Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao agrees to sell Xie Songde ten sets of Peachwood Talismans and ordinary talismans for ¥50,000 each, promising to make more. Xie transfers ¥500,000 immediately, giving Chen Miao a possible source of funds for renovating the Funeral Home’s soul-calming room.
• Chen visits Zhong Cai, who has drawn twenty new talismans and is preparing to travel with Xiao Bai and introduce him to fellow practitioners. They exchange talismans: Chen gives Zhong a substantial supply, including two premium talismans, in return for a selection of Zhong’s rarer varieties.
• Zhong gives Chen his old compass, which can help with feng shui and detect strong yin energy within roughly 500 meters. Chen insists on compensating him with twenty talismans, despite Zhong initially asking for only ten.
• Chen asks to learn Zhong’s Turtle-Breath Yang-Locking Spell and other techniques. Zhong explains that certain arts, tools, and yin-ground locations are lineage secrets or belong to other practitioners, so he cannot share them. Chen accepts his refusal.
• Qi Ning arrives, and Chen trades him two premium talismans and two ordinary Spirit-Sealing Talismans for a Ghost Cube. The three then share a meal and conversation.
• Chen asks Zhong and Qi about curses after describing the Blood Infant Curse used against Huang Jinjin. He wants to understand other harmful mystic arts; the chapter ends as they prepare to answer.

Character developments

• Chen Miao is increasingly confident as a trader and practitioner, but he remains generous with trusted friends. He recognizes the compass’s practical value and willingly gives Zhong more than he asked for. His curiosity also shows growing awareness of dangers beyond ghosts.
• Zhong Cai shows his care for Xiao Bai by preparing to travel with him and build his connections. He is generous toward Chen, but firmly upholds his lineage’s rules and respects the origins of teachings.
• Qi Ning maintains a cooperative relationship with Chen and Zhong. He values Chen’s premium talismans enough to trade away a Ghost Cube that could make future missions safer.
• Xie Songde is anxious to protect his family after Huang Jinjin’s ordeal and trusts Chen’s talismans enough to pay in advance.

Significant themes

• Trust and reciprocity: The trades are about friendship and mutual support as much as material value; both sides judge what is fair according to their needs.
• Principles and boundaries: Zhong’s generosity has limits when lineage secrets and other practitioners’ teachings are involved.
• Preparation and protection: Characters build up supplies and tools in anticipation of dangerous supernatural encounters.
• Knowledge as responsibility: Chen seeks information about curses not for profit, but to recognize and prepare for threats.

Character interactions

• Chen reassures Xie that he will provide talismans later, while Xie reveals his fear for his family and pays upfront.
• Chen and Zhong trade openly and warmly, with Chen repeatedly giving generously; Zhong responds by sharing a useful compass.
• Zhong calmly explains why he cannot teach certain secret arts, and Chen respects the boundary rather than pressing him.
• Chen and Qi exchange talismans for the Ghost Cube, strengthening their practical alliance.
• Over dinner, Chen turns to both men for advice about the Blood Infant Curse, drawing on their experience and knowledge.

Key plot points and events

• Qi Ning explains that the Shannan City Administration has limited investigators and must prioritize genuine supernatural emergencies. He offers to visit if Chen Miao’s contacts notice further clues about the suspected incident, which may have been deliberately caused.
• Zhong Cai explains that “curse arts” cover many techniques, including spells, feng shui formations, and methods such as the Pressure Curse and Head-Down Curse. The latter two generally target living people.
• He describes three forms of the Pressure Curse:
  • Architectural: Objects are placed during construction to affect a building and its occupants.
  • Object-based: Modified objects act as vessels for a curse; familiar folk practices may offer comfort but do not actually ward off ghosts.
  • Body-based: Personal traces or possessions are used to target someone.
• Zhong Cai recounts watching a victim suffer unexplained wounds and die from a broken neck. An expert later caught the culprit, who had used the victim’s hair, blood, and birth details to cast the curse.
• He reassures Chen Miao that a curse requires suitable, sufficiently fresh mediums, and that repeated casting is dangerous to the caster. Hair, blood, and personal items lose their connection to a person within a day.

Character developments and interactions

• Qi Ning is cautious and practical: he recognizes the suspected incident may be intentional but must follow the Administration’s procedures before requesting help.
• Chen Miao asks probing questions, learning how curses work and how to protect himself. His anxiety rises at the idea of personal objects being used against him, then eases when Zhong Cai explains the limits.
• Zhong Cai acts as an experienced teacher, sharing both technical knowledge and a disturbing memory from his youth. He also becomes curious about the limits of Chen Miao’s own Incense-Burning Method.

Significant themes

• Supernatural power has rules and costs: curses require appropriate mediums, and repeated use can kill the caster.
• Knowledge is incomplete even among cultivators; explanations of concepts such as “energy fields” remain uncertain.
• Ordinary protective customs may provide psychological comfort without genuine supernatural effect.
• Personal belongings and physical traces can create vulnerability—but only within strict limits.

Key plot points and events

• Zhong Cai explains that the Pressure Curse and Head-Down Curse are difficult to trace. The Administration treats the Head-Down Curse as an evil art, and investigators often follow the materials used to cast it. Qi Ning advises Chen Miao that the curse against Huang Jinjin’s child may have come from someone with a personal grievance, so Chen messages her to watch those around her.
• Qi Ning gives Zhong Cai identification papers and advises him to register with local Administrations while traveling, making official dealings easier for an independent cultivator.
• Back at Tianmen Funeral Home, Chen Miao makes a second Seven-Star Peach Wood Sword and uses the remaining peach wood to make talismans.
• Wanting to protect Shi Manman, Chen prepares a box of supernatural tools and talismans for her. He explains ghosts, resentment, yin energy, and related dangers, confirming that several former clients—including the cold-storage attendant Old Wang—were already ghosts.
• Shi Manman asks for two days off to attend a relative’s funeral. Later, she calls Chen with an unusual request: her uncle-in-law’s father died before finishing his instructions about an inheritance and a jar of buried gold. The family hired a fraudulent spirit medium, who took a deposit but tried to flee. With the funeral stalled, Shi asks whether Chen can summon the dead and take the job.

Character developments

• Chen Miao grows more protective and attentive toward Shi Manman, equipping her with protective items and teaching her what she needs to know for her work. He also remains practical and entrepreneurial, recognizing the potential fee in her new job lead.
• Shi Manman shows perceptiveness by deducing that earlier clients were ghosts, and her curiosity about supernatural matters deepens. She also takes initiative by seeking Chen’s help and effectively bringing him a possible job.
• Zhong Cai accepts Qi Ning’s advice about registering with local Administrations, showing a willingness to cooperate with official systems when it is useful.
• Qi Ning demonstrates expertise in curse lore while carefully avoiding disclosure of sensitive information about their use in Shannan City.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and responsibility: Chen believes Shi Manman needs supernatural knowledge because her work brings her into contact with corpses and possible ghosts.
• Protection and mentorship: Chen’s gifts and instruction show a growing sense of responsibility for his apprentice.
• Superstition, fraud, and genuine ability: The family’s encounter with a fake spirit medium contrasts with Chen’s real experience and raises the possibility of a lucrative but unusual job.
• Practicality and opportunity: Characters navigate supernatural dangers and bureaucratic systems pragmatically, while Chen also sees potential profit in his abilities.

Character interactions

• Qi Ning and Zhong Cai exchange knowledge with Chen, combining curse lore, investigative advice, and practical guidance about Administration registration.
• Chen and Shi Manman’s relationship shifts toward a more genuine master-apprentice dynamic as he gives her equipment and teaches her about ghosts; her sharp questions reveal that she has been paying attention.
• Shi Manman first asks Chen for leave, then returns with a request for help with the inheritance dispute, turning their working relationship into a possible source of new business.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao agrees to summon the spirit of Shi Manman’s grandfather, but warns that the spirit will retain only its strongest memories, which may not reveal where the missing gold is.
• Manman tells her relatives about the offer while they are arguing over the grandfather’s inheritance. Her uncle Li Qun and his family had cared for him, while his two sisters rarely visited but were still named in his final wishes.
• Though her parents warn her not to interfere, Manman insists Chen Miao is genuinely capable. Li Qun trusts her but negotiates the terms: a 250,000 deposit, refundable if Chen cannot summon the spirit. If he succeeds, the fee is owed even if the gold’s location remains unknown.
• Chen accepts the job. He drives to Li Qun’s home that night, where Manman greets him as he arrives.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao is eager to test his Mystic Art and take the substantial job, while being clear about its limitations.
• Shi Manman shows confidence and initiative, stepping into a family dispute despite her parents’ objections. Her joking threat to send ghosts after anyone who mistreats her aunt startles the adults and frightens her young cousins.
• Li Qun is practical but places enough trust in Manman to hire Chen, while ensuring the family is protected if the summoning fails.
• Shi Manman’s parents are wary of her involvement and worry she may worsen tensions with her aunt. Her aunt, Shi Yue, is initially angry about the inheritance dispute but supports proceeding with the summoning.

Significant themes

• Family conflict over inheritance: The missing gold and the grandfather’s final wishes intensify resentment among relatives.
• Trust and risk: The family must decide whether Chen’s supernatural ability is worth paying for despite uncertain results.
• Unexpected opportunity: Chen’s earlier efforts to attract clients go nowhere, but a valuable job comes through Manman instead.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao arrives at Li Qun’s family home to perform a Soul-Summoning Technique for their recently deceased father, Li Jianhong, whose lingering obsession may let his soul return. The family initially doubts Chen because of his youth and a previous fraud, but his calm manner and willingness to entrust the payment to Shi Manman earn their confidence.
• Chen prepares the ritual with seven candles arranged in the Big Dipper pattern, talismans drawn on the corpse, and a bell. At eleven, he summons Li Jianhong’s soul, which appears amid green flames.
• The siblings first assume their father’s obsession concerns a hidden jar of gold. Instead, Li Jianhong leads Chen to his room, opens a concealed compartment in an old table, and retrieves a stick and a handmade pinwheel.
• Li Jianhong carries the pinwheel to a field and waits for wind. Chen realizes this is his true unresolved wish: to relive a simple moment from childhood. Chen uses Yin Absorption to create a breeze, making the pinwheel spin briefly before Li Jianhong fades away.
• The three sons, seeing their father’s childlike joy, break down in grief. Chen picks up the pinwheel, which retains a faint trace of yin energy.

Character developments

• Chen Miao demonstrates growing confidence and skill as a spiritual practitioner. He manages the skeptical family, performs the ritual effectively, and responds compassionately once he understands Li Jianhong’s wish.
• Shi Manman assists with the ritual by grinding the ingredients and observes her first encounter with a ghost.
• Li Jianhong’s children shift from suspicion and concern about recovering supposed gold to confronting their father’s humanity and their own grief.

Significant themes

• The simplicity of human longing: Li Jianhong’s final attachment is not wealth or family affairs, but a childhood memory and a small joy he never reclaimed.
• Regret and the passage of time: The pinwheel represents a lost childhood and the life Li Jianhong spent enduring hardship.
• Family, grief, and empathy: The ritual transforms the siblings’ focus from material gain to mourning their father.
• Compassion beyond the supernatural: Chen uses his abilities not merely to complete a paid task, but to help the old man fulfill his last wish.

Character interactions

• The Li family begins wary of Chen, but his openness and professional conduct gradually earn their trust.
• Chen gives Shi Manman a practical role in the ritual, involving her in the experience rather than leaving her to watch.
• Chen directs Li Jianhong’s children to speak to their father, then follows the spirit while protecting it from being disturbed.
• Chen and Li Jianhong share a quiet, empathetic moment when Chen creates the breeze that lets the pinwheel turn; the sons’ reaction reflects their renewed connection to their father as children.

Key events

• After returning to the mourning hall, Chen Miao finishes tending to the deceased Li father and waits for his three sons.
• The brothers offer to pay Chen Miao despite his earlier agreement to waive the remaining balance. They explain that his work was valuable regardless of whether the gold their father mentioned is real.
• Li Qun’s son reports that a letter has revealed where the gold is hidden, but the brothers remain focused on honoring their father rather than celebrating the discovery.
• Chen Miao explains that the pinwheel their father used may now be a polluted object, carrying his obsession and potentially affecting whoever handles it. The brothers choose to let Chen take it away rather than risk keeping it near their families.
• Chen gives the brothers protective Peachwood and Spirit-Sealing Talismans, along with his contact information, then agrees to stay overnight.
• After learning that Chen is the funeral home’s director, Li Qun asks Shi Manman to request that Chen preside over their father’s funeral the next day.

Character developments and interactions

• The brothers show gratitude and integrity by insisting Chen be paid, even before verifying the gold. Their affection for their father conflicts with their duty to protect their own families, but they ultimately decide to surrender the pinwheel. The eldest reassures his brothers that their father would understand.
• Chen remains cautious and generous: he declines unearned payment, explains the danger of the pinwheel, offers protective talismans, and leaves the decision about the next day’s funeral to Shi Manman.
• Shi Manman acts as the link between Chen and the family. Her slip in calling him “Director” reveals his position at the funeral home.
• Li Qun responds to that revelation by recognizing Chen’s qualifications and asking him to guide the funeral.

Significant themes

• Family love and responsibility: The brothers must balance their attachment to their father with concern for their own children and households.
• Duty and fair compensation: The brothers believe Chen deserves payment for his work, while Chen insists on charging only for what he has earned.
• Grief alongside the supernatural: The pinwheel preserves something of the father’s obsession, but Chen distinguishes that remnant from the man himself, complicating the family’s mourning.
• Ritual and protection: The funeral rites, sealing of the pinwheel, and talismans offer ways to honor the dead while guarding the living.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao spends the night at the Li family home, postponing an examination of the pinwheel he suspects is a polluted object. In the morning, he watches classmate Yang Jiuhua’s livestream from an unfinished building. Jiuhua dismisses the haunting rumors, then urinates on a shrine for views; the stream is abruptly shut down for violating platform rules.
• Shi Manman asks Chen Miao to conduct the funeral for her uncle, Li Jianhong. Chen agrees and gives her two bundles of cash as a customary gift to his apprentice.
• After consulting Luo Zhiyong and learning about Li Jianhong’s life, Chen writes and delivers a eulogy. He helps organize the ceremony, which ends in the afternoon; the family honors Li Jianhong’s wish to be buried.
• Chen returns to Tianmen County and receives the remaining payment. His earnings from the job total 520,000 yuan. He checks the Funeral Home for anything unusual, then goes to his office to test the pinwheel.
• The pinwheel glows faint red, like the Black Umbrella. Sound, flicking, and blowing on it do nothing. Chen discovers it activates in a natural breeze: while it spins, he is overcome by a childlike, carefree happiness; when it stops, his expression returns to normal. Li Fu sees him smiling at it from below and walks on, amused.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao shows caution around supernatural matters, but he also respects others’ choices: he warns Jiuhua without pressing the issue, and he investigates the pinwheel methodically. His generosity toward Shi Manman reflects his affection for her as an apprentice.
• Shi Manman takes on an increasingly active role in funeral work and gratefully accepts Chen’s gift, calling him “Master,” though he reminds her to use “Director” at work.
• Yang Jiuhua presents himself as fearless and irreverent for his livestream, but his shrine stunt suggests he is more reckless than Chen initially assumed.
• Li Fu responds warmly to the news that Zhong Cai and Xiao Bai are traveling, then briefly observes Chen’s odd behavior with the pinwheel without interrupting.

Significant themes

• Supernatural danger and fate: Chen considers whether warning people can help, recalling a fortune-teller’s prediction that came true for Zhong Fa, and decides not to force advice on Jiuhua.
• Duty, respect, and tradition: Chen prepares carefully for Li Jianhong’s funeral, while the family prioritizes the deceased man’s wishes despite the practical complications of burial.
• Mentorship and generosity: Chen treats Shi Manman as an apprentice in practice, reinforcing their bond through trust, responsibility, and a traditional red envelope.
• The uncanny beside the ordinary: A profitable day, routine funeral work, and casual interactions give way to the pinwheel’s strange emotional effect, ending the chapter on an unsettling supernatural discovery.

Key events

• After Li Fu leaves, Chen Miao regains control and shuts the window, shaken by how the pinwheel overwhelmed him with nostalgic childhood feelings.
• He considers sealing it away, but realizes he cannot rely on hiding every dangerous polluted object he may encounter. He tests it again using his yin-yang eyes.
• The test leaves him smiling and drains his yin energy within seconds. Chen Miao reasons that the pinwheel attacks the mind and will, while the yin-yang eyes are designed for a different purpose. He suspects his still-developing heavenly spirit yin aperture may eventually help resist it.
• He discovers that eyes-closed perception lets him sense the pinwheel without being bewitched. However, opening his eyes while still nearby immediately subjects him to its influence again.
• By gradually approaching from across the room, he estimates that the pinwheel’s effect becomes controlling within about ten meters. Outside that range, it still evokes feelings but does not override his actions.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Miao shifts from treating polluted objects as manageable tools to recognizing their potentially overwhelming power. Rather than simply locking the pinwheel away, he investigates its limits and possible uses.
• His analytical nature, iceheart state, and willingness to experiment help him turn frightening experiences into practical knowledge. He also appreciates that abilities can be useful in unexpected ways.
• The chapter’s main interaction is Chen Miao’s repeated struggle and experimentation with the pinwheel; Li Fu has already departed.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Even an experienced practitioner can be helpless against an ability that targets the mind rather than the senses.
• Understanding before control: Identifying how an ability works—and where its limits lie—can be more useful than trying to suppress it.
• Hidden uses of abilities: Eyes-closed perception proves useful precisely because it is not a conventional form of sight.
• Danger and utility: Chen Miao begins considering whether the pinwheel’s mood-lifting effect could be used safely beyond its effective range.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao tests the Pinwheel: anyone who sees it while it spins within range becomes immobilized. The effect works through mirrors, affects multiple people at once, and is stronger at night; daytime range is only two to three meters. Blackie reacts with increased hostility, suggesting the Pinwheel’s emotional influence affects humans and possibly ghosts.
• To protect himself while sleeping, Chen Miao builds a concealed Pinwheel-and-fan setup that activates its effect without being visible from his bed. Over the next several days, he upgrades it with timed controls, silent fans, lighting, and a portable version, turning it into a potential crowd-control weapon.
• Chen Miao makes and supplies ten more Peachwood Talismans to Xie Songde, while replenishing his ordinary Spirit-Sealing Talismans. Work at the funeral home remains quiet; Shi Manman improves at handling Coffin-Linked Corpses. Meanwhile, Du Rui’s attempt to recruit Luo Zhiyong fails, and the two masters of ceremonies Du had poached have mixed fortunes: Tao Bo returns to his hometown, while Cui Xing settles in Tianmen County.
• The calm ends when Huang Jinjin calls at night: her Peachwood Talisman has cracked after she felt sudden chest pain. Chen Miao hurries to her home, bringing equipment and a replacement talisman. He explains that if the talisman breaks, she must flee toward the police station.
• At Huang Jinjin’s apartment, Chen Miao detects red aura circling her body and gathering around her chest. He suspects a curse or other mystic attack rather than a ghost. Since the attack was blocked, he stays with her to see whether the attacker tries again.
• Huang Jinjin recounts investigating people who might have targeted her. Her housekeeper had a possible financial motive connected to her son’s school transfer, but investigation revealed no suspicious contacts or activity. Huang Jinjin says she found nothing concerning on her ex-husband’s side.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao is methodical and inventive, turning the Pinwheel’s rules into a defensive system. He remains composed during Huang Jinjin’s crisis, though he admits he cannot guarantee her safety and intends to confront any further attack.
• Huang Jinjin is frightened but cooperative. She follows Chen Miao’s instructions, shares her suspicions, and asks to summon her ex-husband for company.
• Shi Manman continues developing her practical skills, while Chen Miao considers teaching her more.
• Qi Hui briefly sees Chen Miao leave on an urgent nighttime trip but does not learn why.
• Blackie’s reaction to the Pinwheel raises the possibility that it can affect supernatural beings, though this remains unconfirmed.

Significant themes

• Preparation against uncertainty: Chen Miao tests, modifies, and plans around the Pinwheel’s limitations rather than trusting it blindly.
• Fear, protection, and responsibility: The cracked talisman shows that supernatural threats remain active, and Chen Miao must balance helping Huang Jinjin with the limits of what he can promise.
• Suspicion and trust: Huang Jinjin’s investigation reflects how trauma makes even long-standing relationships and ordinary motives seem potentially dangerous.
• The boundary between human and supernatural: The Pinwheel’s effects on Blackie and the red aura around Huang Jinjin leave open how mystic forces interact with people and ghosts.

Key plot points

• Huang Jinjin explains her divorce from Wen Hao: she asked for it after losing their baby, though he had remained devoted to her. They have recently reconciled and plan to remarry, but she refuses to try for another child until she learns who harmed her.
• Chen Miao asks whether anyone else knew about Jinjin’s pregnancy. She says she kept it from her friends; Wen Hao had planned to surprise his friends.
• Wen Hao arrives and questions Chen Miao about how he knew something was wrong with Jinjin. Chen Miao uses his Yin-Yang Eyes and sees a blood-red aura around Wen Hao’s head, suggesting Wen Hao has also been cursed.
• Chen Miao suspects Wen Hao’s former girlfriend may be responsible: she could have cursed Jinjin to kill her and Wen Hao to drive him back to her. Wen Hao rejects the claim and asks for proof.
• Unable to convince him through explanation, Chen Miao leaves. At the door, a Ghost Baby emerges from his Ghost Cube and attacks Jinjin. Chen Miao traps it in his Black Umbrella, proving the supernatural threat is real.

Character developments and interactions

• Jinjin is remorseful about her past decision to divorce Wen Hao and hopeful about their reconciliation, but remains cautious about another pregnancy. She trusts Chen Miao and urgently asks him to help Wen Hao.
• Wen Hao appears loving and protective toward Jinjin, but is skeptical of Chen Miao’s supernatural claims. After witnessing the Ghost Baby, he is left stunned.
• Chen Miao investigates patiently and does not blame Wen Hao for doubting him. He chooses not to stage a demonstration, but acts decisively when the Ghost Baby attacks.
• The tension between Chen Miao and Wen Hao briefly strains the room; Jinjin sides with Chen Miao, while Wen Hao tries to restrain her from pursuing him. After the attack, she demands that Wen Hao apologize.

Significant themes

• Trust and skepticism: Wen Hao’s disbelief is understandable, but the supernatural becomes undeniable when the Ghost Baby appears.
• Love, regret, and reconciliation: Jinjin and Wen Hao’s relationship is shaped by grief, misunderstandings, and the possibility of starting over.
• Hidden danger and uncertain motives: The different curses suggest someone may be targeting both spouses for separate ends, with the former girlfriend only a plausible suspect so far.

Key plot points and events

• Wen Hao apologizes to Chen Miao and answers questions about his ex-girlfriend, Miao Jing. He recalls buying her two crude wooden dolls abroad; she later claimed to have thrown them away.
• Suspecting Miao Jing may be behind the curse, Chen Miao accepts Wen Hao’s key and address so he can investigate her apartment. Wen Hao agrees to meet her elsewhere, while Huang Jinjin stays behind.
• Chen Miao reaches Miao Jing’s apartment and uses an Evil-Breaking Talisman to neutralize a bloody presence in the keyhole. Inside, his Yin-Yang Eyes reveal that the apartment’s bloody aura comes from a balcony storage cabinet.
• A hidden latch opens the cabinet’s back panel, revealing a concealed chamber built into the space that should have held an outdoor air-conditioning unit. A convincing poster disguises the unit from outside.
• In the chamber, Chen Miao finds the missing wooden dolls, a doll pierced with a photograph of the intended victim, the victim’s hair, a precise birth date, and bloodstains. Other objects match materials used in the Blood Infant Curse. He concludes Miao Jing cast the previous curse.
• A jar on the table contains a small amount of blood-red aura. After inspecting it, Chen Miao calls Qi Ning for help, asking him to bring someone who knows how to break curses. Qi Ning warns him not to disturb anything. The chapter ends as Qi Ning arrives with an old acquaintance.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao remains cautious and methodical: he checks for lethal danger before entering, searches the apartment systematically, and calls for expert help rather than tampering with the ritual objects.
• Wen Hao moves from embarrassment and distress to cooperation. His memory of the dolls gives Chen Miao a crucial lead; he also provides the key and offers to confront Miao Jing if she is responsible.
• Huang Jinjin supports the investigation but respects Chen Miao’s decision to go alone because Miao Jing’s home may be dangerous.
• Qi Ning is responsive and helpful, quickly arranging specialist assistance despite having just returned to the bureau.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: Miao Jing’s cozy apartment conceals a blood-soaked ritual space, while a poster disguises an illegally constructed secret chamber.
• Caution and expertise: Chen Miao’s investigation depends on careful observation, protective tools, and knowing when to seek help.
• Trust and betrayal: The evidence suggests that Wen Hao’s former partner secretly used personal traces—hair, blood, and identifying information—to curse someone.

Key plot points and events

• Ding Min demonstrates how to break a Head-Down Curse using a wooden puppet linked to its victim by a photograph, hair, a nail, and blood.
• She first uses a drop of fresh blood to confuse the curse, then removes the medium’s components one at a time, adding blood each time. Once separated, the curse is broken.
• Ding Min warns that complicated curses may resist this method, and that forcibly removing a component can injure the victim or trigger a dangerous backlash.
• Chen Miao asks about a second cursed person. Ding Min suspects Miao Jing used a temporary love curse on Wen Hao, which would disappear after a set period.
• Huang Jinjin arrives after Wen Hao messages that he and Miao Jing are at the apartment complex. The investigators take positions to intercept them, and the front door opens.

Character developments

• Chen Miao learns a practical method for identifying and dismantling curse media, while becoming more wary of curse practitioners’ capacity for extreme retaliation.
• Ding Min establishes herself as an experienced, matter-of-fact specialist, willing to demonstrate the technique—even by cutting Qi Ning’s hand.
• Qi Ning reacts with comic exasperation when Ding Min chooses his blood over Chen Miao’s.
• Huang Jinjin insists on witnessing what happens to Miao Jing, showing how strongly she needs closure.

Significant themes

• Expertise and caution: Curses should be handled by specialists; a seemingly simple intervention can cause harm.
• Disproportionate revenge: Ding Min’s story shows how trivial insults can provoke cruel punishment.
• Justice and closure: Huang Jinjin wants to see the consequences for Miao Jing rather than remain uncertain.

Character interactions

• Ding Min teaches Chen Miao and Qi Ning through a hands-on demonstration, teasing Qi Ning and awkwardly involving Chen Miao.
• Chen Miao explains Wen Hao’s situation to Ding Min, who offers a likely explanation for the curse.
• Huang Jinjin persuades Chen Miao to let her stay, while the group coordinates positions to confront Wen Hao and Miao Jing.

Key plot points and events

• After Miao Jing is restrained, Huang Jinjin confronts her for harming her unborn child and breaks down in Wen Hao’s arms. Miao Jing is handed over to the authorities.
• In the elevator, Miao Jing suddenly dies and becomes a vengeful ghost, which attacks Ding Min. Chen Miao uses talismans to restrain the spirit and destroys it with his peachwood sword. Ding Min survives, though she is shaken.
• Chen Miao visits Huang Jinjin and Wen Hao afterward. Huang Jinjin’s dangerous aura is gone, and the couple thank him with another payment of 500,000.
• Chen Miao’s supernatural reward for the case includes Miao Jing’s memory fragment, the Heart-Nailing Curse, and a method for creating spirit-fetus ghost children. He learns the curse would have killed Huang Jinjin after seven days, rather than immediately.
• Back at his office, Chen Miao experiments with the Black Umbrella and discovers it may let ghosts transfer into new vessels, with each of its eight ribs potentially holding one. Its ghost-drawing range is only three meters, and it cannot pull a ghost out of the Soul-Sealing Memorial Tablet’s field.
• He tests a pinwheel-and-fan setup on the ghost baby in the umbrella. The test succeeds, but the baby’s innocent expression reminds him that such spirits come from murdered infants, deepening his hatred of evil cultivators. He captures the baby with the Ghost Cube, which proves more effective than the umbrella.
• Chen Miao later joins his family for dinner, where Chen Muqing and Shao Qidong ask about the Shannan City incident. To explain their conversation to Chen Weiyi, Chen Miao invents a segue about corpse handlers, prompting his uncle to share what he knows.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao acts decisively to save Ding Min and destroy Miao Jing’s ghost. He continues investigating his tools and rewards, while showing growing moral revulsion toward practices that exploit dead children.
• Huang Jinjin and Wen Hao are reunited in relief after Miao Jing’s arrest. Huang Jinjin’s grief and anger give way to gratitude toward Chen Miao.
• Ding Min helps secure Miao Jing but is injured by the spirit’s final attack; she is taken for care and treatment.
• Qi Ning supports the operation, checks Ding Min, and arranges for the authorities to take custody of Miao Jing and the evidence.
• Chen Miao and Chen Muqing share an increasingly open, affectionate interaction; she eagerly asks him to recount the case. Shao Qidong also listens closely, while Chen Weiyi joins the conversation once it turns to folklore.

Significant themes

• Justice and consequences: Miao Jing’s attempt to harm others and her final supernatural attack lead to her death and the authorities’ intervention.
• The human cost of evil practices: The ghost baby’s appearance reveals the suffering behind spirit-fetus creation, turning Chen Miao’s curiosity into moral anger.
• Protection through knowledge and tools: Chen Miao’s discoveries about curses, talismans, and supernatural objects show how understanding their limits can save lives.
• Family, trust, and connection: The warm dinner gathering contrasts with the chapter’s violence and shows Chen Miao becoming more comfortable sharing time and conversation with his family.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Weiyi tells Chen Miao that some historical Corpse Handlers secretly transported only a corpse’s head and limbs, using straw and clothing to fake the torso near their destination. Their deception could end in brutal punishment if discovered.
• At the Funeral Home, Chen Miao studies Miao Jing’s memories through the book, hoping to learn whether someone had been manipulating her.
• The memories reveal that Miao Jing’s obsession with Wen Hao intensified after he left her. She secretly watched him with Huang Jinjin, then tried to use her child—kept in a jar—to bring Wen Hao back. Later, she used wooden dolls and curses against Huang Jinjin.
• Wen Hao eventually returned and spent time with Miao Jing, but the reunion was a deception. Miao Jing realized he was aligned with Huang Jinjin and that the curse’s true target was not what she had believed. She died still loving Wen Hao, hoping he would keep her close.
• Chen Miao wakes at five in the morning, realizes Wen Hao was behind Miao Jing’s suffering, and reaches for his phone to alert Qi Ning. Before he can act, Wen Hao’s severed head appears floating in the darkness.

Character developments

• Chen Miao becomes convinced that Wen Hao is a serious threat and is determined to stop him quickly.
• Miao Jing is shown as increasingly consumed by jealousy and desperation. Her love for Wen Hao drives her to rely on her child and harmful curses, while she remains unable—or unwilling—to recognize his betrayal until too late.
• Wen Hao is revealed as manipulative and dangerous: he exploits Miao Jing’s devotion while remaining connected to Huang Jinjin.
• Chen Weiyi shares unsettling historical knowledge, though the conversation is cut short by dinner.

Significant themes

• Deception and hidden identities: Corpse Handlers falsify bodies; Wen Hao conceals his true role; Miao Jing misunderstands whom her curse affects.
• Obsession and destructive love: Miao Jing’s devotion leads her to harm herself and others.
• The dead and the unfinished: Miao Jing hopes death will let Wen Hao keep her near, while Wen Hao’s floating head brings the supernatural danger directly to Chen Miao.

Character interactions

• Chen Miao questions Chen Weiyi about Corpse Handlers, while Shao Qidong challenges how the scheme could work.
• Miao Jing treats the child in the jar as her ally and tries to enlist it in bringing Wen Hao back.
• Miao Jing watches Wen Hao and Huang Jinjin together, then later confronts the reality of Wen Hao’s betrayal.
• Chen Miao attempts to contact Qi Ning after identifying Wen Hao, but Wen Hao’s sudden appearance interrupts him.

Key plot points

• Wen Hao’s flying head enters Chen Miao’s room, but Chen’s Pinwheel keeps it fixated long enough for him to attack. Chen pierces it with a talisman-enhanced Peach Wood Sword, then seals it until it dissolves into black ash.
• The book records the victory and rewards Chen with yin virtue, Wen Hao’s memory fragment, the Flying Skull Curse, and the Love Curse.
• Wen Hao’s memories reveal the full scheme: he used the Love Curse to make Miao Jing love him, then exploited her loyalty. He had taken something from their baby to cultivate the Flying Skull Curse and was seeking other women to bear children for the same purpose. Miao Jing’s attack on Huang Jinjin was driven by jealousy, not Wen Hao’s orders.
• Wen Hao had deliberately directed Chen toward Miao Jing, including planting a trap at her home. After Miao Jing was arrested, he mastered the Flying Skull Curse and came to kill Chen, but the Pinwheel distracted him until Chen could act.
• Chen discovers Wen Hao learned the curse from Suo Kun, a foreign Head-Down Sorcerer who may have intended to claim Wen Hao’s head. Chen realizes Suo Kun could now become a serious threat and decides to contact and confront him before he learns Wen Hao is dead.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen survives through caution rather than foreknowledge: he keeps his distance, uses talismans, and benefits from having set the fan to switch off before his alarm. He recognizes that his earlier assumptions and inexperience nearly left him vulnerable.
• Wen Hao is revealed as manipulative and ruthless, using Miao Jing’s devotion and other women for his own purposes. His confidence in his new power ultimately leads him to attack Chen and die.
• Miao Jing’s love began as a curse but became genuine, leaving her fiercely loyal—and dangerously jealous. Huang Jinjin, meanwhile, was manipulated by Wen Hao and unknowingly caught up in his schemes.
• Chen’s victory over Wen Hao turns into a strategic decision about Suo Kun: rather than wait for a warning from the book, Chen chooses to take the initiative.

Significant themes

• Caution and experience: Chen’s practical precautions save him, but the incident exposes gaps in his judgment.
• The limits of foreknowledge: As Chen grows stronger, the book may offer fewer advance warnings, forcing him to rely on his own skill and preparation.
• Manipulation and devotion: Wen Hao turns love and loyalty into tools, with devastating consequences for Miao Jing and Huang Jinjin.
• Taking the initiative: Chen concludes that waiting for danger to announce itself is riskier than acting first.
• Escalating threats: Defeating Wen Hao resolves the immediate crisis but reveals a wider danger in Suo Kun and his possible Flying Skull creations.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao discovers that his new states include an upgraded Iceheart State, which he had assumed would be a one-time ability.
• Testing it with a spinning fan, he finds that Iceheart now produces a lucid subconscious whenever his main consciousness becomes completely absorbed or mentally trapped. The subconscious can observe and hear but cannot control his body.
• The subconscious can, however, activate Chen Miao’s other states. While the fan holds his main consciousness, he uses yin absorption to activate his Yin-Yang Eyes, breaking free of the trance.
• The subconscious also appears while he is deeply focused on drawing a talisman, then merges back into his main consciousness once the task ends.
• Chen Miao realizes this may give him an extra opportunity to respond to future mind-control attacks. He then reviews his many accumulated mystic arts and marvels at how many he has collected.

Character development

• Chen Miao approaches the upgraded Iceheart methodically, experimenting to understand its limits rather than assuming how it works.
• He recognizes both the promise and the limits of the subconscious: it cannot directly resist control, but it can use his external states as a way to help him escape.
• He becomes more confident in the strategic value of developing all Nine Apertures, while acknowledging that the circumstances needed to acquire another Iceheart enhancement are rare and unpredictable.

Significant themes

• Adaptation and resourcefulness: Chen Miao turns a limitation—being unable to move while controlled—into an opportunity by using his subconscious to activate other states.
• The boundaries of consciousness: The chapter explores divided awareness, absorption, and whether different aspects of the mind can act independently.
• Power through preparation: Chen Miao’s growing collection of abilities and mystic arts may help him survive threats, though he still cannot predict or control every encounter.

Character interactions

• Chen Miao tests his abilities largely alone, with Blackie’s barking briefly reminding him of the outside world while he is trapped in the fan’s influence.
• His thoughts turn to Wen Hao, whose deception of Chen Miao’s Good and Evil Perception illustrates how dangerous future opponents with mind-affecting abilities could be.

Chapter summary

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao assesses his current strengths and limitations. His most useful tools include Fine Talismans, Soul-Sealing Memorial Tablets, the Black Umbrella, the Pinwheel, and his two developed Apertures. He has many ways to survive and weaken enemies, but no dependable one-hit finishing move.
• Hoping to improve his chances in the book’s next events, he spends Yin Virtue to make three Premium Spirit-Sealing Talismans.
• Chen uses Wen Hao’s memories and a new phone number to impersonate him and contact Suo Kun, Wen Hao’s Head-Down Sorcerer master. Suo Kun invites him to meet in an unfinished building near Lin’an City.
• The book’s new afterword recounts Chen’s attempt to ambush Suo Kun. He explores the building beforehand, but Suo Kun arrives with three young disciples—each a vessel for the Flying Skull Curse—and quickly recognizes that Chen is not Wen Hao.
• Chen’s talismans and Pinwheel restrain or trap the Flying Skulls, while his sword destroys one. The disciples’ bodies release six powerful Ghost Babies, which Chen captures with the Black Umbrella.
• Suo Kun unleashes a swarm of scorpions. Chen’s peach wood shavings clear a route through them, so he abandons the remaining Flying Skull and charges Suo Kun, stabbing him through the heart.
• The apparent victory is a trap: Suo Kun’s head detaches and bites Chen’s shoulder, paralyzing him. The scorpions then cover and devour Chen, killing him.

Character developments

• Chen shows careful self-assessment and tactical thinking, recognizing that he must exploit preparation and enemy weaknesses rather than rely on overwhelming force.
• His caution is evident in his use of disposable phones, his advance survey of the meeting place, and his effort to keep the Black Umbrella and Pinwheel’s abilities hidden.
• He is nevertheless forced into a desperate, high-risk attack when the scorpion swarm makes staying put impossible.
• Suo Kun is revealed as perceptive, prepared, and capable of surviving an apparently fatal injury.

Character interactions

• Chen impersonates Wen Hao in messages to Suo Kun, but Suo Kun detects the deception at their meeting.
• Suo Kun brings three disciples and turns the encounter into a coordinated attack using Flying Skulls, Ghost Babies, and scorpions.
• Chen counters with talismans, the Pinwheel, swordsmanship, the Black Umbrella, and peach wood shavings, but his tools do not fully overcome Suo Kun’s varied attacks.

Significant themes

• Preparation versus uncertainty: Chen plans extensively, yet the enemy’s hidden abilities overturn his expectations.
• Adaptation and resourcefulness: His survival depends on combining different tools and changing tactics under pressure.
• The limits of power: Defensive options and cleverness can buy advantages, but without a decisive finishing move, Chen remains vulnerable.
• Deception and misjudgment: Chen’s impersonation fails, and his mistaken belief that he has killed Suo Kun leads directly to his death.

Key plot points and events

• After dying during an encounter with Suo Kun, Chen Miao reviews the fight and realizes the scorpions were likely gu worms: they resisted his ghost-control tools, while peach wood only drove them back.
• He deduces that Suo Kun had probably marked Wen Hao somehow and discovered Chen Miao’s disguise when he appeared near the Unfinished Building. A future attack should therefore begin with Chen Miao hiding inside the building and ambushing Suo Kun.
• Chen Miao plans to counter Suo Kun’s flying skulls with Premium Spirit-Sealing Talismans, but recognizes that Suo Kun’s caution let him escape the windmill’s range.
• To prevent that, Chen Miao builds a wearable “Windmill Hat,” attaching a fan and windmill to a construction hard hat. Tests confirm it keeps the windmill spinning as he moves.
• Seeking advice about gu worms, Chen Miao calls Zhong Cai. Zhong explains that gu worms are living insects, so ordinary anti-ghost techniques are generally ineffective. Fire, drowning, or other real-world insect defenses may work, but a Gu Master can control the worms and withdraw them.
• Zhong advises looking for a gu-worm leader, often carried by the Gu Master; killing it could disrupt the swarm or make it turn against its master. Chen Miao decides to research what counters scorpions.

Character developments

• Chen Miao becomes more strategic, using the details of his death to identify how Suo Kun detected his disguise and how to improve his next attack.
• He shows practical ingenuity by modifying the windmill into wearable equipment, while acknowledging that defeating Suo Kun will require a backup plan against the gu worms.
• Zhong Cai is knowledgeable and concerned, though mildly annoyed that Chen Miao concealed his earlier suspicions about a curse practitioner.

Significant themes

• Learning from failure: Chen Miao turns a fatal encounter into tactical information.
• Preparation and adaptation: He modifies his equipment and plans for multiple threats rather than relying on one technique.
• Limits of specialized knowledge: Tools effective against ghosts do not necessarily work against living gu worms.
• Strategy versus control: Suo Kun’s command over his creatures makes direct defenses unreliable, so Chen Miao must find a way to neutralize the source.

Character interactions

• Chen Miao and Zhong Cai discuss the nature and weaknesses of gu worms. Zhong warns that ordinary defenses can be overcome by a controlling Gu Master and suggests targeting the leader.
• Chen Miao thanks Zhong for the advice and considers asking Qi Ning to help obtain suitable supplies through the Administration.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao researches ways to repel or control gu insects and asks Qi Ning to check the Points Mall. Qi Ning finds insect-attracting and insect-killing pills, buys one bottle of each, and brings them to Chen Miao.
• Chen Miao recruits Qi Ning as potential backup and reads the book’s account of their upcoming encounter with curse practitioner Suo Kun in an unfinished building.
• In the first version, Chen Miao uses incense, talismans, a Windmill Hat, and the pills to defeat Suo Kun’s group and divert the insects. But Qi Ning appears strangely late and sprays Chen Miao with corrosive black blood, killing him.
• Chen Miao suspects additional enemies are hidden in the building and that someone else is controlling the insects. He asks Qi Ning to bring more allies. The book’s next version shows four people waiting for him downstairs, and Chen Miao is again killed.
• Chen Miao then cancels the plan with Qi Ning and his companions. The book changes once more: Chen Miao fights alone, but the battle reveals far more threats than expected—nine Flying Skulls, six Ghost Babies, swarming insects, and a hidden young man. His equipment and talismans fail to stop the attackers, and he is ultimately devoured.

Character developments

• Chen Miao is resourceful and increasingly cautious. He gathers specialized tools, studies each fatal outcome for clues, and adjusts his plans, but the evolving threats repeatedly outstrip his preparations.
• Qi Ning proves loyal and helpful by obtaining the pills and offering backup. However, the book’s first account depicts him behaving abnormally and killing Chen Miao, leaving his role and possible vulnerability uncertain.
• Ding Min is eager to thank Chen Miao and fight alongside him; her companions also welcome the prospect, but they accept the cancellation without protest.
• The final chapter introduces a young man apparently aligned with the hidden forces; he retrieves Chen Miao’s equipment, signaling that the danger is more coordinated and extensive than anticipated.

Character interactions

• Qi Ning and Chen Miao work together closely: Qi supplies the pills, asks about the danger, and offers to bring other fighters.
• Ding Min and the others express interest in joining Chen Miao, while Qi Ning mediates their involvement and later tells them the plan is canceled.
• Chen Miao’s encounters with Suo Kun and the supernatural attackers are direct and violent; the mysterious young man’s smile marks the final, fatal confrontation.

Significant themes

• Uncertainty and shifting fate: The book changes as Chen Miao makes decisions, but each new version exposes further dangers rather than guaranteeing survival.
• Preparation versus the unknown: Chen Miao’s careful planning helps him overcome immediate enemies, yet hidden forces, unexpected creatures, and compromised equipment defeat him.
• Trust and hidden motives: Qi Ning’s apparent betrayal and the unseen controller of the insects make alliances and appearances uncertain.
• Escalation: What begins as a fight against four figures expands into a much larger supernatural conspiracy, ending with the revelation of nine Flying Skulls and another concealed adversary.

Key plot points and events

• After reviewing the book’s account of the previous deaths, Chen Miao concludes that Suo Kun is likely the hidden enemy—but he remains wary, having been deceived before.
• He studies the threats awaiting him in the abandoned building: nine Flying Skulls, swarms of gu worms, Ghost Babies, and a Head-Down Curse. He plans to use the book’s changing account to expose the enemy’s abilities and test countermeasures.
• Chen Miao changes how he carries his Spirit-Sealing Talismans, then makes fifteen more, bringing his total to nineteen. The effort consumes yin virtue and leaves his hands trembling.
• The book shows that reinforcing his Windmill Hat with steel bars keeps the Flying Skulls from taking the Pinwheel, but they still destroy it. The Head-Down Curse also remains a danger, so Chen Miao leaves his Soul-Sealing Memorial Tablets behind and drives far from the city to force another change in the book.
• In the revised scenario, Chen Miao’s talismans immobilize five Flying Skulls, but gu worms threaten him from below. As he pushes past the skulls, he encounters a figure—apparently Suo Kun—and stabs him in the eye with his Peach Wood Sword.
• The figure releases a black scorpion that stings Chen Miao. Both collapse; scorpions swarm over the wounded figure but leave Chen Miao alone. He dies from an unknown toxin, apparently killing his opponent at the same time.

Character developments

• Chen Miao becomes more systematic and experimental: instead of relying on one defense, he deliberately changes variables to make the book reveal hidden dangers. His growing preparation is tempered by the physical cost of drawing talismans and the limits of what he knows.
• His suspicion of Suo Kun strengthens, but he still cannot be certain that the figure he confronts is the real one.

Significant themes

• Preparation versus uncertainty: Chen Miao improves his defenses, yet each solution exposes another threat.
• Knowledge gained through risk: The book helps him test possibilities, but its revelations do not guarantee survival.
• Mutual destruction: Chen Miao’s final attack appears to mortally wound his enemy, but the scorpion’s poison kills him too.

Character interactions

• Chen Miao’s central conflict is with the concealed Suo Kun, whose tricks include curses and a venomous scorpion.
• The book functions as Chen Miao’s guide and experimental record: he changes his choices, then studies how the outcome shifts.
• The welder briefly reacts to Chen Miao’s unusual request for a steel-reinforced helmet, underscoring his increasingly improvised preparations.