Chapter Summaries

Wu Xie, Pan Zi, Fatty, Poker-Face, and Chen Pi A Si fled from railway police at Shanhai Pass, with Cao Ya secretly helping Wu Xie and Pan Zi escape. The group regrouped in a park, where Cao Ya reappeared and Chen Pi A Si began to recognize his hidden skill.

• Wu Xie refused Fatty's suggestion to explore Shanhai Pass while they waited for their next train.
• Pan Zi spotted railway police, and a bald man identified Wu Xie and Pan Zi as the officers moved to arrest them.
• Cao Ya secretly propelled Wu Xie and Pan Zi through the crowd, then vanished as the station descended into panic.
• Wu Xie and Pan Zi escaped with Fatty and Poker-Face, who led them to follow Chen Pi A Si out of the station.
• The group rested in a park, where Cao Ya appeared from the shadows and Fatty praised his abilities to the others.
• Chen Pi A Si assessed Cao Ya and realized he had mistaken him for an unremarkable lackey.

Chen Pi A Si challenged the group’s abilities and offered them the choice to follow him toward the mountain. After suspecting he had betrayed their contact and cut off their equipment, Pan Zi and Poker-Face followed him, leaving Wu Xie, Fatty, and Cao Ya behind to decide what to do.

• Chen Pi A Si insulted the group indirectly, and Fatty blamed Wu Sansheng for their trouble before Wu Xie stopped the argument.
• Chen Pi A Si grew wary of Cao Ya after realizing Cao Ya had once approached him without being noticed.
• Cao Ya reflected on the limits of his power in this world and considered Meteorite Jade a rare source of potential benefits.
• A car arrived for Chen Pi A Si, who told the group that anyone heading up the mountain could follow him.
• Pan Zi suspected Chen Pi A Si had betrayed Baldy and their contact in Dunhua, but followed him to finish Master Three’s job.
• Poker-Face followed Pan Zi, leaving Wu Xie, Fatty, and Cao Ya behind.

Cao Ya joined Chen Pi A Si's expedition to Changbai Mountain, where the group recruited a local guide and set out toward the Cloud Palace. At a lakeside camp, they encountered Jude Kao's much larger, heavily equipped team, while Cao Ya remained untroubled by the rival expedition.

• Cao Ya agreed to follow Chen Pi A Si's group, and Wu Xie and Fatty ran after them as they headed toward Erdaobaihe.
• Chen Pi A Si's men brought the group unusual everyday supplies, and they later hired Shunzi, a Korean army veteran, to guide them into the mountains.
• The group rode into Changbai Mountain, where Cao Ya endured the cold easily and helped maintain their cover as tourists.
• As the group approached a lake, they spotted Jude Kao's larger expedition, led by A Ning, camped on the shore.
• Cao Ya recognized the rival team and dismissed its weapons and equipment as no threat, while Wu Xie, Fatty, and the others reacted with concern.

The group continued through the snowbound mountains toward their destination, while Cao Ya’s extraordinary stamina set him apart from everyone else. After a night in an abandoned outpost, they pressed on into worsening weather, and Poker-Face grew concerned as he studied the mountain ahead.

• Chen Pi A Si spotted A Ning’s caravan and ordered the group to keep moving without engaging them.
• Cao Ya wandered freely through the mountains while the others struggled with the cold and altitude, and he reached the abandoned outpost after them.
• Cao Ya spent part of the blizzard outside on a mountaintop, while the others slept uneasily inside the outpost.
• The group set off again the next morning, and Cao Ya subtly strengthened Shunzi’s horse as they broke trail through deep snow.
• Shunzi warned that worsening winds might make further travel dangerous, and Chen Pi A Si told him to wait before deciding whether to stop.
• Poker-Face stared at the mountain with a troubled expression, leaving Cao Ya to wonder whether he had recalled something about his past.

Cao Ya and the group struggled through a blizzard on Changbai Mountain, with Cao Ya secretly keeping them safe while they followed Shunzi toward a hot spring. After the group tumbled down a slope, Cao Ya spotted long black claws protruding from the snow below.

• Shunzi led the group across the mountain on horse-drawn snow sleds until deep snow forced them to continue on foot.
• The group searched in vain for a snow-buried border outpost, then followed Shunzi toward a nearby hot spring.
• As the blizzard worsened, Cao Ya used his power to clear the group's minds and kept walking without tying himself to their safety rope.
• The snow beneath the group collapsed, and they rolled down a slope until their rope caught on a jutting rock.
• Cao Ya crossed to the slope and saw long black claws sticking out of the snowdrift below.

Cao Ya broke apart a stone dragon carving and widened a fissure in Changbai Mountain, astonishing the expedition with his martial arts strength. The group followed him into the dark passage, where Wu Xie and Fatty asked him to teach them some moves after the expedition.

• Ye Cheng, Fatty, and the others spotted a huge coiled creature in the snow, but Cao Ya identified it as a stone carving of a Hundred-Footed Dragon.
• Monk Hua explained the carving's place in Eastern Xia dragon imagery, and Cao Ya smashed it apart, revealing a rocky fissure that smelled of sulfur.
• Fatty found writing on the fissure wall and tried to squeeze inside, but Cao Ya widened the opening by pushing against its walls.
• Chen Pi A Si brought his men into the steep, dark passage after Ye Cheng said Cao Ya could handle any danger.
• Wu Xie and Fatty marvelled at Cao Ya's strength and asked him to teach them a few simple martial arts moves after they left Changbai Mountain.

Cao Ya led the group deeper into the fissure, ignoring Jurchen writing and clearing a collapse with a display of golden light and overwhelming strength. The others began to suspect he was an immortal cultivator, while Cao Ya privately judged his own power to be only a small step toward the heights of his wider world.

• Pan Zi found carved writing, and Monk Hua identified it as Jurchen Script before staying behind with Lang Feng to copy it.
• Cao Ya dismissed the writing and led Chen Pi A Si, Wu Xie, Fatty, Pan Zi, Ye Cheng, and Shunzi deeper into the fissure.
• Wu Xie worried that the passage was a volcanic vent, but Cao Ya assured the group that the volcano would not erupt.
• Cao Ya found the fissure blocked by fallen rocks, sent everyone back, and shattered the obstruction with a palm surrounded by golden light.
• The group followed Cao Ya through the newly opened passage and wondered if he was an immortal cultivator after he called his martial arts a little success.

Cao Ya and the others took shelter in a fissure near the Cloud Palace, where Cao Ya proposed breaking straight through toward the Nine-Dragon Corpse-Lifting Coffin. While the group examined the faded murals, they discovered a hidden painting underneath the surface layer.

• Cao Ya emerged into a wide section of the fissure with Wu Xie, Fatty, Poker-Face, and the others, and the group chose to rest there beside the hot springs.
• Monk Hua and Lang Feng joined Chen Pi A Si to discuss traced inscriptions while the group warmed and ate compressed rations.
• Cao Ya said they should smash their way directly into the Cloud Palace from the fissure instead of returning to the slope, but Chen Pi A Si asked everyone to inspect the murals first.
• Cao Ya told the others that another layer lay beneath the faded celestial-maiden murals, and Fatty scraped away the surface to reveal brighter paintings underneath.
• Wu Xie, Pan Zi, Ye Cheng, Lang Feng, and Monk Hua began scraping at the mural as Chen Pi A Si questioned why the covering painting had never been properly finished.

Wu Xie and the others uncovered a vivid mural depicting a Mongol invasion of Eastern Xia, while Monk Hua interpreted its scenes as the kingdom’s defeat. The mural’s continuation remained hidden behind an immovable rock as Cao Ya watched without helping.

• Wu Xie, Fatty, Pan Zi, Monk Hua, Lang Feng, and Ye Cheng peeled away the outer mural to reveal an older painting beneath it.
• Monk Hua identified the mural as depicting the war between King Wannu of Eastern Xia and the Mongols, and he noted that Eastern Xia people were said to retain youthful appearances.
• Fatty wondered whether Eastern Xia’s youth-preserving technique could make him rich, while Cao Ya finished eating and joined the others at the mural.
• Monk Hua described the second section as a massacre in which the Mongols overwhelmed Eastern Xia’s soldiers.
• The group found the mural’s next section blocked by an enormous rock, and Cao Ya declined to help move it.

Monk Hua used a Snake-Browed Bronze Fish to explain that Eastern Xia had secretly endured for centuries, despite its supposed destruction. The surviving message claimed that every King Wannu was a monster from beneath the earth, leaving the group unsettled as Cao Ya dismissed them as beasts.

• Wu Xie questioned how the small Eastern Xia Kingdom could have built the enormous Cloud Palace tomb, and the group looked to Chen Pi A Si for an explanation.
• Monk Hua began explaining Eastern Xia, but Cao Ya urged everyone to hurry, and Fatty persuaded Cao Ya to let Monk Hua continue briefly.
• Monk Hua revealed a Snake-Browed Bronze Fish and showed how its scales projected forty-seven hidden Jurchen characters onto the mural.
• Monk Hua said the bronze fish indicated that Eastern Xia had secretly survived for several hundred years and that its enemies had mysteriously withdrawn.
• Monk Hua revealed that the successive King Wannus were not human but monsters from beneath the earth, and Cao Ya mocked them as beasts.

Cao Ya led the group deeper through the fissure toward the Cloud Palace while Chen Pi A Si and his men eventually turned back. After the groups parted, Wu Xie brought out the two Snake-Browed Bronze Fish, but no one knew how to read their Jurchen Script.

• Cao Ya said the group would understand King Wannu's phrase once they reached the Cloud Palace, then set off through the fissure with Wu Xie, Fatty, Pan Zi, Shunzi, and Poker-Face.
• Wu Xie worried about A Ning's team and his third uncle, while Fatty and Pan Zi urged him to focus on the journey.
• After hours of walking, Chen Pi A Si and his three men decided they had taken the wrong route and turned back toward the slope, while Shunzi stayed with Cao Ya's group.
• Wu Xie took out the two Snake-Browed Bronze Fish and suggested examining their inscriptions.
• Cao Ya asked who could read Jurchen Script, and the group realized no one knew how.

Cao Ya explained the Snake-Browed Bronze Fish and Wang Canghai’s account of King Wannu and the Bronze Gate, while questioning the story’s contradictions. The group accepted his information despite not knowing how he learned it, and Cao Ya resolved to destroy the objects coveted by the Wang, Zhang, and “It” factions.

• Cao Ya said the Snake-Browed Bronze Fish were useless and described Wang Canghai’s account of being forced to build King Wannu’s tomb and discovering a hidden secret.
• Cao Ya explained that King Wannu supposedly emerged from an underground gate, which he identified as the Bronze Gate, and Poker-Face recalled that he might have entered it before.
• Cao Ya pointed out contradictions in Wang Canghai’s story, including his use of Jurchen Script and the chance that his captors would have watched him.
• Cao Ya said Wang Canghai might not be completely dead, leaving Wu Xie, Fatty, Pan Zi, Shunzi, and Poker-Face puzzled.
• Cao Ya decided to destroy the Bronze Gate, The Ultimate, Meteorite Jade, and other objects the Wang Family, Zhang Family, and “It” fought over.

Cao Ya led the group through the Cloud Palace rift to a colossal bronze gate, while Wu Xie and the others learned how vast and strange the place was. The chapter left them standing before the gate as Cao Ya pointed out another sight nearby.

• Cao Ya told the group to stop worrying about Wang Canghai and led them deeper into the Cloud Palace.
• After reaching the heart of the Cloud Palace, the group found a rift strewn with bones and spotted a colossal bronze gate.
• Wu Xie wondered whether the gate was the underground entrance King Wannu of Eastern Xia had crawled out of, while Fatty doubted they could enter.
• Poker-Face lit a flare, revealing bronze chains spanning the rift and countless bell-like objects hanging in the darkness.
• The group approached the bronze gate, and Cao Ya pointed to something off to the side.

Cao Ya led Wu Xie, Fatty, Pan Zi, Poker-Face, and Shunzi to King Wannu’s Nine-Dragon Corpse-Lifting Coffin, where he effortlessly killed its giant centipede guardians and a swarm of strange birds. The group then saw three bluish-purple arms reach out of the opening coffin and wondered if they were hallucinating.

• Wu Xie and Fatty recognized the enormous coffin as King Wannu’s Nine-Dragon Corpse-Lifting Coffin, and Cao Ya warned that it had guardians.
• Poker-Face identified nine enormous Volcano Centipedes camouflaged around the platform and explained that they were hibernating.
• Cao Ya rushed to the platform and killed all nine centipedes with a slap and eight punches.
• Cao Ya spotted strange birds in the rift and killed countless of them with a single golden punch.
• The group reached the platform and saw three bluish-purple arms extending from a crack in King Wannu’s coffin, prompting Wu Xie to ask if they were hallucinating.

Cao Ya killed the twelve-armed Thousand-Hand Guanyin Corpse and prepared to open the Bronze Gate with the others. Before he could act, blue mist filled the rift and a column of underworld soldiers appeared, leaving Fatty and Pan Zi to identify the supernatural procession.

• Cao Ya blasted a hole through the Thousand-Hand Guanyin Corpse, which collapsed after staggering toward the Bronze Gate.
• Cao Ya joked that he practiced Golden Bell Shield, then told the others they would learn more after they escaped.
• Cao Ya invited Wu Xie, Fatty, Pan Zi, Shunzi, and Poker-Face to look inside the Bronze Gate and dismissed Wu Xie's concern about karmic fire.
• Cao Ya and the others noticed flames inside the gate as pale blue mist rose rapidly through the rift.
• Cao Ya saw underworld soldiers approaching through the mist as Deer-Horn Trumpet calls echoed through the rift.
• Fatty and Pan Zi recognized the procession as Underworld Soldiers Borrowing the Road.

Cao Ya led the group through a procession of Yin Soldiers and smashed the Bronze Gate with one blow. Inside, he discovered the Meteorite Jade, where he sensed a faint pulse of life growing stronger as they approached.

• The group hid as the Yin Soldiers marched silently past them and entered the Bronze Gate.
• After the procession vanished and the gate sealed shut, Wu Xie and the others struggled to accept what they had witnessed.
• Cao Ya urged everyone forward, then shattered the Bronze Gate with a single golden-lit punch.
• Cao Ya led the group through the blue mist inside the gate and spotted the Meteorite Jade.
• Cao Ya sensed a faint sign of life within the Meteorite Jade growing stronger as the group entered.

Inside the Bronze Gate beneath Changbai Mountain, Cao Ya revealed the Meteorite Jade and destroyed King Mu of Zhou and the ghost soldiers hidden within it. The group decided to wait for A Ning’s team and Wu Sansheng, while Fatty wondered how they would react to finding the dangers already gone.

• Cao Ya dispelled the blue mist, allowing the group to see the murals and Meteorite Jade inside the cavern.
• Wu Xie interpreted the murals as depicting a ruler who built the Bronze Gate to seek immortality, and Poker-Face identified him as King Mu of Zhou.
• Pan Zi spotted a person inside the Meteorite Jade, and Poker-Face recognized the figure as King Mu of Zhou.
• Cao Ya refined the Meteorite Jade into a fist-sized lump and destroyed King Mu of Zhou and the ghost soldiers inside it.
• Fatty failed to lift the heavy refined Meteorite Jade, and the group agreed to wait for A Ning’s team and Wu Sansheng.

Cao Ya’s group left the Rift Valley after A Ning, Chen Pi A Si, and Wu Sansheng learned that Cao Ya had destroyed the Bronze Gate and cavern. In System Space, the ten Cao Yas exchanged updates, including plans to seek more Meteorite Jade and concerns about developments in their other worlds.

• A Ning, Chen Pi A Si, and Wu Sansheng reached the bottom of the Rift Valley and found the Bronze Gate shattered and the cavern empty.
• Wu Xie and Fatty explained what had happened, and A Ning left with her team while Wu Sansheng and Chen Pi A Si joined Cao Ya’s group.
• Cao Ya entered System Space while his body slept at a Border Outpost, and the ten Cao Yas exchanged memories.
• Cao Ya from The Grave Robbers’ Chronicles planned to seek the larger Meteorite Jade in Serpent Marsh Ghost City.
• Cao Ya from The Masters of This World confirmed that Meng Qi had entered Six Reincarnation Space and that a young Daoist from the Profound Heaven Sect had died.
• Cao Ya from Mysterious Revival said he was a candidate for a captain’s position, which would grant him more authority and resources.

Cao Ya reflected on the danger surrounding his worlds and chose to cultivate in seclusion in [The Masters of This World], hoping to grow strong enough to protect himself. In [Mysterious Revival], he continued studying malevolent ghosts while avoiding the most dangerous ones, knowing he was still far from powerful enough to confront them safely.

• The Cao Yas agreed that state power could overwhelm ordinary people, while Cao Ya from [Mysterious Revival] remained aloof and the others accepted that his harsh world had shaped his temperament.
• After learning that Meng Qi had entered Six Reincarnation Space, Cao Ya in [The Masters of This World] vowed not to leave seclusion until he reached Outer Scenery Ninth Heaven.
• Abbot Kongwen questioned Cao Ya's decision but remained occupied with Shaolin's troubles after a Profound Heaven Sect visitor died at the temple.
• Cao Ya knew that Kongwen was actually Demon Master Han Guang, a reincarnator who understood the truth behind the Daoist's death.
• In [Mysterious Revival], Cao Ya left his golden safe house and resolved to study malevolent ghosts without becoming a Ghost Controller.
• Cao Ya recognized that his current Outer Scenery Seventh Heaven strength could not safely handle ghosts that invaded dreams or memories or altered time and space, so he resolved to remain cautious.

Cao Ya refused to attend headquarters’ conference, secured the captain position and promised supplies, and warned his operator about Ghost Painting and Ghost Messenger. In the Dragon Raja world, he learned that Goodman, Chen Motong, Ye Sheng, Sake Tokiko, and others had entered the country, and decided to meet them.

• Cao Ya inspected his safe house and confirmed the ghosts remained secured in their gold rooms and coffins.
• Cao Yanhua called Cao Ya to summon him to Great Capital City for the captain conference, but Cao Ya demanded his position and owed supplies without attending.
• Cao Yanhua agreed to Cao Ya’s terms, and Cao Ya told his operator to warn others about Ghost Painting and Ghost Messenger.
• Cao Ya continued handling supernatural incidents around Great Sun City while avoiding ghosts he could not contain.
• Cao Ya learned that Goodman, Chen Motong, Ye Sheng, Sake Tokiko, and others from Cassell College had entered the country, and said he would meet them.