Chapter Summaries

Chen Qing read Liu Yu’s farewell letter, which revealed Liu Yu’s respect for him and asked him to protect Wang Ye. The emperor learned that Liu Yu’s spell still bound him, then sent a decree to Mu Hongqing and arranged for Chen Qing to go to Liuzhou.

• Chen Qing found Liu Yu’s letter in the illustrated record of ghosts and monsters and read it while Wang Ye studied the book.
• Liu Yu’s letter compared Chen Qing to the King of Qin, warned him about human treachery, and asked him to look after Wang Ye.
• After the letter vanished, Chen Qing bowed toward the duke’s residence and praised Liu Yu, while Wang Ye misunderstood why Liu Yu had died.
• The emperor learned that Liu Yu’s spell could only be broken during his next blood cleansing and rebirth.
• The emperor ordered a decree sent to Mu Hongqing and said he wanted to see what Chen Qing would accomplish in Liuzhou.

Chen Qing arrived in Liuzhou to find the city nearly deserted after the ghost-puppet crisis drove most residents away. After learning that wealthy households had fled and ordinary families had retreated to the countryside, he rushed to South Street to see who remained.

• Chen Qing reached Liuzhou after ten days of travel and found its gates unguarded and its streets almost empty.
• Chen Qing recognized the butcher as a puppet and reunited with Ma Erniang, who explained that her husband had been replaced.
• Ma Erniang told Chen Qing that residents had fled after soldiers sealed the city, then withdrew amid a deadly rush at the gates.
• Chen Qing learned that Ma Erniang's children had gone to the countryside and that most wealthy merchants and scholars had left Liuzhou.
• Chen Qing hurried to South Street to check which households remained, hoping to bring people back and preserve the city's tax base.

Chen Qing surveyed Liuzhou’s deserted streets and realized that the fleeing merchants and teachers had left him with little prospect of restoring the city’s prosperity. In Jiangnan, Gong Qinian learned that the new prefect was the inexperienced examination candidate Chen Qing, while Mu Hongqing offered limited help with the crisis.

• Chen Qing lamented that Liuzhou’s wealthy households, teachers, and businesses had fled, leaving his plans for the city’s spring-water trade in ruins.
• Gong Qinian and a circuit intendant discussed how Liuzhou’s collapse had disrupted Jiangnan’s trade and crowded its other ports.
• Mu Hongqing arrived and explained that his inspection found no immediate supernatural threat, but that restoring public confidence and local administration was essential.
• Mu Hongqing said he could not stay in Liuzhou, but would send a disciple and help persuade renowned teachers to return.
• Mu Hongqing told Gong Qinian that the new prefect was Chen Qing, a newly successful examination candidate, and Gong Qinian was dismayed by the appointment.

Chen Qing met Jiangnan Commissioner Gong Qinian to secure help restoring Liuzhou, whose offices and defenses had been left empty after the Painted Skin Mister incident. Gong revealed that a spell called Tsukuyomi had erased demons from ordinary people’s memories across Great Jin, and Chen left with permission to recruit up to five hundred soldiers for his plans.

• Chen Qing arrived at the Jiangnan government offices and Gong Qinian welcomed him, believing he was a spellcaster and a promising official.
• Chen Qing asked Gong for tax relief, delayed remittances, clerks, and soldiers to rebuild Liuzhou; Gong promised financial support but said personnel transfers were difficult.
• Gong explained that ordinary people across Great Jin had forgotten demons because an unnamed existence had cast a spell called Tsukuyomi.
• Chen Qing asked about staffing Liuzhou’s defenses, and Gong offered to seek special authorization for him to recruit up to five hundred soldiers at the court’s expense.
• Chen Qing thanked Gong and recognized that authority over the recruits was essential to his plan to establish a divine gate guardian.

Chen Qing returned to Liuzhou overnight after securing permission to invest gods, planning to recruit door gods at Great Azure Mountain. Meanwhile, Mu Hongqing brought his apprentice Chen Ying to meet provincial administrative commissioner Gong Qinian and learned that Chen Qing had requested military authority.

• Chen Qing recalled that Divine Path Style depended on carefully investing gods and decided that door gods were the best choice for Liuzhou.
• On the journey back, Chen Qing discovered that coachman Old Meng had forgotten how his wife and child died and offered him a clerk’s position at the prefectural office.
• Chen Qing directed Old Meng to Great Azure Mountain to pick up his son and catch door gods.
• Mu Hongqing introduced his apprentice Chen Ying to Gong Qinian, explaining that she would be stationed in Liuzhou.
• Gong Qinian told Mu Hongqing that Chen Qing had left for Liuzhou after receiving authorization, and Mu Hongqing reacted with surprise when he learned Chen Qing had asked for military authority.

Chen Qing went to Great Azure Mountain to find harmless demons and ghosts he could invest as door gods, beginning his divine path style. The chapter ended by explaining that new officials had to choose their first divine investiture carefully to earn public recognition and expand their power.

• Mu Hongqing told Gong Qinian that Yuchi Feihong would command Liuzhou's prefectural troops, alarming Gong because of the brutal general's record and his poor relationship with Yuchi Peng.
• Gong Qinian considered warning Chen Qing not to fight Yuchi Feihong over troop control, while Mu Hongqing suggested the new commander might not surrender authority easily.
• Chen Qing climbed Great Azure Mountain at night and met Ghost Child, who had changed into the appearance of a little girl.
• Chen Qing asked Ghost Child to find demons or ghosts that had lived in the mountain for a long time without eating humans, intending to make them door gods.
• Ghost Child asked whether Nezha could become a door god, and Chen Qing said Nezha was destined for a greater role.
• Chen Qing reflected that his first divine investiture had to be chosen carefully, since new officials had limited power and needed public recognition to strengthen it.

Chen Qing planned to invest a low-ranking door god first in Liuzhou, where local conditions could help it gain faith quickly, and recruited a mountain turtle to leave Great Azure Mountain with him. Meanwhile, more than a hundred jinshi arrived in Liuzhou, including Liu Yiqi and Gu Beiquan, many of whom resented Chen Qing’s appointment and expected the troubled prefecture to bring him trouble.

• Chen Qing recalled that divine investitures had to match local conditions because deities needed faith to restore their lord’s investiture power, and he chose a door god as his first deity for Liuzhou.
• Ghost Child found and kicked a mountain turtle, which told Chen Qing that it was nearly two hundred years old, had eaten no people, and had survived on wild fruit in the mountains.
• The mountain turtle said its father had been a Scarlet Dragon Turtle and its mother had been killed by humans; after Chen Qing threatened to have Nezha beat it to death, it agreed to leave the mountains.
• On the third day after Chen Qing arrived in Liuzhou, more than a hundred jinshi were escorted to the city, arriving early the next morning.
• Liu Yiqi privately took satisfaction in Chen Qing’s difficult appointment, while Gu Beiquan and other jinshi resented Chen Qing’s rank and anticipated that he would bear the blame if Liuzhou’s problems worsened.

Chen Qing returned to Liuzhou and challenged the newly appointed jinshi officials to take responsibility for its problems. As Gu Beiquan and Shen Yuan sought to avoid the difficult river-defense assignment, Chen Qing resolved to keep Liuzhou’s government affairs under his control.

• Chen Qing returned to the prefectural yamen with Old Meng, where Gu Beiquan, Shen Yuan, Liu Yiqi, and other scholars questioned his absence and lack of progress in Liuzhou.
• Ghost Child emerged from Chen Qing’s carriage, startling the assembled officials when the curtain revealed both the child and a huge mountain tortoise.
• Chen Qing challenged the scholars to propose a solution to Liuzhou’s troubles and offered to recommend anyone willing to take responsibility, but they fell silent.
• Chen Qing read the court’s appointments and offered Gu Beiquan and Shen Yuan assignments, including responsibility for rebuilding river defenses and restoring merchant traffic.
• Gu Beiquan declined the river-defense assignment and suggested Shen Yuan take it, while Shen Yuan proposed that they receive postings outside the prefectural seat instead.
• Chen Qing rejected their plan and resolved to keep control of Liuzhou’s city and river defenses for his god-investiture plan.

Chen Qing assigned the new officials to Liuzhou’s counties and offered Zhou Haitao a choice of posts. Meanwhile, Wei Gongcheng reached Jiangnan with Lord Mu Hongqing’s escort, where he encountered someone claiming to be Lord Chen’s concubine.

• Chen Qing refused Shen Yuan and Gu Beiquan’s request to take county posts temporarily and return to Liuzhou later, assigning Shen Yuan to Whitewater County and Gu Beiquan to Spirit Deer County.
• Chen Qing invited volunteers for county posts, and Liu Yiqi secured an education instructor position in Spirit Deer County.
• Chen Qing rejected a former classmate’s request for a Whitewater County registrar post and assigned him to a remote location.
• Chen Qing offered Zhou Haitao an administrative post in Liuzhou or a commandant post in an outlying county, leaving Zhou to decide.
• Wei Gongcheng arrived in Jiangnan with Lord Mu Hongqing’s escort and asked an accompanying person whether they were Lord Chen’s concubine.

Chen Qing examined several spirits and recruited hunters to serve as Liuzhou’s city guards, then warned them that ghosts were approaching. The chapter left the hunters facing the prospect of fighting ghosts as the third round of PK neared.

• Wei Gongcheng discussed Liuzhou’s fleeing residents with Mu Hongqing’s female disciple and said he trusted Chen Qing to solve the crisis.
• Chen Qing used Spirit Caress to inspect the old wolf, the old tortoise, the bird, and the sapling, and considered the wolf for a divine gate-guardian post.
• Ma Erniang brought fifteen sturdy village hunters to Chen Qing, who offered them hereditary city-guard posts with generous pay.
• The hunters pledged to serve Chen Qing after he asked whether they dared to kill, and then asked whether they dared to kill ghosts.
• Chen Qing said ghosts should already be on their way.

Gu Bei’s small merchant group sailed into Liuzhou to sell its cargo despite water ghosts hiding among the crew, hoping the city’s reported tax exemption would save them from mounting debts. After meeting Shopkeeper He at the docks, they headed toward the city and stopped in amazement before its newly imposing southern gate.

• Gu Bei decided to risk docking in Liuzhou because the group’s debts were growing and selling elsewhere would cost them too much.
• Gu Bei warned his men to watch for water ghosts asking about their families, while the creatures concealed among the merchants waited for an opportunity to strike.
• Gu Bei learned from Shopkeeper He that the tax exemption was real and agreed to take his goods into the city for sale.
• Shopkeeper He quietly asked whether water ghosts had joined the group, and Gu Bei admitted that some had.
• Gu Bei and the merchants reached Liuzhou’s southern gate and marveled at its massive metal construction, while Gu Bei thought one wolf head’s eyes had moved.

Chen Qing’s gate god exposed a group of sharkfolk hiding among Gu Bei’s caravan, and gate guards killed them before they could attack. The merchants worshipped the gate god and supplied it with faith, while a spellcaster in white confronted Chen Qing about what he was.

• The gate god sensed the disguised sharkfolk in Gu Bei’s caravan and revealed them as the caravan entered Liuzhou.
• Chen Qing ordered the gate guards to execute the sharkfolk, and Maozi and the other soldiers killed them with strength granted by the gate god.
• Maozi explained that the white wolf was Liuzhou’s gate god and reassured the merchants that it could detect hidden demons.
• Gu Bei and the merchants knelt to worship the gate god, and Chen Qing absorbed the resulting faith power.
• The spellcaster in white appeared beside Chen Qing and demanded to know what the gate god was.

Chen Qing met Mu Hongqing’s disciple Chen Ying, who arrived in Liuzhou with Wei Gongcheng and Chen Qing’s concubine. Meanwhile, Maozi explained to Gu Bei how the gate god granted the city guards power, and Rongsheng’s manager ordered his staff to buy Liuzhou property while he went to investigate the gate god himself.

• Chen Ying questioned Chen Qing about the wolf heads on Liuzhou’s gate, but Nezha’s presence frightened her into stopping.
• Chen Qing identified himself as Liuzhou’s prefect and learned that Chen Ying had been sent by Mu Hongqing to help stabilize the city.
• Chen Ying said she had escorted Wei Gongcheng and Chen Qing’s concubine to Liuzhou.
• Maozi told Gu Bei that the gate god blessed the guards with strength and the ability to control wind, powers they had learned to use in just one day.
• Shopkeeper He reported the gate god’s abilities to Rongsheng’s manager, who ordered him to buy Liuzhou shops, land, and houses while he went to see the gate god himself.

Chen Qing explained why Liuzhou’s door gods could draw wealthy residents and spent the prefectural funds on property, while merchants scrambled to learn who had bought up the shops. At the city gate, Chen Ying told Shen Yiyang that the door god could grant divine abilities to mortals.

• Shopkeeper He learned that an unknown buyer had acquired every shop property on the market and called other trading-house shopkeepers to discuss joining forces.
• Chen Qing told Zhou Haitao that Liuzhou’s reputation for safety could attract wealthy residents, so buying property during the downturn was a profitable gamble.
• Wei Gongcheng asked Chen Ying whether she had identified the door gods, but she admitted she still could not determine their origins.
• Shen Yiyang approached Chen Ying at the city gate and asked her to identify the door god for the Nanyang Shen Clan.
• Chen Ying told Shen Yiyang that the door god could grant divine abilities to mortals.

Shen Yiyang learned that ordinary soldiers could gain supernatural abilities within the area they guarded, while Gu Bei and his associates bought Liuzhou properties cheaply as part of a plan backed by the prefect. The chapter ended with Gu Bei preparing his men to carry out their assigned job involving scholars.

• Chen Ying showed Shen Yiyang that soldiers became unusually agile inside the city gate’s guarded area, then returned to normal outside it.
• Wei Gongcheng recalled Chen Qing’s promise that he would stand again and regained hope as he considered the soldiers’ powers.
• Buyers began snapping up Liuzhou properties after the city’s residents had fled and house prices had collapsed.
• Gu Bei persuaded Squire Zhou to sell his Liuzhou residence for twelve hundred taels, concealing his confidence that the city would thrive again.
• Gu Bei learned that his associates had also bought houses and told them to carry out the prefect’s job involving scholars.

Gu Beiquan tried to persuade Master Feng to teach in Spirit Deer County, while Gu Bei offered to buy Feng’s Liuzhou residence. Master Feng grew suspicious of Gu Bei’s eagerness to keep him away from Liuzhou and decided to go there himself; Gu Beiquan then learned Master Zhao had also left for Liuzhou.

• Gu Beiquan visited Master Feng with gifts and learned that Gu Bei had come to buy Feng’s Liuzhou residence.
• Master Feng told his wife he doubted Spirit Deer County could match Liuzhou’s academy and was considering a post in Nanming Prefecture.
• Gu Bei claimed he feared no monsters and urged Master Feng to sell the deed without visiting Liuzhou.
• Master Feng insisted on traveling to Liuzhou to collect his belongings, then sent Gu Bei away and planned to leave that afternoon.
• Gu Beiquan went to Master Zhao’s residence and learned that Master Zhao had also departed for Liuzhou after someone offered to buy his property there.

Gu Beiquan learned that Chen Qing had lured scholars back to Liuzhou, while Master Feng and the other masters arrived and witnessed the city’s gate god expose and destroy insect demons. Master Feng entered the city with the scholars to investigate the supernatural protections and the promised aid of the South Mountain God.

• Liu Yiqi persuaded Gu Beiquan not to stop the returning scholars and agreed to arrange a banquet for them.
• Master Feng and more than a dozen scholars reached Liuzhou and saw merchant traffic returning after Chen Qing waived commercial taxes.
• The white wolf gate god appeared at the city gate, exposed an insect demon inside a wealthy man, and ordered guards to crush it.
• The gate god revealed insect eggs hidden in fish and shrimp and warned several merchants that they were already infected.
• The gate god told the infected merchants to seek the South Mountain God's spring water, and Master Feng led the scholars into the city to follow them.

Chen Qing told merchants carrying demonic insect eggs that South Mountain’s mountain god could cure them, then led the crowd toward the mountain. Hidden Shen Family spellcasters suspected Chen Qing’s powers were an unknown spell technique and considered taking them for their family.

• Merchants and other onlookers gathered at the prefectural office after the door god warned that insect eggs threatened the merchants’ lives.
• Chen Qing silenced the crowd and used a gentle force to lift the kneeling merchants, convincing witnesses that he had supernatural abilities.
• Chen Qing said the merchants could seek help from South Mountain’s mountain god, a benevolent spirit bird that produced healing spirit liquid.
• Chen Qing explained the mountain god’s origins to Master Feng and invited the merchants and crowd to follow him to South Mountain.
• Chen Ying and hidden Shen Family spellcasters watched Chen Qing, while the Shen Family members suspected his powers were an unknown spell technique they could claim.

Chen Qing brought officials, merchants, scholars, and sorcerers to South Mountain to ask its mountain god to heal people harmed by demons. When three Shen Family sorcerers tried to seize the mountain god’s nourishing dew and intimidate Chen Qing, the mountain’s power injured their souls, and he had them arrested.

• Chen Qing and the gathered visitors arrived at South Mountain, whose transformed scenery and calming air astonished the scholars and sorcerers.
• Chen Qing summoned the mountain god, and Azure Sparrow appeared as a radiant spirit bird.
• The merchants begged Azure Sparrow for help and promised to build a temple, so she produced azure dew to heal them.
• Three Shen Family sorcerers approached the dew, but Chen Qing ordered them back and they threatened him with their spiritual power.
• South Mountain’s power struck the sorcerers when they projected their souls, leaving them injured and spitting black blood.
• Chen Qing ordered the constables to beat and arrest the sorcerers while Chen Ying wondered at his abilities.

Chen Qing exposed the Shen Family warlocks’ insect plot, used Azure Sparrow’s dew to save the merchants, and jailed the three Shen young masters. At the Nanyang Shen Family, Shen Yixin and Shen Yiyun argued over the attack, then learned the three had been detained.

• Chen Qing ordered the three warlocks’ jaws dislocated and had them thrown in jail after they attacked an imperial official.
• Azure Sparrow gave green dew to the merchants, who entered deep meditation and vomited out the enlarged insect eggs.
• The merchants thanked the mountain god after the dew eased their ailments, and Chen Qing told the crowd to worship at South Mountain’s temple for a chance at divine favor.
• Shen Yiyun argued that the Shen Family should seize Chen Qing’s door-god spell, while Shen Yixin warned that Chen Qing was a marquis and an imperial official.
• A steward reported that Chen Qing had detained the three young masters of the first branch, surprising Shen Yiyun and confirming Shen Yixin’s concerns.