drought Ghost’s Yin Qi to strike the False Dragon.
• Cui Jiuyang asked Master Tiger for his waist token and diverted the Yin Qi into it while converting some into Spiritual Power.
• Master Tiger grasped Cui Jiuyang’s hand and guided the Yin Qi, but it kept transforming Cui Jiuyang into a jiangshi.

Cui Jiuyang used Yin-Wind Blade Mountain to freeze and wound the False Dragon, then detonated the hidden blade lights inside it to destroy it. He passed out from exhaustion, and Master Tiger carried him to safety beside Bai Susu as the battle ended.

• Cui Jiuyang summoned Yin-Wind Blade Mountain, and its blade lights wounded the False Dragon before yin wind froze it in black ice.
• The False Dragon broke free and charged Cui Jiuyang, but Cui Jiuyang immobilized it with blade lights hidden inside its body.
• Cui Jiuyang triggered the blade lights, causing the False Dragon to explode into bloody fragments, then collapsed from exhaustion.
• Master Tiger confirmed Cui Jiuyang was alive, picked up a silver snake skull, and carried him to Bai Susu beside Xu Xian.
• Master Tiger sat with Xu Xian, Cui Jiuyang, and Bai Susu as sunlight returned to the clifftop.

Cui Jiuyang traveled from the Capital toward Fengtian to return Old He’s feather to Mount Heming, encountering discrimination against Chinese passengers on the Japanese-controlled railway Beyond the Pass. In the crowded third-class carriage, he tried to ease the awkward attention his unusual bearing drew by offering jujubes to a little boy.

• Cui Jiuyang left the Capital after the troubles there had been settled and set out for Fengtian with Old He’s feather.
• Cui Jiuyang rode an ordinary train carriage to Shanhai Pass and learned that passengers had to change trains because the railways used different gauges.
• Cui Jiuyang saw that the South Manchuria Railway barred Chinese passengers from its first- and second-class carriages and forced them into crowded third-class cars.
• Cui Jiuyang boarded the third-class carriage Beyond the Pass and restrained his anger as he observed the Japanese passengers receiving better treatment.
• Cui Jiuyang offered two crisp jujubes to a little boy, who hid in his mother’s arms, while the woman politely tried to refuse.

Cui Jiuyang entertained third-class passengers with a miraculous jujube trick, then sensed the railway’s mass graves and scattered Soul-Calming Talismans for the dead. As night fell, he noticed a furtive boy entering the carriage and suspected he was looking for valuables to steal.

• Cui Jiuyang repeatedly produced jujubes from his palm, shared them with the passengers, and introduced himself as a traveling conjurer from Shandong.
• Cui Jiuyang sensed the spirits of railway laborers in mass graves and sent Soul-Calming Talismans drifting from the train.
• Cui Jiuyang heard the dead laborers’ cries in a tunnel and reflected that they had been sons and fathers of the Chinese people.
• A skinny boy entered the dim carriage, furtively eyeing passengers’ pockets, bags, and bundles.
• Cui Jiuyang suspected the boy was a thief and considered how few valuables passengers in third class were likely to have.

Cui Jiuyang watched a boy use a clever trick to steal a laborer’s pouch of silver on the train. After sensing that the boy had an unusual background and a connection to his journey, Cui Jiuyang followed him into another carriage.

• A boy distracted a wary passenger until the man left his seat to smoke and use the toilet.
• The boy used thin tweezers to open the sleeping laborer’s arms, steal his pouch, and slip away with it.
• Cui Jiuyang sensed that the pouch held only three silver dollars and that the laborer had more money sewn into his jacket.
• A stir of Heavenly Mandate Sensitivity prompted Cui Jiuyang to divine that the boy had an unusual background and was connected to his journey.
• Cui Jiuyang followed the boy into the next carriage.

Cui Jiuyang caught the pickpocket Liu San and questioned him about snake immortals, discovering that Liu San was an orphan with an unknown connection to the Five Immortals Beyond the Pass. The chapter left Liu San explaining how hunger had driven him to steal after he ran away from a Children's Welfare Hall.

• Cui Jiuyang used an uncanny trick to catch Liu San and brought him to the train-carriage connection.
• Cui Jiuyang showed Liu San the Mourning White Snake and asked whether he had ever seen a snake immortal; Liu San said he had not.
• Cui Jiuyang sensed Liu San was deeply connected to the Liu Family Gate of the Five Immortals Beyond the Pass, though Liu San knew nothing about snake immortals.
• Liu San told Cui Jiuyang that he was an orphan whose parents had left him at a Children's Welfare Hall and never returned.
• Liu San explained that he ran away from the hall at seven or eight, begged at first, and eventually stole because he was starving.

After sparing Liu San for stealing on the train, Cui Jiuyang arrived in Fengtian and spent the morning enjoying Laobian Dumplings. He settled into a quiet hotel room to prepare for something important that night.

• Cui Jiuyang let Liu San go and warned him not to steal again on the train.
• The next morning, Cui Jiuyang saw the laborer discover his missing silver dollars and enter an unlicensed brothel, while Liu San reunited with another boy and disappeared into the crowd.
• Cui Jiuyang stopped at Laobian Dumplings, watched the cook prepare freshly stir-fried filling, and ate two plates of dumplings.
• Cui Jiuyang checked into a secluded room at a hotel, bolted the door, and determined that it was still early.

Cui Jiuyang crafted the Five Warlords Register and sent Bai Susu inside to recover before continuing his journey north to Kuanchengzi. There, an auntie posing as a station tout attacked him with a smoke-wreathed claw and revealed that she knew who he was.

• Cui Jiuyang used the Dragonkind hide and Yin-Yang Chaos Qi to create the Five Warlords Register, then appointed Bai Susu general of the Walking Beasts Division and placed her inside to absorb spiritual energy.
• Cui Jiuyang returned the wounded Short-tailed Viper to its land-god temple, placed two damaged Yin Soldiers in the register's Ghostly Beings Division, and departed Fengtian by train.
• Cui Jiuyang arrived at Kuanchengzi after nightfall and was approached outside the station by an auntie offering him a place to stay.
• When Cui Jiuyang tried to leave, the auntie pursued him and suddenly slashed at him with a black-smoke-covered claw.
• Cui Jiuyang dodged the attack, and the auntie recognized him by name.

Cui Jiuyang escaped an ambush by Gray Erniang, who planned to take revenge for Spirit Medium Wei after a treasure strengthened her and her allies. The next morning, Cui learned that Changchun was divided among Chinese, Japanese, and Russian administrations, complicating his planned journey to Harbin.

• Cui Jiuyang drew his Nine Apotropaic Coins and a pistol, forcing the attacking older woman to flee as black wind.
• Cui recognized the Black Wind Escape Technique and divined that the attacker was Gray Erniang, the Gray Family Immortal behind Spirit Medium Wei, who sought revenge for her disciple.
• Gray Erniang met a seductive young woman and a shifty-eyed youth, and urged them to wait until they had obtained the treasure before attacking Cui Jiuyang.
• Gray Erniang's companions agreed to her plan, while the young woman voiced her desire for Cui and the youth secretly resolved to cripple him first.
• Cui Jiuyang learned from an inn attendant that Changchun was divided among Chinese, Japanese, and Russian administrations, and realized the turmoil affected his plan to travel north to Harbin.

Cui Jiuyang investigated the chaos around Kuanchengzi Station, then learned from Innkeeper Lin about the powerful He Xiangu and her Golden Immortal Temple. The chapter left him heading south through Changchun to visit the temple.

• Cui Jiuyang found Kuanchengzi Station closed for renovations, with wreckage and dried blood inside and Russian lookouts nearby.
• Cui Jiuyang returned to the inn, bought Russian sausages, and invited Innkeeper Lin to drink while asking about Changchun.
• Cui Jiuyang performed magic tricks, and Innkeeper Lin warned him that He Xiangu had supernatural powers and described how she had sent Wu Lao'er to the Penglai Immortal Realm.
• Cui Jiuyang paid the drinking bill himself and had the drunken Innkeeper Lin taken to rest.
• Cui Jiuyang set out for the Golden Immortal Temple in southern Changchun to meet He Xiangu.

Cui Jiuyang arrived at the Golden Immortal Temple during He Xiangu’s monthly blessing ritual and entered the crowded courtyard to investigate her and Changchun City’s strange energies. He watched He Xiangu make a spectacular entrance on floating paper lotuses, but questioned the show’s Buddhist imagery.

• Cui Jiuyang explored the market and learned that He Xiangu’s blessing ritual could send two believers to Penglai and give the others protective talismans.
• Cui Jiuyang reached the Golden Immortal Temple, judged it more like a folk shrine than a Daoist temple, and slipped through the crowd into its courtyard.
• Two young Daoist acolytes lit the courtyard and prepared the ritual implements as dusk fell.
• He Xiangu appeared after paper talismans formed glowing lotuses beneath her feet, and the believers welcomed her with thunderous cries.
• Cui Jiuyang watched He Xiangu’s entrance and wondered why a Daoist nun was using a Buddhist-style spectacle.

Cui Jiuyang watched He Xiangu perform a genuine blessing ritual before exposing her crane-riding spectacle as an illusion used to target a wealthy elderly couple. He decided to investigate her after nightfall, then left Golden Immortal Temple and stopped at a roasted-chestnut stall.

• He Xiangu summoned rootless water, blessed paper talismans, and distributed them to the worshippers, while Cui Jiuyang recognized the ritual as genuine Daoist magic.
• He Xiangu used a candlelight formation to make two illusionary cranes appear to carry a wealthy elderly couple into the sanctuary, though Cui Jiuyang saw them riding benches.
• Cui Jiuyang suspected He Xiangu meant to swindle the couple out of much of their fortune, but postponed confronting her until the worshippers had left.
• Cui Jiuyang left Golden Immortal Temple and went to a food street, where a vendor showed him sweet potatoes roasting in holes built into the chestnut stove.