Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xuezhou reached the Body Control Realm and discussed ways to protect Wu Chao from Hongku’s Star-Fixing Technique. After His Excellency ordered them off Supreme Peak and departed, Wu Chao decided to return to the Holy Land and confront the threat.

• Zhang Xuezhou entered the Body Control Realm and gained faster casting and the ability to fly thirty li with the Technique Within the Clouds.
• Wu Chao told Zhang Xuezhou he feared Hongku was using the Star-Fixing Technique to curse him, and Zhang Xuezhou suggested seeking help or moving beyond its range.
• Right Envoy Lu Baibai relayed His Excellency’s orders, including that Wu Chao and the others must not linger on Supreme Peak.
• His Excellency left Supreme Peak with the five dragons and the white crane, preventing Wu Chao from seeking their help.
• Wu Chao rejected Zhang Xuezhou’s suggestion to return to the Han Dynasty and chose to return to the Holy Land to fight Hongku.

Wu Chao returned to Yedie River Holy Land with Zhang Xuezhou and found Jin Chang waiting in his cave. Jin Chang refused to attack Hongku directly but offered to help Wu Chao plant his Snake Head Incantation on him.

• Wu Chao brought Zhang Xuezhou back to his cave and realized someone had taken up residence inside.
• Wu Chao attacked the intruder with his Snake Head Incantation, but Jin Chang suppressed it and revealed himself.
• Wu Chao asked Jin Chang to act directly against Hongku, but Jin Chang refused because doing so would bring the holy lands down on him.
• Wu Chao explained that he had returned after sensing Hongku use his Incantation Technique to divine the outcome of the fighting between the Xiongnu and Han armies.
• Jin Chang offered to help Wu Chao plant the Snake Head Incantation on Hongku, using his Puppet Technique to follow the target and approach him.

Zhang Xuezhou, Wu Chao, and Jin Chang prepared for a possible fight with Hongku, and Wu Chao retrieved the Deer-Slaying Blade from the imperial supplies. Wu Chao revealed the blade’s keen edge and told Zhang Xuezhou he would have a part to play when the time came.

• Jin Chang appeared beside Zhang Xuezhou at dawn and stayed close, hoping to use him to reach Zou Bugui and secure the Yin Yang Nine Heavens Inheritance.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Jin Chang found Wu Chao groggy after a restless night, and Wu Chao decided they should check the imperial supplies before visiting Hongku.
• Jin Chang used his Following Like a Shadow Technique to hide in Wu Chao’s shadow as they headed to the supply tent.
• Wu Chao dismissed the servants and searched through the supplies until he found the Deer-Slaying Blade, which he called the strongest weapon below a divine weapon.
• Wu Chao showed that the blade could cut Zhang Xuezhou’s hair with ease and told him he would be needed when the time came.

Wu Chao prepared Zhang Xuezhou to help assassinate Hongku, giving him the Deer-Slaying Blade and sharing a collection of deadly substances. They discovered the items were difficult to carry without a storage bag, and Jin Chang offered his bag and help.

• Wu Chao handed Zhang Xuezhou the Deer-Slaying Blade, which he had prepared for a surprise attack on Hongku.
• Zhang Xuezhou tested the blade and practiced wielding it, prompting Jin Chang and Wu Chao to comment on his butcher-like technique.
• Wu Chao recalled the benefits he had gained from recent events and regained confidence in facing Hongku.
• Wu Chao showed Zhang Xuezhou several poisonous and harmful substances he had gathered from different states.
• Zhang Xuezhou pointed out that the many bottles and jars would be difficult to carry, and Wu Chao realized they had no storage bag.
• Jin Chang revealed that he had a storage bag and offered to use the substances from the shadows during the attack.

Wu Chao abandoned his immediate assassination plan after Hongku refused to meet him, and Jin Chang urged him to discover Hongku’s desires and exploit a weakness. The chapter left Wu Chao seeking information about Hongku while Jin Chang reflected on his conflict with Zou Bugui and the struggles between people who refused to yield.

• Hongku summoned Zhang Xuezhou into his residence to meet Venerable Lei, while Wu Chao stayed outside and watched him enter.
• Jin Chang identified the many protections around Hongku’s courtyard and told Wu Chao that he needed to lure Hongku out by learning what he desired.
• Wu Chao reconsidered his plan, recognized that he knew little about Hongku’s motives, and agreed to ask Dharma Master Hongyi and others for information.
• Jin Chang reflected on Wu Chao’s aptitude and mindset, then questioned why Zou Bugui had refused to hand over the Yin-Yang Nine Heavens Sect’s inheritance.
• Jin Chang compared Zou Bugui’s refusal to yield with Hongku’s treatment of his students and concluded that such conflicts seemed to end only when one side gained complete control.

Zhang Xuezhou demonstrated his progress in the Technique Within the Clouds to Venerable Lei, who praised his insight and offered to train him at the Vermilion Clouds Palace. Venerable Lei then questioned whether Zhang Xuezhou would survive long enough to finish training under Hongku.

• Zhang Xuezhou recovered from his surprise at Venerable Lei's appearance by praising the man's character over his looks.
• At Hongku's urging, Zhang Xuezhou demonstrated the Technique Within the Clouds and flew in circles above the courtyard.
• Hongku criticized Zhang Xuezhou's limited flight, but Venerable Lei said the boy had grasped the technique's deeper mysteries.
• Venerable Lei offered to take Zhang Xuezhou to the Vermilion Clouds Palace, and Hongku said he could do so after the boy completed his training.
• Venerable Lei noticed the names of Hongku's former students hanging beneath a roof beam and asked whether Zhang Xuezhou would live long enough to finish training.

Hongku tried to win Venerable Lei's support by offering his physiognomy, curse protection, and knowledge of an immortality secret in Western Kunlun. Venerable Lei agreed to test Hongku's abilities, leaving the possibility of an alliance open.

• Venerable Lei criticized Hongku for wasting the Yedie River Holy Land's promising disciples, including Wu Jin.
• Hongku asked Venerable Lei to form an alliance and offered to sever Wu Jin's talisman pull, but Venerable Lei warned that dealing with Hongku could make him a target.
• Hongku offered his physiognomy skills and Death-Exemption Technique, then revealed that he knew a route to the immortality elixir in Western Kunlun.
• Venerable Lei doubted Hongku's claim, so Hongku offered to predict whom Venerable Lei would meet on his way back to the Vermilion Clouds Palace.
• Venerable Lei agreed to the test and realized Hongku's physiognomy required no Essence Blood.

Zhang Xuezhou accidentally dropped Peacock Dynasty Soul-Severing Powder on Hongku while flying, leaving the Dharma Master in pain and temporarily vulnerable. As Venerable Lei left to verify Hongku’s divination, Zhang Xuezhou went inside to help Hongku wash, secretly mixing in the Water of Eternity.

• Zhang Xuezhou considered attacking Hongku from the air but hesitated, knowing Hongku’s cultivation could suppress him.
• Soul-Severing Powder fell from Zhang Xuezhou’s belongings and spread through Hongku’s courtyard, while Venerable Lei’s electric strike worsened the accident.
• Hongku rushed inside in agony, and Venerable Lei left to check whether the time from Hongku’s physiognomy had arrived.
• Zhang Xuezhou entered Hongku’s room after hearing him call for water and found him rubbing powder from his body with a towel.
• Zhang Xuezhou scooped water for Hongku and secretly mixed in the Water of Eternity.

Zhang Xuezhou secretly mixed Water of Eternity into water that Hongku drank, then learned Hongku planned to send him to Vermilion Clouds Palace to investigate the venerables. Hongku realized Zhang Xuezhou had murderous intent and suspected Wu Chao had incited him, just as Zhang Xuezhou’s blade flashed toward his neck.

• Zhang Xuezhou spilled Soul-Severing Powder, then deliberately mixed Water of Eternity into the bucket before Hongku rinsed himself and drank from it.
• Hongku warned Zhang Xuezhou against relying on powders and becoming entangled in the Xiong State, then admitted he had once served its royal family and made many enemies.
• Hongku told Zhang Xuezhou that Venerable Lei had agreed to receive him at Vermilion Clouds Palace, where he could encounter several venerables and help Hongku investigate his enemies.
• Hongku sensed Zhang Xuezhou’s murderous intent and concluded Wu Chao had likely incited him, but decided he still needed both students for his plans.
• As Hongku clutched his stomach and bent forward, a streak of cyan light flew toward his neck.

After Zhang Xuezhou’s failed attack on Hongku, the two were left incapacitated by diarrhea, and Hongku unexpectedly spared his student and explained his own precarious position. Zhang Xuezhou revealed that Wu Chao suspected Hongku had cursed him, prompting Hongku to turn his attention toward confronting Wu Chao as well.

• Hongku overpowered Zhang Xuezhou and made him drink the Water of Eternity mixed with Soul-Severing Powder, leaving them both suffering severe diarrhea.
• Zhang Xuezhou questioned why Hongku had not punished or killed him, and Hongku said he needed his students and faced a dangerous struggle within the Yedie River Holy Land.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked why Hongku had cursed Wu Chao, confirming Wu Chao’s suspicions to Hongku.
• Hongku realized Wu Chao had likely discovered his ritual and decided to deal with both rebellious students while pursuing a certain venerable.

Zhang Xuezhou questioned Hongku about the deaths of his fellow students, and Hongku swore that he had not tried to kill them while warning that Wu Chao faced danger to his neck. After Hongku summoned Wu Chao, Wu Chao prepared to confront him, believing Zhang Xuezhou may have exposed a weakness in Hongku.

• Hongku swore a Great Heart Demon Oath that he had not tried to kill Zhang Xuezhou or his students, then admitted he had foreseen danger for Wu Chao involving his neck.
• Hongku said the students might have been caught in the crossfire of an attack aimed at him and advised Wu Chao to wear armor.
• Hongku summoned Wu Chao, while Zhang Xuezhou stayed behind in the latrine and privately considered how Wu Chao and Jin Chang could turn the confrontation to their advantage.
• Wu Chao heard Hongku's summons and feared Zhang Xuezhou had already attacked him, but reasoned that Hongku must be weakened or vulnerable.
• Wu Chao discarded the bottles and jars he had been carrying and decided to rely on his techniques while letting Hongku believe he would use the sinister items.

Wu Chao and Jin Chang suspected Hongku was using the Fortune Technique to eliminate rivals and gain a higher position in the Yedie River Holy Land. They entered Hongku’s residence, where a formation left Wu Chao frozen and kneeling, while Jin Chang realized Zhang Xuezhou was still alive.

• Wu Chao and Jin Chang concluded that Hongku wanted to rise in the Holy Land and might have a venerable’s support.
• Jin Chang explained that Hongku might have used the Huang-Lao School’s Fortune Technique to cause the deaths of Wu Chao’s senior brothers, though he did not know how to resist it.
• Wu Chao warned Jin Chang to protect Zhang Xuezhou and entered the black-stone residence after Hongku summoned him.
• Jin Chang weighed the risks of killing Hongku with the Puppet Technique, then followed Wu Chao into the residence with Five-Step Bewitching Smoke.
• Hongku’s formation struck Wu Chao with Yin wind and left him frozen on the ground as Hongku demanded to know his crime.
• Jin Chang broke free of Hongku’s realm pressure and inferred from Wu Chao’s survival that Zhang Xuezhou was still alive.

Wu Chao confronted Hongku about the fatal Fortune Technique affecting him, and Hongku claimed an enemy had targeted his students to get at him. Wu Chao demanded that Hongku help protect him, but Jin Chang secretly planted his last surviving Snake Head Incantation hair on Hongku and launched an attack.

• Hongku restrained Wu Chao, saw that his Snake Head Incantation hair had died, and realized Wu Chao had likely taken a disaster meant for him.
• Hongku released Wu Chao and told him his Star-Fixing Technique had foretold a fatal danger to Wu Chao's neck.
• Wu Chao accused Hongku of placing the Fortune Technique on him, but Hongku claimed an enemy had targeted his students and said he wanted to use Wu Chao to identify the attacker.
• Wu Chao asked how he could save his life, and Hongku advised him to wear armor that protected his neck.
• Jin Chang secretly slipped his last surviving Snake Head Incantation hair into Hongku's trousers and released poisonous smoke as he began a supporting attack.

Wu Chao’s ambush on Hongku failed when Hongku’s Substitute Death Incantation redirected the attack back onto Wu Chao. Jin Chang exposed the secret behind Hongku’s students’ deaths, and Hongku waited injured for the Sacred Land’s response.

• Wu Chao used his Snake Head Incantation to bind Hongku and strike at him while resisting Hongku’s realm suppression.
• Hongku allowed the python to bite him, but the damage and venom rebounded onto Wu Chao through the Substitute Death Incantation.
• Jin Chang recognized that Hongku had used his students as substitutes to bear his injuries and called out the secret to the hidden watchers.
• Hongku demanded to know who else was in the courtyard, then prepared to defend himself after his secret was exposed.
• Twelve patrol lanterns rose above the Sacred Mountain as Hongku healed his injuries and braced for a fight over his life.

Jin Chang exposed Hongku's alleged use of his students in Incantations, prompting the Holy Land's Venerables to debate investigating him. As four Venerables entered Hongku's residence, he activated a formation and asked the Dao Lord for permission to advance to Venerable rank and fight them.

• Jin Chang used the Demonic Sound Technique to accuse Hongku of harming his students and defying the Holy Land's rules.
• The Venerables questioned Hongku about his students' deaths and the claim that he used them for the Substitution Technique, while Hongku denied the accusation.
• Venerable Lei watched as Venerable Wenhuang, Venerable Yun, Venerable Daode, and Venerable Sanxiao left their palaces to investigate Hongku's residence.
• Hongku's formation shrouded his residence in darkness as the four Venerables entered, and he asked the Dao Lord for permission to advance to Venerable rank.
• The Dao Lord asked whom Hongku would fight, and Hongku answered that he would fight those trapped in the jar.

Venerable Sanxiao tried to force his way through Hongku’s Five Ghost Yin Wind Sword Formation, but Hongku’s illusions led him to attack a ghost while the real formation remained intact. Hongku struck Sanxiao with a bone sword, and white maggots spilled from the wound as his internal organs fell out.

• Venerable Yun entered the smoke created by her staff rather than taking the first attack against Hongku.
• Venerable Daode explained that the formation’s Yin Wind weakened its victims and that its five ghosts guarded the pivotal points.
• Unable to discern directions, Venerable Sanxiao used his three magic swords to hack through the formation, but realized he might have been attacking in place.
• Hongku appeared as a youth carrying a bone sword, and Sanxiao used his swords to destroy the apparent ghost and believed he had slain three formation guardians.
• Hongku revealed that the true pivotal points were the Yin Wind Swords held by the five ghosts, then pierced Sanxiao’s chest with a white bone sword.
• White maggots poured from Sanxiao’s wound, and a mass of his internal organs fell out.

Venerable Wenhuang tried to use Wu Chao to draw Hongku into a battle, but Jin Chang killed her before she could finish. Jin Chang took control of her severed head and demanded that she help him avoid getting involved in the Yedie River Holy Land’s affairs.

• Venerable Wenhuang recognized that Hongku could use Wu Chao to take a fatal blow in his place, then decided to attack Hongku through Wu Chao despite the danger to the student.
• Venerable Wenhuang cut Wu Chao and used his blood to activate her plague techniques, while Jin Chang considered intervening to keep his student alive.
• Jin Chang emerged from Wu Chao’s shadow and used a fine thread to slice Venerable Wenhuang’s body apart.
• Jin Chang preserved Venerable Wenhuang’s head with white powder and told her he was borrowing it, ordering her to shield him from the Yedie River Holy Land’s affairs.
• Venerable Wenhuang watched Jin Chang dissolve her original body with corpse-dissolving water, then heard him demand that she draw the plague poison out of his body.

Venerable Daode navigated Hongku’s Five Ghost Yin Wind Sword Formation and fought off his Snake Head Incantation with the Seven-Feather Fan, but Hongku’s poison smoke overcame him. Hongku secured Daode’s surrender and looked toward Wu Chao, who had been joined by a woman in white protecting him from the formation.

• Venerable Daode used the five ghosts’ movements to understand the formation and reach Hongku’s courtyard.
• Venerable Daode burned Hongku’s swarming incantation snakes and snake king with his Seven-Feather Fan.
• Hongku revealed that poisonous smoke from the burning snakes had poisoned Venerable Daode, who agreed to surrender his position in exchange for an antidote.
• Zhang Xuezhou counted as Venerable Daode approached Hongku, and Daode collapsed after five steps from the Five-Step Poison Smoke.
• Hongku rebuked Zhang Xuezhou for his earlier plot, then saw Wu Chao beside a woman in white whose five-colored umbrella shielded them from the Yin Wind.

Hongku asked Zhang Xuezhou to persuade Jin Chang to kill Venerable Yun, offering protection, Wu Chao’s release, and the Fuxi Physiognomy School’s inheritance in return. He gave Zhang Xuezhou two inheritance jades and urged him to stay alive, leaving the outcome of the fight in Zhang’s hands.

• Hongku explained that he needed Jin Chang’s help to use Venerable Wenhuang’s disguise to ambush Venerable Yun, and Zhang Xuezhou doubted he could persuade Jin Chang.
• Hongku described his hatred of the Venerables, whom he blamed collectively for his family’s deaths and decades of confinement, and asked Zhang to negotiate for him.
• Hongku promised Jin Chang concealment and a place to hide, and offered to remove Wu Chao’s restraints if Jin Chang killed Venerable Yun.
• Hongku promised to pass the Fuxi Physiognomy School’s inheritance to Zhang Xuezhou, explaining that it contained the Star-Fixing, Person-Fixing, and Acupoint-Fixing Techniques.
• Hongku gave Zhang Xuezhou the Person-Fixing and Acupoint-Fixing inheritance jades and urged him to stay alive.

Zhang Xuezhou negotiated a mutual-control agreement between Hongku and Jin Chang to secure their cooperation against Venerable Yun. Hongku submitted to Jin Chang’s Technique, while the shifting alliances left him questioning who truly controlled the contest.

• Zhang Xuezhou rejected Hongku’s two inheritance jades and demanded that Jin Chang place a Technique on Hongku, with Wu Chao and Hongku each serving as leverage over the other.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that Jin Chang would not kill Hongku because Hongku’s Substitution Incantation linked his life to Wu Chao, and Hongku agreed to the condition.
• Zhang Xuezhou entered the formation and secured Jin Chang’s agreement, while Jin Chang dismissed Venerable Wenhuang’s objections to their plan against Venerable Yun.
• Hongku arrived and asked Jin Chang to cast the Technique, warning that the Golden Toad Poison left him capable of only one strike.
• Jin Chang planted a fine thread in Hongku, and Hongku wondered whether the Golden Toad Dharma King was controlling Jin Chang and cussed Zhang Xuezhou inwardly.