Arc 11The Burning of Poplar Blossom Town
Qi Si and the Players uncovered how ghosts, scarecrows, and the tiger demon shaped Poplar Blossom Town, while factions and shifting identities forced them into a plan to survive. Tang Yu killed the tiger demon as Qi Si burned the town and exposed Meng Fang’s role, but Qi Si and Qiu Xin were left separated from Lin Chen after the fire went out.
- Qi Si and Lin Chen investigated the corpse pit and the lodging house, finding clues about the town’s planned destruction and learning that Luo Haihua and Luo Jianhua survived as spirits.
- Qi Si followed the funeral procession and discovered that the townspeople were scarecrows inhabited by ghosts, while the bamboo grove trapped Lin Chen and Tang Yu among scarecrows.
- Qi Si and the others learned that fire revealed Xiyi and that, at midnight, ghosts moved between scarecrow bodies as the townspeople became invisible straw tigers.
- Qi Si led the Players to the Mountain God, where Lin Chen became a Tiger’s Thrall, leaving Tang Yu as the only human and the target of the group’s plan to create a wraith.
- Tang Yu accepted the risk of dying in the bamboo grove, while Qi Si prepared to burn the town and learned more about Meng Fang’s connection to the Instance.
- Qi Si and Qiu Xin set Poplar Blossom Town ablaze as Tang Yu led Lin Chen through the grove and killed the tiger demon, completing the main quest.
- Meng Fang recounted how a deity had used contracts, wraiths, and altered memories to control the town, while Qi Si accused him of sacrificing its people.
- Qi Si and Qiu Xin found straw fakes in place of Luo Haihua and her husband, discovered a false account implicating Tang Yu, and lost contact with Lin Chen when the fire and Qi Si’s candle went out.