Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Ye Qianfan realizes a suspicious wall in the ancestral hall conceals a hidden room—the Night Watchman’s apparent refuge.
• Inside, he and Shen Lang find a cramped, cluttered room with a carefully maintained altar. Its memorial tablets name Huang Moli and Huang Yuanyuan, the Evil God and her mother.
• Ye suspects the Night Watchman is Huang Moli’s father and Huang Yuanyuan’s husband, but the dates on the tablets suggest Huang Moli died nearly a century ago, making his identity—and apparent age—impossible to explain.
• The two consider capturing the Night Watchman for answers when he comes out that night. Before they can act, his calls resume, and the sky over the Ghost Village begins to darken. An unnatural wind brings in storm clouds, suggesting he can control the weather within the barrier.
• The Night Watchman calls, “Two to a room, beware the thunder,” leaving the others alarmed and confused.

Character developments

• Ye Qianfan draws connections between the hidden room, the memorial tablets, and the Night Watchman, while remaining cautious about conclusions that do not fit the evidence.
• Shen Lang helps inspect the altar and notices the dates that undermine Ye’s theory. He also checks the sky and recognizes the danger of the worsening weather.
• The Night Watchman appears increasingly powerful and mysterious: he may be connected to the Evil God’s family and seems able to influence the village’s weather.

Character interactions

• Ye and Shen investigate the hidden room together, comparing observations and testing a theory about the Night Watchman’s identity.
• Shen challenges Ye’s initial explanation by pointing out the century-old death dates.
• Their investigation is interrupted by the Night Watchman’s calls, prompting Shen to warn Ye that they should leave.

Significant themes

• Hidden histories and uncertain identity: The secret room and family tablets hint at a buried connection, but their dates deepen the mystery.
• Faith amid hardship: Despite living in severe poverty, the Night Watchman preserves offerings for his ancestors.
• The supernatural and loss of control: The changing weather suggests the Night Watchman’s calls may have real power, turning a strange investigation into an immediate threat.

Key plot points and events

• Only seven people remain, and they have been moved from single rooms to shared rooms, raising suspicions that they may be targeted.
• Ye Qianfan and Shen Lang help the injured Fugui back to the village. Ye conceals the real cause of Fugui’s injury, claiming a snake bit him.
• The group compares what they discovered: the shaman has food taken from an offering site, the young monk found a graveyard, and the rescued farmer found drinkable water.
• The Roving Exorcist Disciple reveals that he found an Old Almanac and offers to trade information. Ye asks for the Evil God’s true name, questioning whether it is really “Nini.”
• The young monk confirms there is no grave in the cemetery bearing that name. Ye agrees to exchange clues, and several characters read the almanac.
• Its entry says June 3 is auspicious for burial and sacrificial rites. Since the assessment began June 1 and it is now June 2, Ye concludes that tomorrow is the correct burial date.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye is guarded and strategic: he hides information about Fugui’s injury and uses the suspected false name “Nini” to test the others’ findings.
• The Roving Exorcist Disciple is eager to secure the Evil God’s true name, but protects his almanac by making it conditional on a trade.
• The young monk’s discovery helps challenge the claim that “Nini” is the Evil God’s name.
• Shen Lang and Fugui share in examining the almanac, while the group’s discoveries become bargaining chips in their uneasy cooperation.

Significant themes

• Suspicion and concealment: Characters share only what they choose, and even straightforward explanations may be false.
• Information as currency: Clues are traded, and survival depends on judging which knowledge is reliable.
• Ritual and timing: The almanac’s date suggests that understanding the rules of burial and sacrifice is crucial to surviving the assessment.

Key events

• During a storm, Ye Qianfan whispers the clue “Huang Moli” to the Roving Exorcist Disciple.
• The group must split into pairs under the Night Watchman’s rule that two people may stay in each house. The other four quickly pair off, leaving Ye Qianfan, Shen Lang, and the injured Fugui together.
• Though this odd-numbered group appears to put someone at risk, Ye Qianfan chooses to stay with Fugui and Shen Lang. He reasons that the arrangement helps conceal his unusual identity: he does not count as human to the gods and ghosts, so the house still effectively has two human occupants.
• As the rain begins, the group returns to their rooms. Fugui apologizes for being a burden, but Shen Lang explains that Ye Qianfan previously survived a night alone by using a supposed Concealment Art.
• Reassured, Fugui pledges his loyalty to Ye Qianfan, recognizing that Ye saved his life.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Qianfan shows strategic generosity: protecting Fugui also helps keep suspicion away from himself and earns Fugui’s trust.
• Fugui moves from guilt and self-doubt to gratitude and devotion.
• Shen Lang supports Ye by presenting his survival as evidence of a hidden-sect technique, strengthening Fugui’s confidence in him.
• The Roving Exorcist Disciple questions Ye’s risky choice, but Ye keeps his reasons to himself.

Significant themes

• Trust and obligation: Ye’s decision creates a bond, and Fugui responds with a promise of loyalty.
• Survival through deception: The characters manage danger by interpreting rules carefully and hiding what they really know.
• Self-interest beneath apparent kindness: Ye helps Fugui, but also uses the situation to protect his own cover and improve his position.

Key plot points and events

• The Night Watchman passes through a deadly rainstorm, protected by an unseen barrier. The rain causes nearby plants to wither, reinforcing the danger of remaining outdoors.
• His chant includes two new lines: “If no offering is given, tomorrow a vote” and “A pleased Deity means villagers free of worry.”
• Ye Qianfan infers that, because six people are staying two to a room, the group may avoid making an offering today. If no one dies, they may have to vote tomorrow on who will be sacrificed.
• Fugui offers himself as a possible choice, fearing he will not survive the trial.
• Shen Lang and Ye Qianfan point out that the spirit medium who left the temple carrying an Offering Plate may still die that night, potentially preventing a vote.
• Ye asks why Fugui joined such a deadly trial despite being wealthy. Fugui explains that he sought power after powerful officials and authorities ruined his restaurant through unpaid meals, heavy taxes, and demands for a share of his business.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Qianfan quickly interprets the Night Watchman’s new warning and questions Fugui’s motives.
• Fugui reveals his fear and resignation, then shares the financial abuses that drove him to seek power.
• Shen Lang tries to reassure Fugui by suggesting the spirit medium may die before the group has to vote.
• The three discuss how the trial’s rules may force them to choose a victim, while attempting to comfort one another.

Significant themes

• Survival under coercion: The group faces a choice between an offering and a vote that could turn them against one another.
• Institutional corruption and exploitation: Fugui’s story shows how officials can strip wealth from those who lack political power.
• Power and security: Fugui pursued power not simply for ambition, but to protect himself from people who could exploit him.
• Uncertainty and fatalism: The lethal rain and unclear rules leave the characters fearing that survival may depend on events beyond their control.

Key events

• Fugui explains why he set out to gain power: a powerful man demanded half of his restaurant’s revenue in exchange for protection. Since that would leave Fugui losing money even when business improved, he refused and resolved to qualify for the Demon-Quelling Office.
• Fugui invites Shen Lang and Ye Qianfan to swear brotherhood, promising they will support one another if they survive Ghost Village.
• Ye Qianfan encourages Shen Lang to accept, and the three perform a sworn-brotherhood ritual, pledging to share both fortune and hardship.
• Unnatural rain continues through the night, keeping everyone inside. At dawn, it suddenly stops, and the villagers emerge from their houses.

Character developments and interactions

• Fugui’s ambition is grounded in the vulnerability of ordinary people without influence; his story clarifies that he sought authority not for prestige alone, but to protect his livelihood from exploitation.
• Shen Lang presents himself as someone who “covets power,” though Ye Qianfan suspects he has a distinguished background based on his bearing and unusual purple-gold aura.
• Ye Qianfan actively seeks Shen Lang’s friendship, while also welcoming Fugui’s proposal. Shen Lang initially hesitates but is persuaded by Ye’s words, and the three become sworn brothers.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Without influence, people can be forced into unfair arrangements.
• Solidarity and trust: The men choose to face danger together rather than rely solely on themselves.
• Unease and mystery: The unnatural rain and its abrupt end reinforce the danger surrounding Ghost Village.

Key plot points and events

• Ye Qianfan and his two companions emerge unharmed after sharing a room, surprising the others, who had expected one of them to die.
• The spirit medium mocks the trio, but Ye turns the accusation back on him: other people selected as offerings died, so how did he survive?
• The group recalls the Night Watchman’s warning that they would need to vote for an offering today. The Roving Exorcist Disciple interprets this as a sign that refusing to vote could anger the deity.
• The spirit medium proposes sacrificing Fatty, framing it as a merciful way to let him die naturally.
• Ye recognizes this as a political maneuver: the Disciple’s faction wants to unite everyone against Fatty before Ye’s group can use its three votes strategically.
• Ye counters by pointing out that his group has discovered the Evil God’s Graveyard and the burial day, giving them a way to complete the trial. The spirit medium has only an Offering Plate and no clear plan for success.

Character developments

• Ye Qianfan stays composed and sharp, exposes the opposing faction’s strategy, and uses his group’s discoveries as leverage.
• The Roving Exorcist Disciple increasingly acts like a faction leader, trying to control the vote and prevent Ye’s group from influencing it.
• The spirit medium shows open hostility toward Ye’s group and serves as the Disciple’s apparent tool for nominating Fatty.
• Fatty becomes the proposed offering, though he does not speak in this excerpt.

Character interactions

• Ye and the spirit medium trade barbs over their survival, with Ye challenging the medium’s right to question others.
• The Disciple intervenes to calm the dispute and steer discussion toward the vote.
• The spirit medium targets Fatty, while Ye retaliates by arguing that the medium is the more expendable one.

Significant themes

• Survival and sacrifice: The group must decide who will be offered, and “kindness” is used to disguise self-serving choices.
• Power and manipulation: Voting is a contest over alliances and numbers, not just a ritual obligation.
• Knowledge as leverage: Ye’s clues about the graveyard and burial date give his group an advantage over those with only an offering tool.

Key events

• The group must choose two people as offerings to escape. The shaman argues that, with only two plates needed, someone must die and urges the others to focus on Ye Qianfan’s group.
• Ye points out that the group is still two offerings short, then refuses to participate in choosing victims: he abstains, saying no one has the right to take another person’s life.
• Shen Lang follows suit, and Fugui abstains as well, honoring their promise to stand together.
• The remaining participants agree to vote among themselves. The Roving Exorcist Disciple assigns each person a designation and supplies wood and charcoal for a secret ballot.
• The shaman asks whether he can still vote for someone who abstained. The disciple says anyone’s name may be written, then gathers the ballots and prepares to read them. The outcome is not yet revealed.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Qianfan takes a moral stand rather than helping select a victim, implicitly resisting the shaman’s attempt to pressure the group.
• Shen Lang recognizes Ye’s intention and supports him immediately. Fugui, though confused, follows because of his loyalty to the two men.
• The shaman grows increasingly anxious and hostile, accusing Ye of dividing the group and seeming to target Fugui. He also ingratiates himself with the Roving Exorcist Disciple.
• The Roving Exorcist Disciple takes charge of the voting process. Ye suspects he may have encouraged the shaman to demand Fugui’s death.

Significant themes

• Moral responsibility: Abstaining is presented as a refusal to take part in an unjust killing.
• Loyalty and solidarity: Shen Lang and Fugui stand with Ye despite the danger and uncertainty.
• Power and manipulation: The shaman uses fear and flattery to influence the group, while the voting procedure turns life-or-death decisions into a supposedly impersonal process.

Plot points and events

• As the group prepares to count the life-or-death votes, Ye Qianfan and Shen Lang reassure the frightened Fugui that he will be safe.
• The Roving Exorcist Disciple reveals the votes one by one. The first is for the spirit medium, who protests; the second is for the “fatty,” making the spirit medium gloat and insult him.
• Ye Qianfan silences the spirit medium by stuffing mud in his mouth and threatening him with a dagger. The spirit medium’s companions do nothing to intervene.
• The final count is two votes for the spirit medium, one for Ye Qianfan, and one for the fatty. The spirit medium discovers that the fatty’s vote was his own, and is stunned that the others chose him instead.

Character developments

• Ye Qianfan acts decisively and aggressively to protect his companion and control the spirit medium.
• The spirit medium shifts from smugly condemning the fatty to panic and disbelief when he learns he has received the most votes.
• Fugui is visibly anxious but calms after Ye Qianfan and Shen Lang reassure him.
• Shen Lang reinforces Ye Qianfan’s confidence by mocking the spirit medium’s fractured group.

Themes

• Betrayal and fractured loyalty: The vote exposes divisions among the spirit medium’s allies.
• Power and intimidation: Ye Qianfan uses threats to silence the spirit medium, while the others’ inaction shows how isolated he has become.
• Irony and reversal: The spirit medium condemns the fatty, only to discover that his own vote is the sole one against him.

Character interactions

• Ye Qianfan and Shen Lang comfort Fugui and present a united front.
• The spirit medium insults the fatty, prompting Ye Qianfan to threaten him into silence.
• The spirit medium’s companions refuse to defend him, while the vote count leaves him isolated and bewildered.

Key plot points and events

• The Roving Exorcist Disciple reveals he knew the spirit dancer had kept the last two Offering Plates. He discovered the dancer’s double sneaking into his room to steal his Old Almanac, tracked it, and worked out how the dancer had entered the temple alone yet returned with a plate.
• The disciple admits he voted against the dancer because the group is two offerings short and would eventually have to sacrifice him anyway.
• Enraged, the spirit dancer beats his Human-Skin Drum, intending to summon his great spirit and kill the group before he can be offered.
• Before anyone can intervene, the summoned spirit turns on him. A skeletal hand tears out his organs, and he dies, bitterly condemning the spirits and demons he had served.

Character developments and interactions

• The Roving Exorcist Disciple exposes the dancer’s secret and justifies his betrayal as a desperate choice for the group’s survival. The dancer responds with fury, rejecting the disciple’s claim that the sacrifice is for everyone’s benefit.
• Ye Qianfan, Shen Lang, Fugui, the little monk, and the others prepare to fight the dancer, but the danger resolves itself when his own spirit kills him.
• The dancer’s final words reveal his disillusionment: despite a lifetime of service, he believes his patron treated him as a disposable slave.

Significant themes

• Betrayal and survival: The group’s need for offerings drives them to turn on one of their own.
• Servitude and exploitation: The dancer realizes that those he served never valued him, only used him.
• The danger of supernatural power: The spirit he sought to command proves uncontrollable—and hostile.

Key plot points and events

• After the spirit medium dies, the Evil God’s barrier continues to act on his remains. His organs are kneaded into a blood-red dough, while his skeleton crawls out of his body and turns his flesh and skin into a black flatbread.
• These two grisly dishes complete the seven offerings. The group gathers them and follows the little monk toward the graveyard, hoping to resolve the situation and leave the barrier.
• Ye Qianfan wonders whether the fleeing skull is a demon that could be sealed with his Mirror of a Hundred Demons.

Character developments and interactions

• Fugui remains shaken by the spirit medium’s death and fears he might have suffered the same fate if the vote had gone differently. Ye Qianfan warns him not to dwell on things that seem wrong, while Shen Lang reassures him that events have followed their course. Fugui gradually calms down.
• Because Fugui is injured, his group carries only the largest plate, containing the Five-Meat Cake. The others avoid handling the offerings made from the spirit medium’s remains; the Roving Exorcist Disciple takes them without hesitation.
• The group agrees that leaving quickly is their priority and relies on the little monk to guide them to the graveyard.

Significant themes

• The uncanny and bodily horror: The spirit medium’s body is transformed into offerings through impossible, ritual-like processes.
• Fate and consequences: Shen Lang frames the spirit medium’s death as the result of seeds he had sown.
• Fear and self-preservation: The characters avoid looking too closely at the disturbing scene and focus on escaping the barrier.

Plot and events

• The group searches for the Old Almanac, and the monk accidentally discovers a hidden graveyard after slipping off a cliff while fetching water.
• The graveyard is a chaotic mass burial ground, with poorly covered graves and hastily placed headstones—evidence that the villagers fear the place.
• The Roving Exorcist Disciple reveals the clue he obtained from Ye Qianfan: they must find Huang Moli’s grave, identified as the Evil God’s headstone, and bury a Cinerary Urn there to pass the test.
• He shares the clue with the others, apparently to speed up the search. Someone soon finds Huang Moli’s grave at the tallest mound, and the disciple heads toward it.

Character developments and interactions

• Fugui is furious that the disciple has freely shared information obtained through a deal, while their side kept the Old Almanac clue secret. The disciple defends himself, arguing that cooperation benefits everyone and inviting Fugui to share his own clue.
• Ye Qianfan stops Fugui from escalating the argument and sees through the disciple’s apparent generosity: he suspects the disciple has already used the Old Almanac’s contents to gain the others’ cooperation.
• Ye then revises that interpretation. He believes the disciple is not merely currying favor—he is using the others to test whether the grave is safe before approaching it himself. Fugui recognizes the danger and follows to investigate.

Significant themes

• Trust and exploitation: The characters debate whether sharing clues is genuine cooperation or a way to manipulate others.
• Risk and self-preservation: The disciple may be putting others in danger to test the graveyard’s hazards.
• Fear of the unknown: The villagers’ hurried burials and the graveyard’s oppressive condition suggest a place everyone fears, heightening the danger of the test.

Plot points

• Ye Qianfan, the young monk, and the Roving Exorcist Disciple reach Huang Moli’s grave, where a farmer-clothed young man has already uncovered a Demon-Quelling Office token.
• Convinced he has found the correct burial site and can pass the assessment, the young man places a Cinerary Urn in a hole. The surrounding sand collapses and begins swallowing him.
• The young monk tries to rescue him, but the Roving Exorcist Disciple warns that anything swallowed by the sand turns to sand as well; pulling him out could injure or kill him.
• The Disciple notices that offerings near the headstone remain undisturbed and tells everyone to place their offerings there, hoping this will halt the sinking. It fails, and the young man disappears beneath the sand.
• Unable to explain what went wrong, the Disciple suspects they may be at the wrong grave. Ye Qianfan insists Huang Moli is significant, pointing to an abandoned ancestral shrine where the child’s spirit tablets sit above those of the ancestors.
• The Disciple and monk leave to investigate the shrine. Ye Qianfan remains behind, still questioning why the attempt failed.

Character developments and interactions

• The young man shifts from triumphant confidence to desperate pleading, offering money and service in exchange for rescue.
• The young monk acts out of compassion and instinctively tries to save him, while the Roving Exorcist Disciple restrains him and takes charge of the response.
• The Disciple is practical and observant, but his confidence falters when his proposed solution fails. He then turns suspiciously toward Ye Qianfan.
• Ye Qianfan stays composed and defends the truth of his information, but the unresolved failure leaves him uncertain too.
• The monk and Disciple cooperate in trying to help, while their exchanges with Ye Qianfan become tense as they debate the grave’s identity.

Significant themes

• The danger of acting on incomplete clues: the token and burial ritual seem to confirm the site, yet the attempt ends in disaster.
• The limits of reason and quick solutions when confronting supernatural forces.
• Compassion versus caution, as the monk’s urge to rescue clashes with the Disciple’s fear that intervention will make things worse.

Plot points and events

• Shen Lang concludes that the remaining mystery lies in the crossed-out names in the family register. Learning what happened to those people may reveal the missing link in the Ghost Village’s history.
• The group decides the Night Watchman is their best source of information and plans to capture and question him.
• Ye Qianfan, Shen Lang, and Fugui hide in the woods near the ancestral hall to ambush him. Fugui stays close to Ye because his mobility is limited.
• The Night Watchman bolts from the hall, pursued by the Roving Exorcist Disciple, who attacks him with rice grains charged with a red, lethal force. The grains hit hard, but the elderly Night Watchman keeps running, with black vapor rising from his back.
• The Night Watchman follows the same route into the woods. The group stays concealed, hoping to catch him without frightening him into fleeing.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Qianfan remains observant and composed: he reassures the worried Fugui, predicts the Night Watchman’s appearance, and tells the others when to prepare.
• Fugui’s difficulty walking makes him dependent on Ye’s protection, and he openly voices concern about the long wait.
• The Roving Exorcist Disciple’s rice-based attack reveals an unusual combat ability, while the Night Watchman’s resilience suggests he may be more than an ordinary old man.
• The group works together on a deliberate ambush, relying on secrecy and patience rather than confronting the Night Watchman openly.

Significant themes

• Uncovering hidden history: The crossed-out names may hold the key to the village’s unresolved past.
• Mystery and the supernatural: The rice attack, the Night Watchman’s strange endurance, and the black vapor deepen the chapter’s supernatural tension.
• Patience and strategy: The characters must restrain themselves and wait carefully to secure the information they need.

Plot and events

• The Roving Exorcist Disciple and the young monk abandon their pursuit of the Night Watchman, fearing the dangers in the woods. They return to the ancestral hall to investigate the room he fled from.
• Ye Qianfan captures the Night Watchman and binds him in a dilapidated house, demanding to know what happened and why he made offerings to Huang Moli and Huang Yuanyuan.
• The Night Watchman denies knowing anything. Ye Qianfan stabs him to force an answer, but the wound quickly stops bleeding and begins to heal, revealing that the man has a special, apparently immortal body.
• With this discovery, Ye Qianfan escalates the interrogation, painfully lifting the man’s fingernail. The Night Watchman begs for mercy.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Qianfan is ruthless and calculating: he uses torture, but insists he knows how far he can go and that the Night Watchman will survive.
• The Night Watchman shifts from denial to pleading once Ye Qianfan exploits his unusual healing ability.
• Fugui is disturbed by Ye Qianfan’s brutality and fears he may kill the captive.
• Shen Lang trusts Ye Qianfan’s judgment and stops Fugui from intervening; he admires Ye’s control.
• The Roving Exorcist Disciple and the young monk choose caution over pursuit and resume their search for clues.

Significant themes

• Mercy versus coercion: The group disagrees over whether torture is justified to uncover the truth.
• Hidden nature and power: The Night Watchman’s rapid healing changes the balance of the interrogation.
• Trust and judgment: Shen Lang defers to Ye Qianfan, while Fugui questions his methods.

Key plot points and events

• Ye Qianfan tortures the Night Watchman by repeatedly pulling off his fingernails, threatening to continue until he confesses.
• The Night Watchman reveals that he has lived for over a hundred years and has an extraordinary ability to recover from injuries. He says Huang Yuanyuan and Huang Moli trapped him in this place long ago as punishment, and that he no longer wants to live.
• Shen Lang is surprised by the Night Watchman’s age and asks how Ye Qianfan suspected the truth. Ye Qianfan explains that he noticed the Night Watchman had no wound after being struck by the Roving Exorcist Disciple.
• The Night Watchman confirms that Huang Yuanyuan was his wife and Huang Moli was their child. Pressed about the family’s history and the village’s fate, he breaks down, blaming himself—but Ye Qianfan demands facts rather than remorse.
• The Night Watchman finally starts his account, revealing that he came from a neighboring village and that “Huang” is not his surname. The chapter ends before he explains further.

Character developments

• Ye Qianfan is perceptive and relentless: he deduces the Night Watchman’s unusual recovery, then uses intimidation to force a confession.
• The Night Watchman shifts from denial to painful honesty. His guilt over his family and village is profound, but he is also desperate to escape his endless isolation.
• Shen Lang is impressed by Ye Qianfan’s deduction and learns that the Night Watchman’s history is far older than it first appeared.

Significant themes

• Guilt and atonement: The Night Watchman sees himself as responsible for the village’s condition and has been left to suffer for it.
• Immortality as torment: His ability to survive and recover offers no comfort; instead, it prolongs pain and loneliness.
• Truth forced by suffering: The interrogation exposes the past, though the Night Watchman’s confession remains incomplete.

Character interactions

• Ye Qianfan confronts and tortures the Night Watchman, repeatedly steering him away from self-pity and toward concrete answers.
• Shen Lang questions Ye Qianfan’s insight, and Ye Qianfan explains how he spotted the Night Watchman’s recovery.
• The Night Watchman speaks of Huang Yuanyuan and Huang Moli with guilt and despair, while asking the group to take him away.

Key plot points

• The Night Watchman reveals he is from a neighboring village and tells the story behind Mo Li’s death.
• He and Yuan Yuan were childhood sweethearts, but debt forced him to become the Huang village chief’s live-in son-in-law. Yuan Yuan became pregnant, and he hid the child’s paternity to protect her from his jealous wife.
• After Yuan Yuan gave birth, the village shunned her and her family cast her out. The Night Watchman secretly provided for her and Mo Li.
• His wife discovered the secret and demanded he choose between them. Yuan Yuan took her own life, hoping to protect their daughter.
• When Mo Li was seven, drought struck. A spirit medium claimed a child must be sacrificed to the Dragon King, and the Night Watchman’s wife offered Mo Li. The Night Watchman watched helplessly as the villagers drowned her in a well.
• The sacrifice brought no rain. Instead, those who participated began dying. Mo Li’s spirit also prevented their memorial tablets from remaining in the ancestral hall, so the village chief removed the perpetrators from the clan register and had their tablets burned.

Character developments and interactions

• The Night Watchman admits his lifelong cowardice and guilt: he failed to protect both Yuan Yuan and Mo Li, though he loved them.
• Yuan Yuan’s final act reflects her devotion to Mo Li; the Night Watchman’s wife is portrayed as jealous and cruel.
• Ye Qianfan reacts with horror to Mo Li’s drowning and questions why the villagers chose such a brutal method.
• The villagers’ fear and superstition lead them to sacrifice a vulnerable child; afterward, Mo Li’s apparent vengeance turns against those responsible.

Significant themes

• Cowardice and guilt: The Night Watchman’s inability to act shapes his remorse.
• Prejudice and scapegoating: Mo Li is targeted because she is orphaned and powerless.
• Superstition and collective cruelty: The drought ritual gives the village a justification for murder.
• Love, sacrifice, and vengeance: Yuan Yuan sacrifices herself for her daughter, while Mo Li’s spirit seeks justice.

Key plot points and events

• The Night Watchman explains that Mo Li’s spirit tablets would not burn; villagers believed she had become a water ghost and threw the tablets into the only well during a drought.
• Despite rituals intended to appease her—including building a temple and restoring her mother’s place in the family genealogy—people continued to die. The old woman who led the temple consecration also died after using well water.
• The deaths were caused not by a ghost, but by contaminated water: Mo Li’s corpse had remained in the well, poisoning it. Villagers who drank from it eventually died.
• The Night Watchman says attempts to retrieve his daughter’s body failed because anyone approaching the well was pulled in by a black, ghostly force. He watched Ye Qianfan approach safely, hoping to learn how to reach the body.
• Ye Qianfan realizes the urns taken from the Evil God’s temple contained the ashes of Mo Li’s murderers. The old woman had ordered their remains placed there to make them suffer for their crime. This explains why people who took the offering plates or urns were doomed.

Character developments and interactions

• The Night Watchman reveals his guilt and grief: he believes Mo Li resents him for failing to save her. His long-standing efforts to recover her body have been thwarted by the force guarding the well.
• Ye Qianfan pieces together the mystery, recognizing the connection between the contaminated well and the urns. He confronts the Night Watchman directly about the urns and their contents, then reacts with horrified understanding.
• Their exchange shifts from an apparent haunting mystery to a clearer account of the village’s history and the deaths tied to its rituals.

Significant themes

• Superstition versus material causes: What villagers attributed to a vengeful spirit was, at least in part, the consequence of poisoned water.
• Guilt and failed justice: Mo Li’s murder was followed by rituals meant to punish her killers, but neither those rituals nor the village’s attempts at appeasement restored her or stopped the deaths.
• The persistence of harm: The body left in the well and the murderers’ ashes in the temple bind the village to its past, turning unresolved wrongdoing into ongoing danger.

Key plot points and events

• The group decides they must retrieve the remains from the well and bury them promptly, while Ye Qianfan insists someone should stay behind to watch the Night Watchman.
• Before Fugui can volunteer, Ye stabs the Night Watchman, explaining that the old man’s smile made him suspicious.
• Ye reveals the Night Watchman has hidden a serrated strip of metal inside his palm and has been using it to saw through the rope binding him.
• Ye breaks the Night Watchman’s hand to stop him escaping, then opens his abdomen, suggesting he believes the old man has concealed something inside his body.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Qianfan proves relentlessly suspicious and willing to use extreme violence when he senses a threat. He supports his instincts with evidence: the hidden blade and nearly severed rope.
• Fugui initially pities the Night Watchman and argues for treating him compassionately, but changes his view once he sees the escape attempt.
• Shen Lang agrees that the remains should be buried quickly and is shocked by the escalating violence.
• The Night Watchman is revealed to be cunning and actively plotting escape, though he protests that he has already told the group everything.

Significant themes

• Suspicion and survival: Ye’s distrust appears excessive until the hidden weapon proves his fears justified.
• Cruelty versus compassion: Fugui’s sympathy clashes with Ye’s conviction that mercy toward a dangerous captive is unwise.
• Escalating horror: The scene shifts from a practical burial plan to graphic violence, leaving the group—and the reader—to wonder what else the Night Watchman may be hiding.

Key plot points and events

• Ye Qianfan discovers that the Night Watchman hid the Bronze Gong inside his own abdomen. He realizes the object was there because his dagger struck something hard when he stabbed the old man.
• The Night Watchman admits that Ye’s suspicion exposed him, and regrets acting too soon.
• Ye asks why the Night Watchman tried to stop them if he wants release from his post. The old man reveals he feared that burying his daughter’s remains would make her vanish from his life forever.
• He explains that he agreed to serve the Demon-Quelling Office so his daughter could have a safe home, but resents being forced to use her spirit as part of the Nuo Master selection process.
• Shen Lang takes the Bronze Gong and volunteers to keep watch over the dangerous old man while Ye retrieves the remains. Ye questions whether Shen is “ruthless enough,” and Shen suddenly understands what he means.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Qianfan proves observant and resourceful by figuring out where the Gong was hidden. Hearing the Night Watchman’s story, he falls silent, recognizing the misery behind the old man’s actions.
• The Night Watchman is revealed as a grieving father whose hostility toward the candidates stems from fear and resentment, not merely cruelty. His love for his daughter has trapped him in an impossible bargain.
• Shen Lang offers to guard the Night Watchman, but Ye’s pointed question suggests the task may require a harsher choice than Shen first realizes.
• Ye and the Night Watchman confront each other over the Gong and the daughter’s remains; Shen then steps in to take responsibility for the prisoner.

Significant themes

• Grief and attachment: The Night Watchman cannot bear the prospect of losing even the last trace of his daughter.
• Sacrifice and exploitation: He secured her safety by agreeing to a system that uses her spirit to test candidates.
• Moral compromise: The chapter questions how far someone must go to survive or protect another person in a cruel world.
• A merciless world: Ye’s reaction reflects the sense that suffering spares no one.

Plot points and events

• Ye Qianfan beheads the seemingly immortal Night Watchman with one clean strike of the Biting Fang Dagger.
• The severed head remains alive, blinking and making sounds, and rolls to Shen Lang’s feet, frightening him. Ye explains that removing the head is how to restrain the creature—and says they may have to repeat it if another head grows.
• Fugui offers to stay behind and guard the Night Watchman while Ye and Shen Lang retrieve the bodies. Ye gives him the dagger and instructs him to cut off any new head immediately.
• After the others leave, Fugui admits to himself that he is terrified, but hid his fear so they could proceed without worrying.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Qianfan shows remarkable composure and skill with the dagger, though he privately wonders why killing a person felt so effortless and whether Ye Fu’s influence is responsible. He accepts Fugui’s offer and trusts him with the task.
• Shen Lang is visibly shaken by the living severed head and readily agrees to leave with Ye.
• Fugui initially presents himself as unafraid and volunteers to help despite his injured leg. Once alone, he reveals his fear, showing his concern for his companions and willingness to act bravely for their sake.
• Fugui admires Ye’s precise knife work and jokes about his past as a butcher; Ye answers simply that he was one.

Significant themes

• Bravery despite fear: Fugui’s courage comes not from being unafraid but from choosing not to burden his friends.
• The uncanny and grotesque: The Night Watchman’s survival after decapitation turns an apparently practical solution into a disturbing spectacle.
• Violence and moral unease: Ye’s ease in killing unsettles him, prompting questions about how his past or another influence may have changed him.