Chapter Summaries

Su Yang woke from a nightmare in agonizing pain and found a bloody message in the Dead Man's Book directing him to Northern Suburb Cemetery the next day. After drinking the blood from the book, his pain vanished, and he recalled how his parents had disappeared five years earlier, leaving behind the notebook and a cryptic note.

• Su Yang awoke from a nightmare in which a voice described his hands being eaten, his eyes gouged out, and his spine pulled free, while he felt pain in those parts of his body.
• Su Yang opened the black notebook and found a bloody message telling him to go to gravestone no. 23 in Northern Suburb Cemetery at the hour of the ox the next day, where he would enter God's Sight.
• A hoarse voice urged Su Yang to drink the blood on the book, so he licked the blood from his palm and the pain disappeared.
• Su Yang recalled that his parents had vanished five years earlier, leaving the Dead Man's Book and a note promising to reveal himself when the old order was destroyed and a new one was born.
• Su Yang remembered that the nightmares' pain had begun to manifest in reality and that drinking blood from the book was the only way to stop it; he had learned the book could devour the spirits of the dead.

Su Yang reflected on the Dead Man’s Book and the price of its protection, then struggled to help his grandmother by collecting recyclables before school. He rested on the bus while preparing to visit the cemetery that night, until a slender figure unexpectedly boarded.

• Su Yang fell asleep after pondering how the Dead Man’s Book saved him by drawing spirits into its pages.
• Grandma left early to sell vegetables, and Su Yang worried about the hardship she endured after his parents disappeared.
• Su Yang collected recyclables for two hours, earned a little money, and recorded a debt of gratitude to the recycling-station worker.
• Su Yang boarded the school bus, rested, and remembered that the Dead Man’s Book had sent him to the cemetery that night.
• A slender figure leaped onto the school bus, surprising the students.

Ren Yexue tracked down Su Yang on the school bus and paid a student for the seat beside him. She showed Su Yang a notebook listing the hardships he had said she must endure before they could be together, and insisted she was serious about him.

• Ren Yexue boarded Su Yang's school bus after arranging for the drivers to alert her when they saw him.
• Ren Yexue found Su Yang and paid the student beside him a hundred yuan for his seat.
• Ren Yexue marked off riding a crowded bus with Su Yang in her notebook, which listed the other challenges Su Yang had named.
• Ren Yexue told Su Yang she had taken his conditions seriously and insisted she wanted to be with him.

Su Yang kept Ren Yexue at a distance despite liking her, because the strange whispering, the Dead Man's Book, and his parents' disappearance made him fear involving her in his troubles. After school, he prepared to travel to the northern suburbs cemetery, wondering what departed soul he would encounter.

• On the school bus, Su Yang rejected Ren Yexue's offer to spend money to ride together, while privately admitting that their financial differences were only an excuse for his rejection.
• Su Yang glanced at Ren Yexue, and she caught him looking and teased him that he did not dislike her.
• Ren Yexue leaned close and told Su Yang she would wait until he liked her too.
• After school, Ren Yexue left with her driver, Uncle Zhang, and Su Yang decided to visit the northern suburbs cemetery that night.
• Su Yang texted his grandmother that he would be late, took the Dead Man's Book, and checked the route to the cemetery.

Su Yang traveled to a remote cemetery at the Dead Man’s Book’s appointed hour to reach tombstone number twenty-three. After reading humorous epitaphs on the other graves, he found the blank tombstone and heard a living man behind him say he had been waiting for him.

• Su Yang followed the Dead Man’s Book’s instructions to the northern suburbs cemetery, arriving at one thirty in the morning.
• He entered the cemetery and read the humorous one-line epitaphs on the first twenty-two tombstones.
• Su Yang reached tombstone number twenty-three and found its marble surface blank.
• A mature-voiced man in a black overcoat appeared behind Su Yang and told him he had been waiting for him.

Su Yang met Gai Fengyan, an acquaintance of his missing parents, who confirmed they were alive and gave him a black jade pendant naming him a Sword-Bearer of the Soul-Reaping Bureau. Gai Fengyan revealed supernatural power, then vanished after telling Su Yang the Bureau would contact him and passing along his parents’ message about Ren Yexue.

• Gai Fengyan approached Su Yang in the cemetery and repeated the cryptic words Su Yang's parents had left before disappearing.
• Gai Fengyan said Su Yang's parents were alive, explained they had asked him to earn Su Yang's trust, and gave him a black jade pendant.
• Su Yang read the pendant's inscription naming him a Sword-Bearer of the Soul-Reaping Bureau and asked Gai Fengyan what it meant.
• Gai Fengyan declared that the moonlight would remain, and the clouds parted to reveal the moon.
• Gai Fengyan told Su Yang to take his grandmother for a hospital checkup, said the Soul-Reaping Bureau would contact him, and relayed his parents' message about Ren Yexue before disappearing.

Su Yang returned home after learning that supernatural powers and the Soul-Reaping Bureau were real, and discovered the Bureau had deposited five million into his account. The money eased his worries about supporting his grandmother, and he embraced her as he recognized how much she had suffered.

• Su Yang arrived home with the black jade and Dead Man's Book, excited by what Gai Fengyan had revealed about the supernatural world and his parents.
• Su Yang heard his grandmother speaking with a stranger and rushed inside, fearing someone had broken in.
• Li Zheng introduced himself as Su Yang's personal assistant from the bank and explained that five million had been deposited in Su Yang's account.
• Su Yang realized the money had come from Gai Fengyan or the Soul-Reaping Bureau, and reassured his worried grandmother that it was not a mistake.
• After Li Zheng left, Su Yang hugged his grandmother and told her she had suffered.

Su Yang reassured his grandmother that the five million yuan came from his missing parents, then implied they were carrying out a secret mission for the country. His grandmother believed his explanation and broke down in tears, while Su Yang decided to take her for a full medical checkup.

• Su Yang told his grandmother that the money was from his father, prompting her to ask if her missing son was alive and where he was.
• Su Yang, unsure how to explain his parents’ situation, said they were on a secret mission for the police and could not reveal their whereabouts.
• His grandmother inferred that Su Yang’s parents were doing important work for the country and accepted their five-year disappearance as part of their mission.
• His grandmother scolded his parents for leaving her worried, but cried with relief that they were alive and safe.
• Su Yang left his grandmother alone to process the news and resolved to take her to the hospital for a thorough physical examination.

Su Yang paid for his grandmother’s treatment and made sure she was safely on her way home before heading to school. Feeling hopeful about his parents’ disappearance and his new role in the Soul-Reaping Bureau, he planned to ask Ren Yexue what she knew.

• Su Yang took his grandmother to the hospital, where a specialist diagnosed her in time and prescribed medicine that cost ninety-eight thousand yuan.
• Su Yang reassured his grandmother that her health mattered most, promised he would attend afternoon classes, and wondered how his parents had known about Ren Yexue.
• Su Yang gave his grandmother her medicine, linked his bank card to her payment account, and saw her onto the bus after urging her to stop selling vegetables.
• At the bus stop, Su Yang reflected on his renewed hope, recalled the Soul-Reaping Bureau’s words about bearing a god’s sword, and decided to ask Ren Yexue about his parents at school.

At school, Su Yang wondered whether Ren Yexue knew anything about his parents, then tried to teach her a math problem. Teacher Zhao summoned Su Yang to meet the City Education Department director, who eagerly called for him to enter the conference room.

• Su Yang asked Ren Yexue whether she knew his parents or Gai Fengyan, but she said she knew neither.
• Ren Yexue asked Su Yang to explain a math problem, failed to pay attention, and asked him to explain it again after he flicked her forehead.
• Teacher Zhao entered the classroom, found Su Yang, and said the City Education Department director wanted to see him.
• Su Yang followed Teacher Zhao to the conference room, where the principal praised him to the director.
• When Teacher Zhao brought Su Yang to the conference room, the director stood up and urged them to let Su Yang in quickly.

Su Yang met Zhao Shengshen, the city education director, who revealed that he was a fifth-rank Sword Guardian of the Soul-Reaping Bureau. Zhao Shengshen explained that his third sequence ability, Domain, had quietly lowered Su Yang’s guard, leaving Su Yang to reconsider how much he could trust him.

• Su Yang entered the conference room and felt inexplicably fond of Zhao Shengshen, but a sudden pain in his heart dispelled the feeling.
• After the principal and Teacher Zhao left, Zhao Shengshen identified himself as a fifth-rank Sword Guardian of the Soul-Reaping Bureau and explained his role in the education department.
• Su Yang noticed Zhao Shengshen’s voice affected his state of mind and asked about his special ability.
• Zhao Shengshen asked Su Yang how much he trusted him, prompting Su Yang to realize he had become unusually trusting of a stranger.
• Zhao Shengshen warned Su Yang not to trust him blindly, showed him his identity jade, and revealed that his third sequence ability was Domain.

Zhao Shengshen explained the Sequence Abilities and the Soul-Reaping Bureau to Su Yang, revealing that Su Yang’s parents possessed the First Sequence Ability and that Su Yang had inherited it. He prepared to awaken Su Yang’s power so Su Yang could become a Sword-Bearer and search for his parents.

• Zhao Shengshen explained that his Domain was a Sequence Ability that influenced people within it, including Su Yang’s principal and teacher.
• Zhao Shengshen said he used his position as education director to help the Soul-Reaping Bureau protect ordinary people, not merely to gain status.
• Zhao Shengshen revealed that only people with the First Sequence Ability could become Soul-Reaping Bureau Sword-Bearers, and said Su Yang was one of only a few hundred in the current generation.
• Zhao Shengshen told Su Yang that his parents had the First Sequence Ability and that Su Yang’s own ability had not yet awakened.
• Zhao Shengshen explained that seven gods had divided their authorities among humans, creating seven categories of Sequence Abilities, and said he would help Su Yang awaken his power.

Su Yang questioned Zhao Shengshen about awakening a Sequence Ability and the seven sequences, hoping to learn more about the mysterious world and his parents. Zhao Shengshen promised to meet him at midnight, then revealed that the last three sequences had been corrupted and their holders became monsters.

• Su Yang asked Zhao Shengshen how to awaken a Sequence Ability and whether it would help him find his parents, and Zhao Shengshen arranged to meet him outside his house at midnight.
• Su Yang considered asking about the Dead Man's Book and its strange murmuring but instead asked about the seven Sequence Abilities and their characteristics.
• Zhao Shengshen explained that the last three sequences had been corrupted, and their holders transformed into monsters neither human nor ghost.
• Zhao Shengshen said every holder of the last three sequences mutated before age fifty and that sword wielders and sword guardians now had to kill them.
• Zhao Shengshen revealed that the sixth Sequence Ability was Omniscience, and its loss meant Sequence Ability holders could no longer receive divine revelations.

Zhao Shengshen told Su Yang that the sixth ability sequence, Omniscience, had been corrupted, leaving those who awaken the last three sequences doomed to mutate and fight their former comrades. He left Su Yang waiting until his ability reached the fifth rank to investigate his parents, and Su Yang ended the day teasing Ren Yexue after she noticed the smell of smoke on him.

• Zhao Shengshen explained that the gods still sent divine oracles, but corruption of the Omniscience sequence made them rare and incomplete.
• Zhao Shengshen told Su Yang that people who awakened abilities from the last three sequences would inevitably mutate and had to be killed before they did.
• Su Yang asked whether the awakenings could be prevented, and Zhao Shengshen said they could not and told him to wait until he reached the fifth rank to pursue clues about his parents.
• Zhao Shengshen praised Su Yang to the principal, and Su Yang's homeroom teacher later praised him before the class.
• Ren Yexue noticed smoke on Su Yang's clothes, scolded him for smoking, and stormed out after he teased her.

Su Yang learned from Grandma’s notebook that Ren Yexue had been buying vegetables from her and helping her for a year, long before Su Yang thought they had met. He planned to thank Ren Yexue in person the next day and wondered whether her kindness had been connected to him all along.

• Su Yang came home exhausted, found Grandma writing a list of people who had helped their family, and offered to go with her to the market to thank them.
• Grandma told Su Yang that a young woman who regularly bought vegetables and refused her change was named Ren Yexue.
• Su Yang discovered that Ren Yexue appeared throughout Grandma’s notebook, with her help beginning a year earlier.
• Su Yang told Grandma he would thank Ren Yexue over a meal instead of visiting her home, then went to his room to rest.
• Su Yang wondered whether Ren Yexue had been paying attention to him long before they met or had helped Grandma by coincidence.

Su Yang heard the whisper return and found a new message in the Dead Man's Book directing him to visit the Soul-Reaping Bureau alone with a torn-out page. He followed the instruction but met Zhao Shengshen outside, who drove him toward the Bureau to meet his future partners.

• Su Yang heard the whisper add a verse about the fourth sibling making a garment from the victim’s skin, and the pain drove him to open the Dead Man's Book.
• The Dead Man's Book instructed Su Yang to go alone to the Soul-Reaping Bureau at midnight and bring a page torn from the book.
• Su Yang licked the blood from the page, which stopped his pain, then worried that the book knew about his meeting with Zhao Shengshen and his fate.
• Su Yang tore out a random page, put it in his pocket, and left his home before midnight.
• Zhao Shengshen met Su Yang outside, said he would take him to the Soul-Reaping Bureau to meet his future partners, and drove him away in a luxurious sedan.

Zhao Shengshen brought Su Yang to the Soul-Reaping Bureau, which was secretly operating as a bar, to awaken his Sequence Ability. The Bureau members evacuated the bar before releasing the Maiden's Soul, leaving Su Yang alone as something climbed onto his back.

• Zhao Shengshen drove Su Yang at high speed to the city center and showed him the Soul-Reaping Bureau Bar.
• Zhao Shengshen explained that his Domain made ordinary people see the bar as a grocery store, then led Su Yang inside.
• Zhao Shengshen introduced Su Yang to the Bureau members as a young Sword-Bearer who had not yet awakened his Sequence Ability.
• Zhao Shengshen told the members to release the Maiden's Soul, and Old Wang used his Sequence Ability to evacuate everyone except Su Yang.
• The empty bar grew cold and filled with the smell of blood, and something climbed onto Su Yang's back.

Su Yang faced the terrifying Maiden’s Soul during his awakening ceremony and kept his composure long enough to try speaking with her. The Soul-Reaping Bureau watched from afar, and Zhao Shengshen declared that Su Yang had the makings of a Demigod before the screen suddenly went dark.

• The Maiden’s Soul appeared on Su Yang’s back, and he realized Zhao Shengshen had arranged the encounter as part of his awakening.
• The Soul-Reaping Bureau watched Su Yang alone with the second-tier vengeful soul, trusting that extreme fear would awaken his Sequence Ability.
• Su Yang steadied his breathing, introduced himself to the Maiden’s Soul, and asked her to get off his back.
• The Soul-Reaping Bureau praised Su Yang’s composure, and Zhao Shengshen said he had the makings of a Demigod.
• The electronic screen stopped showing Su Yang, and Lina insisted she had not turned off her Sequence Ability.

Su Yang awakened his Sequence Ability and apparently slew the Maiden's Soul with a mysterious black blade, leaving the Soul-Reaping Bureau shocked and worried about answering to headquarters. Zhao Shengshen took responsibility for reporting the loss and sent Su Yang home to rest.

• The Soul-Reaping Bureau lost its view of Su Yang when mysterious energy interfered with Lina's Sequence Ability, prompting Zhao Shengshen to order everyone back and prepare for battle.
• Zhao Shengshen found Su Yang alive in a chair beside a black blade, and Su Yang said he had slain the Maiden's Soul with a sudden, unexplained slash.
• The Bureau members sensed that the Maiden's Soul had vanished and struggled to believe that Su Yang had defeated the second-tier vengeful spirit just after awakening his Sequence Ability.
• Lina reminded everyone that headquarters would demand an explanation, and the Bureau members made excuses to leave while expecting Zhao Shengshen to take the blame.
• Zhao Shengshen told Su Yang he would report the Maiden's Soul's loss and ordered Old Wang to take him home to rest.

After leaving the Soul-Reaping Bureau, Su Yang discovered that the Dead Man's Book had absorbed Maiden's Soul and awakened his Sequence Ability. The book recorded her identity and urged him to investigate her death and settle her karma, promising further gifts from Fate.

• Zhao Shengshen reassured Su Yang, warned him to keep his Sequence Ability secret, and said he would show him what his parents had left at the Bureau's Headquarters.
• Old Wang teleported Su Yang to his home, where he retrieved the bloodstained page from the Dead Man's Book.
• Su Yang realized the book had absorbed Maiden's Soul while the Bureau's cameras lost sight of him, and that the absorption had strengthened his body and given him a summonable black saber.
• Su Yang found blood-red writing on the page beneath the title page, identifying Maiden's Soul as He Tong and instructing him to investigate her death and settle her karma.