Chapter Summaries

Lu Mingyue accompanied her grandfather, Old Lu, a corpse collector, to the western marketplace for the execution of Shen Yulang. As the County Commandant ordered the execution, Shen Yulang claimed he had cultivated a Houtian Spirit Mansion and would soon join an Immortal Sect.

• Lu Mingyue prepared breakfast and helped Old Lu get ready for work, including fetching his treasured corpse-wrapping cloth.
• Old Lu took Lu Mingyue and his handcart to the western marketplace, where a constable told them to wait aside.
• The County Commandant arrived and ordered Shen Yulang’s execution.
• The County Commandant condemned Shen Yulang for torturing and murdering eight women from respectable families.
• Shen Yulang laughed and told the County Commandant, Qin, that he had cultivated a Houtian Spirit Mansion and would soon become an Immortal Sect cultivator.

After Shen Yulang revealed his Spirit Mansion, Commandant Qin argued that it did not exempt him from punishment and ordered his execution. Lu Mingyue and Old Lu collected Shen Yulang’s remains, and Old Lu explained that a Spirit Mansion was an immortal root.

• Shen Yulang threatened Yangguan County after revealing that he possessed a Spirit Mansion, but Commandant Qin dismissed his claims of protection from an Immortal Sect.
• Commandant Qin ordered Shen Yulang beheaded, and the executioner carried out the sentence.
• Commandant Qin left the marketplace and assigned Old Lu to handle the remains, while a constable gave him two pieces of silver.
• Lu Mingyue asked why Old Lu had received two rewards, and Old Lu explained that Shen Yulang’s Spirit Mansion made the case unusual.
• Old Lu and Lu Mingyue loaded Shen Yulang’s body onto a handcart, and Old Lu cleaned the execution site before they went home.

While preparing Shen Yulang’s corpse, Lu Mingyue discovered that her family’s inherited shroud had revealed mysterious writing after being washed. Touching the words showed her scenes from Shen Yulang’s life, ending with the discovery that he had been denied entry to immortal cultivation because he lacked a Spirit Mansion.

• Old Lu and Lu Mingyue brought Shen Yulang’s body home and prepared it for the Shen Household to collect.
• Old Lu stitched Shen Yulang’s severed head to his body, then Lu Mingyue cleaned the corpse and washed the treasured shroud.
• Lu Mingyue saw three blood-red lines appear on the shroud: “Mortal. Newly entered Spirit Mansion. Qi-Feeding Spirit-Opening Art.”
• Lu Mingyue touched the writing and received visions of Shen Yulang’s life, including an immortal rejecting him at age nine for having no Spirit Mansion.

Lu Mingyue experienced Shen Yulang’s life through the burial shroud and discovered that she could not speak or write about the cultivation art it revealed. The chapter left her realizing that the art must not reach six ears.

• Lu Mingyue relived Shen Yulang’s life, including how he obtained and practiced the Qi-Feeding Spirit-Opening Art.
• Lu Mingyue shut the courtyard gate and tried to tell Old Lu what she had seen, but she could not speak about the cultivation art.
• Old Lu suggested that Lu Mingyue write down what happened, and she brought out her brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.
• Lu Mingyue found she could not write about the art and instead produced ghostly scrawls.
• Lu Mingyue realized that the art must not reach six ears.

Lu Mingyue received a cultivation art but could not explain or write it down, while Old Lu recognized the same strange restriction from an incident in his past. After realizing that her cultivation would require resources she could scarcely afford, Lu Mingyue decided to make do with eating more and began cultivating with an extra meal.

• Old Lu let Lu Mingyue go to the market and recalled how, thirty years earlier, he had accidentally killed an immortal who was teaching his grandfather cultivation, losing the chance to learn the method himself.
• Old Lu recognized that Lu Mingyue was now facing the same inability to share the immortal's teachings and accepted that he had no chance at immortality.
• Lu Mingyue bought pork and vegetables, then considered how the Qi-Feeding Spirit-Opening Art required abundant food and expensive medicinal ingredients.
• Lu Mingyue concluded she could not afford medicinal baths, resolved to cultivate by eating more, and ate two extra bowls of rice after cooking braised pork.

Lu Mingyue began practicing the Qi-Feeding Spirit-Opening Art in secret and felt warmth gather in her abdomen before sudden pain struck her dantian. When Old Lu checked on her, she lied that she had cramped her leg, leaving her cultivation and its effects hidden from him.

• After finishing the chores, Lu Mingyue considered whether Old Lu might resent her for gaining the chance to cultivate immortality when he had done more to care for Shen Yulang’s corpse.
• Lu Mingyue suspected the shroud let her experience Shen Yulang’s memories and reveal the Qi-Feeding Spirit-Opening Art, and she reasoned that immortal sects favored people with innate spirit abodes over those who developed acquired ones.
• Lu Mingyue calmed herself and began practicing the art, guiding the vital essence from her food through controlled breathing and abdominal movements.
• Lu Mingyue felt a gentle warmth in her belly, then cried out when intense, needlelike pain struck her dantian.
• Old Lu asked if she had had a nightmare, and Lu Mingyue claimed she had knocked her leg against the bed so he would not learn about her cultivation.

Lu Mingyue hid her cultivation and the pain in her dantian from Old Lu while Shen Yulang’s family collected his remains. After half a month of eating meat and practicing daily, she received another job tending an executed prisoner’s remains, but Old Lu’s behavior suddenly seemed unusual.

• Old Lu offered to let Lu Mingyue sleep in his room, but she declined and concealed the stabbing pain in her dantian as she tried to sleep.
• The Shen Household arrived the next morning to collect Shen Yulang’s remains, and Master Shen gave Old Lu thirty taels of silver.
• Lu Mingyue asked for meat so she could support her cultivation, and Old Lu agreed to buy chicken, fish, beef, and mutton for them.
• For the next half month, Lu Mingyue ate meat and cultivated for about fifteen minutes each day despite the pain in her abdomen.
• When Old Lu and Lu Mingyue received another job tending an executed prisoner’s remains, Old Lu left her alone with the body to wash a bloodstained shroud.

Lu Mingyue suspected Old Lu knew she had gained an opportunity for immortal cultivation, but she could not tell him about it. Old Lu showed no resentment and sent her to buy food, then privately inspected the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth and wondered if he was destined to miss out on cultivation.

• Old Lu asked Lu Mingyue about the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth, then took over stitching the tortured prisoner's wounds when she could not explain what she had discovered.
• Lu Mingyue decided Old Lu might also want a chance to cultivate immortality, washed the cloth, and left to buy cured pork ribs and other food.
• After Lu Mingyue left, Old Lu studied the hanging Corpse-Wrapping Cloth twice, found nothing unusual, and sighed that he might not be destined for immortal cultivation.
• At the Li family shop, Lu Mingyue petted the puppies, and Li Laifu suggested she keep the male pup because a dog could ward off evil.

Lu Mingyue brought home a little yellow dog after Li Laifu gave it to her for free, and Old Lu agreed to let her keep it. While she made the dog a home, the Twin Blades Gang’s second elder arrived to collect his son’s body and questioned Old Lu about anything he had found.

• Li Laifu gave Lu Mingyue the little yellow dog for free, and she bought cured pork ribs and a grass carp before heading home.
• Old Lu agreed that Lu Mingyue could keep the dog, and she fed it fish innards and built it a doghouse.
• Lu Mingyue pondered what to name the dog when the Twin Blades Gang’s second elder arrived with his men to collect his son’s body.
• The second elder gave Old Lu a money pouch and asked whether he had found anything on the body, and Old Lu said the young master had worn only a single-layer garment.

After the Twin Blades Gang searched Old Man Lu and Lu Mingyue’s home for clues about the second elder’s son’s death, Lu Mingyue feared for herself and Xiao Huang. The search turned up nothing, and the grandfather and granddaughter began repairing the rooms and preparing dinner.

• The second elder ordered his men to search the bedrooms, and Lu Mingyue tried to endure their intrusion.
• When Zheng Dong tried to kick Xiao Huang, Lu Mingyue swung her hammer at him, and the second elder ordered Zheng Dong to leave and receive punishment.
• The second elder’s son reported that the courtyard search had found nothing, so the second elder departed with his son’s remains and told Old Man Lu to keep the silver.
• Old Man Lu scolded Lu Mingyue for leaving her bed, then accepted her apology and asked her to help clean up the wrecked rooms.
• As evening approached, Old Man Lu told Lu Mingyue to make dinner, saying they would eat well and sleep after the frightening day.

Lu Mingyue spent more than a month cultivating while fearing Horseface might seek revenge, but he never appeared. When the yamen summoned Old Lu, they found five brutally mutilated corpses, including Master Shen’s, and Old Lu warned Lu Mingyue to stay home after learning the county commandant had gone to wipe out the Twin Blades Gang.

• Lu Mingyue worried Horseface might retaliate, kept a woodcutting knife by her bed, and secretly worked to open her Spirit Mansion.
• After more than a month, Zhou Biao summoned Old Lu and Lu Mingyue to the county yamen for work.
• Old Lu and Lu Mingyue found five corpses in the yamen courtyard, including Master Shen, who had recently collected Shen Yulang’s remains.
• The County Registrar ordered Old Lu to clean the bodies, and Lu Mingyue discovered Master Shen had been mutilated and had nine bloody holes in his abdomen.
• Old Lu returned with two more corpses and told Lu Mingyue to stay home because the county commandant had taken the constables to wipe out the Twin Blades Gang.

Lu Mingyue learned that the Twin Blades Gang had murdered the Shen Household to seize its young master's immortal cultivation manual, prompting the county yamen to destroy the gang. After the County Commandant ordered Lu Mingyue and Old Lu to prepare the dead, Lu Mingyue arrived at the gang’s corpse-filled courtyard and vomited.

• Old Lu told Lu Mingyue that the Twin Blades Gang was blamed for killing the Shen Household and explained that the gang wanted the young master's immortal cultivation manual.
• Old Lu said the County Commandant had gathered more than a hundred constables from three county yamens to fight the Twin Blades Gang.
• Lu Mingyue worried that her own cultivation technique could put her and Old Lu in danger, but tried to calm herself by cooking.
• The blood-covered County Commandant ordered Old Lu to collect the bodies after the Twin Blades Gang was wiped out, and gave him a hundred-tael banknote.
• Lu Mingyue followed Old Lu to the gang’s East Street courtyard, saw it filled with corpses, and vomited.

After the bloody clash between the authorities and the Twin Blades Gang, Lu Mingyue and Old Lu spent two days tending to the dead, then lived cautiously for five years. At twelve, Lu Mingyue opened her Spirit Mansion but still lacked an immortal cultivation method, and she sprang out of bed when she heard Old Lu.

• Old Lu and Lu Mingyue brought home and tended 145 bodies, while the dead men's families and the County Commandant came to collect them.
• Lu Mingyue confirmed the Second Elder was not among the dead and was glad Horse-Face had been killed.
• Old Lu warned Lu Mingyue to avoid danger, and she promised to stock up on supplies so she would not need to leave often.
• Five years passed, and twelve-year-old Lu Mingyue drew Origin Power into her aperture and opened her Spirit Mansion.
• Lu Mingyue lamented that she still had no immortal cultivation method, then heard Old Lu and hurried out of bed.

Lu Mingyue and Old Lu received the corpse of the Twin Blades Gang’s second elder, who had been returned to Yangguan City after dying in custody. Lu Mingyue noticed that the dead man looked several years younger than she remembered, leaving her wondering about the change.

• Zhou Biao visited Lu Mingyue and urged her to consider marriage, but she explained why she did not want to marry without family support.
• Old Lu rebuked Zhou Biao for bringing up marriage, then listened as Zhou Biao explained that the Twin Blades Gang’s second elder had been caught and had died.
• Zhou Biao paid Lu Mingyue two taels to prepare the second elder’s body for burial.
• Lu Mingyue took the handcart to the county office and was startled to see that the corpse looked younger than the second elder she remembered.
• Lu Mingyue loaded the corpse onto the handcart and told Zhou Biao to send someone to collect it in two hours.

Lu Mingyue brought the Twin Blades Gang's second elder's corpse home, and Old Lu realized the dead man had grown younger and concluded that he had practiced immortal arts. After washing the shroud, Old Lu triggered its blood-red writing and saw fragments of the second elder's life, ending as an upheaval struck.

• Lu Mingyue returned with April Green and the second elder's corpse, and Old Lu noticed that the man looked younger than he had years earlier.
• Old Lu suspected the second elder had practiced immortal arts and decided the shroud might offer him an opportunity for immortality.
• Lu Mingyue tended to the corpse while Old Lu washed the shroud.
• Six lines of blood-red writing appeared on the shroud, and Old Lu saw visions of the second elder's life, from infancy to his rise in the Twin Blades Gang.
• An upheaval struck during the vision of the second elder's life.

Old Lu experienced the life and death of the Twin Blades Gang's Second Elder through the burial shroud and gained the immortal cultivation arts and spells Bai Yunzi had left him. He realized the shroud had passed on the Second Elder's chance at immortality, including the need to find a Spirit Mansion Secret Art.

• The Second Elder's memories revealed how he received Bai Yunzi's cultivation manual, spells, and pills after the First Elder betrayed him and Bai Yunzi saved him.
• The Second Elder's search for a Spirit Mansion Secret Art ended in a trap, torture, and death by a Flesh-Rotting Pill.
• Old Lu and Lu Mingyue cried out as the memories vanished, and Old Lu hid his distress by claiming he had strained his back.
• Lu Mingyue told Old Lu that the Second Master's internal organs seemed to be missing, and he recognized the effects of the Flesh-Rotting Pill.
• After Lu Mingyue returned to cleaning the remains, Old Lu realized he had acquired the Five Elements Eternal Spring Art, Wooden Caltrops, the Fireball Technique, and the Water Mirror Shield.
• Old Lu understood that the burial shroud was a treasure and concealed his discovery from Lu Mingyue while considering the Second Elder's five-year search for a Spirit Mansion Secret Art.

As Old Lu’s health worsened in the winter, Lu Mingyue used origin energy to ease his suffering and indulged his requests for a feast and liquor. That night, Old Lu attacked Huahua with a billhook and raised it over Lu Mingyue as she woke.

• Lu Mingyue cared for coughing Old Lu and used origin energy to ease his symptoms, though she believed he would not survive the winter.
• Old Lu asked for braised pork, lamb ribs, and liquor, and Lu Mingyue prepared a feast and drank with him.
• After dinner, Lu Mingyue soaked Old Lu’s feet, put him to bed, and fell asleep beside the stove while Huahua guarded her.
• Huahua’s bark woke Lu Mingyue, who saw Old Lu standing over the wounded dog with a bloodstained billhook raised above her.

Lu Mingyue fought off Old Lu when he tried to kill her for the Shen Household’s Spirit Mansion secret art, and Huahua died protecting her. After Old Lu died and the house burned, Lu Mingyue saw five lines of cultivation knowledge appear on the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth and experienced Old Lu’s life, ending with his warning never to trust anyone.

• Old Lu attacked Lu Mingyue with a cleaver and killed Huahua, revealing that he wanted the Shen Household’s chance at immortality.
• Old Lu explained that he had learned about the Spirit Mansion secret art and attacked Lu Mingyue again, insisting she owed him her life.
• Old Lu threw lime into Lu Mingyue’s eyes, but Huahua clamped onto his ankle and gave her time to strike him dead with a table leg.
• The overturned stove ignited the room, and Lu Mingyue stood alone in the courtyard with Old Lu’s corpse wrapped in the black cloth.
• Five lines of writing appeared on the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth, and Lu Mingyue experienced Old Lu’s memories and heard his warning never to trust anyone.

County Commandant Qin ordered a further investigation into Old Lu’s death and the disappearance of his granddaughter, while Zhou Biao steered the search away from Old Crow Mountain. In time, Yangguan City forgot Old Lu and the missing girl, and a new corpse collector took over the ruined household.

• County Commandant Qin noted that Old Lu’s skull had been smashed and his dog killed with a blade, then ordered Zhou Biao to question neighbors and issue a wanted notice if the girl remained missing.
• Zhou Biao rejected a young constable’s suggestion to search Old Crow Mountain and proposed that a criminal had abducted Miss Lu.
• Neighbors in Yangguan City speculated about Old Lu’s death and the girl’s disappearance before gradually stopping their discussion.
• Head Constable Zhou gave two orphaned brothers the corpse-collector’s work and the former Twin Blades Gang courtyard to live in.
• The older brother collected executed prisoners’ bodies, while his younger brother later married, opened a tofu shop, and raised a large family.
• Yangguan City eventually forgot that its first corpse collector had been surnamed Lu and that he had raised a granddaughter.

At eighteen, Lu Mingyue used her spells to hunt a tiger in Old Crow Mountain and found her third-layer Qi Refining cultivation too weak to sustain many attacks. After eating the tiger, she decided to leave the mountain and flew toward an unfamiliar city.

• Lu Mingyue chased a tiger through the forest while flying on a five-colored cloud and tested her Wooden Caltrops spell, but the branches missed.
• Lu Mingyue followed the tiger to a lake, where she struck it with Water Mirror Shield and pinned it with Wooden Caltrops.
• Lu Mingyue killed the tiger with Fireball Technique, then rested on a tree and lamented that her third-layer Qi Refining cultivation let her cast only a few spells.
• Lu Mingyue confirmed the tiger was cooked, ate its meat, and decided that cultivating in Old Crow Mountain was too slow.
• Lu Mingyue flew out of Old Crow Mountain over more than half a month and reached an unfamiliar city far from Yangguan City.