Chapter Summaries

Cui Jiuyang traveled by train toward Harbin while refining the Mountain-Tapping Hammer and worrying about the turmoil Beyond the Pass. A young merchant explained that he and the other businessmen aboard were heading to Harbin to buy assets cheaply amid Russia’s upheaval and the struggle for control of the Chinese Eastern Railway.

• Cui Jiuyang entered the crowded rear carriage at night and spent the journey refining the Mountain-Tapping Hammer while reflecting on the dangers and opportunities Beyond the Pass.
• The next morning, a well-dressed young man offered Cui Jiuyang a cigarette and asked why he was traveling to Harbin.
• Cui Jiuyang told the young man he planned to continue north to the Greater Khingan Range to visit an old friend, then asked what business brought him to Harbin.
• Cui Jiuyang explained that he had noticed the many merchant pairs aboard and used divination to discover that most had strong financial prospects in Harbin.
• The young man revealed that Russia’s political upheaval had left rival regimes contesting control of the Chinese Eastern Railway and that Russian assets in Harbin had become extremely cheap.
• The young man said he and the other merchants were traveling to Harbin to acquire trading firms, factories, mines, and other assets before conditions settled.

Cui Jiuyang arrived in Harbin and searched its freight depot streets for a caravan heading to the Greater Khingan Range. He unexpectedly met Liu Jingye again, who offered to help him.

• Cui Jiuyang accepted Liu Jingye’s account of the risks and profits of trading in Harbin, and the two introduced themselves on the train.
• Liu Jingye returned to his work, and the train arrived in Harbin at noon.
• Cui Jiuyang learned from a restaurant owner where caravans gathered and went to the freight depot streets to find a northbound caravan.
• Cui Jiuyang discovered that Harbin’s unrest had driven away most caravans, leaving none willing to travel to the Greater Khingan Range.
• Cui Jiuyang unexpectedly met Liu Jingye, who explained that the Tongxing Trading Company had sent him to buy a freight depot and offered to help.

Cui Jiuyang stayed with Liu Jingye while waiting for a northbound caravan, and Liu Jingye unexpectedly reunited with his long-lost younger brother, Liu Jingtang. The three shared a hot pot meal as the brothers began recounting how they had found each other.

• Cui Jiuyang accepted Liu Jingye’s invitation to stay at the Tongxing Trading Company’s freight depot while Liu searched for a suitable caravan.
• Liu Jingye returned to the courtyard with his long-lost younger brother, whom he had encountered on the street.
• Liu San felt ashamed when he recognized Cui Jiuyang, who had once caught him stealing, and struggled to introduce himself as Liu Jingtang.
• Cui Jiuyang warmly welcomed Liu Jingtang and encouraged him to use his proper name.
• Liu Jingye insisted Cui Jiuyang join the brothers for a celebratory hot pot meal.
• After dinner, Liu Jingye and Liu Jingtang began telling Cui Jiuyang how their reunion had happened.

Liu Jingye recognized the thief Liu Jingtang as his long-lost younger brother by the birthmark on his back and rescued him from the Mongolian merchants. That night, Liu Jingtang settled into his new life under his brother’s care while Cui Jiuyang quietly observed him from the adjoining room.

• Liu Jingtang tried to steal the Mongolian merchants’ saddlebags, so they stripped him, tied him to a post, and prepared to whip him.
• Liu Jingye saw the birthmark on Liu Jingtang’s back and recognized it as the one his missing younger brother had.
• Liu Jingye paid the Mongolian merchants to settle the dispute, freed Liu Jingtang, and reunited with him.
• Liu Jingye prepared a bed for Liu Jingtang in Cui Jiuyang’s wing room, and Cui Jiuyang retired early to ease the boy’s discomfort.
• Liu Jingye talked with Liu Jingtang about their family and the trading company before leaving him to rest.
• Cui Jiuyang used his divine sense to watch Liu Jingtang silently reflect on his sudden change in fortune before the boy extinguished the lamp.

Cui Jiuyang discovered that two snake demons from the Liu Family had been watching the freight depot, and suspected Liu Jingtang concealed a secret. He took Liu Jingtang to a bathhouse to question him, but the chapter ended with an attendant repeatedly scrubbing rolls of grime from the boy.

• Cui Jiuyang detected two visitors with demonic qi outside the depot and later identified their traces as belonging to Liu Family snake demons.
• Cui Jiuyang concealed his discovery from Liu Jingye, who asked him to take Liu Jingtang out for a bath and new clothes.
• After Liu Jingye left for work, Cui Jiuyang told Liu Jingtang they would get cleaned up and then talk about his past.
• At the bathhouse, an attendant struggled to scrub grime from Cui Jiuyang, while another repeatedly rubbed thick rolls of dirt from Liu Jingtang's back.

Cui Jiuyang earned Liu Jingtang’s trust by showing him a supernatural water dragon, then questioned him about his past and why he had fled the Changchun City Children’s Welfare Hall. Liu Jingtang revealed that instructors had repeatedly fondled him, while Cui Jiuyang suspected the Liu Family’s interest in the boy involved a deeper secret.

• Cui Jiuyang listened as Liu Jingtang explained how his group of thieves shared stolen money and paid tribute to Patrol Police officers.
• Cui Jiuyang conjured a water dragon and a miniature shower in the bath, leaving Liu Jingtang convinced he had witnessed immortal powers.
• Cui Jiuyang asked Liu Jingtang why he had refused to return to the Children’s Welfare Hall, and Liu Jingtang said different instructors had sneaked into his room to fondle him.
• Liu Jingtang grew wary when Cui Jiuyang looked him over, fearing that Cui Jiuyang also had improper intentions.
• Cui Jiuyang wondered what the Liu Family wanted with Liu Jingtang and formed a tentative theory about the reason.

Cui Jiuyang and Liu Jingtang were trapped in an alley by two Willow Immortals sent by the Liu Family to seize the boy. Cui Jiuyang protected Liu Jingtang with a talisman and fought back with Shouyang Fire and Heavenly Thunder, while the Snake Demons’ defenses withstood his first attacks.

• Cui Jiuyang bought Liu Jingtang winter clothes and led him back toward the freight depot.
• Cui Jiuyang realized the alley was trapped in a formation and confronted two Willow Immortals who emerged from the shadows.
• The Willow Immortals attacked with purplish-black mist, and Cui Jiuyang placed a protective talisman on Liu Jingtang.
• Cui Jiuyang summoned the Little Golden Gong and Shouyang Fire, which the first Snake Demon countered with freezing vapor.
• Cui Jiuyang called down Heavenly Thunder, but the second Snake Demon’s Snake-Scale Armor endured the strike.
• Cui Jiuyang summoned repeated bolts of lightning as the two Snake Demons prepared to withstand his assault.

Cui Jiuyang learned that the Liu Family wanted Liu Jingtang as a vessel for a patriarch’s Divine Soul, then explained why the boy might not be in immediate danger. The chapter left them at the freight depot preparing to conceal Liu Jingtang while the family’s response remained uncertain.

• Cui Jiuyang forced the two Snake Demons to reveal that the Liu Family had kept Liu Jingtang as a potential possession vessel because of his unusual constitution.
• The Snake Demons speculated that a Liu Family patriarch had recently lost his body and needed a vessel, and Cui Jiuyang killed them and collected their Demon Cores.
• Liu Jingtang feared that the Liu Family would possess him, but Cui Jiuyang brought him back to the freight depot and reasoned that the patriarch was probably low-ranking and not highly valued.
• Cui Jiuyang reassured Liu Jingtang that the danger might not be immediate, then warned that they still needed to hide him in case the Liu Family investigated.

Liu Jingye hid Liu Jingtang and Cui Jiuyang in a Harbin church, hoping its foreign clerics and spiritual protections would shield Liu Jingtang from the Five Immortals Beyond the Pass. While Liu Jingtang slept, Cui Jiuyang explored the church and watched Father Lam begin a sermon.

• Liu Jingye believed Liu Jingtang's account after Cui Jiuyang demonstrated a talisman's power, then offered to take them somewhere safe.
• At dawn, Liu Jingye drove Liu Jingtang and Cui Jiuyang to a church in central Harbin, where a cleric gave them a guest room.
• Liu Jingye reassured Liu Jingtang and asked Cui Jiuyang to protect him before returning to his trading firm's affairs.
• Liu Jingtang fell asleep, and Cui Jiuyang explored the church, finding that its icons and crosses suppressed his Divine Sense.
• Cui Jiuyang entered the central hall, observed Chinese and Russian believers gathering, and listened as Father Lam began preaching.

Cui Jiuyang encountered a powerful, possibly nonhuman priest in the church and avoided entering the sanctuary, sensing danger among the Russian clergy. He stayed cautious with Liu Jingtang and passed the next few days reading in their room.

• Cui Jiuyang left Father Lam's sermon and was stopped by a priest near the church's private quarters.
• A tall priest invited Cui Jiuyang into the sanctuary, but Cui Jiuyang politely refused and returned to the central hall.
• Cui Jiuyang sensed that the tall priest and several other Russian priests possessed formidable, unfamiliar cultivation.
• Cui Jiuyang reflected on his ignorance of foreign religious practices, then joked with the awakened Liu Jingtang about wearing tiger-head clothes.
• Cui Jiuyang and Liu Jingtang kept to their room except for meals, and Cui Jiuyang borrowed light reading from the church library.

Cui Jiuyang examined the powerful holy cross Father Lam had given Liu Jingtang and wondered whether the priest was an ordinary clergyman or a cultivator. After Liu Jingye reunited with his brother at the church, Cui Jiuyang sensed a hostile gaze outside, but saw no one suspicious.

• Cui Jiuyang told Liu Jingtang to keep wearing Father Lam's cross because its spiritual energy could ward off evil.
• Liu Jingtang confided his anxiety about being separated from Liu Jingye, and Father Lam comforted him with stories and counsel.
• Liu Jingtang retold Father Lam's story about a nun refusing shelter to her estranged family, prompting Cui Jiuyang to reflect on the priest's sincere faith.
• Liu Jingye visited the church with food, reunited with Liu Jingtang, and spoke privately with him while Cui Jiuyang went for a walk.
• Cui Jiuyang recognized the church from a visit a century in the future, ate at a nearby eatery, and sensed a fleeting, hostile gaze as he returned.
• Liu Jingye emerged from the church and asked Cui Jiuyang what he was looking at.

Cui Jiuyang and Liu Jingtang stayed in the church while Cui Jiuyang investigated a mysterious old man who had watched them. The next day, as they helped Father Ram clean the Central Hall, a bishop Cui Jiuyang had encountered before arrived, and Father Ram addressed him with unexpected coolness.

• Liu Jingye visited Cui Jiuyang and Liu Jingtang at the church, then left alone in his carriage.
• A hunched old man watched the church and Liu Jingye before vanishing without a trace; Cui Jiuyang later returned to the church with flatbreads and disguised his return as a conjuring trick for the priest.
• Cui Jiuyang warned Liu Jingtang that someone might be watching them and told him not to leave the church or separate from him.
• After the sermon, Cui Jiuyang and Liu Jingtang helped Father Ram clean the Central Hall, and Father Ram praised the way kindness could be passed on.
• A bishop Cui Jiuyang had encountered in the Sanctuary entered the hall, and Father Ram questioned his visit with little deference.

Cui Jiuyang and Liu Jingtang agreed to help clean the sanctuary altar at the bishop’s request, despite Father Lam’s unease. They entered the candlelit sanctuary that afternoon, where the bishop was nowhere to be seen.

• The bishop asked Cui Jiuyang and Liu Jingtang to help clean the altar, and Father Lam warned them to bring the Cross and stay together.
• Liu Jingtang volunteered to go alone so Father Lam would not be put in a difficult position, but Cui Jiuyang decided to accompany him.
• Cui Jiuyang considered his growing cultivation and his ties to the Liu brothers as he and Liu Jingtang approached the sanctuary.
• Cui Jiuyang and Liu Jingtang entered the sanctuary and found its altar, sacred objects, and candles, but the bishop was absent.

While Cui Jiuyang and Liu Jingtang helped the bishop prepare the sanctuary, Cui Jiuyang noticed similarities between the bishop and the strange old man outside the church, both of whom seemed unusually interested in Liu Jingtang. Later, Liu Jingtang dreamed of a mysterious mountain and imagined himself as a hero from the martial-arts stories he loved.

• Cui Jiuyang and Liu Jingtang replaced the altar cloth and cleaned the sanctuary while the bishop watched Liu Jingtang closely.
• Cui Jiuyang sensed that the bishop's unstable aura resembled the stooped old man's and suspected both were interested in possessing Liu Jingtang.
• Cui Jiuyang and Liu Jingtang left the sanctuary without incident, and the following days at the church passed peacefully.
• Cui Jiuyang read a story by candlelight and noticed Liu Jingtang tossing and mumbling in his sleep, so he tucked in the boy's blanket.
• Liu Jingtang dreamed of a majestic mountain where immortals dwelled and recalled the martial-arts tales that had inspired him to imagine himself as a hero.

Liu Jingtang climbed Mount Yuting in a dream while a storyteller described Liu Longtong sending an ape and a crane to test him. When a strand of divine sense entered Liu Jingtang’s brow in the church, Cui Jiuyang realized the dream was dangerous and forced his way into it, risking severe harm if he stayed too long.

• Liu Jingtang climbed Mount Yuting, believing he would face trials and earn Liu Longtong’s martial arts legacy.
• The storyteller described Liu Longtong sending his Kunlun White Ape and Qingyuan Red-Crowned Crane to test Liu Jingtang.
• Liu Jingtang remembered a blue-robed young man but could not recall his name before monkey cries urged him onward.
• Cui Jiuyang sensed danger, tried to wake Liu Jingtang, and watched a strand of divine sense pass through his protective formation into Liu Jingtang’s brow.
• Cui Jiuyang used the Central Palace Taiyi Soul-Seizing Coin and a spell to enter Liu Jingtang’s dream, knowing he had to leave within two hours.

Cui Jiuyang entered Liu Jingtang’s dream and found him training on Mount Yuting, where he learned the White Ape Sword Technique from a troop of monkey swordsmen. Just as Liu Jingtang challenged the Kunlun White Ape, a mysterious winged figure appeared and urged him to become God’s Messenger and save the world.

• Cui Jiuyang arrived in Liu Jingtang’s dream, saw Mount Yuting, and began climbing toward the summit.
• Liu Jingtang imitated the monkey swordsmen’s moves and gradually learned the White Ape Sword Technique.
• The Kunlun White Ape approved of Liu Jingtang’s tenacity and prepared to fight him when Liu challenged it.
• A huge winged figure descended, startling the Kunlun White Ape and interrupting Liu Jingtang’s challenge.
• The winged figure called Liu Jingtang the Savior and invited him to become God’s Messenger and embark on the Path of the Brave.

Cui Jiuyang interrupted the Bishop’s attempt to possess Liu Jingtang in his dream and tried to win Liu Jingtang over by offering him a path as an evil ghost. Liu Jingtang weighed the three futures before remembering Zhao Da, a former orphan who had become a martial artist.

• Cui Jiuyang arrived in the dream in his Drought Ghost form and stopped Liu Jingtang from completing the Bishop’s sacred covenant.
• Liu Longtong arrived with the Kunlun White Ape and red-crowned crane, who merged into tattoos on his body.
• Cui Jiuyang realized the three rivals had entered Liu Jingtang’s dream to gain his trust and possess him, then chose to appeal to the boy’s rebellious nature.
• Cui Jiuyang urged Liu Jingtang to become an evil ghost and fight his way out of the world’s hell.
• Liu Jingtang considered Liu Longtong’s martial-hero path, the Bishop’s promise of glory, and Cui Jiuyang’s offer before remembering Zhao Da and his tales of life as a martial wanderer.

In Liu Jingtang’s dream, Cui Jiuyang persuaded him that only an evil ghost could survive an evil world, and Liu Jingtang chose to take his hand. Cui Jiuyang awoke to an attack by the stooped old man, who joined forces with the angelic birdman, leaving him fighting both assailants in the guest room.

• Liu Jingtang recalled Zhao Da’s death and the hardships he had witnessed, losing faith in great heroes and promises to save the world.
• Liu Longtong offered to teach Liu Jingtang martial arts, and the angelic birdman urged him toward salvation, but Cui Jiuyang told him that only evil ghosts could survive in an evil world.
• Liu Jingtang took Cui Jiuyang’s hand, causing the dream mountain to collapse as Liu Longtong and the angelic birdman fled.
• Cui Jiuyang woke beside the sleeping Liu Jingtang and formed a Nine Palace Bagua Formation just as the stooped old man attacked.
• Cui Jiuyang burned the old man’s snake shadows with spiritual fire, but the angelic birdman returned and joined the assault, forcing Cui Jiuyang to fight them both.

Cui Jiuyang battled the hunched old man and Bishop Las until Father Ram arrived and used an antique cross to suppress the bishop. The old man recognized Cui Jiuyang’s spells and called him a little bastard, leaving Cui Jiuyang wondering how they knew each other.

• Cui Jiuyang traded spells with the hunched old man and Bishop Las in a stalemate while Liu Jingtang slept inside the Nine Palace Bagua Formation.
• Father Ram arrived and used an antique silver cross to pin Bishop Las beneath powerful holy light.
• The hunched old man attacked Father Ram with a giant serpent of black mist, but Cui Jiuyang burned it away with the Little Golden Gong.
• Liu Jingtang woke and asked Cui Jiuyang whether the two attackers meant to possess him and whether Father Ram was helping them.
• The hunched old man recognized Cui Jiuyang’s spells, called him a little bastard, and left Cui Jiuyang confused about their connection.

Cui Jiuyang drove off the Liu Family ancestor after the Five Warlords Register frightened him, then sealed the birdman bishop and discovered he was Rasputin. As Father Ram recovered, Cui Jiuyang recalled Rasputin’s infamous life and the failed assassination that led to his apparent death.

• The Liu Family ancestor unleashed stronger attacks, but fled in terror after seeing Cui Jiuyang’s Five Warlords Register.
• Cui Jiuyang took over from exhausted Father Ram and sealed the birdman bishop with the Nine Apotropaic Coins, revealing him as Rasputin.
• Father Ram blamed Rasputin for the trouble and collapsed to rest while Cui Jiuyang recognized the naked priest.
• Cui Jiuyang recounted Rasputin’s rise from a poor Siberian villager to a powerful figure in the Russian court through his supposed holy gifts.
• Cui Jiuyang recalled how nobles lured Rasputin to the Yusupov palace, poisoned him unsuccessfully, and shot him, only for Rasputin to rise and threaten Felix Yusupov.