Chapter Summaries

Bai Xiaowen tested the female ghost’s immunity and discovered she could be harmed while attacking. After a Ghost Infant emerged from a grave and died, he received a side quest directing him to Locust King Village to obtain the Pale Netherstone.

• Kitz accidentally struck Bai Xiaowen while trying to hit the female ghost, and Bai Xiaowen warned him about the strange Fiend Species creatures.
• Bai Xiaowen summoned Delifa and learned that the female ghost could be damaged when she attacked.
• Bai Xiaowen ordered Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldiers to dig up the graves, prompting the female ghost to attack and Delifa to wound her.
• The soldiers uncovered a child’s bones, and a Ghost Infant attacked Kitz before Delifa killed it.
• Bai Xiaowen received the Pale Netherstone side quest, which sent him to Locust King Village.

Bai Xiaowen defeated a Possessing Ghost and obtained a fragment needed to disguise himself as one. Meanwhile, Qiao Rui and Han Xu met up, but two Li Shuyis appeared, leaving Qiao Rui to devise a way to identify the real one.

• Bai Xiaowen killed the Possessing Ghost with the Bone Warlock’s lightning and his Dark Swipe, scattering the Ghost Infants she controlled.
• Bai Xiaowen collected a Spirit of the Possessing Ghost fragment and decided to head toward Locust King Village.
• Qiao Rui found Han Xu, who told her he had seen a strange, fast-running child but had chosen to meet up with the others first.
• Li Shuyi warned Qiao Rui and Han Xu that a ghost was chasing her, then a second Li Shuyi appeared and accused the first of being a fake.
• The two Li Shuyis fought with matching skills until Qiao Rui stopped them and proposed using a Team Channel command to identify the real one.

Qiao Rui and Han Xu struggled to identify which of two identical Li Shuyis was a ghost, while Bai Xiaowen investigated the space’s dangerous fog and reunited with Han Xu. Bai Xiaowen suspected the fog concealed Locust King Village and set out with Han Xu to collect ghost fragments for a disguise.

• Qiao Rui tested the two Li Shuyis with commands and shared memories, but both answered convincingly and fought while she and Han Xu waited for Bai Xiaowen.
• Bai Xiaowen entered a thick Ghost Mist that drained his Life Value and mental power, then suspected he needed fragments from Possessing Ghosts to create a disguise that would let him pass through it.
• Han Xu contacted Bai Xiaowen through the Team Channel, and they met after Han Xu followed Bai Xiaowen’s call across the mountains.
• Han Xu told Bai Xiaowen that he had ignored a strange voice and avoided looking back when a ghost followed him.
• Bai Xiaowen explained his theory about the fog and Locust King Village, then left with Han Xu to search for Qiao Rui and Li Shuyi while collecting ghost fragments.

Bai Xiaowen and Han Xu fought a Headless Lantern Ghost whose curse transferred damage and healing between them. After working out how to counter it, they killed the ghost and followed Qiao Rui's Falcon Spirit toward her.

• Bai Xiaowen sent Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldiers to test the Headless Lantern Ghost, but it immobilized Han Xu and clawed his face.
• Delifa attacked the ghost, and Han Xu took transferred damage; Bai Xiaowen then realized the ghost was linking damage and healing between them.
• Bai Xiaowen had Han Xu attack the ghost directly and use recovery food, discovering the ghost could not transfer damage from its linked target.
• Bai Xiaowen spotted Qiao Rui's Falcon Spirit and used Berserk Talisman to help Han Xu kill the Headless Lantern Ghost.
• The ghost dropped a Spirit of the Scapegoat Ghost (Fragment), and Bai Xiaowen and Han Xu followed the Falcon Spirit's flight path.

Bai Xiaowen reunited with Qiao Rui, two Li Shuyis, and two Han Xus, who could not tell the real squad members from ghosts. After confirming Qiao Rui was genuine, he devised a test using the squad skill Tether to expose the impostors.

• Li Shuyi kept dueling her ghost double, using the fight to improve her One-Handed Swordsmanship Specialty.
• Qiao Rui stopped Han Xu from leaving and revealed that she had seen Bai Xiaowen approaching, but another Han Xu was with him.
• Bai Xiaowen arrived with Han Xu and used Cecilia's summoning through the White Stone Fief Token to prove he was real.
• Bai Xiaowen reasoned that Qiao Rui was genuine, then had Cecilia guard the two Li Shuyis and two Han Xus while he prepared a test.
• Bai Xiaowen explained that ghosts could not copy the squad skill Tether and ordered one Li Shuyi to use it on a Han Xu.

Bai Xiaowen exposed and defeated the Transformation Ghosts impersonating Li Shuyi and Han Xu, then directed the White Phoenix Team to investigate the ghosts and collect fragments. After two days of hunting, the team assembled five ghost-disguise orbs and returned to the dense fog around Locust King Village.

• Bai Xiaowen deduced that the fake Li Shuyi could not use Tether, and his summoned creatures forced her to reveal herself as a Transformation Ghost.
• The fake Han Xu also revealed himself and attacked the real Han Xu before the White Phoenix Squad killed both ghosts and collected their fragments.
• Bai Xiaowen outlined his theories about the ghost types and said the team should gather fragments and seek the Space Stone in Locust King Village.
• The White Phoenix Team spent two days hunting ghosts while avoiding the other competing teams.
• On their third day, the team completed five ghost-disguise orbs and returned to the dense fog around the central area.

Bai Xiaowen and the White Phoenix Team entered Liu Family Hamlet under ghostly disguises and began searching for the Pale Netherstone. They found clues about the village’s past, and the chapter ended with Bai Xiaowen discovering pages from a diary describing a family’s hardship there.

• Bai Xiaowen led the disguised White Phoenix Team through the fog and into the village’s barrier without being separated.
• The team arrived at Liu Family Hamlet, where they heard distant gongs and drums and saw ghostly fires and shadows.
• Bai Xiaowen examined the village’s Prohibition Stele and identified its rules as evidence of a Ming-Qing Period setting.
• The team passed two Lost Soul Villagers without attacking them, following Bai Xiaowen’s plan to focus on finding clues.
• Bai Xiaowen caught diary pages blown from a house, which described a poor family sent to Liu Family Hamlet and the death of their father in the Imperial Prison.

Bai Xiaowen and his companions searched Locust King Village for diary fragments and uncovered the connection between the Hua and Zhou families. They met Qin Bing of the Radiant Team, exchanged fragments, and began sharing information about the village.

• Bai Xiaowen and Qiao Rui suspected the first diary fragment was a trap after they sensed someone watching them.
• Bai Xiaowen sent the Shadow Assassin over a wall, where he found a diary page describing Hua Yurong's kindness to Zhou Xiaoduo and naming Zhou Bin.
• Bai Xiaowen and his companions continued searching the village, suspecting they would need to investigate homes connected to the Zhou Family.
• Qin Bing of the Radiant Team approached Bai Xiaowen's group and led them to a deserted alley to talk.
• Bai Xiaowen and Qin Bing agreed to trade information and exchanged the diary fragments they had found.

Bai Xiaowen and Qin Bing compared diary pages about Zhou Xiaoduo’s childhood and agreed to search separately for more. Bai Xiaowen suspected Liu Fu’s family had helped the Zhou Family because the second daughter was to marry Liu Fu’s son, so the White Phoenix Team planned to follow the wedding procession to find more diary pages.

• Bai Xiaowen read a diary entry describing how Liu Fu’s family helped the Zhou Family prepare for New Year after Zhou Xiaoduo tried to steal meat.
• Bai Xiaowen and Qin Bing exchanged diary information, then agreed to search separately for more pages.
• Bai Xiaowen told his teammates that Qin Bing’s page came from much later than their pages, after Zhou Bin had disappeared and the second daughter had become the family’s provider.
• Bai Xiaowen reasoned that Liu Fu’s family’s sudden generosity likely meant the Zhou Family’s second daughter was to marry Liu Fu’s son.
• Qiao Rui proposed following the wedding procession to the Zhou Family’s home, and Bai Xiaowen agreed.

Bai Xiaowen investigated the Zhou Family courtyard after watching a silent wedding procession carry off the bride, and discovered that the abandoned well led to a Mirror Space. There he witnessed an illusion revealing how Hua Yurong resisted being forced to marry Master Liu and jumped into the well.

• Bai Xiaowen and the White Phoenix Squad watched the wedding procession take the bound bride from the Zhou Family home, then searched the courtyard for missing diary pages.
• Bai Xiaowen found old blood on the stone mill and concluded that the Zhou Family's second daughter had struck her head there before jumping into the well.
• After Kitz found nothing in the well, Bai Xiaowen jumped in himself and fell into a separate courtyard in the Mirror Space.
• Bai Xiaowen watched an illusion in which Hua Yurong refused to marry Master Liu, struck her head on the stone mill, and was ordered to be tied up and taken away.
• Hua Yurong fought off the wedding party and jumped headfirst into the well.

Bai Xiaowen discovered Hua Yurong’s fate in a Mirror Space and learned that the Liu Family had caused her death. Back in the Hua Family house, he and the White Phoenix Team contacted Hua Yurong, updating their Pale Netherstone side quest with two opposing objectives.

• Bai Xiaowen watched Hua Yurong rise from the sealed well as a Vengeful Spirit, then returned to his teammates with her tattered bridal veil.
• Bai Xiaowen explained that the house belonged to the Hua Family and that Hua Yurong, not the Zhou Family’s second daughter, had been the intended bride.
• Qiao Rui told Bai Xiaowen that a ghost protected by a Pale Netherstone had attacked her and Li Shuyi near a nailed-shut coffin.
• Bai Xiaowen stopped the old ghost’s attack by calling Hua Yurong’s name, and Hua Yurong appeared above the coffin.
• Qiao Rui used Soul Whisper to communicate with Hua Yurong, who showed her hatred for Liu Fu and Uncle Liu Si.
• The Spirit Realm Rules updated the Pale Netherstone side quest with optional objectives to kill either Liu Fu and Uncle Liu Si or Hua Yurong and Old Master Hua.

Bai Xiaowen’s team accepted Hua Yurong’s Blood Curse and chose to help her oppose the Liu family after uncovering how she had taken Zhou Bin’s sister’s place as Liu Fu’s bride. When Bai Xiaowen, Li Shuyi, and Cecilia confronted Liu Fu and Uncle Liu Si, Uncle Liu Si revealed his account of the curse and tried to sway them before ordering his ghosts to attack.

• Bai Xiaowen agreed to Hua Yurong’s blood ritual, and his teammates accepted the Blood Curse so they could fight the protected villagers.
• The team read diary fragments at the Zhou family home and learned how Hua Yurong had married Liu Fu’s son in place of Zhou Bin’s second sister.
• Bai Xiaowen decided to stop the bride abduction by targeting Liu Fu, his son, and Uncle Liu Si, leaving Han Xu and Qiao Rui at the Hua Family home.
• Bai Xiaowen, Li Shuyi, and Cecilia reached Liu Fu’s courtyard, where Liu Fu and Uncle Liu Si waited with ghosts blocking their escape.
• Uncle Liu Si claimed he was using the daily abduction ritual to wear down Hua Yurong’s resentment and offered to lift their curse if they joined him.
• Bai Xiaowen identified Uncle Liu Si’s Mental Suggestion, rejected his offer, and Uncle Liu Si ordered the ghosts to tear them apart.

Bai Xiaowen, Li Shuyi, and Cecilia fought the ghosts of Locust King Village as Uncle Liu Si used the Pale Netherstone to strengthen them. The ghost horde dwindled under Bai Xiaowen’s summoned army, which advanced toward the courtyard gate as Uncle Liu Si vowed they would meet their doom.

• Bai Xiaowen and Cecilia killed a Curse-Bound Ghost while Li Shuyi and Butcher cut down the weaker Lost Soul Villagers.
• Bai Xiaowen summoned his creatures, and Li Shuyi charged into the ghosts with the Oni Mask, deepening her swordsmanship insight.
• Uncle Liu Si sprayed blood onto the Pale Netherstone, boosting the ghosts’ movement and attack speeds.
• Cecilia urged Bai Xiaowen not to interrupt Li Shuyi, and Bai Xiaowen rallied his summoned army with Howl and Commanding Roar.
• Bai Xiaowen’s forces thinned the ghosts and advanced toward the courtyard gate as Uncle Liu Si threatened them.

Bai Xiaowen and his team fought Uncle Liu Si and the evil ghost Liu Fu while Bai Xiaowen feared the feng shui master’s unreadable abilities. Uncle Liu Si activated a Geomantic Killing Formation, drawing mist into a vortex around Liu Fu as the summoned creatures were forced back.

• Uncle Liu Si revealed that he had sent outsiders to attack the Hua Family, but Bai Xiaowen hinted that two of his teammates had gone to stop them.
• Bai Xiaowen assessed Uncle Liu Si and Liu Fu, then had his team attack them while Cecilia cleared out the remaining ghosts.
• Li Shuyi kept Liu Fu occupied with the Heaven-Hiding Sword Art as the Butcher and Bai Xiaowen’s summoned creatures dragged Uncle Liu Si into close combat and rapidly depleted his Life Value.
• Uncle Liu Si unleashed a shockwave and activated his Geomantic Killing Formation, gathering the village’s mist into a vortex above the Liu Family Estate.
• Uncle Liu Si’s formation repelled the summoned creatures as dense mist enveloped Liu Fu and terrifying energy surged within it.

Bai Xiaowen and his allies fought Uncle Liu Si and the enhanced Liu Fu in the Liu Family Courtyard. Liu Fu unleashed a deadly ghost attack, but Cecilia’s arrow knocked him into the old house and imprisoned him.

• Liu Fu absorbed Grievance Power from the Geomantic Killing Formation, growing stronger and gaining new abilities.
• Uncle Liu Si bound the summoned creatures with Spectral Soul Entanglement as Liu Fu charged toward him.
• Liu Fu used Ten Thousand Ghosts Devour the Soul, killing the Shadow Assassin, while Li Shuyi resisted the ghost faces with an immunity effect.
• Bai Xiaowen tried to interrupt Liu Fu with a Heart-Confounding Talisman, but Liu Fu’s Spirit-Devouring Shield blocked its control effect.
• Cecilia hit Liu Fu with Killing Shot Arrow, knocking him into the Liu Family Old House and imprisoning him.

Bai Xiaowen and his allies interrupted Liu Fu’s ritual and killed him and Uncle Liu Si, causing the Pale Netherstone quest to fail for the other teams. At the Hua estate, the Titan and Radiant Teams searched for Hua Yurong’s coffin, only for Qiao Rui and Han Xu to emerge from the dry well carrying it.

• Bai Xiaowen and Cecilia interrupted Liu Fu’s skill and focused their attacks on Uncle Liu Si until he and Liu Fu were killed.
• The Titan Team and Radiant Team searched the Hua Family estate for Hua Yurong’s coffin, suspecting it might be in the dry well.
• Ling Feng ordered the Titan Team to keep searching the estate, while Qin Bing secretly led the Radiant Team toward the neighboring Zhou Family courtyard.
• A notification announced that Uncle Liu Si and Liu Fu had been killed, disrupting the ritual and making the Pale Netherstone side quest unavailable.
• Qiao Rui and Han Xu leaped out of the dry well with a bright red coffin on Han Xu’s back, startling the Titan Team.

Bai Xiaowen and his companions reunited the Pale Netherstone, freeing Hua Yurong, Old Master Hua, and the lost souls of Locust King Village. As the White Phoenix Team remained in the space, Hua Yurong recognized Zhou Xiaoduo, who explained that she had left the diary pages to guide rescuers to her.

• Yan Bo tried to stab Hua Yurong, but Qiao Rui explained that the Blessing of the Netherwhite Stone made her invulnerable unless she attacked first.
• Ling Feng led the Titan Team out, while Qin Bing waited with the Radiant Team for Bai Xiaowen to return.
• Bai Xiaowen gave Hua Yurong half of the Pale Netherstone and told her that Liu Fu, his son, and Uncle Liu Si had been killed.
• Hua Yurong joined the two halves of the Pale Netherstone, purifying herself, Old Master Hua, and the lost souls across Locust King Village; the Radiant and Titan Teams were expelled.
• Li Shuyi celebrated the happy ending with Bai Xiaowen, and Ling Feng vowed that he would not lose next time before the white light swept him away.
• Hua Yurong met Zhou Xiaoduo, who revealed that she had written and scattered the diary pages to lead someone to Hua Yurong and free her.

Zhou Xiaoduo and Hua Yurong said their farewells and passed on after the White Phoenix Team completed the Pale Netherstone quest. Bai Xiaowen gained administrator access to the corresponding space and kept its original Misty Ghost Village environment to conserve Psionic Particles.

• Zhou Xiaoduo explained that Zhou Bin had passed the imperial examination but died of an incurable illness, and Bai Xiaowen suspected Liu Shicheng had caused his death through geomancy.
• Zhou Xiaoduo thanked Hua Yurong for caring for her family, then vanished; Hua Yurong and Old Master Hua also said goodbye and passed on.
• Hua Yurong returned the five team members’ blood and gave them a stone, and the Spirit Realm Rules awarded the team the Pale Netherstone and Blood of the Curse Seal.
• Bai Xiaowen examined the rewards and learned that Blood of the Curse Seal increased all attributes by 20% for 120 seconds.
• Bai Xiaowen activated the Pale Netherstone, gained administrator privileges with 125,000 Psionic Particles, and chose to retain the Misty Ghost Village template rather than spend resources on a new environment.

Bai Xiaowen examined the Treasure Ground Space’s administrator options and weighed how to spend its limited Psionic Particle reserves on creatures and resources. After his teammates debated how to protect the treasure ground and attract visitors, he suggested there might be a way to create a Lord Tier guardian after all.

• Bai Xiaowen inspected options for changing terrain, recreating creatures, and adding special resources, noting the different Psionic Particle costs.
• Li Shuyi and Qiao Rui reacted to the resource options, while Qiao Rui noted that the team could not keep all the resources because the space had to open to outsiders under its agreement with the Awakened Association.
• Bai Xiaowen concluded that special resources would attract visitors, but creatures also needed to protect them from overexploitation, so he had to balance the two uses of his reserves.
• Li Shuyi warned that the space lacked a Lord Tier creature, and Qiao Rui suggested restricting entry to major guilds; Han Xu proposed a guardian that sometimes left its post, like the Eagle King at Broken-Spine Mountain Grand Rift.
• Qiao Rui said the space’s low Psionic Particle intensity made creating a Lord Tier creature too costly, but Bai Xiaowen studied the native inhabitants and said there might be another way.

Bai Xiaowen reshaped Hua Yurong into a powerful Demon Ghost Lord and designed the Treasure Ground Space to lure and control Awakened Ones. He completed the space’s main defenses and resource layout, leaving entry to Locust King Village limited by a hunt for Ghost Spirit Disguises.

• Bai Xiaowen restored Uncle Liu Si and Hua Yurong without their original memories, then ordered Uncle Liu Si to infuse Hua Yurong with geomantic baleful energy.
• Hua Yurong became a level 9 Demon Ghost Lord, and Bai Xiaowen arranged for her to sleep in the dry well until Uncle Liu Si’s Life Value fell below a set point.
• Bai Xiaowen made the Hua Family Old Residence the space’s richest Resource Point by adding Jade-Phosphor Flowers and an Yinwind Stone vein.
• Bai Xiaowen reshaped Substitute Death Ghosts and stationed them around Locust King Village, while declining to restore the other ghost types.
• Bai Xiaowen spent 30,000 Psionic Particles to preserve the ghostly fog and set the number of Substitute Death Ghosts at one hundred, limiting village entry to at most twenty Awakened Ones.