Chapter Summaries

Qu Zan used Circular-Light Divination to identify a strange wolf-like beast attacking livestock near Shali Village and gave Sangji protective talismans after warning that Warrior Monks might be needed. Sangji returned home and began placing the talismans around his livestock shelter, though his wife doubted they would help.

• Qu Zan welcomed Guocuo, learned that wealthy visitors had been seeking him, and received thirty taels of secret silver from sales of Nectar Scale-Moistening Paste.
• Sangji, the headman of Shali Village, asked Qu Zan to investigate livestock disappearing or dying at night.
• Qu Zan performed Circular-Light Divination and saw a concealed wolf-like beast eating a white yak beneath a huge red rock west of the village.
• Qu Zan divined that the villagers could not defeat the beast and advised seeking the monastery's Warrior Monks, then drew protective talismans as another possible defense.
• Sangji returned to his village and began searching for places to paste the talismans around his livestock shelter while his wife questioned their usefulness.

Sangji and the village elders weighed Geshe Gyatso’s warning against Master Baga’s displays of Jain powers as they waited for the beast stealing their livestock. At night, a Livestock-Thieving Beast appeared on the wall, and Baga identified it.

• Sangji doubted whether Geshe Gyatso’s talismans would work and sent an attendant to inspect beneath the red rock on the western mountain.
• Sangzhu brought Master Baga, a naked Digambara Jain ascetic, to Sangji’s home to subdue the demons threatening the village’s livestock.
• The attendant found bloodstains and gnawed bones beneath the red rock, confirming Geshe Gyatso’s prediction about where the beast had eaten its prey.
• Baga warmed the hall with his body, convinced Sangji and the other wealthy men of his powers, and agreed to help the village.
• Sangji, Sangzhu, Laba, Pubu, and Baga waited through the night in a fortified house beside the livestock shed.
• An eerie gust unsettled the animals, and Baga spotted a dark shape on the wall and identified it as a Livestock-Thieving Beast.

Baga fought a Livestock-Thieving Beast but was overwhelmed when four more appeared and injured him. A talisman from Geshe Gyatso protected the livestock pen, leaving the people inside the stone tower house exposed to the beasts.

• Baga left the stone tower house and fought a Livestock-Thieving Beast in the courtyard, while Sangji, Sangzhu, Pubu, and Laba watched in fear.
• After Baga knocked the beast down, four more Livestock-Thieving Beasts appeared and surrounded the courtyard.
• Baga tried to escape, but a beast struck him into the livestock pen and tore open his chest.
• A beast lunged at Baga but was burned by an invisible barrier, which Sangji recognized as protection from the talismans he had placed around the livestock pen.
• Sangji revealed that he had not put talismans around the stone tower house, and Sangzhu realized they were more exposed than Baga.

Sangji and the others survived a night trapped behind Qu Zan’s talisman while a Livestock-Thieving Beast attacked, and the beast died after its body was worn away by the barrier. They visited Qu Zan to thank him and offer Secret Silver, while Qu Zan learned how effective his talisman had been.

• A Livestock-Thieving Beast attacked Sangji, Laba, Pubu, and the others, and Pubu was scratched as they fled into the livestock shed behind the talisman’s barrier.
• The group spent the night trapped while the beast repeatedly struck the barrier, then found it dead at dawn with half its body ground away by the magical light.
• Sangji vowed to make an offering to Geshe Gyatso and arranged to take the beast to the Corpse Camel Temple, while Master Baga was carried inside to recover.
• Sangji, Laba, Pubu, and their companions brought the beast to Qu Zan’s courtyard and waited patiently while he napped.
• Qu Zan heard Sangji recount the attack, then Sangji and Laba offered him five hundred taels of Secret Silver each in gratitude.

Qu Zan examined the Livestock-Thieving Beast’s memories and discovered a terrifying Vengeful Ghost whose missing hand might be connected to his own god-and-demon hand. He learned how to store his growing wealth, turned in the beast’s useful remains, and ended the chapter by improving his Extensive Learning talent.

• Qu Zan collected two thousand taels of Secret Silver from the merchants, then used the Livestock-Thieving Beast’s mind-consciousness to glimpse a bone-built village and a skeletal Vengeful Ghost.
• Qu Zan’s Ghost Hand and eye reacted to the apparition, and he suspected the ghost was Indra’s Bone, with other body parts such as Indra’s Head still missing.
• Duo'erna told Qu Zan that the beast’s skullcap and claw bones could be used for ritual artifacts, advised him to deposit his silver at the temple, and said the remaining remains should be burned.
• Qu Zan submitted the skullcap and claw bones to the Merit Hall, earning three merits, then deposited his Secret Silver at Corpse Camel Temple’s treasury while keeping his gold.
• Qu Zan continued his lessons and cultivation, gathered fortune essence in the Form Realm, and raised his Extensive Learning talent to v5.

Qu Zan returned to his family home with supplies and promised Meiduo and Duimu money to start raising livestock. When Meiduo went to fetch Duimu from Wada’s manor, the manor’s Duiqiong tried to deny Duimu her earned wool, and Meiduo stood up for her mother.

• Qu Zan left the monastery with Bodhi carrying tea, cloth, wool felt, and other supplies for his family.
• Meiduo welcomed Qu Zan home, and he told her to bring Duimu back from her work shearing sheep at Wada’s manor.
• Meiduo approached Wada and his guests, then persuaded the Duiqiong to bring Duimu out, despite their reluctance to let her leave.
• Duimu hurried home after hearing Qu Zan had returned and agreed to stop working for Wada’s household.
• The Duiqiong threatened to withhold Duimu’s wages and wool, but Meiduo argued that her mother deserved payment for her work.

Qu Zan used his standing as a Whole-Monastery Geshe to help Meiduo recover Duimu’s unpaid wool from Wada, then left his family money and protection before returning to the Corpse Camel Temple. There, Liuwa told him that someone had come looking for him and left a message.

• Meiduo told Qu Zan that Wada’s Manor had withheld Duimu’s wages, and Qu Zan gave her a paper bearing the incomplete seal of a Whole-Monastery Geshe.
• Wada recognized the seal and ordered his household to give Meiduo a cartload of wool, while she refused his offer of secret silver and insisted on the wool.
• Meiduo followed Qu Zan’s instructions to have the wool unloaded at their gate, and Wada left in fear after glimpsing a monk’s red robe inside.
• Qu Zan left two hundred taels of secret silver for Duimu and Aji, promised to help Meiduo learn to read, and returned to the Corpse Camel Temple.
• Liuwa told Qu Zan that someone had come looking for him and left a message.

Qu Zan used the Dharma Protector Butter Lamp to enter the depths of his mind and search for the Obstacle Mara. In the dreamlike manor, he killed a Rebudian Chieftain he suspected was the Mara, but the dream continued, leaving him to seek another target.

• Magyala of Yueqing Monastery delivered the Dharma Protector Butter Lamp and nine hundred taels of gold, and said she would help Qu Zan overcome the Obstacle Mara.
• Magyala prepared the lamp with Qu Zan’s hair and blood, then guided him as he lit it and entered a mental realm.
• Qu Zan found himself as a Nangsheng serf beside Meiduo, without his usual abilities, and resolved to find and kill the Obstacle Mara.
• Qu Zan stole Tsering’s crossbow and bolts, then diverted a Rebudian Chieftain away from Bado Manor after hearing him mention the Five-Extremities Offering.
• Qu Zan shot the Rebudian Chieftain through the neck, but the dream did not dissolve, showing that the man was not the Obstacle Mara.

Qu Zan killed everyone in the Manor while searching for the Obstacle Mara, then realized that his final obstacle was his attachment to himself and stabbed himself. After subduing the Obstacle Mara, he entered the mysterious Bamboo Grove Vihara, where he glimpsed the force behind his transmigration, then returned to reality as Magyala recited the Heart Sutra.

• Qu Zan found poisons in the Rebudian Chieftain’s hidden copper box and put them away.
• At dinner, Qu Zan revealed the severed faces of Dunzhu and Lob, then told Bado Weilei that the steward and guards were dead from aconite.
• Qu Zan killed Tsering, Madam Bado, and Bado Weilei, believing none of them was the Obstacle Mara.
• Qu Zan’s sister Meiduo appeared and threw herself onto his dagger; realizing that self-attachment was his final obstacle, Qu Zan stabbed himself.
• After the Manor scene burned away, Qu Zan saw a gigantic palm send a point of light from his former rented room and realized it had caused his transmigration.
• Qu Zan entered the Bamboo Grove Vihara in the mysterious space, then returned to reality opposite Magyala, who was still reciting the Heart Sutra.

After destroying his Obstacle Mara, Qu Zan meditated with greater clarity and gathered more Fortune Essence. When Jimiao came to him with recurring nightmares after visiting her family’s newly excavated salt well, he performed a dream-invocation ritual and saw an evil entity surrounding her before using the Peacock Wisdom King’s power to cleanse her nightmare.

• Magyala explained the Four Maras and the stages of Buddhist cultivation, and Qu Zan thanked her for helping him overcome his Obstacle Mara.
• Qu Zan returned to his Separate Courtyard, entered the Form Realm with Secret Conduct, gathered 2.4 Fortune Essence, and put it into Patience.
• Tuya brought her friend Jimiao to Qu Zan because Jimiao kept dreaming that she was buried alive.
• Qu Zan classified Jimiao’s nightmare as a possible intrusion dream and learned that she had recently visited her family’s newly excavated salt well.
• Qu Zan performed a dream-invocation ritual and saw black vapor from an evil entity enveloping Jimiao at the saltworks.
• Qu Zan used Tail Screen Opens, Turning Karma into Compassion, and a gigantic peacock appeared in Jimiao’s dream and swept away the surrounding filth.

After exorcising Jimiao’s nightmare, Qu Zan learned that the Daha family’s Well-Salt Field was harming its workers and agreed to investigate it for the Sutra Academy. The Abbot assigned him the task, taught him about cultivating the Ten Abodes, and lent him the Wrath God Kangdong before his departure.

• Qu Zan exorcised the evil influence afflicting Jimiao, who offered him fifty taels of secret silver and asked whether the Well-Salt Field’s workers were in danger.
• Jimiao and Tuya returned to Daha Manor and learned that five salt workers had fallen unconscious while two others had attacked people; Jimiao told her father, Lieque Daha, that Qu Zan had identified an evil influence in the mine.
• Lieque decided to ask Qu Zan to exorcise the salt field, and the Sutra Academy’s Abbot, Qiong Re Ganbu, assigned Qu Zan the task in exchange for the temple’s future offerings and support for his Geshe examination nomination.
• Qiong Re Ganbu lent Qu Zan the Wrath God Kangdong, a horn made from a Vengeful Ghost’s leg bone, and explained the cultivation principles of the Ten Abodes through the sixth abode.
• Qu Zan connected the first abode’s practice of giving with helping people during his travels, then prepared to leave for the salt field the next day.
• Qu Zan received the Wrath God Kangdong in a Golden Box and heard eerie cries as he examined the sinister-looking ritual horn.

Qu Zan traveled to the Well-Salt Field and entered the salt mine to confront the evil haunting it. After defeating a specter with the Wrath God Kangdong, he discovered an Ancient Zhangzhung tomb and a portrait whose ruler had a left hand identical to his own.

• Qu Zan used the Wrath God Kangdong and the Wish-Granting Mudra while traveling with Gaoba and Sangci, deepening his understanding of giving and the three mysteries.
• Qu Zan arrived at the Well-Salt Field, reassured Lieque Daha, and entered the salt mine alone to investigate the evil.
• Qu Zan summoned the Wrath God Kangdong to destroy a black specter, then retrieved a Medicinal Mud Mask left behind by the creature.
• Qu Zan found an underground Ancient Zhangzhung tomb containing a headless corpse and collected fortune essence from three intact earthenware jars.
• Qu Zan examined a painted coffin board and recognized that the ancient ruler's left hand matched his own.

Qu Zan investigated the tomb, then performed a ritual to calm the frightened salt workers and attained realization of the First Abode, the Giving Abode. He stayed at the saltworks overnight and planned to enter the Form Realm to gather Fortune Essence and improve his Patience talent.

• Qu Zan found a portrait of a Guxiangxiong king on the coffin and read an inscription claiming the king would return to life through his enemies' flesh and blood.
• Qu Zan left the tomb after eliminating the evil presence, then went with Lieque to check on the unconscious and possessed people.
• Qu Zan arranged a ritual platform and preached to the salt workers, helping them overcome their fear through the ceremony.
• Qu Zan gave Fearlessness Giving during the ritual and attained realization of the First Abode, gaining progress in Consciousness, Great Sun Tummo, Mudra, and Giving.
• Qu Zan asked Lieque to distribute the food offerings among the salt workers, stayed at the saltworks, and applied his Fortune Essence to Patience.

Qu Zan reflected on his Dharma teaching, then entered the Form Realm to gather fortune essence and narrowly escaped a hungry Celestial Person. He used the fortune essence to advance Patience and returned to Corpse Camel Temple with the Wrath God Kangdong, keeping the Medicinal Mud Mask for further study.

• Qu Zan considered using himself as a tutelary deity image and realized that his image still lacked distinguishing features and ritual artifacts.
• Qu Zan found fortune essence in the Form Realm, but a Celestial Person tried to swallow him, so he escaped back to the Desire Realm.
• Qu Zan spent 1.9 fortune essence to advance Patience to level five and gained the Vajra Circle ability.
• Qu Zan used his remaining 1.7 fortune essence to strengthen his physical body and went to bed.
• Qu Zan returned to Corpse Camel Temple, handed the Wrath God Kangdong to the Attendant Monk, and kept the Medicinal Mud Mask to study.

Qu Zan asked Duo'erna to teach him Sanskrit and learned that he would first need to master Vajra Recitation and accept the samaya vows. After Duo'erna initiated him into the vows, Qu Zan gained the new talent [discipline-keeping].

• Qu Zan told Duo'erna about teaching the salt workers and discussed how rituals could help people gain faith.
• Qu Zan asked Duo'erna to teach him Sanskrit, and she explained her connection to He Yanjialuo and the form realm.
• Duo'erna said Qu Zan needed stronger speech-secret cultivation, including Vajra Recitation, before she could empower him with a seed syllable.
• Duo'erna arranged a mandala and initiated Qu Zan into the samaya vows, explaining their precepts and having him swear to uphold them.
• Qu Zan accepted the vows and received a panel notification that he had comprehended the talent [discipline-keeping].

Qu Zan gained the innate ability [Discipline-Keeping], became Duo'erna’s disciple, and searched for someone who could teach him Sanskrit. At Lanzha Temple, abbess Qiuji agreed to consider teaching him if he first dealt with a Vengeful Ghost threatening a nearby village.

• Qu Zan considered how [Discipline-Keeping] could strengthen his punishment of wrongdoing and resolved to develop the ability.
• Duo'erna accepted Qu Zan as her disciple and instructed him to cultivate his Throat Chakra alongside Vajra Recitation.
• After learning that few local elders knew Sanskrit, Qu Zan asked Magyala for help, and she wrote him an introduction to Lanzha Temple.
• Qu Zan rode Bodhi to Lanzha Temple, where Qiuji received him after reading Magyala’s letter.
• Qiuji offered to teach Qu Zan Sanskrit if he subdued the Vengeful Ghost harming Zuoze Village, and Qu Zan asked about the ghost’s powers and danger.

Qu Zan investigated reports of a Vengeful Ghost in Zuoze Village, where he noticed that the villagers had no women and learned that several had died. A red-cloaked spirit medium examined Zhuoma and warned that an evil spirit afflicted her, leaving Qu Zan to suspect the village’s haunting was connected to the mysterious Red Guanyin.

• Qu Zan left the old bhikshuni’s temple and reached Zuoze Village, where villagers made their living tanning hides.
• Qu Zan noticed that the village seemed to have no women, then met Bianba and his daughter Zhuoma, whose mother had died in childbirth.
• Qu Zan accompanied Bianba to his lodging, where Bianba’s father-in-law urged him to leave the village before nightfall.
• A red-cloaked spirit medium arrived, examined Zhuoma, and declared that an evil spirit afflicted her as it had her mother.
• Bianba told Qu Zan that the spirit medium had warned Zhuoma would die young unless the evil spirit was exorcised.

Qu Zan stayed in Zuoze Village and discovered that the villagers were preparing to sacrifice Bianba’s daughter, Zhuoma, to the Red Guanyin Empress. He confronted the shamaness and villagers at the ancestral temple, where Bianba learned that his wife had also been sacrificed and that his family had been marked as offerings.

• Qu Zan learned that the exorcism would happen that night and accepted Bianba’s offer to stay, while Bianba’s father-in-law warned him about the village’s taboos.
• After Qu Zan broke the spell that had subdued Bianba, Bianba discovered that Zhuoma and his father-in-law were missing.
• Qu Zan and Bianba found the village glowing with red lanterns, except for their home’s white lantern, and Qu Zan suspected someone other than Bianba’s father had summoned them back.
• Bianba led Qu Zan to the ancestral temple, where the villagers gathered around a blood-red statue as the shamaness prepared Zhuoma as an offering to the Red Guanyin Empress.
• Qu Zan and Bianba interrupted the ritual, and the shamaness and villagers revealed that Zhenduǒ had also been sacrificed and that Zhuoma’s family had been registered as offerings.

Qu Zan fought to save Zhuoma from the villagers’ sacrifice to Red Guanyin, only to discover the shrine’s statue held a corpse rather than the Vengeful Ghost’s true body. Trapped in Red Guanyin’s Ghost Domain, he used Zhuoma as bait and finally pinned the ghost when it attacked her.

• Puba explained that the village sacrificed women to Red Guanyin, while Bianba tried to rescue Zhuoma and the villagers turned against Qu Zan.
• Qu Zan used God-and-Demon Power against the shamaness, then tore apart the statue and found a decayed female corpse inside instead of Red Guanyin’s true body.
• Red-clothed corpses appeared in the temple and attacked the villagers; Qu Zan and Bianba escaped through the doors into Red Guanyin’s endless Ghost Domain.
• Qu Zan concluded that Red Guanyin sought women’s flesh and used Zhuoma as bait, while Bianba pleaded with him to protect his daughter.
• The shamaness’s phantom reached for Zhuoma, but Qu Zan’s Ghost Hands failed to capture it; when Red Guanyin attacked Zhuoma again, Qu Zan’s Indra’s Eyes pinned the ghost in place.

Qu Zan absorbed Red Guanyin’s power, developed new ghost abilities, and returned to Corpse Camel Temple after reporting the village’s fate and beginning Sanskrit lessons. There, Nyepa brought him to take five certification examinations, where he met Cangyang Konghai of the previously unknown Mahā Hall.

• Qu Zan absorbed Red Guanyin into Indra's Eye, used Indra's Hand to restrain the spreading eyes on his arm, and relied on the Bamboo Grove Vihara to stabilize the ghost power.
• Qu Zan gained the Blood Shadow Body and Shadow Ghost Binding abilities, then left the village with Bianba after Bianba burned the villagers’ remains.
• Qu Zan reported Zuoze Village to Bhikshuni Qiuji, who verified his account and began teaching him Sanskrit.
• Qu Zan returned to Corpse Camel Temple, spent two Form Realm visits’ points on Discipline-Keeping, and planned his cultivation and studies.
• Nyepa led Qu Zan to take five Virtuous Knowledge examinations, and Qu Zan met Cangyang Konghai, who revealed that Mahā Hall was one of the temple’s four inner halls.