Chapter Summaries

Lumian Lee entertained Ryan Koss, Valentine, and Léa with a fabricated tale about working as a Corpse Watchman, then revealed that his sister Aurora wrote his stories. Pierre told the visitors that Aurora had brought Lumian to Cordu five years earlier and given him her surname and his name.

• Lumian told a story about discovering a strange mark on his dead former colleague and dreaming of thick fog afterward.
• Lumian admitted the story was made up, and Pierre explained that he told a different tale each day.
• Ryan introduced himself and his companions, Valentine and Léa, and reacted to Lumian's surname because of a notorious sailor named Frank Lee.
• Lumian ordered Green Fairy, and Ryan and Pierre ordered drinks as Pierre offered to explain Lumian's past.
• Pierre said Aurora had brought Lumian to Cordu when he was thirteen, and Lumian had taken her surname and the name she gave him.

Lumian Lee entertained the patrons of Cordu with a fabricated story about working in a hospital morgue, then met Ryan Koss and his companions. Pierre revealed that Lumian had been brought to the village by his sister Aurora five years earlier, taken her surname, and forgotten his former name.

• Lumian finished his tale about discovering a strange mark on a dead former colleague and quitting his morgue job, then admitted he had made it up.
• Pierre and the other villagers teased a visitor for believing Lumian’s stories, and Lumian said his sister Aurora wrote them.
• Ryan Koss introduced his companions Valentine and Léa, and the visitors learned that Lumian’s surname was Lee.
• Ryan bought drinks for Lumian and Pierre as Pierre offered to reveal the truth about Lumian.
• Pierre explained that Aurora had brought Lumian to Cordu when he was thirteen and given him the surname Lee and the name Lumian; Lumian said he had forgotten his former name.

Lumian Lee entertained a tavern full of Cordu villagers with a gruesome story about a former morgue colleague, then admitted it was one of his sister Aurora’s inventions. After meeting outsiders Ryan Koss, Valentine, and Léa, Lumian let Pierre reveal that Aurora had brought him to Cordu five years earlier and given him his name and surname.

• Lumian told the bar a story about a poor night watchman who opened the body bag of his dead former colleague and began dreaming of a great fog.
• When Ryan Koss asked what happened next, Lumian admitted he had quit and returned to the countryside to tell tall tales, prompting laughter from the villagers.
• Lumian introduced himself to Ryan Koss and his companions, Valentine and Léa, and Ryan offered to buy him a Green Fairy.
• Lumian and Pierre each asked Ryan for another drink, and Pierre explained that Lumian was the village’s prankster who often told different stories.
• Pierre told Ryan and Léa that Aurora had brought Lumian to Cordu when he was thirteen, given him the surname Lee, and chosen the name Lumian; Lumian said he had forgotten his original name.

Lumian Lee entertained the tavern with a grim story about a corpse watcher, then revealed that his sister Aurora had written it. As Pierre explained Lumian’s return to Cordu and his adopted name, the visiting outsiders grew curious about Aurora and Lumian’s past.

• Lumian finished a tale about a former colleague’s corpse and the strange mark on its chest, then admitted he had made the story up.
• Pierre told Ryan Koss and the tavern regulars that Lumian told a different story each day and that his sister Aurora wrote them.
• Ryan introduced himself and his companions, Valentine and Léa, and bought drinks for Lumian and Pierre.
• Lumian ordered Green Fairy, and Ryan warned him that absinthe could harm his mind.
• Pierre explained that Aurora had brought thirteen-year-old Lumian back to Cordu five years earlier and given him the surname Lee and the name Lumian.
• Léa asked about Aurora, while Lumian said he had forgotten his original name.

Lumian Lee spun a story about working as a corpse watchman, then admitted it was one of his sister Aurora's inventions. After meeting three visitors in Cordu's tavern, he let Pierre explain that Aurora had brought him to the village five years earlier and given him her surname and his name.

• Lumian told a tavern customer a tale about a poor young man who found work watching a hospital morgue and dreamed of a vast fog after touching a dead colleague's strange mark.
• Lumian revealed that he had quit the job and made up the tale, and the villagers laughed at the visitor for believing one of Lumian's stories.
• Ryan Koss introduced himself and his companions, Valentine and Léa, and warned Lumian that his surname, Lee, recalled the infamous Frank Lee.
• Lumian ordered Green Fairy, and Ryan bought drinks for him and Pierre, who offered to explain Lumian's past.
• Pierre said Aurora had brought Lumian to Cordu five years earlier, given him the surname Lee and the name Lumian, and Lumian said he had forgotten his original name.

Lumian Lee entertained a tavern with a story about working as a Corpse Watchman, then revealed that his sister Aurora had written it. As Ryan Koss and his companions met Lumian, Pierre explained that Aurora had brought him to Cordu five years earlier and given him the Lee surname and the name Lumian.

• Lumian told Ryan Koss a tale about guarding a morgue, discovering a dead predecessor's strange mark, and dreaming of a vast fog.
• Lumian admitted the story was one of Aurora's writings, and the tavern regulars laughed at Ryan for believing it.
• Ryan introduced his companions, Valentine and Léa, and warned that the surname Lee recalled the feared Frank Lee.
• Lumian ordered Green Fairy, and Ryan bought drinks for him and Pierre, who offered to explain Lumian's real past.
• Pierre said Aurora had brought Lumian to Cordu when he was thirteen, and that Lumian had taken her surname and the name she gave him.

Lumian Lee told a customer a grim story about working as a corpse watchman, then revealed it was one of his sister Aurora’s fictional tales. As Ryan Koss and his companions got to know Lumian, Pierre explained that Aurora had brought him back to Cordu five years earlier and given him the Lee surname and the name Lumian.

• Lumian recounted a story about a poor young man who found work watching a morgue, touched a strange mark on a corpse, and began dreaming of thick fog.
• When Ryan asked what happened next, Lumian admitted he had made the story up and joked that he had returned to the countryside to tell tales.
• Pierre told Ryan that Lumian invented a different story every day, and Lumian said his sister Aurora had written them for Novel Weekly.
• Ryan introduced himself and his companions, Valentine and Léa, and explained that the surname Lee reminded him of the feared sailor Frank Lee.
• Ryan bought Lumian a glass of Green Fairy after Lumian explained that the drink helped people in Cordu relax, and Pierre joined in for a free drink.
• Pierre revealed that Aurora had brought Lumian to Cordu when he was thirteen and had given him the surname Lee and the name Lumian.

Lumian Lee entertained Ryan Koss and his companions with a grim story about a morgue watchman, then revealed it was one of his sister Aurora’s fictional tales. As Pierre exposed Lumian’s past and his arrival in Cordu, Léa became curious about Aurora and Lumian’s surname.

• Lumian told Ryan Koss a story about a poor young man who watched over a morgue and encountered a strange mark on a corpse.
• Lumian admitted that he had quit the job and returned to the countryside, and the tavern regulars laughed at Ryan for believing his tale.
• Lumian explained that his sister Aurora wrote the stories he told, then introduced himself to Ryan, Valentine, and Léa.
• Ryan ordered drinks for Lumian and Pierre after Pierre offered to tell them the truth about Lumian.
• Pierre revealed that Aurora had brought Lumian to Cordu five years earlier, and that Lumian had taken her surname and the name she gave him.

Lumian Lee entertained the Cordu tavern with a fabricated tale about working as a corpse watchman before introducing himself to three visitors from outside the village. As Pierre revealed that Aurora had brought Lumian to Cordu five years earlier and given him his name and surname, Lumian showed no embarrassment about his unknown past.

• Lumian finished a story about a morgue worker, then admitted he had made it up and credited his sister, Aurora, with writing the tales.
• The tavern regulars mocked Lumian’s habit of telling different stories, and he introduced himself to Ryan Koss, Valentine, and Léa.
• Ryan offered to buy Lumian a drink, and Lumian chose Green Fairy despite Ryan’s warning about absinthe.
• Pierre accepted a drink and told the visitors that Aurora had brought thirteen-year-old Lumian to Cordu five years earlier and given him the name Lumian Lee.
• Lumian said he had forgotten what he used to be called and drank his absinthe without showing shame.

Lumian Lee entertained visitors in Cordu with a story about a poor night watchman who encountered a strange mark on a corpse, then revealed it was one of his sister Aurora’s inventions. As Ryan Koss and his companions got to know Lumian, Pierre disclosed that Aurora had brought him to the village five years earlier and given him the Lee surname and the name Lumian.

• Lumian told a tavern audience a tale about a night watchman who touched a strange mark on his dead former colleague and began dreaming of a vast fog.
• Lumian admitted the story was made up by his sister Aurora, and Ryan Koss introduced himself along with his companions Valentine and Léa.
• Lumian asked Ryan for a Green Fairy, while Ryan warned him that absinthe could harm the body and mind.
• Pierre offered to confirm Lumian’s past in exchange for a drink and said Aurora had brought Lumian to Cordu five years earlier.
• Pierre explained that Lumian had taken Aurora’s surname and that she had given him his name; Lumian said he had forgotten what he was called before.

Hou Niao entered the Netherworld and approached Chujiang Hall, where he used his status as a kingdom ruler and sect master to gain the hall guard Xie Wuyou’s attention. He asked whether Jiejiegao, Jifu, Huang Feng'er, and Qushan Ke had entered the Netherworld and what their status was in the Book of Life and Death.

• Hou Niao decided that finding friends among the Netherworld’s countless souls was difficult and might disrupt their lives.
• Hou Niao approached Chujiang Hall, where the guard Xie Wuyou challenged him for intruding.
• Hou Niao introduced himself as a ruler of a kingdom and the Quanzhen Sect Master, prompting Xie Wuyou to treat him with greater respect.
• Xie Wuyou explained that visitors from the living world could ask about two relatives or friends who had not reincarnated, and used his Sub-Register of Life and Death to check Hou Niao’s identity.
• Hou Niao suggested that he and Xie Wuyou might become friends despite their different realms, then asked about Jiejiegao, Jifu, Huang Feng'er, and Qushan Ke.

Hou Niao asked Xie Wuyou to check the Book of Life and Death for four people, and learned that their names showed they had died but their souls had never reached the Netherworld. The records were fading and might vanish around the time of Jinxiu’s Heaven-Opening in thirty years, leaving the mystery unresolved.

• Xie Wuyou discreetly connected his Sub-register to the Main Book of Life and Death while checking whether the King of Chujiang would stop him.
• Xie Wuyou found that Jiejiegao’s name had not been crossed out, though its entry showed that he had died in the world of the living.
• Xie Wuyou discovered Jiejiegao’s entry was fading, indicating that his soul had not arrived in the Netherworld, and said the other three names showed the same pattern.
• Hou Niao asked whether the souls had been captured or escaped reincarnation, but Xie Wuyou said he did not know and that the problem belonged to the world of the living.
• Xie Wuyou estimated the fading entries might disappear within decades, near Jinxiu’s Heaven-Opening in thirty years, and he and Hou Niao reflected on the uncertainty facing both worlds.

Hou Niao learned that Xiang Zhiwen was still in the Netherworld and traveled to the eighteenth level of hell to find him. Following a paper crane among the departing seasoned souls, Hou Niao arrived at a bridge where a white-haired old woman offered them soup.

• Hou Niao asked Xie Wuyou about Daoist Chongling and Xiang Zhiwen; Xie Wuyou said Chongling had reincarnated, while Xiang Zhiwen remained in the Netherworld.
• Xie Wuyou invited Hou Niao into the Hall of Yama, but Hou Niao declined and began traveling down through the levels of hell.
• Hou Niao marveled at the Netherworld's amusements and training halls as he made his way to the eighteenth level, where Xiang Zhiwen was said to be.
• With Xie Wuyou's help, Hou Niao used a yin paper crane bearing Xiang Zhiwen's name to search the dense yin mist.
• Hou Niao followed a stream of seasoned souls and reached a great river and six-arched bridge, where a white-haired old woman handed each soul a bowl of soup.

Hou Niao found Xiang Zhiwen among tens of thousands of mature souls fighting to preserve their memories and avoid Meng Po Soup, while Daoist Sect cultivators used the clash to train their yin cultivation. The chapter ended with both sides still fighting for their own convictions.

• Hou Niao reached Naihe Bridge and found Xiang Zhiwen among an army of mature souls charging the barrier.
• Hou Niao saw Daoist Huiyuan and several dozen Taiqing and Yuqing cultivators fighting the souls.
• Hou Niao realized the mature souls wanted to reincarnate without drinking Meng Po Soup and understood why Xiang Zhiwen had resisted reincarnation for over a century.
• Hou Niao discovered that an invisible barrier, not the Daoists, prevented the souls from reaching the bridge in a crowd.
• Hou Niao learned that the Daoists were using the souls as opponents to train and restore their yin-yang balance.

Hou Niao was swept onto the Naihe Bridge, where Meng Po served him soup and advised him to bathe in the Wangchuan River to settle his impure Mental Power. After learning that a Quanzhen Sect sword cultivator from several thousand years ago had once drunk her soup, he jumped into the river, wondering whether the culprit had been one of the Sword Lineage’s patriarchs.

• Hou Niao resisted the urge to attack Daoist Huiyuan and discovered that the Naihe Bridge’s rules prevented him from turning back.
• Meng Po gave Hou Niao specially prepared soup and explained that his restless, impure Mental Power might benefit from a bath in the Wangchuan River.
• Hou Niao drank three bowls of soup and asked Meng Po which Quanzhen Sect sword cultivator had once thrown up after drinking it.
• Meng Po recalled that the sword cultivator had lived several thousand years earlier but declined to name him.
• Hou Niao suspected the culprit was one of the Sword Lineage’s two patriarchs and leaped into the Wangchuan River.

Hou Niao entered the Wangchuan River to temper his spirit and reconcile his mental power with his heart before attempting Nascent Soul in thirty years. After months of waiting, Tan Xiao and Hou Niao reunited as the Ten Thousand Demons Assembly approached.

• Hou Niao jumped into the Wangchuan River and experienced the emotions of its resentful souls to refine his spirit.
• Hou Niao recognized that his rapidly increased mental power had fallen out of step with his heart, threatening his sword skills and future cultivation.
• Tan Xiao searched the Eighteen Levels of Hell, then left the Netherworld and waited for Hou Niao to emerge.
• Xiangfei Bamboo left the grotto-heaven and later returned alone, while Tan Xiao continued waiting for Hou Niao.
• After several months, Hou Niao emerged from the Scenic Terrace, and Tan Xiao scolded him for delaying their business.

After returning to Dushan, Hou Niao and Tan Xiao learned Nineteenth Aunt had secured a plan to infiltrate the Ten Thousand Demons Assembly by posing as bird demons. The chapter ended with her revealing that the two men would pull her ornate chariot.

• Hou Niao and Tan Xiao returned to Dushan, where Nineteenth Aunt came to tell Hou Niao she had found a candidate to impersonate.
• Nineteenth Aunt explained that she had obtained an invitation from the Mao Falcon lord of Dongqing Island and planned to use his identity to enter the Ten Thousand Demons Assembly.
• Nineteenth Aunt described the demons’ loose invitation customs and their bloodline-based hierarchy, explaining why the group would travel to Lizhi Sea before heading to the assembly.
• Nineteenth Aunt produced an ornate Double-Rider Luan Chariot she had borrowed on Dongqing Island.
• When Tan Xiao asked about the chariot’s Azure Luans, Nineteenth Aunt revealed that he and Hou Niao would pull it.

Hou Niao, Tan Xiao, and the little peacock traveled through the Lizhi Sea to find Winged People who could confirm their origins before the Ten Thousand Demons Assembly. They reached the Rainbow Eye, where the little peacock planned to wait for Winged People heading toward the Binxu Desert, and disguised themselves as a carriage team.

• Hou Niao and Tan Xiao put on flood-dragon sinew harnesses and pulled the little peacock's luan carriage, but their arguing led her to assign Tan Xiao most of the work.
• A month after settling matters at Dushan, the three set out for the Lizhi Sea to find members of the Demon Race who could vouch for them.
• Hou Niao and Tan Xiao disguised themselves as they crossed the sea, where human forces and the End-of-Heaven Ocean Sea Tribe competed for control of the waters.
• The little peacock explained that Winged People followed the monsoon winds and led the group toward the Rainbow Eye, a storm eye where they could intercept travelers bound for the Ten Thousand Demons Assembly.
• At the Rainbow Eye, Hou Niao and Tan Xiao took the draft horses' positions while the little peacock revealed a gyrfalcon form to disguise her identity.

Nineteenth Aunt joined the Six Friends of Dark Bay on their way to the Ten Thousand Demons Assembly, using her strength and bloodline to earn their acceptance. The enlarged party continued toward the gathering, while Hou Niao and Tan Xiao posed as her bewitched human servants.

• Nineteenth Aunt spotted six demonic birds flying in formation and led the luan carriage into a head-on pass to display her strength.
• Nineteenth Aunt introduced herself as Hai Dongqing of Dongqing Island and learned the six were the Six Friends of Dark Bay, traveling to the continent for the gathering.
• The six accepted Nineteenth Aunt into their party, and her strength earned her a place beside the Nascent Soul demon Redcrest.
• Redcrest asked whether Nineteenth Aunt would part with her two human servants, and she claimed her Bewitching Mind Divine Ability made them impossible to release safely.
• Nineteenth Aunt discreetly questioned the demonic birds and pieced together the circumstances behind the Ten Thousand Demons Assembly.

Nineteenth Aunt questioned the Red-Crowned Old Demon about the Ten Thousand Demons Assembly and learned it was convened by demons from the Outer Cosmos to recover their standing after the failed war with humans. As they traveled toward Binxu Desert, she urged the Western Sea Wing Demons to protect their independence and suggested seeking an alliance with the Sea Demons of the End-of-Heaven Ocean.

• Nineteenth Aunt asked the Red-Crowned Old Demon what the Ten Thousand Demons Assembly was for, while concealing her prior coordination with Mao Falcon.
• The Red-Crowned Old Demon explained that demons from the Outer Cosmos had called the assembly to review the failed war with humans and restore their prestige.
• Nineteenth Aunt and the Red-Crowned Old Demon agreed that the Western Sea Wing Demons should not blindly follow the outsiders and needed to preserve their autonomy.
• The Red-Crowned Old Demon said the Western Sea Wing Demons had come partly to make amends for their part in the destruction of the Lizhi Sea Tribe and to protect the Sea Demons as a buffer.
• Nineteenth Aunt suggested winning over the Sea Demons of the End-of-Heaven Ocean, who also resented the desert skeletons.