Chapter Summaries

Chu Tianshu and Qi Lianyong captured two criminals who were stranded on the highway and moved them, along with the stolen antiques, into waiting vans. The captured man answered a call from his boss, who revealed that the gang planned to hide at the Golden Saber Martial Arts School.

• A village woman and other villagers brought food and hot water to people stranded on the icy highway, while the man with the missing finger complained about paying for supplies.
• When the man with the missing finger refused a round-faced man’s request for noodles, Qi Lianyong and Chu Tianshu subdued him and his companion with a sudden attack.
• Chu Tianshu and Qi Lianyong took the two men into their truck’s cargo compartment, where they discussed Chu Tianshu’s plans to visit the Golden Saber Martial Arts School.
• The two fighters moved the captured criminals and the truck’s antique cargo to waiting vans, taking care to keep the gang’s accomplices unaware of the arrests.
• When the man with the missing finger received a call from his boss, Qi Lianyong made him bluff, and the boss named the Golden Saber Martial Arts School as the gang’s intended hiding place.

Chu Tianshu and Qi Lianyong learned that Boss Li had sent the grave robbers to the Golden Saber Martial Arts School’s old campus. Yao Liben offered to lure the boss into an ambush there, and the group prepared to follow his plan while considering the boss’s unusual martial arts.

• Boss Li told the man with the severed finger to bring the goods to the Golden Saber Martial Arts School’s old campus and keep his phone charged.
• Chu Tianshu questioned Yao Liben, who explained that he had studied his own crimes and hoped his help catching the boss would reduce his sentence.
• Yao Liben proposed faking a threat to the shipment so the hurried Boss Li would come to the old campus in person.
• Chu Tianshu and Qi Lianyong agreed to set up the ambush, and the white-browed cat eagerly approved.
• Yao Liben described Boss Li’s ability to fight in tombs, prompting Chu Tianshu to suspect poisonous-sand martial arts and Qi Lianyong to suggest Yin-cold internal arts.

Chu Tianshu and his companions traveled to Guangling to lure Boss Li into a trap, where Chu Tianshu confronted him and discovered his extraordinary lightness skill. The chapter ended as Chu Tianshu pressed the attack, eager to see Boss Li use his internal arts.

• Chu Tianshu considered the rare internal arts lineage as the group traveled toward Guangling to find Boss Li.
• Yao Liben called Boss Li and convinced him to meet at the cultural center on the old campus.
• At the cultural center, Chu Tianshu spotted someone hiding by the old martial arts hall and slipped away to investigate.
• Chu Tianshu surprised Boss Li outside the hall and struck him with Arhat Strikes the Bell.
• Boss Li absorbed the blow and flew more than forty meters, revealing an uncanny lightness skill.
• Chu Tianshu caught up with Boss Li and reached to seize him as Boss Li circulated his power.

Chu Tianshu defeated Li Guangzong after overcoming his internal-force techniques, and Principal Feng arrived to reveal Li’s ties to the Golden Saber Martial Arts School and the Ghost Market. Feng captured Li and invited Chu Tianshu to the school to discuss business.

• Boss Li diverted Chu Tianshu’s attack into the air, countered with a finger strike, and glided away across the snow.
• Chu Tianshu hit Boss Li with a concealed silver needle, caught him after he crashed into the snow, and dragged him back to Qi Lianyong and the others.
• Principal Feng walked down a building’s outer wall, introduced himself to Chu Tianshu, and gave the group cans of cola.
• Feng identified Boss Li as Li Guangzong, a Golden Saber Martial Arts School graduate who had used the Snow Grain Art and supplied goods to the Ghost Market.
• Li Guangzong refused to reveal how to contact the Ghost Market’s organizer, but Feng stopped him from harming himself and took him into custody.
• Feng invited Chu Tianshu to the martial arts school, and Chu agreed to go with him.

Chu Tianshu visited Golden Saber Martial Arts School with Principal Feng and discussed hiring an expert to help him overcome a cultivation obstacle. Feng Jianhua proposed another way to meet Chu Tianshu’s needs, leaving the arrangement undecided.

• Chu Tianshu and Qi Lianyong arrived at Golden Saber Martial Arts School, where students cleared ice and snow from the power lines.
• Chu Tianshu met Vice Principal Yuan Chongxiao and Teacher Yuan Zhonglü over breakfast, and Bai Mei the cat followed him around.
• Yuan Chongxiao agreed to handle Li Guangzong while the other captives would be handed to the Special Investigation Bureau.
• Feng Jianhua asked Chu Tianshu about his business, and Chu explained that he needed an expert with a strong killing aura to say “kill” while he cultivated.
• Chu Tianshu offered to pay Feng Jianhua to help him overcome his Mortal Body Obstacle, and Feng suggested another method and asked him to come along.

Chu Tianshu visited Feng Jianhua’s building, watched him recreate the killing aura in his paintings of the ghost-market battle, and learned that Chu Tianshu’s grandfather had fought there too. Feng Jianhua lit candles to form the character for “kill,” and Chu Tianshu decided the gathered killing aura was enough for cultivation.

• Feng Jianhua showed Chu Tianshu the building’s feng shui design, while Chu Tianshu watched Bai Mei demonstrate the Bone-Shrinking Art and tested Palm Thunder on the cat’s tail.
• Feng Jianhua hung paintings depicting his life and the battle to destroy the ghost markets, and Chu Tianshu recognized his grandfather, Chu Guodong, among the wounded fighters.
• Feng Jianhua explained the people and events shown in the paintings, revealing the radiant yet incomplete quality of the killing aura he had gathered from those memories.
• Feng Jianhua used internal force to arrange and light candles so their reflection formed the character for “kill,” then opened the doors to let the wind stir the paintings and flames.
• Chu Tianshu stood between the open doors and the mirror to protect the candlelit character, judged the killing aura sufficient for cultivation, and resolved that the work would continue.

Yuan Chongxiao used the Snow Grain Art to dissolve Li Guangzong’s cold poison and internal cultivation while the martial arts school arranged a ghost-market sting at the Eastern Suburb Science and Technology Park. The operation’s targets spotted Feng Jianhua among the disguised group, leaving the planned interception at risk.

• Yuan Chongxiao told Li Guangzong that he was removing the cold poison and dissolving his internal cultivation, and Li Guangzong regretted not confessing earlier.
• Yuan Chongxiao, Yuan Zhonglü, and Feng Jianhua used Li Guangzong’s account to arrange a meeting at the Eastern Suburb Science and Technology Park.
• Feng Jianhua split the martial arts school’s ten-person team into a visible delivery group and a hidden group to catch both the contacts and anyone watching.
• Feng Jianhua and Yuan Zhonglü found the park crowded with visitors attending the finals of a robotics competition and searched for suspicious people.
• A short-haired man’s team used a mechanical spider to scan the area, reconstructed the faces of suspicious people, and recognized Feng Jianhua.

Wang Bo of the Ghost Market decided to raid the Golden Saber Martial Arts School while its leaders were away, unaware that Chu Tianshu had sensed his approach. The chapter ended as Chu confronted Wang Bo in the principal’s bedroom and Wang Bo launched an attack.

• Wang Bo rejected his subordinate’s suggestion to abandon the Ghost Market’s deal and ordered him to investigate the Golden Saber Martial Arts School.
• Chu Tianshu practiced with the Sanqi Divine Sword, strengthening his body and absorbing the killing intent in the school’s paintings.
• After sensing someone climb over the school wall, Chu Tianshu went to investigate while Wang Bo used snow and stealth techniques to enter the principal’s bedroom.
• Wang Bo approached the wardrobes to search for hidden valuables, but Chu Tianshu appeared on the windowsill and confronted him.
• Wang Bo attacked Chu Tianshu.

Chu Tianshu defeated Wang Bo in the school doctor’s room and discovered a car waiting outside to help the robber escape. He disabled the car and landed on its roof, using Mind Power to knock everyone inside unconscious.

• Chu Tianshu entered the room and countered Wang Bo’s flexible-sword attack with silver needles before shattering the sword.
• Chu Tianshu fought Wang Bo through the bed quilt, overwhelmed him, and pinned him to the wall with injuries that left him unable to move.
• Chu Tianshu restrained Wang Bo with silver needles and identified himself as the school doctor.
• Chu Tianshu spotted a car beyond the school wall and kicked a box into its rear tire, causing the car to spin out.
• Chu Tianshu landed on the car roof and used Mind Power to make everyone inside faint.

Chu Tianshu and the martial arts school teachers interrogated a captured Ghost Market manager, but a bone-white Gu worm killed him before he could reveal much. They identified the creature as a White Bone Centipede and learned that a discontinued research project involving centipedes may have been led by someone surnamed Du.

• Feng Jianhua and the others returned to the martial arts school with captured Ghost Market members and discovered that their equipment had been used to scout the teachers.
• Yuan Chongxiao suppressed Wang Bo's internal force while Chu Tianshu used needles and a mantra to interrogate him.
• Wang Bo began to name his superiors, but a bone-white Gu worm burst from his neck and killed him; Chu Tianshu found the same kind of worm in another captive, who also died when it was removed.
• Chu Tianshu identified the creature as a White Bone Centipede from the Spirit Realm, which could boost human potential and link its host's life to its own.
• Feng Jianhua called Guan Ya, who explained that a government centipede research project had been shut down because the creatures could make implanted people obey ancient objects.
• Guan Ya said the project leader had probably been surnamed Du, and Feng Jianhua noted that the name matched the Ghost Market member Wang Bo had begun to mention.

Feng Jianhua and the others linked the Ghost Market’s new gu insects to the White Bone Centipede project and identified Du Chen as a likely culprit, but they could not locate him. The local martial artists rallied to investigate the Ghost Market, while Chu Tianshu asked to borrow an internal cultivation manual.

• Yuan Chongxiao questioned the captives and learned that their new gu insects enhanced their abilities, while Wang Bo’s frightening behavior had worsened since the snow began.
• Yuan Chongxiao and the others connected the cold disaster and disturbances in the Spirit Realm to the centipedes’ dangerous effects, realizing the Ghost Market might have become more violent and unstable.
• Feng Jianhua reported that Du Chen, who had led the centipede project, was missing after evading a phone call and failing to appear at his home.
• Feng Jianhua urged the local Metaphysics Association members to use their connections alongside the Jianghuai Special Investigation Bureau to pursue the Ghost Market, and the teachers set out to act.
• Chu Tianshu warned that some contacts might be Ghost Market plants, then asked Feng Jianhua to lend him an internal cultivation manual.

Chu Tianshu learned that his martial arts had brought him close to cultivating Yellow Sprout True Qi, so Feng Jianhua warned him not to study other internal cultivation manuals yet. As Feng prepared for the ghost market, Du Chen heard that Wang Bo was dead.

• Chu Tianshu asked Feng Jianhua about internal cultivation, and Feng tested his strength in a handshake.
• Feng concluded that Chu Tianshu had reached a level where he could begin internal cultivation immediately, but warned that his fist art already contained its beginnings.
• Feng explained how Qi refiners cultivated Yellow Sprout True Qi by pushing physical training to its limit, and Chu realized he needed to seek Samadhi Power without studying manuals.
• Feng decided against giving Chu the school's Heaven-Hating Art and considered recommending that he buy a high-grade manual from the Special Investigation Bureau.
• Feng picked up his saber as the sun set, while Du Chen trimmed his beard and heard that Wang Bo was dead.

Du Chen and the Mo brothers prepared to spread White Bone Centipedes under the influence of a Spirit Realm ghost god. After learning that authorities could soon discover the Ghost Market’s base in Guangling, Mo Shengyi ordered them to launch their ritual that night.

• Du Chen recalled how he had helped the Ghost Market hatch White Bone Centipedes and how he used a ghost god’s influence to persuade the Mo brothers to promote them.
• Du Chen said the Chang'an Institute of Science and Technology had contacted him, but he was confident in his plans and support.
• Mo Shengyi reviewed a document connecting the Ghost Market’s suppliers and Wang Bo’s group, and warned that investigators could identify Guangling as their headquarters.
• Mo Shengyi ordered the plan moved forward, and Du Chen agreed to launch it that night.
• Mo Shengyi prepared the stockpiled goods for a ritual to summon Mirror Ape, the God of Vengeance.

Ma Dengwan investigated the Ghost Market and discovered foul things gathering across Guangling, while the Ghost Market began releasing resentful spirits and preparing White Bone Centipedes. As the disturbances spread toward the Golden Saber Martial Arts School, Chu Tianshu spotted evil spirits approaching.

• Ma Dengwan met Uncle Nan at a chicken farm, prepared chicken blood and cinnabar, and went looking for clues about the Ghost Market.
• Ma Dengwan repelled a foul thing with a cinnabar-coated punch, then sensed other foul things and learned they were appearing across Guangling.
• Ma Dengwan realized a foul thing was heading toward East Gate Street, where his family lived, and ran home while trying to contact Teacher Sha.
• Du Chen and the Three Mo Brothers watched the Mirror Ape release resentful souls and waited for divine power to descend upon the White Bone Centipede eggs.
• Mo Shengyi ordered the Ghost Market members to confront those obstructing the spirits as ice-blue points of light appeared across Guangling.
• Chu Tianshu saw transparent shadows flying near the martial arts school and warned the teachers that evil spirits were coming.

As evil spirits flooded Guangling, Chu Tianshu and the martial artists, soldiers, and Special Investigation Bureau teams fought them while trying to find the opening to the Spirit Realm. The blind Ghost Owl attacked Liu Suran’s group with a deadly qin, and its familiar music drew Yuan Chongxiao toward it as Mo the Second’s sword flashed at Feng Jianhua.

• The school and city warned residents to stay indoors and use blood, light, and electrical appliances against the supernatural threat, while Uncle Nan was possessed by a water ghost and Chu Tianshu pulled it out and destroyed it.
• Chu Tianshu told Uncle Nan to identify stable evil spirits that could be used to trace their route to the Spirit Realm, then raced across the city to fight more spirits.
• Soldiers armed with cinnabar shotguns and talisman-water injections cleared Belly Stone Ghosts from Hide Market Street, and residents gathered cinnabar to help defend themselves.
• Lin Baisui and Liu Suran’s team freed a possessed martial artist and destroyed a bridal-robed ghost with copper rings and silver needles.
• Ghost Owl appeared on a traffic light and attacked Liu Suran’s group with Yin Qi blades carried by his qin music; Yuan Chongxiao recognized the sound and rushed toward it.
• After Feng Jianhua destroyed fire ghosts at a fireworks shop, Mo the Second’s sword light swept toward him.

Feng Jianhua fought Mo the Second and a pack of evil spirits surrounding him, using snow to counter a weakness in his cultivation. After revealing that he needed water rather than sugar, Feng Jianhua swallowed a mouthful of snow and prepared to continue the battle.

• Mo the Second revealed that he and his brothers had rebuilt the Ghost Market and offered Feng Jianhua a chance to join them.
• Third Brother Mo summoned more than a dozen evil spirits to surround Feng Jianhua while Mo the Second attacked.
• Feng Jianhua disclosed that his apparent need for sugar water concealed a weakness that could be managed with water, then used falling snow to launch an attack.
• Feng Jianhua struck the evil spirits with his Bagua Saber, wounded the largest one, and knocked Mo the Second back.
• Feng Jianhua swallowed a large amount of snow to replenish himself as the evil spirits charged again, and he prepared to fight them alongside Mo the Second.

Chu Tianshu fought Mo Shengyi, whose altered body and desire to empower the ghosts had driven him into battle. After killing an attacking evil spirit, Chu Tianshu unleashed a Vajra strike that left Mo Shengyi defeated, then spotted Third Brother Mo watching from a rooftop.

• Chu Tianshu captured a ghost at the children's welfare home, escaped an ambush by a subterranean evil spirit, and destroyed it with a spell.
• Chu Tianshu recognized Mo Shengyi, who explained that a White Bone Centipede and the ghosts and gods had filled him with the desire to expand his kind.
• Chu Tianshu and Mo Shengyi traded vicious blows, each injuring the other as Mo Shengyi used his Kunwu Iron Palm Art.
• An arrow-wielding evil spirit attacked Chu Tianshu, and Mo Shengyi used it to press his advantage by condensing it into a deadly projectile.
• Chu Tianshu embraced his killing intent and struck through the evil spirit into Mo Shengyi, then slammed Mo Shengyi's head against the street.
• Chu Tianshu sensed Third Brother Mo on a rooftop more than two hundred meters away and looked toward him.

Chu Tianshu defeated Third Brother Mo’s Gu insect resentful spirits and killed him, then joined Feng Jianhua after he subdued Mo the Second. Feng Jianhua proposed using Mo the Second’s internal force to stabilize a captured evil spirit so Chu Tianshu could trace its altar.

• Third Brother Mo burned his Gu insects with a forbidden human-fat art, unleashing their resentful spirits against Chu Tianshu.
• Chu Tianshu used Vajra Samadhi boxing to destroy the spirits, then kicked Third Brother Mo to death and crushed the White Bone Centipede in his neck.
• Chu Tianshu reached the western block and found Feng Jianhua had knocked Mo the Second unconscious and trapped a fat monk evil spirit in his internal force.
• Feng Jianhua suggested putting the evil spirit inside Mo the Second to stabilize its presence, allowing Chu Tianshu to cast a spell and trace the altar.
• Chu Tianshu agreed that Feng Jianhua’s plan might work.

Du Chen defended the Mirror Ape ritual with Yin Qi and Medicinal Mercury while Feng Jianhua and Chu Tianshu attacked the altar. Chu killed Du Chen, destroyed the statue, and prepared to hunt more evil spirits.

• Du Chen questioned why evil spirits were still being obstructed and blamed officials for ending his Spirit Realm research project.
• Feng Jianhua broke through the ceiling and attacked the altar’s shield, but Du Chen used specters and Yin Qi to reinforce it.
• Chu Tianshu crashed through the shield and repelled Du Chen’s Medicinal Mercury before killing him with a palm strike.
• Chu Tianshu struck the Mirror Ape statue again, destroying it after its threatening presence made him retreat from his first punch.
• Chu Tianshu sensed his Fist Intent frightening the remaining ghosts and White Bone Centipedes, then declared that he would kill more evil spirits.

After fighting through the night in Guangling, Chu Tianshu helped Lin Baisui treat the wounded and brought food to the injured at the Golden Saber Martial Arts School. As people discussed the upheaval ahead, they found comfort in supporting one another.

• Chu Tianshu returned to the Golden Saber Martial Arts School with a large haul of evil spirit materials and found the school crowded with wounded fighters and residents.
• Chu Tianshu used his force to diagnose patients while Lin Baisui needled them, and together they treated the remaining wounded.
• Lin Baisui told Chu Tianshu that Vice Principal Yuan and several team leaders were investigating the Mo brothers’ businesses, then discussed how authorities might respond to the supernatural crisis.
• Ma Dengwan reunited with his wife and child, while Uncle Nan and other injured residents discussed supporting one another through the coming upheaval.
• Chu Tianshu brought soy milk and buns to the injured, and Uncle Nan recognized him as the man who had saved his life.