Chapter Summaries

Li Boyang and Xiluo slowed the black mist’s spread by killing corrupted creatures, drawing attention from spirits and gods. The Undying Spring God sent a kingfisher to tell Xiluo she could use what her elder sister had left behind, while Li Boyang and Big Girl prepared the village for a beast tide.

• Li Boyang and Xiluo killed nearly all the stronger corrupted creatures they encountered, slowing the black mist’s expansion.
• The Undying Spring God recalled the witch and recent calamities, then sent a kingfisher to tell Xiluo she could bring out what her elder sister had left behind.
• Big Girl teased Li Boyang about his ugly wildcat statue while helping him dig a hole near the village entrance.
• Xiluo returned and learned that Big Girl planned to bury the statue as protection from approaching wild beasts.
• Xiluo recognized the village’s preparations for the coming beast tide and asked why Li Boyang wanted the statue buried.

Li Boyang revealed that he could sense Sha Qi and manipulate it through his shadow, prompting Xiluo to take him to the mountain god’s temple to search for answers. Chen Yun refused to let Xiluo take her son away from the village, leaving the trip uncertain.

• Li Boyang explained that he had sensed Sha Qi in the earth veins and buried the Spirit Rhinoceros Horn where it flowed.
• Xiluo called Li Boyang’s ability to sense Sha Qi extraordinary, and Li Boyang showed her how he could control it through his shadow.
• Xiluo said Li Boyang’s powers exceeded her understanding and invited him to the mountain god’s temple to look for records left by her elder sister.
• Xiluo asked Chen Yun to let Li Boyang accompany her, but Chen Yun scolded her and refused to let her son leave the village.
• Chen Yun recalled that Xiluo had secretly brought meat to her house when she was young, and said she would not let Xiluo take Li Boyang even if she needed help.

Xiluo persuaded Chen Yun to let Li Boyang come with her by lending the family a magical Fang Boar to plow their fields. Chen Yun allowed Big Girl to accompany them too, and watched the group leave, trusting her son to follow his own path.

• Xiluo asked Chen Yun to lend her Li Boyang for a few hours and offered to loosen the family's fields in exchange.
• Xiluo summoned a Fang Boar puppet from Dangkang's Tooth, and it began plowing the field and clearing weeds, stones, and pests.
• Chen Yun agreed to let Li Boyang go with Xiluo on the condition that Big Girl accompany them and both children return before dark.
• After Xiluo took Li Boyang and Big Girl away, Chen Yun watched them go and resolved to support her son's choices.

Li Boyang, Xiluo, and Big Girl traveled to the hidden mountain god temple on Flying Peak, where Xiluo explained how the mountain’s mist and terrain concealed it. On the path up, Li Boyang learned that the sleepy bugs there could burrow into ears and put living creatures to sleep, and realized Xiluo had offered them to him hoping to cause trouble.

• Xiluo flew toward Flying Peak with Big Girl riding on her and Li Boyang in a carrying basket, guiding them through mist that confused ordinary travelers.
• Xiluo explained that the mist came from Flying Peak’s terrain and climate and had helped keep the mountain god temple hidden.
• Xiluo landed halfway up the mountain and used her flames to clear weeds from the stone steps leading to the temple.
• Li Boyang recognized the sleepy bugs that flew from the flames after Xiluo said she had used them to put his parents to sleep.
• Big Girl reached for a sleepy bug, which flew toward her ear, but Li Boyang caught it before it could burrow inside.
• Xiluo explained that sleepy bugs hid in animals’ ears and released a scent that made nearby creatures fall asleep, and Li Boyang realized she wanted to see him get into trouble.

Li Boyang and Xiluo reached the Mountain God Temple, where he learned that the statues were bound ghosts and gods. Xiluo said the key to resolving Black Cloud Marsh’s crisis might lie with Li Boyang and revealed that they needed something her big sister had left behind to dispel its black fog.

• Li Boyang saw Sleepy Bugs infesting Flying Peak and learned that Xiluo’s big sister had bred them.
• Li Boyang, Xiluo, and Big Girl arrived at the Mountain God Temple, where Xiluo revealed that its statues were ghosts and gods bound to Flying Peak.
• Li Boyang saw a statue of the Goddess of War and asked whether it was alive, but Xiluo teased him instead of answering directly.
• Xiluo told Li Boyang that she had brought him to discuss the Black Cloud Marsh crisis and believed he might hold its solution.
• Xiluo explained that the evil ghost relied on the marsh’s black fog and that her big sister had left something that could help dispel it.

Xiluo gave Li Boyang the Nine Chapters on the Secrets of Divination, the only lead to dispersing the black fog around Black Cloud Marsh and resolving the danger of his curse. With Big Girl’s help, Li Boyang learned that the scroll’s twelve mysterious maxims were essential to mastering its other chapters, but he still had a long way to go.

• Xiluo explained that her elder sister, the witch of the Huai River, had recorded knowledge in the Nine Chapters on the Secrets of Divination that could help Li Boyang disperse the black fog and investigate his curse.
• Li Boyang discovered that neither he nor Xiluo could read the scroll, and Xiluo vanished after angrily insisting that she had done her part.
• Big Girl revealed that she could read because her father had once taught her, and she helped Li Boyang roughly decipher the scroll.
• Li Boyang learned that the scroll divided the world into nine categories, with the Chapter on Myriad Phenomena serving as their foundation.
• Li Boyang learned that twelve power-infused maxims on the chapter’s final page had to be understood before he could truly study the other eight chapters.

Li Boyang recognized the Nine Chapters on the Secrets of Divination as a method for interpreting patterns and making predictions, and realized Xiluo’s sister had left behind something beyond the book. Xiluo warned him that accepting her sister’s other legacy would bring responsibility and a mission, then asked whether he was ready.

• Li Boyang reasoned that the Witch of the Huai River had used her Heavenly Mandate Divine Ability and observations of myriad phenomena to compile the Nine Chapters on the Secrets of Divination.
• Li Boyang compared the book’s divination methods to big-data analysis and wondered whether the Witch of the Huai River had left beginners a way to judge how reliable their predictions were.
• Li Boyang inferred from Xiluo’s explanation that her sister had left behind something besides the Nine Chapters on the Secrets of Divination.
• Xiluo was shocked that Li Boyang had understood the book and confirmed that he had grasped its contents.
• Xiluo warned Li Boyang that accepting her sister’s other legacy would give him a different responsibility and mission, then asked if he was ready.

Xiluo gave Li Boyang the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron, which could reveal answers and guide its user in divination, and he realized it could help resolve the crisis in Black Cloud Marsh. There, the old man had regained his reason and was using the Pill Furnace to refine the Ox-Head yin deity into a Ghost God Egg, while plotting to take Li Boyang’s body.

• Xiluo revealed that the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron was made from her sister’s thoracic vertebrae and could lend its user her Heavenly Mandate Divine Ability.
• Big Girl tested the bone plastron by asking whether she and Li Boyang had arrived at Flying Peak in the morning or at noon, and it landed facedown, confirming they had come at noon.
• Xiluo gave Li Boyang the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron and explained that mastering the Nine Chapters on the Secrets of Divination would unlock its deeper power.
• Li Boyang realized the bone plastron could help him resolve the crisis in Black Cloud Marsh.
• In Black Cloud Marsh, the old man used the Earth Sha Fire and corrupted beasts to refine the Ox-Head yin deity into a Ghost God Egg, then planned to use Li Boyang’s body to return to the living.

Li Boyang secretly learned to read by watching a shamaness teach children in Gao Village Town, while realizing the old script in the Nine Chapters on the Secrets of Divination might differ from the writing he knew. The language barrier left him unsure how accurately he could understand the manual.

• Li Boyang discovered that Chen Yun could read a few characters and learned that a shamaness in a nearby town taught children for a little grain.
• Li Boyang secretly watched the shamaness teach, using the movements of her mouth to infer the characters' pronunciations.
• The shamaness repeated basic characters and taught them clearly, leading Li Boyang to suspect she might have noticed him watching.
• Li Boyang compared the shamaness's lessons with the characters in the Nine Chapters on the Secrets of Divination and considered that regional writing differences might explain the apparent errors.
• Li Boyang realized that the script might be an old regional form, making it harder for him to read the manual correctly.

Li Boyang used his Sha Qi-tainted Life Primordial Qi to raise aggressive Sleepy Bugs and planned to selectively breed a strain that could adapt to Sha Qi. Xiluo dismissed his proposed names and brought him to the valley he had requested, where they prepared to continue their more urgent business.

• Li Boyang explained that he had let Sleepy Bugs feed on his Sha Qi-tainted Life Primordial Qi, turning them red and making them more aggressive.
• Xiluo sensed that the bugs' lives had been shortened to less than a week, but Li Boyang said that was enough time for them to reproduce.
• Li Boyang proposed breeding successive generations of mutant Sleepy Bugs that could adapt to Sha Qi.
• Li Boyang suggested several names for his breeding project, and Xiluo criticized them before redirecting his attention to their serious business.
• Xiluo arrived at the valley Li Boyang had specified and asked what they should do next.

Li Boyang devised a way to keep the black mist of Black Cloud Marsh from spreading by heating a valley pass, and Xiluo used her fire-controlling abilities to create an updraft that pushed the mist back. Nearby gods and spirits steered clear of the commotion, expecting trouble wherever Xiluo and Li Boyang appeared.

• Li Boyang explained that Black Cloud Marsh's black mist could be contained by blocking thirty-two critical points around its perimeter.
• Xiluo could not move a mountain, grow vegetation, summon rain from a clear sky, or produce strong winds, so Li Boyang suggested raising the temperature at the valley pass.
• Xiluo transformed into a red leopard and heated the pass, creating an updraft that lifted the black mist and pushed it back toward Black Cloud Marsh.
• Nearby mountain gods, water gods, river gods, and spirits saw the commotion and kept their distance, expecting a battle with corrupted beasts.

Li Boyang used the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron to uncover that his Sword Pill could destroy Black Baleful Intent and its black mist. As he drove the monster into a desperate attack, the Sword Pill cut down its manifested beast souls, with the battle still underway.

• Black Baleful Intent emerged from the black mist in Black Cloud Marsh, and Li Boyang’s golden flying sword cut through its newly formed body.
• Li Boyang divined the monster’s weakness from Li Household Village and found that his Sword Pill could purify the black mist and prevent it from reforming.
• Li Boyang recognized that the Sword Pill countered Black Baleful Intent and decided to end the fight quickly.
• Black Baleful Intent abandoned its attempt to form a body and unleashed the souls of the beasts that had died in the mist.
• Li Boyang’s golden flying sword swept through the beast souls and killed more than half of them within moments.

As the ghost king of Black Cloud Marsh triggered a beast tide, Li Boyang confronted the Heart Demon in his shadow while Chen Yun protected him. Outside Li Household Village, Li Yu and the villagers realized the beasts were avoiding their entrance and considered checking on nearby villages.

• The Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron stopped spinning, and the strange old man unleashed a beast tide across Black Cloud Marsh.
• Li Yu gathered the village's able-bodied adults to guard against the approaching beasts, while Chen Yun rushed to Li Boyang's cradle.
• Chen Yun attacked the blue-faced ghost emerging from Li Boyang's shadow, and Li Boyang revealed it was his Heart Demon before erasing its consciousness.
• Li Chengfeng and Li Yu realized the beasts were avoiding Li Household Village's entrance, possibly because Big Girl and Non-Crying Child had buried something there.
• Li Yu proposed waiting to see how the beast tide developed and then sending people to check on the other villages.

Panhu left his mother to answer the villagers’ plea for help while Xiluo and Li Boyang attacked the ghost king in Black Cloud Marsh. The ghost king revealed malign baleful intent that countered their abilities, and Li Boyang recognized the creatures as an exceptionally rare calamity.

• Panhu’s blind mother scolded the villagers for seeking her son only when they needed help, but let Panhu go after he explained that he owed someone a kindness.
• Xiluo rushed into the black mist to attack the ghost king, revealing a sudden surge of power, and Li Boyang followed with his flying sword.
• The ghost king struck back and sent a ghost-faced leopard to fight Xiluo.
• A four-winged eagle emerged from the mist and clashed with Li Boyang’s flying sword.
• Li Boyang recognized the ghost creatures as malign baleful intent, a rare man-made calamity born from the resentment of the dead.

Panhu joined Xiluo and Li Boyang’s fight against the Ghost King’s evil fiends and revealed that pure yang blood and righteous conviction could harm them. While his mother slept, Li Boyang confronted the hidden old man in Li Household Village and accused him of exposing himself because he feared Xiluo, the Divine Firmament Sword, and Li Boyang.

• Panhu drove the beast tide away from the mountain villages, then reached Black Cloud Marsh and joined Xiluo and the flying sword against the evil fiends.
• Panhu discovered that the fiends could re-form after being cut apart and warned that pure yang blood or righteous conviction could disperse them.
• Li Boyang used the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron to confirm Panhu’s warning and put Chen Yun into a deep sleep with a red sleepy bug.
• Li Boyang spotted the faint evil fiend in the village and called out the old man who had once refined his soul into the Sword Pill.
• The old man mocked Li Boyang for treating Chen Yun as his mother, but Li Boyang accused him of fearing Xiluo, the Divine Firmament Sword, and Li Boyang himself.
• The old man angrily denied being afraid and claimed he had already pinned down Xiluo and the Divine Firmament Sword.

Li Boyang deduced that the old man had become an evil baleful entity by refining trapped souls, then learned he had been a Guifang high priest who planned to possess Li Boyang. The old man entered Li Boyang’s body, but the child’s Primordial Qi and Sha Qi began rejecting and assimilating him.

• Li Boyang explained that the old man had released Ruifu and refined living creatures’ souls into baleful ghosts designed to counter Xiluo and the flying sword.
• The old man claimed Li Boyang’s inner demon revealed his true form as an otherworldly heavenly demon and identified his own technique as the Guifang Secret Method.
• The old man revealed that he had been a high priest of the Guifang Kingdom and attacked Li Boyang, hoping to possess his body and regain control of the Divine Firmament Sword.
• The old man entered Li Boyang’s body as a Heart-Seizing Baleful Intent, which Li Boyang recognized as a six-legged Ranyi Fish.
• Li Boyang’s body erupted with Sha Qi flames, and he jumped from the cradle to keep them away from Chen Yun and the surrounding furniture.
• Li Boyang stood up as his Primordial Qi and Sha Qi rejected the old man and began plundering his power.

Li Boyang used a talisman and his blood to free the beast spirits trapped inside him, including the Ranyi Fish, and the backlash exposed the Ghost King's vulnerability. Li Boyang pursued the old man's true body while Xiluo and Panhu held off the Ghost King, but their battle remained deadlocked.

• Li Boyang drew a soul-related talisman on his chest with his blood, causing the Heart-Seizing Baleful Intent to melt away and releasing the spirits within his body.
• The freed Ranyi Fish left its final trace of spiritual awareness with Li Boyang before departing for another dimension.
• The Ghost King suffered a backlash, losing control of the baleful ghosts; the spirits turned against him and rushed into Black Cloud Marsh, revealing the route to the old man's true body.
• Li Boyang asked Xiluo and Panhu to hold off the Ghost King as he followed the spirits into the marsh, and Panhu transformed into a five-colored dragon hound to help.
• Xiluo and Panhu fought the Ghost King with their full strength, but Panhu's pure Yang flames and the Ghost King's power kept the battle in a stalemate.

Li Boyang pursued the Malign Baleful Intent to the Pill Furnace, where You Xiao tried to consume them and rebirth himself as a ghost god. You Xiao emerged as a powerful four-armed ghost god, and after Panhu helped Li Boyang wound him, the Sword Pill flew at him again.

• Li Boyang followed the Malign Baleful Intent to the Pill Furnace as You Xiao tried to devour them and reclaim his power.
• Li Boyang struck the furnace with the Sword Pill, toppling it and freeing the Malign Baleful Intent, while You Xiao emerged inside a black egg.
• You Xiao transformed into a four-armed ghost god, and Li Boyang recognized that his new form could withstand the Sword Pill.
• Panhu arrived and hit You Xiao, letting Li Boyang's Sword Pill drill through the ghost god's palm and fly toward his head.
• You Xiao kicked Panhu away and braced himself against the returning Sword Pill, while Panhu passed out.

While Xiluo fought the Ghost King, Li Boyang manifested a new spiritual body from the earth’s Sha Qi and faced You Xiao. He remained lucid and wielded the Divine Firmament Sword, naming his mysterious state a Primordial Spirit.

• Xiluo watched Panhu pass out but stayed locked in an exhausting battle with the Ghost King, whose body could only be destroyed by eliminating every beast soul within it.
• Li Boyang and You Xiao continued their physical clash, as You Xiao boasted that his ghost-god form could not be defeated.
• Li Boyang gathered Sha Qi from beneath Black Cloud Marsh, prompting You Xiao to recognize the Guifang Secret Method and question how Li Boyang knew it.
• Li Boyang explained that he was not using the Guifang Secret Method and revealed a spiritual body reconstructed through the body’s nine palaces, trigrams, and acupoints.
• Li Boyang recognized that his independent spirituality kept him rational and distinct from a baleful ghost, then named his new state a Primordial Spirit.

After unifying his consciousness through an awakened Primordial Spirit, Li Boyang formed a giant spiritual body from earth-vein Sha Qi and fought You Xiao’s four-armed ghost god. Though You Xiao initially overwhelmed him with speed and close-combat skill, Li Boyang adapted quickly and began counterattacking.

• Li Boyang unified his Sword Pill and main-body consciousness after a hidden spirituality awakened within his soul.
• Li Boyang considered whether his state was a manifestation of the Primordial Spirit and raised a giant spiritual body using Sha Qi.
• You Xiao charged and blasted apart nearly half of Li Boyang’s airborne body, then battered him with a series of punches.
• Li Boyang learned You Xiao’s fighting rhythm, adapted his swordsmanship, and began dodging and counterattacking.