Recaps

Xie Hama, Wang Qilin, and Xu Da followed a Black Yao coffin procession into the hills, where they discovered the apparent bearers were tongue-less impostors. A Taoist emerged from the coffin and accused Xie Hama of being a fiend, while Wang Qilin prepared for trouble and realized the Furnace of Creation had swallowed his saber.

• Xie Hama warned Wang Qilin and Xu Da away from General Huang's estate, but they followed the coffin procession after learning the Black Yao carried valuable Innate Jade.
• Wang Qilin and Xu Da found nine silent men gathered around a red coffin in the hills, and the men had no tongues.
• Xie Hama arrived and revealed that the nine figures were not the real coffin bearers.
• A Taoist stood up from the coffin and called Xie Hama a fiend, as the night wind turned colder.
• Wang Qilin told Xu Da to watch his eyes for a signal, reached for his saber, and discovered the Furnace of Creation had swallowed it.

Wang Qilin, Xu Da, and Xie Hama fought off a group of fiends that had impersonated a Daoist and his companions, then joined the coffin bearers at their camp. As the men discussed an eerie counting incident and Xie Hama called it “ghost hides treasures,” someone entering the woods cried for help.

• Wang Qilin discovered that the Furnace of Creation had fused his ghost-headed saber with the military miaodao into a five-foot blade marked “Horse Slayer.”
• Wang Qilin noticed that the nine figures around the coffin never blinked, and Xu Da’s torch attack prompted him and Xie Hama to drive the disguised fiends away.
• Xie Hama reunited with Wang Qilin and Xu Da, and the three joined the coffin bearers, who were carrying the coffin concealing the Six-Step Qi Jade.
• Brother Nine told them that nine ration bags had been distributed among nine men, yet one man was always left without a bag and their count-off reached ten.
• Xie Hama identified the bearers’ strange counting incident as “ghost hides treasures,” while Xu Da offered to watch the coffin so the men could rest at the general’s residence.
• After the meal, one coffin bearer went into the woods to relieve himself and cried out for help.

Wang Qilin and his companions discovered a haunted forest and encountered a missing man’s grain sack whose vital energy had vanished. Xie Hama identified a Mountain Puppet as the likely threat and warned the coffin bearers that it had sealed their escape route.

• Wang Qilin, Xu Da, and Xie Hama found a graveyard of blank tombstones beneath locust trees, which Xie Hama recognized as a Corpse-Imprisoning Ground.
• Wang Qilin spotted a lifelike stone statue in the woods, but it disappeared when he returned with Xie Hama and Xu Da.
• Wang Qilin and his companions heard mysterious voices calling their names and ignored Xie Hama’s warning not to answer.
• Chen Jiu and Lao Ruan reported that Su Yaojin had vanished after asking who was in the woods, and Wang Qilin linked the question to his own encounter with the statue.
• Xie Hama used a paper crane on Su Yaojin’s grain sack; it burst into flames, and Xie Hama said Su Yaojin’s vital energy was gone.
• Chen Jiu ordered the remaining men to lift the coffin and head back, but Xie Hama said the Mountain Puppet had sealed the road and told them not to move.

Wang Qilin and Xu Da fought off Mountain Puppets that ambushed their camp, then returned with Xie Hama and the pallbearers to General Huang’s residence. There, they met Huang Qingyun and Huang Liufeng, and Huang Huaji asked his granddaughter to describe the ghost in her dreams.

• A Mountain Puppet lured Wang Qilin into the woods, where he killed it and fought off the others with help from Xu Da, who had pretended to sleep.
• Xie Hama identified the attackers as Mountain Puppets, and the group returned safely with the coffin the next morning.
• Chen Jiu explained the previous night’s events to Huang Huaji, who thanked Wang Qilin and his companions for saving his men.
• Huang Huaji hosted the group for breakfast, and Xu Da ate most of the food despite complaining about the meal.
• Madam Huang née Yao introduced Huang Qingyun and Huang Liufeng to the visitors.
• Huang Huaji asked Huang Qingyun to tell the three men about the ghost in her dreams.

Huang Qingyun explained how she entered a ghost market in a recurring dream and how Su Lang had led her to jump from a pagoda to return to the living world. Xie Hama warned that she was close to death and might never be reincarnated, while Huang Huaji reacted angrily to Su Lang’s story.

• Xie Hama diagnosed Huang Qingyun with invading evil energy and gave her a talisman-infused tea that restored some of her strength.
• Huang Qingyun said she had dreamed of entering a ghost market, where she fought ghosts who were bullying a little ghost.
• Huang Qingyun recounted that Su Lang rescued her and claimed to be a reincarnated heavenly general tasked with watching over the ghost market.
• Huang Qingyun said Su Lang took her to a Buddhist pagoda and jumped with her, but they could descend only one floor each night.
• Huang Huaji denounced Su Lang’s claims, and Xie Hama warned that Huang Qingyun had only days to live and would never be reincarnated if she died.

After learning that Su Xin'an was a wanted criminal whom Huang Huaji had beheaded, Huang Qingyun vowed to avenge the women he had deceived, while the Heaven-Listening Bureau agreed to investigate the ghost haunting her. Wang Qilin and his companions kept watch in Huang Qingyun’s boudoir, where a knock sounded in the quiet night.

• Huang Huaji revealed that he had beheaded Su Xin'an, and Huang Qingyun accused him of killing the man she loved.
• Madam Huang née Yao showed Huang Qingyun Su Xin'an’s nationwide arrest warrant, and Huang Qingyun vowed to destroy his ghost and demand justice for his victims.
• Huang Huaji explained that a celestial master and one of his Black Yao subordinates had died while trying to stop the haunting, then asked Wang Qilin and his companions for help.
• Wang Qilin accepted the case and said the Heaven-Listening Bureau would keep watch over Huang Qingyun that night.
• Wang Qilin, Xu Da, and Xie Hama waited in Huang Qingyun’s outer room until three knocks broke the silence.

Wang Qilin and the Heaven-Listening Bureau hunted down a ghost that had attacked them and uncovered Madam Huang née Yao’s role in using Su Xin'an’s ghost against Huang Qingyun. After the ghost was destroyed, Madam Huang née Yao confessed that she blamed Huang Qingyun for the loss of her unborn child and her fall from favor.

• A ghost attacked Wang Qilin, Xie Hama, and Xu Da, but Wang Qilin’s saber drove it out of the room and they chased it into Madam Huang née Yao’s courtyard.
• Xie Hama traced the ghost to a black figurine hidden in Madam Huang née Yao’s dressing table, and Wang Qilin destroyed the ghost with Horse Slayer before the Furnace of Creation absorbed it.
• Huang Huaji recognized the figurine as depicting Su Xin'an, while Madam Huang née Yao admitted that she had controlled his ghost and targeted Huang Qingyun.
• Madam Huang née Yao said she blamed Huang Qingyun for the loss of her unborn child and resented that her husband had abandoned her in favor of a woman from a brothel.

Huang Liufeng confessed that he had accidentally caused Madam Huang née Yao’s miscarriage, while the three visitors uncovered a murder and pursued the thief who had stolen the Six-Step Qi Jade. Wang Qilin defeated the stone figure with his flying saber, but the jade vanished into the Furnace of Creation, leaving him unable to explain what happened.

• Huang Liufeng told Madam Huang née Yao that he had put the gu worm in the nourishing soup by mistake and let Huang Qingyun take the blame.
• Madam Huang née Yao refused to believe him, while Wang Qilin, Xu Da, and Xie Hama left to visit Huang Qingyun.
• Xu Da sensed yin energy in a side courtyard, where the men found Chen Jiu and another man dead with their hearts missing and discovered the Six-Step Qi Jade was gone.
• Wang Qilin and Xu Da chased a dark figure over the estate wall, and Wang Qilin struck it with the demonic saber Horse Slayer, turning it into a stone figure.
• Wang Qilin found the Six-Step Qi Jade on the figure, but it vanished into the Furnace of Creation, so he denied taking it when Xu Da asked.

Wang Qilin and the others discovered that Huang Qingyun's yin soul was leaving her body as she dreamed of falling through a ten-floor pagoda filled with Buddha statues. Although Steward Ding declared the case finished and sent them away, Wang Qilin suspected the manor was hiding something and left without proof.

• The steward reported that Lao Ruan had been replaced by a Mountain Puppet, and Xie Hama explained how the spirits had taken Lao Ruan's and Xiao Jin's souls.
• The next morning, Huang Liufeng summoned Wang Qilin, Xu Da, and Xie Hama because Huang Qingyun had grown dangerously weak; talisman water briefly restored her color.
• Xie Hama realized Huang Qingyun's yin soul was leaving her body, and Huang Qingyun said she dreamed of falling through floors lined with Buddha statues in a ten-floor pagoda.
• Wang Qilin pointed out that pagodas usually had an odd number of floors, prompting Huang Huaji to react with alarm when Huang Qingyun confirmed the pagoda had ten.
• Steward Ding told the investigators the case was over and asked them to leave; Wang Qilin accepted, though he suspected the manor was concealing something.
• Huang Huaji sent the investigators off with gifts, and Steward Ding arranged a cart of supplies for Wang Qilin's home in Paifang Township; the Wang clan elders welcomed it in Great King Village.

Wang Qilin welcomed his family after General Huang’s household sent gifts, and his relatives celebrated his new status as an official. The chapter ended with the family preparing a lavish meal while Heidou eagerly watched the kitchen.

• Wang Liuwu heard that General Huang’s steward had brought gifts and returned home with his grandson Heidou.
• Wang Qilin greeted Heidou, who nervously offered him a blessing before Xu Da gave the boy roasted broad beans.
• Wang Qilin told Wang Liuwu that General Huang had sent gifts because he had helped with the general’s fields.
• Heidou kowtowed to Steward Ding, who gave him a silver zhu, and Wang Liuwu’s family returned to admire the gifts.
• Madam Wang née Lu celebrated the family’s new prospects and hoped to provide dowries for her daughters.
• Wang Qilin asked Heidou what he wanted to eat, but the boy darted away.

Wang Qilin prepared a mutton hot pot for his family, and Heidou enjoyed the lavish meal so much that Wang Qilin joked about adopting him. While they ate, Madam Wang née Lu told Wang Qilin that his eldest sister had returned after her husband brought home another woman.

• Wang Qilin sliced the mutton and made sesame sauce while Xu Da ground the sesame seeds and Wang Qilin's family prepared the broth.
• Wang Qilin served the hot pot, and Heidou cried because the mutton tasted so good.
• Wang Qilin urged Heidou to study hard so he could become a high official and help ordinary people afford meat.
• The family devoured the mutton and started on another side when Wang Qilin brought out more.
• Madam Wang née Lu told Wang Qilin that his eldest sister's husband had brought a disreputable woman home, prompting his eldest sister to return.
• Wang Qilin teased Heidou about giving up his father and uncle to eat meat every day, and Heidou chose his uncle.

Wang Qilin brought Wang Qiaoniang and Heidou to live at the station, where he learned that Foolhardy had disappeared along with a painting of a demon woman. He began questioning the hoodlums who had seen the paintings, but they admitted they had barely noticed their backgrounds.

• Wang Qilin took Wang Qiaoniang and Heidou from Crouching Dragon Township to the station, while his family and the clan saw them off.
• Wang Qilin and Xu Da returned to the station, where hoodlums reported that Foolhardy had gone missing.
• Wang Qilin discovered a grass carp in the station's water jar that seemed unusually intelligent, and Xie Hama identified it as a spirit fish.
• Xu Da told Wang Qilin that Foolhardy had owned a second painting identical to the one Wang Qilin had burned, and both Foolhardy and that painting had vanished.
• Wang Qilin questioned the hoodlums about the portraits, but they could not say whether their backgrounds matched because they had focused on the woman.

Wang Qilin investigated Foolhardy’s disappearance and found his home abandoned but no sign of yin energy. Huang Huaji then asked Wang Qilin to investigate the pagoda haunting Yun’er, and Xie Hama revealed that its ten stories extended underground.

• Wang Qilin and Xie Hama inspected Foolhardy’s filthy, dilapidated home after learning he and a painting had vanished, but found no proof he had left on a long journey.
• Xie Hama claimed Foolhardy’s house felt strange to keep the local ruffians from thinking the Heaven-Listening Bureau was incompetent, though he had no explanation.
• After several days of searching failed to locate Foolhardy, Huang Huaji arrived and said Yun’er had dreamed of descending through a pagoda and would reach the ground the next night.
• Huang Huaji asked Wang Qilin to search the pagoda for the ghost haunting Yun’er, and Xie Hama explained that its ten stories were built downward into the earth.

Huang Huaji revealed that the Wuji Pagoda was built beneath his residence to suppress a yin road, and that his deputy general’s soul had been imprisoned inside it. Wang Qilin agreed to carry a scripture into the pagoda to help save Huang Qingyun, then warned Xu Da that the mission seemed suspicious.

• Huang Huaji explained that the upside-down, ten-story Wuji Pagoda beneath his residence was built to suppress the yin road and the evil beings escaping through it.
• Huang Huaji revealed that officials had imprisoned his deputy general’s soul inside the pagoda to seal its base, and that Huang Qingyun’s danger came from the demon beneath the tower.
• Huang Huaji asked Wang Qilin to deliver a scripture to the bottom of the pagoda, offering rewards and mentioning Huang Qingyun; Wang Qilin agreed to help.
• Wang Qilin, Xie Hama, and Xu Da traveled with Huang Huaji to the general’s residence, with Wang Qilin riding in a horse-drawn cart.
• As they entered the rear courtyard, Wang Qilin told Xie Hama to accompany him into the tower and ordered Xu Da to guard the entrance, warning him to trust only their own people.

Wang Qilin, Xie Hama, and Xu Da entered the underground Wuji Pagoda with Huang Huaji, where they faced eerie defenses and a powerful Buddha Formation. Wang Qilin exposed that a ghost had possessed Huang Huaji, and the real general’s subordinate spirit had given itself away.

• Huang Huaji opened the underground palace, and the group descended its icy stone steps after letting the air circulate.
• Wang Qilin and Xie Hama saw lifelike Zhong Kui faces carved into the walls and learned that Huang Huaji’s dead deputy general remained inside.
• The group entered the Wuji Pagoda through a passage lined with Dragon Day Children's Hair and encountered a Buddha Formation that nearly entranced Xie Hama.
• Wang Qilin noticed a shadow following Huang Huaji and questioned him about the subordinate’s poisoned death and his unusual behavior.
• Wang Qilin tricked Huang Huaji into turning toward the shadow and revealed that a ghost had possessed the general’s body.

Xie Hama’s talisman revealed that the yin soul inhabiting Huang Huaji’s body belonged to his subordinate general, who had replaced him and protected his own family. Wang Qilin defeated the soul inside the Wuji Tower, and Huang Huaji later told Steward Ding that the yin road had closed and answered his question about the subordinate general’s imprisonment.

• Xie Hama’s talisman drew the subordinate general’s yin soul out of Huang Huaji, revealing that it had taken over the old general’s body.
• Wang Qilin fought the yin soul in the Wuji Tower while Xie Hama took Huang Huaji outside, and Buddhist chants helped Wang Qilin destroy the soul and capture it in the Furnace of Creation.
• Wang Qilin found Xie Hama waiting outside, carried the weakened Huang Huaji out of the tower, and learned that Xie Hama had fled instead of helping him.
• Huang Huaji told Steward Ding that the yin road had closed more than ten days earlier and warned that another opening could bring the hundred ghosts walking at night again.
• Steward Ding asked whether Huang Huaji had helped decide to imprison his elder brother’s yin soul, and Huang Huaji replied that they had been soldiers who obeyed military orders.

Wang Qilin received Chan Master Sun’s scripture from Huang Huaji and discovered that his Furnace of Creation had refined the Six-Step Qi Jade into a Twin Fish Jade Pendant. After returning to the station, he shared sesame flatbreads with Heidou before sneaking out with Xie Hama to eat mutton.

• Wang Qilin learned another yin road had appeared and sent Xu Da to notify Shi Zhoushan while he left the general’s estate.
• Huang Huaji gave Wang Qilin Chan Master Sun’s scripture, explaining that it had been meant to destroy spirits left inside Wuji Tower.
• Xie Hama identified the supposed Buddhist scripture as the Daoist Baopuzi, and Wang Qilin saw that his Furnace of Creation had refined the Six-Step Qi Jade into a Twin Fish Jade Pendant.
• Wang Qilin returned to the station, found Heidou digging for rat nests, and gave him sesame flatbreads from the general’s estate.
• Wang Qilin and Xie Hama went out to eat, and Heidou chased after them and found Wang Qilin eating mutton.

Wang Qilin returned to the clinic at night to investigate his suspicions about Zhang Yuning, then recruited Xu Da and Xie Hama to help search the building. The group prepared to draw the clinic’s occupants outside so they could inspect the roof.

• Xu Da told Wang Qilin that Foolhardy had recently been visiting the clinic, prompting Wang Qilin to suspect the qi-eating ghost might have another purpose there.
• Wang Qilin climbed into the clinic after sunset and confronted Zhang Yuning, whose unusual agility and drooping facial features renewed Wang Qilin’s suspicions.
• Wang Qilin claimed he had seen someone suspicious and warned Zhang Yuning that he would bring men to search the clinic the next day.
• Wang Qilin persuaded Zhang Yuning to give him five Nine-Herb Great Replenishing Pills, pretending they were for his injuries and Xu Da’s kidney deficiency.
• Wang Qilin found Xie Hama and Xu Da and asked Xu Da to create a disturbance so they could get onto the clinic roof and investigate.

Wang Qilin and Xie Hama secretly searched Zhang Yuning’s clinic and discovered that he used enchanted paintings and paper lanterns containing little skin ghosts. As Xie Hama attacked him, Wang Qilin realized Zhang Yuning had no face, but the chapter ended with the back of his head turned toward them.

• Wang Qilin suspected Zhang Yuning had ties to the Blossoming Flower Pavilion and had turned the missing Foolhardy into an eerie painting.
• Xie Hama used a talismanic paper crane to reveal a little skin ghost inside Zhang Yuning’s lantern, which caught fire and gave Wang Qilin and Xie Hama a chance to sneak onto the roof.
• Wang Qilin watched Zhang Yuning check his window seals and retrieve hidden paintings, then saw him paint a lifelike cat and tear it up as a cat cried below.
• Zhang Yuning muttered that he had to act soon, tried to alter several paintings, and destroyed them when he was dissatisfied.
• Wang Qilin noticed Zhang Yuning’s self-portrait had moved and saw him paint a simple-minded face before setting down what appeared to be his own face.
• Xie Hama attacked Zhang Yuning with a fire talisman, but when Zhang Yuning looked up, Wang Qilin saw the back of his head instead of a face.

Wang Qilin and Xie Hama fought and defeated a Joined Half-Skulls that had been using Zhang Yuning’s identity. They discovered Zhang Yuning was trapped in a portrait and realized Foolhardy was likely imprisoned in another painting as the fiend’s intended body.

• Wang Qilin and Xie Hama battled the Joined Half-Skulls, and Wang Qilin used Heavenly Official’s Blessing Pills to strengthen his saber strikes and destroy it.
• Wang Qilin found no one in the room, but Zhang Yuning blinked from inside his portrait, revealing that he had been sealed in the painting.
• Xie Hama identified the creature as a Joined Half-Skulls and questioned how it had learned spells resembling those of the Blossoming Flower Pavilion.
• Wang Qilin and Xie Hama deduced that the creature had been weakening Foolhardy with eerie paintings and tonics so it could possess his body.
• Wang Qilin and Xie Hama concluded that Foolhardy was probably alive but sealed inside a painting too.

Wang Qilin gathered the scrolls after Foolhardy was trapped in a painting and promised to find a way to rescue him. Back at the post station, the Furnace of Creation produced a powerful Buddhist-Daoist mantra and a dangerous divine engraving, and Wang Qilin prepared to practice the mantra.

• Wang Qilin reassured Zhang Changgeng that Foolhardy was safe inside the painting and promised to save him, while refusing Zhang Changgeng's offer of Nine-Herb Great Replenishing Pills.
• Xie Hama retrieved a sheet made from an unknown exotic beast's cured hide, and Wang Qilin took it back to the post station with the other scrolls.
• Wang Qilin woke to find Wang Qiaoniang scolding Heidou for urinating in the water vat, then joked that she should beat him after breakfast.
• Wang Qilin discovered that the Furnace of Creation had refined the Lin Syllable Mantra and a Divine Engraving Diagram of Hayagriva Vidyaraja.
• Wang Qilin learned that Hayagriva Vidyaraja could protect a righteous bearer but punish wrongdoing, so he put the diagram away and prepared to practice the Lin Syllable Mantra.

Wang Qilin learned the Lin Syllable Mantra and accepted Shi Zhoushan’s invitation to a gathering of the county’s Minor Seals. While traveling to the county seat, he heard a ferryman recount a frightening death in Little Water Township.

• Wang Qilin memorized the Vajrasattva Heart Mantra and learned the Acala Vidyaraja Mudra, though he knew he still needed practice to master the Lin Syllable Mantra.
• Xiang Wei delivered Shi Zhoushan’s invitation, and Wang Qilin agreed to attend the next day while asking about rumors surrounding the Minor Seal position.
• When Xiang Wei threatened Heidou with a riding whip after the child insulted him, Wang Qilin cut the whip in two and sent Xiang Wei away.
• Wang Qilin and Xu Da took a ferry across the Subduing Dragon River to reach the county seat for Shi Zhoushan’s banquet.
• The ferryman told the passengers that a drowned woman’s body had floated faceup, then appeared in her coffin with her eyes open on the seventh day after her death.

Wang Qilin traveled to Auspicious County, where his shadow seemed to be drawn toward a dark shape beneath the river before he arrived safely in town. At the Heaven-Listening Bureau station, he met Hou Decai and tried to ask about the Minor Seal curse, but Hou avoided the question and left.

• As the ferry crossed the river, Wang Qilin noticed his shadow growing fainter and a dark shape beneath the water growing darker, so he recited a mantra and began cultivating.
• Wang Qilin and Xu Da entered Auspicious County, where Xu Da bought candied hawthorn skewers for children and scared off beggars who were chasing a ragged youth.
• Wang Qilin stopped outside the Leaning on Emerald Pavilion and sensed killing intent and wronged souls within.
• At the Heaven-Listening Bureau station, Wang Qilin met Hou Decai and realized Hou knew about the Minor Seal curse.
• Wang Qilin began asking Hou Decai about the curse, but Hou claimed he had business to attend to and left.

Wang Qilin arrived at the Heaven-Listening Bureau and fought Xiang Wei’s men after learning that he had been tricked about the banquet time. He forced the bureau’s subordinates to keep training, then met the other Minor Seals as Shi Zhoushan prepared to take them to dinner.

• Xiang Wei mocked Wang Qilin for arriving half a day early, and Xu Da confronted him after realizing he had lied about the lunch invitation.
• Wang Qilin challenged the bureau’s trainees, defeated White Tiger in a fistfight, then used a bamboo saber against the strongmen and Wandering Stars until Hou Decai stopped the brawl.
• Wang Qilin criticized the trainees for wasting the court’s money, and Xu Da claimed he had gone easy on Xiang Wei.
• Wang Qilin threatened to give his Minor Seal position to Xiang Wei, prompting Xiang Wei to order everyone back to practice.
• Wang Qilin supervised the trainees while Xu Da bought snacks, and Shi Zhoushan returned and praised their hard work.
• Chang Guizhi, Sun Miu, and Cui Wang arrived, and Shi Zhoushan announced that they would dine at the Prosperity Restaurant.

Wang Qilin joined his colleagues for a night out in Auspicious County, turned the Leaning on Emerald Pavilion’s embroidered-ball tradition into a quick profit, and asked about people sealed inside paintings. At dinner, Dong Jihu’s colleagues hinted that he might help with the case in exchange for Wang Qilin’s help on another case, but Sun Miu urged them to leave official business for a private discussion.

• Wang Qilin caught the embroidered ball outside the Leaning on Emerald Pavilion and sold it to an eager man for ten silver zhu.
• Shi Zhoushan hosted the Heaven-Listening Bureau group at the Prosperity Restaurant and asked Wang Qilin to recount how he solved the case at the general's residence.
• Wang Qilin asked his colleagues how to resolve the cases of people sealed inside paintings and the Joined Half-Skulls.
• Shi Zhoushan suggested Dong Jihu might know about the paintings because his second brother joined the Blossoming Flower Pavilion, but Dong Jihu said he knew little.
• Xiang Wei suggested that Dong Jihu help Wang Qilin with his case in exchange for help on Dong Jihu’s own case.
• Sun Miu proposed that Wang Qilin and Dong Jihu discuss their cases privately and called the group back to drinking.