Chapter Summaries

After a Horse-Faced Jufu killed villagers and ruined their grain-gathering trip, Chu Tianshu helped Lu Touqiu recover the grain and bring back the dead. Learning that the harvest was far short of what the village needed, Chu Tianshu questioned Lu Touqiu about the offerings to immortal masters as the villagers prepared to perform a rain-prayer ritual.

• The Horse-Faced Jufu fell unconscious, and Chu Tianshu immobilized him with a silver needle after sensing his unusual body.
• A survivor told Lu Touqiu that the Jufu had killed the Second Son of the Jiao Family and others, while the Green Grain Elders could provide only thirty percent of the expected Ninefold Root harvest.
• Chu Tianshu calmed the villagers with his hand seals and joined Lu Touqiu's party to retrieve the grain and recover the bodies without further trouble.
• Lu Touqiu used dried grass leaves and inherited techniques to preserve the bodies, and Chu Tianshu learned that Lu Touqiu had burned grass figures as offerings to immortal masters.
• Lu Touqiu offered to have the village repeat the ritual, and Chu Tianshu agreed that the grieving villagers could unite to pray for rain.

After Helai explained how Chu Tianshu had entered a shallow region of the Spirit Realm, he contacted Chu there and learned about its people and resources. Helai began arranging a way to stabilize their connection, and Chu considered how to help a village suffering from drought.

• Helai explained that Yao Qianshu’s Mirage Art and the Yangtze River Bridge had connected Chu Tianshu’s physical body to a shallow region of the Spirit Realm, where he was probably safe.
• Helai used a water mirror and a ritual furnace to send his thoughts into the Deer King Temple and contact Chu Tianshu.
• Chu described the Spirit Realm village and its Water-Refined Solomon’s Seal, prompting Helai to propose making Chu’s location a pilot site for future support.
• Chu said the village’s drought was its most urgent problem, and Helai suggested sending specialists to survey the area and dig canals if there was a large river nearby.

Chu Tianshu learned from Lu Touqiu how a river god and its shamans had subjugated the people of Fanliang Land, and decided to challenge the powers blocking the villagers’ livelihood. He ordered Lu Touqiu to make straw figures and bring over his captive while he stayed at the temple.

• Lu Touqiu described Fanliang Land’s river god legends, the disappearances and deaths, and how shamans imposed year-round worship, surrendered farmland, and child sacrifices.
• The crane urged Chu Tianshu to win the people’s support and use it as a foundation to oppose the local powers.
• Lu Touqiu said he hoped Chu Tianshu could persuade the shamans to let Deer Wilderness Village dig a canal, but Chu Tianshu declared that the shamans should face the endings they deserved.
• Chu Tianshu told Lu Touqiu to weave as many straw figures as possible, matching his size and bearing small horns.
• Chu Tianshu said he would remain in the temple and ordered Lu Touqiu to bring his captive there later.

Chu Tianshu hid the golden flames within his Mind Power, then used Helai’s evil technique to refine the Horse-Faced Jufu into a disguise pendant. After learning the route to Fanliang Land, Chu Tianshu set out alone to investigate and disrupt its sorcerers.

• Chu Tianshu learned from Helai how to conceal the three golden flames of Qi and blood within his Mind Power.
• Chu Tianshu spoke with his friends and family through Helai, while Lu Touqiu and the villagers brought the Horse-Faced Jufu and straw to the temple.
• Helai burned and refined the Horse-Faced Jufu, leaving a jade pendant that let Chu Tianshu assume his appearance for three shichen.
• Helai advised Chu Tianshu to use the disguise to investigate Fanliang Land and exploit conflicts among its sorcerers.
• Chu Tianshu questioned Lu Touqiu about the route, gave him instructions, and left alone for Fanliang Land.

Heichi Nancang hosted Seventeenth Uncle and agreed to protect his grandson from being chosen as a sacrifice, but Chu Tianshu attacked the sorcerer’s hall and tore through its summoned spirits and guards. Heichi Nancang escaped through a hidden passage in the wall, revealing that the hall concealed many corpses.

• Seventeenth Uncle begged Heichi Nancang to make his grandson a divine servant so he would not be selected as a sacrifice, and Heichi Nancang ordered extra sacrifices chosen to block Heichi San from taking the boy.
• The spirits embroidered on Heichi Nancang’s carpet sensed danger, and Chu Tianshu attacked the hall as a Horse-Faced Jufu.
• Chu Tianshu smashed through the summoned spirits and defeated Heichi Nancang’s two personal guards.
• Heichi Nancang threw himself backward through the wall, which softened and concealed him from the guard Chu Tianshu hurled at him.
• The impact revealed arched hollows in the hall’s walls, each containing a corpse.

Chu Tianshu attacked Heichi Nancang at his residence and fought his corpse monsters before dragging him from underground and killing him. A paper-faced figure arrived at the Heichi residence and demanded to know who had killed a fellow sorcerer.

• Chu Tianshu discovered that Heichi Nancang had hidden more than fifty corpse monsters inside the walls of his main hall.
• The corpse monsters attacked Chu Tianshu and tried to drain his vital essence, but he used the Vertical and Horizontal Simple Seal to disrupt their formation.
• Chu Tianshu struck the corpse monsters and pulled Heichi Nancang out of the ground when he tried to escape through his property.
• Chu Tianshu kicked Heichi Nancang's bloodied robe against the hall's outer wall, then left after flicking a drop of blood onto it.
• A paper sedan chair arrived at the Heichi residence, and the white paper-faced passenger angrily asked who had killed a fellow sorcerer.

After Heichi Nancang was murdered, Gao Ming investigated the scene and stopped the other shamans from fighting over the Black Tooth Clan’s property. As the shamans summoned Ma Lingbai to inspect the crime scene, Chu Tianshu sensed the disturbance from afar and realized the God of Vengeance had made an unexpected move.

• Gao Ming searched Heichi Nancang’s home with paper cranes and learned from the guards that a black-and-red Horse-Faced Jufu had killed the shaman and stolen incense pills and powders.
• The shamans debated the killer’s identity, and the Broad Ears witch said Ma Lingbai had been drinking at her home since dusk.
• Heichi San and the Broad Ears witch fought over control of the crime scene, and the witch’s father joined the clash.
• Gao Ming used his peach-wood sword to break the shamans’ attacks and ordered them to leave the Black Tooth Clan’s belongings untouched while they summoned Ma Lingbai.
• Chu Tianshu sensed the battle through the Divided Spirit Blood Curse and concluded that the God of Vengeance had been thieving again.

Ma Lingbai learned that Gao Ming was stronger than the wizards had believed and met him after a Horse-Faced Jufu killed a wizard. Gao Ming proposed using the dead wizard as a sacrifice to hold the great sacrifice early, and Heichi San volunteered to choose the accompanying offerings.

• Ma Lingbai practiced with his iron staff and waited for the fifteenth day, when the gods could join forces and open a passage to the Human World.
• The Broad Ears witch returned and told Ma Lingbai that a Horse-Faced Jufu had killed a wizard and that Gao Ming was stronger than they had thought.
• Ma Lingbai went to Heichi Nancang's home, where he and Gao Ming agreed that their aim was the Human World rather than fighting each other.
• Gao Ming proposed using Heichi Nancang's corpse as a sacrifice so they could hold the great sacrifice early and prepare for the Horse-Faced Jufu's return.
• Heichi San offered to select more sacrifices from the Black Tooth Clan, and Gao Ming gave him the old corpse monsters Heichi Nancang had left behind.

Chu Tianshu returned with supplies and information about the shamans and their ghost-god allies, then recruited Lu Touqiu’s seven hidden straw figures for the coming fight. As the incense burner prepared to send reinforcements into the Spirit Realm, Chu explained that they would move quickly and openly against their enemies.

• Chu Tianshu brought a heavy bundle of spirit medicines and offerings to the Deer King Temple and told Helai that a ghost god backed the shamans, while their dispute had revealed Ma Lingbai and the God of Vengeance’s plans.
• Helai instructed Chu to put most of the supplies into the incense burner as a medium for summoning allies, while Chu kept the medicines people could consume.
• Lu Touqiu offered seven straw figures he had hidden at home, and Chu carried him to retrieve them before bringing them back to the temple.
• Helai inspected the figures, approved their quality, and left to prepare for their use once Lu Touqiu altered their faces.
• Lu Touqiu questioned the speed of Chu and Helai’s plans, and Chu said they would gather strength quickly and eliminate their hostile enemies before those enemies could act.

Chu Tianshu and Feng Jianhua provoked the river god’s followers in broad daylight, drawing the wizards into a fight. As Ma Lingbai and the other wizards arrived, Chu Tianshu and his allies prepared to trap them and kill them all.

• Chu Tianshu and Feng Jianhua walked through the fields and villages, where divine servants were abusing the people.
• Chu Tianshu used Sonic Art to loudly curse the God of Flowing Waves, causing the people to flee and the divine servants to charge toward him.
• Gao Ming arrived in a paper sedan chair and attacked Feng Jianhua, who shattered the chair’s charge with his stone saber and fought back.
• Chu Tianshu intercepted Ma Lingbai’s iron staff with his palm as the other wizards approached.
• Chu Tianshu declared that none of the wizards would escape, while ten figures behind him formed hand seals and fixed their attention on the targets.

Chu Tianshu and nine allies attacked the wizards serving the God of Flowing Waves, while Ma Lingbai fought Chu Tianshu nearby. The chapter ended with Ma Lingbai summoning a ten-meter staff from beneath the field ridge and striking at Chu Tianshu’s groin.

• Ma Lingbai raised spikes from the ground, but Chu Tianshu flattened the earth and sent himself and nine other spirit mediums into the air.
• The ten spirit mediums struck the one-eyed Broad Ears Clan wizard with their coordinated mantras, then used Lin Baisui’s silver needle to destroy his disguised whirlwind and kill him.
• The lotus-leaf old man, the Broad Ears wizard and his daughter, and Heichi San joined forces inside a black whirlwind as the ten spirit mediums descended on them.
• Chu Tianshu and Ma Lingbai exchanged over a hundred blows, and Chu Tianshu’s palms repeatedly disrupted Ma Lingbai’s iron-staff attacks.
• Ma Lingbai used mud to form a heavy millstone around his staff, then released the trapped weapon and retreated.
• Ma Lingbai stamped on the field ridge and summoned a long staff from beneath the earth, snapping its tip toward Chu Tianshu’s groin.

Chu Tianshu fought Ma Lingbai’s long stone staff, using precise defenses and counterattacks to overcome its reach. He defeated Ma Lingbai with a final iron-rod strike, splitting him in two.

• Ma Lingbai used his blood-enhanced divine power to strike at Chu Tianshu from below, but Chu Tianshu blocked the attacks with an iron rod.
• Chu Tianshu stayed close to the ground and redirected Ma Lingbai’s staff strikes, then used the rod to propel himself beyond the weapon’s sweeping range.
• Ma Lingbai swung his staff like a dragon’s tail, but Chu Tianshu blocked the blow and countered with thirty-six strikes that forced Ma Lingbai to retreat.
• Ma Lingbai spun his spiked staff around himself and charged Chu Tianshu, while Chu Tianshu used the Vertical and Horizontal Seal to perceive Ma Lingbai’s thoughts.
• Chu Tianshu slashed with the iron rod, stopping Ma Lingbai’s charge and splitting him into two halves.

Chu Tianshu and Feng Jianhua fought Gao Ming, who used a paper-man art and the God of Flowing Waves’ power to withstand their attacks. As Gao Ming’s divine transformation took hold, Chu Tianshu kept him occupied until the great peng struck from behind and pierced him with countless blades of azure fire Qi.

• After Chu Tianshu killed Ma Lingbai, his Youdu Token counted Ma Lingbai as an evil spirit, and Chu Tianshu charged the paper figure fighting Feng Jianhua.
• Gao Ming detonated his peachwood sword and paper figure, but Feng Jianhua saved a talisman scrap that helped Chu Tianshu track Gao Ming’s soul back to his residence.
• Gao Ming invoked the God of Flowing Waves with Spirit-Faith Incense, and his body began transforming as Chu Tianshu burst into the hall and attacked him.
• Gao Ming shattered Chu Tianshu’s iron staff, then fought him with crystal hands and divine power while Chu Tianshu kept retreating and endured burning blood.
• Gao Ming’s horns emerged as the God of Flowing Waves took control of him, but Chu Tianshu continued fighting to hold him off.
• The great peng crashed through the wall and struck Gao Ming from behind, piercing his back with tens of thousands of blades of azure fire Qi.

Chu Tianshu fought Gao Ming through a devastating explosion and killed the wizard with a final punch. After surviving the blast, he reunited with Lin Baisui and learned that Gao Ming had also been a split spirit of the God of Flowing Waves.

• Feng Jianhua's soul flew toward the Deer King Temple as Chu Tianshu attacked Gao Ming with Green Leaf Seals and broke off his crystal right hand.
• Gao Ming collapsed the hall and ignited its debris, unleashing an explosion that left Chu Tianshu standing in the scorched blast area.
• Gao Ming trapped Chu Tianshu in a cocoon of burning charcoal and tried to turn him into a follower.
• Chu Tianshu sensed Gao Ming's approach, struck through the cocoon, and shattered the wizard's spirit body with a powerful punch.
• Lin Baisui and the others arrived carrying the unconscious Lotus Leaf Old Man, and Chu Tianshu identified Gao Ming as a split spirit of the God of Flowing Waves.

Chu Tianshu recovered in the grass at Deer King Temple while he and the crane discussed improving life and cultivation among the People of Deer Wilderness. The crane proposed using Ma Lingbai’s corpse to help identify who in reality was trying to receive the God of Vengeance.

• Chu Tianshu rested in medicinal grass and reflected on the connection between the paper-figure shaman’s magic and the People of Deer Wilderness’s grass-weaving art.
• The crane said canal construction and literacy classes would help the People of Deer Wilderness overcome hunger and illiteracy, two major obstacles to cultivation.
• Chu Tianshu checked his Fortune bar and learned the channel between reality and the Spirit Realm would not bring him back in time for the Lantern Festival.
• The crane explained that the shaman with a lotus leaf on his head had been kept for a struggle session to help the people recognize their oppression and avoid treating the newcomers as new shaman lords.
• The crane said he had worked out how straw figures could house souls and planned to use Ma Lingbai’s corpse to set up an altar with Lin Baisui and the others, revealing who in reality sought to receive the God of Vengeance.

Lin Baisui, Ms. Wang, and Old Madam Yu used Chu Tianshu’s divine might to perform a ritual that let him locate foreign believers of the Mirror Ape in Hailing. The group followed his guidance to a riverside village, where Helai’s crane incapacitated them all.

• Lin Baisui led Chu Tianshu to the altar behind the Deer King Temple and explained that his presence would help imitate the Mirror Ape’s divine might.
• Ms. Wang and Old Madam Yu began the ritual around Ma Lingbai’s corpse while Chu Tianshu released his oppressive might and saw Hailing from above.
• Chu Tianshu glimpsed Mirror Ape believers in a hotel room and learned from Helai that they were speaking the language of Shan State.
• Helai sent a map pattern to the believers through Chu Tianshu, and they followed its guidance toward the Hailing Yangtze River Bridge.
• The believers arrived at a riverside house, where a crane flew out and erased their consciousness before locals carried them away.

After interrogations exposed a broad network of Mirror Ape believers in Shan State, the immortal crane ordered action against their travel company and warned of the danger spreading across the border. He coordinated Spirit Realm passage renovations with the Jianghuai Branch and Shencheng, then told Chu Tianshu that the Bureau had no good plan for handling a crisis caused by Shan State.

• The immortal crane learned that nearly everyone at a travel company was involved and ordered the company taken down, while warning that Mirror Ape believers could be widespread across Shan State.
• The immortal crane told his clerk to warn Shan State about the lack of an agency handling supernatural incidents among ordinary people.
• A clerk reported that residents were willing to relocate for the Spirit Realm passage renovations, and the immortal crane approved Jianghuai Branch participation and ordered Shencheng to provide staff.
• The immortal crane entered the Spirit Realm and told Chu Tianshu that the travel company was being dealt with and the believers' other known accomplices appeared to be abroad.
• Chu Tianshu said Lin Baisui could handle negotiations with the Jianghuai Branch, then recognized the immortal crane's worry about Shan State.
• The immortal crane admitted that he and his old friends had no effective plan beyond standard contingencies for preventing Shan State's problems from spilling across the border.

Chu Tianshu comforted the immortal crane by reminding him to notice small signs of progress amid the looming threats to their golden age. He then began deducing the Fifteen Death-Claiming Swords while wondering whether their society could preserve or imitate its current prosperity.

• Chu Tianshu told the immortal crane that life itself had helped him recover from hardship, while the crane pointed out how comfort from others might still have mattered.
• The immortal crane described the country’s recent decades as a golden age threatened by growing internal strife and the Spirit Realm’s approach.
• Chu Tianshu gathered spiritual herbs that benefited the Sky-Spanning Divine Art and asked the immortal crane to take them to Principal Feng.
• Chu Tianshu urged the immortal crane to look at concrete progress and small surprises, and the crane left to inspect the plan’s details.
• Chu Tianshu reviewed his supplies, selected the Fifteen Death-Claiming Swords, and activated the token to deduce them.

Chu Tianshu derived and practiced the Nine-Nine Tribulation Ash God-Startling Sword, then watched construction preparations unfold at Deer Wilderness Village. The chapter ended with him turning the first spadeful of earth to begin the canal project.

• Chu Tianshu derived the Nine-Nine Tribulation Ash God-Startling Sword and found that its Sword Intent suited the Sword Soul awakened by the Lesser Yang Blood River Chariot.
• Chu Tianshu fed Sword Intent to the Sanqi Divine Sword, then practiced the new sword art and made a wooden sheath for the sword.
• Xianhe and the others sent martial artists in puppet vessels to survey the land and help plan a canal, while the project also gave Deer Wilderness Village’s able-bodied men work.
• Lu Touqiu and Captain Liu invited Chu Tianshu to perform the first spadeful at a groundbreaking ceremony attended by more than a thousand people, including Second Grandpa.
• Chu Tianshu offered incense to the land, then swung the hoe to begin the project.

Chu Tianshu returned to the village, helped prepare the Calming Spirit Pharmacy, and spent two days refining spirit medicines before setting off again. He arrived in the same Republican-era world he had visited before.

• Chu Tianshu returned home with Yao Qianshu and Second Master Chu, then gathered Second Master Chu’s old friends to discuss training and preparations for the pharmacy.
• Second Master Chu demonstrated how his internal power made the water in his teacup rise, encouraging the elderly practitioners to learn Refining Spirit into Qi.
• Yin Fengxin advised the group on building online interest, and Chu Tianshu revealed that the pharmacy would be called the Calming Spirit Pharmacy.
• Yao Qianshu planned to rent a room and buy land near Second Master Chu’s home so he could practice the Mirage Technique more safely.
• Chu Tianshu stayed home for two days to take spirit medicines, then crossed over with the Three-Seven Sword.
• Chu Tianshu recognized the Republican-era city and saw that the first mark on his token had lit up.