Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao uses the Puppeteer’s memories and a new passive Manual Dexterity status to improve his craft. Over one day, he makes twenty Six Livestock Dolls from fifty Ghost Cubes while secretly keeping twenty ghosts—a forty-percent cut—and gains two taels of yin virtue.
• He completes the dolls ahead of schedule, earning Elder Bamboo’s approval and greater freedom. He spends the next several days reading and talking with Old Ghost, while continuing the Extreme Yin Body-Refining Art.
• On his fifth daily repetition, Chen Miao withstands the yang-energy surge. He briefly develops an invisible, resilient layer over his skin that deflects a dagger and cushions blows, but it disappears before he can study it. He suspects it may be a form of body-protecting energy akin to a corpse’s keratin armor.
• Four days remain until the Lantern Festival. Chen Miao visits Old Ghost with whalebone, then asks about the ritual. Old Ghost says it must wait for the festival but leaves the explanation to Elder Bamboo.
• The paper-offering woman explains the Five Hells Six Livestock Reincarnation Art: an adaptation of the supposedly false Five Hells Immortality Method, said to turn a clay blank into “Immortal Porcelain.” Its four stages are Mold Formation, Adding Firewood, Kiln Firing, and Kiln Opening. Chen Miao’s role is in Adding Firewood, through the Six Livestock Art.
• Realizing his part may be limited and that the others are unlikely to believe warnings against Elder Bamboo, Chen Miao considers whether Zhong Cai might help him resist.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao becomes more capable and increasingly cautious: he improves both his doll-making and body refinement, hides his theft of ghosts, and probes Old Ghost for information without revealing his suspicions.
• Elder Bamboo’s trust in Chen Miao appears to have grown, though Chen Miao remains wary of him and feels that accumulating yin virtue has not made him safe.
• Chen Miao and Old Ghost maintain a teasing, companionable rapport. Old Ghost gladly accepts the whalebone but is evasive about the ritual, joking that Chen Miao will learn whether he wants to or not.
• The paper-offering woman takes charge of explaining the rite to Chen Miao, Old Ghost, and the Old Woman. Chen Miao asks pointed questions, while the others’ reactions hint that he knows less about the wider occult world than his confidence suggests.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and manipulation: Chen Miao gathers information while concealing his motives, but Elder Bamboo controls what he is told and when.
• Bodily transformation: Chen Miao’s unexplained protective layer mirrors supernatural changes associated with corpse advancement and foreshadows the ritual’s pursuit of an immortal body.
• Agency and trust: Chen Miao recognizes that his role may be narrowly defined and that he cannot easily persuade the others to oppose Elder Bamboo.
• Hidden costs of immortality: The ritual’s grand promise is built from hellish trials, corpse-related arts, and the transformation of a clay blank—suggesting that “becoming immortal” may involve danger and sacrifice.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao considers using Zhong Cai to escape during Elder Bamboo’s ritual and alert the Administration. The ritual will take about four hours, though rescue may not arrive in time.
• The Paper Effigy Woman explains the Five Hells Six Livestock Reincarnation Art. Xiao Bai is prepared with yin markings, a diagram, binding thread, and the removal of his soul.
• Chen Miao’s role is to turn collected livestock emotions into six livestock souls, then into soul marks. By raising the idea of finding “true” souls, he reduces the Paper Effigy Woman’s suspicion and appears to earn Elder Bamboo’s trust.
• Chen Miao must place the marks in Elder Bamboo’s soul, then transfer them into Xiao Bai’s. This presents a possible chance to attack Elder Bamboo’s vulnerable soul, but Chen Miao fears the Paper Effigies may stop him—and that Old Ghost could become a threat afterward.
• Chen Miao realizes the marks carry Elder Bamboo’s spiritual imprint to Xiao Bai, allowing Elder Bamboo to merge with Xiao Bai’s soul and take over his body. The ritual’s promised “reincarnation” is really body possession.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao shifts from helplessly worrying about Xiao Bai and Zhong Cai to studying the ritual for weaknesses and considering a risky escape plan.
• He keeps his suspicions hidden while carefully questioning the Paper Effigy Woman, using knowledge of true and false livestock souls to manipulate her perception of him.
• The Paper Effigy Woman explains the ritual but withholds the reason for transferring the marks, reinforcing Chen Miao’s sense that the procedure conceals a dangerous purpose.
• Chen Miao recognizes Elder Bamboo’s dependence on the ritual—and on Chen Miao’s work—while remaining wary of both Elder Bamboo and Old Ghost.

Significant themes

• Deceptive naming: A ritual called “reincarnation” disguises the theft of another person’s body.
• Knowledge as leverage: Understanding the ritual gives Chen Miao a possible means of resistance, but not a safe one.
• Trust and manipulation: Chen Miao feigns cooperation to gain time, while the cultists conceal their true aims.
• Survival under uncertainty: His plans depend on whether Zhong Cai can escape, the Administration can locate them, and Chen Miao can act before his enemies do.

Key plot points and events

• Paper Effigy Woman explains the final stages of Elder Bamboo’s reincarnation ritual: the Five Prisons True Form Diagram will subject the rough blank to the punishments of five hells, while its six livestock soul marks absorb the punishments. Opening the kiln completes the immortal porcelain and grants a foundation for immortality.
• Old Ghost describes how gifted cultivators are often captured and mutilated for their unusual abilities, leaving him to question whether such gifts are blessings or curses.
• Chen Miao studies the book’s account of the ritual and learns that the Administration is near the mountain but may be unable to enter before the ritual ends. If he can free Zhong Cai, however, he may be able to bring them in and disrupt Elder Bamboo’s plan.
• As Lantern Festival approaches, the Six Livestock Dolls are ready, and Chen Miao’s body-protecting astral energy has returned permanently. It can resist both physical and supernatural attacks, though it is still weak. His newly developed perineal life-and-death aperture has produced no clear, testable effect.
• Chen Miao gathers two Ghost Babies from the intimidated Infant Man. His real purpose is to signal Zhong Cai, held nearby, that they must cooperate to escape.
• Old Ghost teaches Chen Miao the cultivation progression: aperture awakening, nourishment, and solidification, followed by communing with the netherworld and gate knocking. Old Ghost is at aperture solidification; Elder Bamboo is expected to soon reach gate knocking.
• At eleven at night, Chen Miao follows Paper Effigy Woman from his chamber. An invisible scorpion slips out after him.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao prepares for an apparently lethal confrontation, relying on careful study, contingency plans, and the possibility of disrupting the ritual rather than matching Elder Bamboo’s strength.
• His new defensive energy offers broader protection than he expected, but he cannot determine what his final aperture does, adding uncertainty to his preparations.
• Chen Miao uses his authority over Infant Man to obtain the Ghost Babies and taunts him when he catches him silently plotting revenge.
• Old Ghost reveals both his doubts about the fate of gifted cultivators and his frustration with Chen Miao’s patchy cultivation knowledge. Their conversation gives Chen Miao a clearer sense of how far behind he is.
• Chen Miao and Zhong Cai share an implicit understanding: neither has another path to survival, so Chen Miao’s signal is meant to secure Zhong Cai’s cooperation.

Significant themes

• Talent as both gift and danger: Extraordinary abilities can make their owners targets for exploitation.
• Knowledge and survival: Chen Miao’s research and planning may matter more than raw strength in facing Elder Bamboo.
• Uncertainty and powerlessness: Chen Miao is far weaker than his opponents, and his newest ability remains mysterious.
• Hope through disruption: Bringing the Administration into the ritual site could destabilize events and create a chance to survive.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao joins Elder Bamboo, the Feng Shui Master, Old Ghost, Old Woman, and the paper effigies in the chamber to perform the secret Reincarnation Art. He suspects Elder Bamboo may later kill the Feng Shui Master to protect the secret.
• He prepares the ritual supplies, arranging fourteen unlit white candles in Big Dipper formations beside the two stone coffins. When Elder Bamboo questions the candles, Chen Miao explains that they are a practical substitute for oil lamps.
• The group coordinates the timing: Old Ghost needs about five minutes to complete the Five Prisons True Form Diagram, Old Woman needs fifteen minutes, and Chen Miao estimates roughly an hour for his work.
• Chen Miao creates six livestock souls by infusing ghosts with soul matter from pagoda-tree wood, using the six livestock emotions to help bind the material into each soul. One soul bursts during the process, delaying him by five minutes.
• While Chen Miao works, Old Woman stitches five-colored threads into Xiao Bai’s limbs and neck, carefully controlling the bleeding. Old Ghost finishes his task and watches Chen Miao.
• Chen Miao completes six soul marks. Elder Bamboo then enters the other coffin; a solid soul body rises from it. Chen Miao approaches with the Soul-Splitting Paper Knife, ready to begin the next stage.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao remains composed through the ritual, using his iceheart state to suppress emotion and later storing the negative feelings that surface when Elder Bamboo questions his preparations. He focuses on timing, procedure, and avoiding mistakes.
• Elder Bamboo supervises and encourages Chen Miao, while checking his choices and coordinating the participants’ tasks.
• Old Ghost and Old Woman demonstrate specialized skill and efficiency: he completes the diagram quickly, and she performs the delicate stitching flawlessly.
• Paper Effigy Man and Paper Effigy Woman assist by bringing the dolls and guarding Elder Bamboo’s coffin. The Feng Shui Master’s presence adds uncertainty to the ritual’s secrecy.

Significant themes

• Ritual precision under pressure: The work depends on exact timing, materials, and careful technique.
• Control and emotional restraint: Chen Miao suppresses his reactions to stay focused during a dangerous procedure.
• Soul manipulation and transformation: The creation of the livestock souls and marks shows how the ritual combines spiritual matter and emotion.
• Secrecy and mistrust: Chen Miao’s suspicion about the Feng Shui Master suggests that knowledge of the art may carry lethal consequences.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao carefully cuts six livestock soul marks into Elder Bamboo’s and Xiao Bai’s soul bodies. The hostile watchers’ malice eases once the marks are in place.
• Using his eyes-closed perception, Chen Miao discovers a blue cord linking Elder Bamboo’s soul to his body. Unlike an ordinary disembodied soul, Elder Bamboo retains his will and can return to his body at will—possibly an ability granted by the Five Hells Six Livestock Reincarnation Art.
• Old Woman draws Xiao Bai’s soul from his Stone Coffin using five-colored strands. Chen Miao cuts the marks into Xiao Bai’s weaker soul with great care.
• The Paper Effigy Man and Woman activate the Five Prisons True Form Diagram. A blood-red fire-pit hell manifests around Xiao Bai, but one of the six livestock marks absorbs the flames, sparing his soul. Chen Miao realizes the yin marks appear on Xiao Bai’s soul too and wonders whether the Soul-Splitting Paper Knife could cut them away.
• Meanwhile, Zhong Cai escapes confinement by using his scorpion to incapacitate Infant Man, taking his Human-Skin Mask and clothes, and disguising himself as him.
• At the grotto’s exit, a pipe-smoking man challenges Zhong Cai. Zhong Cai tricks him, then has the scorpion sting him until he collapses. Zhong Cai escapes, resolved to trust Chen Miao’s promise that he can help.

Character developments

• Chen Miao remains outwardly respectful and composed while secretly assessing threats and searching for ways to survive. His concern for Xiao Bai briefly shows through, but he suppresses it to focus on the dangerous procedure.
• Elder Bamboo is revealed to possess unusual control over his separated soul, strengthening Chen Miao’s suspicion that the reincarnation art contains powers beyond its promised immortality.
• Zhong Cai shifts from prisoner to resourceful escapee. He uses disguise, patience, and his scorpion rather than confronting stronger opponents directly, and commits himself to reaching safety.
• Infant Man is cruel and entitled, tormenting his prisoner and Ghost Babies; his confidence leaves him vulnerable when Zhong Cai attacks.
• Xiao Bai endures the first manifested hell, while the soul marks protect him from its flames.

Significant themes

• Survival through caution and deception: Chen Miao conceals his abilities and motives; Zhong Cai survives through disguise and misdirection.
• The peril of knowledge and power: Chen Miao’s discoveries about souls and yin marks may offer solutions, but also reveal how close he is to danger.
• Protection amid cruelty: Chen Miao’s careful work for Xiao Bai contrasts with Infant Man’s abuse of the Ghost Babies and his prisoner.
• Trust under desperation: Zhong Cai escapes because he believes Chen Miao will keep his word, despite having little else to rely on.

Character interactions

• Chen Miao works under the watchful, increasingly hostile presence of the Paper Effigy Man and Woman, while addressing Elder Bamboo indirectly through them.
• Old Woman helps by extracting Xiao Bai’s soul; Old Ghost performs the ritual that activates the Five Prisons diagram.
• Chen Miao silently balances his desire to save Xiao Bai against the threat Elder Bamboo’s plan poses to his own life.
• Zhong Cai exploits Infant Man’s cruelty and mistaken confidence, then outmaneuvers the pipe-smoking guard before fleeing the grotto.

Key plot points and events

• Xiao Bai endures the second and third of the Five Prisons: the ice prison and the bowel-extraction prison. The Six Livestock soul mark absorbs their effects, though Chen Miao notices Xiao Bai’s soul briefly suffers and grows fainter.
• Chen Miao anxiously waits for Zhong Cai to return with the Administration, knowing the ritual is nearing its final stages and that he may have to sabotage it himself to prevent Elder Bamboo from succeeding.
• Old Ghost chides Chen Miao for wanting to read during the ritual. Old Woman reassures him that Xiao Bai’s summoned soul is stable unless it suffers a major blow.
• At 2:30 a.m., Chen Miao senses that Three-Tail is nearby again, suggesting Zhong Cai has returned—but he cannot tell whether Zhong Cai is alone.
• As the fourth, heart-excavation prison begins, Mountain Dog arrives and reports that the Administration is present and Old Farmer has been killed. Paper Effigy Woman nearly lashes him for entering, then holds back.
• Elder Bamboo’s Paper Effigy Man orders Old Ghost to confront the Administration. Old Ghost leaves with Mummy, accompanied by Paper Effigy Woman and Mountain Dog. Their departure halves the number of people in the cavern.
• Chen Miao considers acting against the remaining figures, but decides to wait, keeping a wary eye on Elder Bamboo’s soul.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao’s impatience and fear intensify, but he continues to restrain himself and look for the safest opening. He also speculates about Old Woman’s mysterious past and her relationship with Elder Bamboo.
• Old Woman speaks to Chen Miao for the first time, calmly explaining that Xiao Bai’s soul is unlikely to be in danger.
• Old Ghost’s teasing briefly eases the suspicion directed at Chen Miao. He later obeys Elder Bamboo’s order and heads out to stop the Administration.
• Paper Effigy Woman shows her readiness to punish Mountain Dog, but stops when he delivers his urgent report.
• Mountain Dog risks entering the cavern and reports both the Administration’s arrival and Old Farmer’s death.

Significant themes

• Waiting under pressure: Chen Miao must balance the risk of acting too soon against the danger of waiting until the ritual is complete.
• Sacrifice and exploitation: Xiao Bai is treated as essential ritual material, while the prisoners’ suffering is absorbed only partly by the soul mark.
• Uncertain trust and hidden motives: Chen Miao’s doubts about Old Woman and the cult’s shifting alliances reflect how little he knows about those around him.
• The cost of ritual power: The supernatural protections blunt the prisons’ effects, but do not fully prevent harm.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao waits through the final two prisons for Three-Tail to return, holding off on summoning it because Zhong Cai may need its help. With only five minutes left in Tongue-Pulling Hell, he finally orders Three-Tail back.
• The five-prison ritual completes: the diagram enters Xiao Bai’s soul, the last livestock soul mark absorbs its power, and Elder Bamboo begins linking his soul to Xiao Bai through six channels.
• Zhong Cai arrives alone, carrying a bloodstained rock and covered in a spreading blood rune. Chen Miao tells him to hold off Paper Effigy Man while he tries to save Xiao Bai.
• Chen Miao and Three-Tail quickly incapacitate Old Woman. Zhong Cai restrains Paper Effigy Man, while Chen Miao tries several methods against Elder Bamboo, then uses reverse soul-summoning with Elder Bamboo’s true name, Wang Yongfu.
• Because Elder Bamboo remains connected to Xiao Bai, Chen Miao uses a Soul-Splitting Paper Knife to cut out all six soul marks, despite the danger to Xiao Bai. Three-Tail repeatedly stings Elder Bamboo, keeping him occupied long enough for Chen Miao to finish.
• Chen Miao prepares Xiao Bai for soul-summoning, but Elder Bamboo escapes his own restraint and Paper Effigy Man breaks free, sending bamboo splints at the platform. Chen Miao is badly wounded, though his life-and-death point heals the wound through his heart.
• Elder Bamboo merges with Xiao Bai. Desperate and unwilling to accept the outcome, Chen Miao raises a dagger to strike—but Zhong Cai intercepts the blade, saving Xiao Bai at the cost of his own life. He asks Chen Miao to look after Xiao Bai, and Chen Miao promises he will.

Character developments

• Chen Miao moves from cautious waiting to desperate, resourceful action. He uses every technique available, then nearly gives in to grief and rage when Xiao Bai is lost. Zhong Cai’s final sacrifice brings him back to himself.
• Zhong Cai arrives as a fiercely determined protector. His blood rune gives him the strength to restrain Paper Effigy Man, and his final act shows his loyalty to Xiao Bai and trust in Chen Miao.
• Elder Bamboo / Wang Yongfu reveals that his soul can resist ordinary attacks and even venom, but Chen Miao’s knowledge of his true name and the severing of the soul-mark connections eventually force him back toward his body.
• Three-Tail returns in time to support Chen Miao, helping suppress both Old Woman and Elder Bamboo.
• Xiao Bai remains the focus of the rescue attempt, but Elder Bamboo ultimately merges with him.

Significant themes

• Defiance against a tragic ending: Chen Miao’s refusal to accept Xiao Bai’s fate drives him to keep fighting even when the odds turn against him.
• Loyalty and sacrifice: Zhong Cai’s last action protects Xiao Bai and leaves Chen Miao with a promise to honor.
• Improvisation under pressure: Chen Miao combines ritual knowledge, tools, and quick judgment when standard attacks fail.
• The cost of rescue: Saving Xiao Bai demands dangerous choices, and the attempt ends in Zhong Cai’s death and Chen Miao’s severe injuries.

Character interactions

• Chen Miao and Zhong Cai coordinate with a brief instruction: Zhong Cai holds Paper Effigy Man off while Chen Miao reaches Xiao Bai.
• Zhong Cai’s rage toward Xiao Bai’s captors contrasts with Chen Miao’s calculated focus on disrupting the ritual.
• Chen Miao repeatedly uses Three-Tail to weaken or restrain Elder Bamboo, while Elder Bamboo tries to bargain with him by offering immortality.
• Zhong Cai’s final exchange with Chen Miao transforms a moment of violent desperation into a promise: Chen Miao agrees to look after Xiao Bai.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao uses all his remaining Yin Virtue to obtain 244 Jiangzhen Incense sticks. Reciting Demon Suppression, he directs the resulting smoke into Xiao Bai’s coffin, hoping it can affect Elder Bamboo now that his body is dead.
• The smoke works: Xiao Bai stops trembling, and five-colored radiance spreads across his body, transforming him into a flawless, apparently immortal being.
• Old Ghost arrives, drawn by the collapse of the paper offerings. Chen Miao claims Elder Bamboo has become an immortal and wants to take everyone with him. The incense smoke briefly attacks Old Ghost and his mummy, but dissipates when it reaches the platform.
• Old Ghost discovers that the old woman he was working with was only a fake. Soon, Li Quan and a group of Administration investigators arrive. Li Quan quickly incapacitates the four Curse Cult followers.
• Li Quan fires a blood-and-qi cannon at the coffins. The first blast destroys Elder Bamboo’s corpse; the next two smash Xiao Bai’s coffin, but Xiao Bai emerges unharmed, absorbing the force of the attack.
• Xiao Bai raises Zhong Cai’s corpse and takes its hand. Old Ghost suddenly catches fire; both he and his mummy burn away within seconds. Xiao Bai then turns his attention to Li Quan and the investigators, slowing them with supernatural cold. Li Quan and nearby investigators freeze before they can escape.
• At the end, Xiao Bai approaches the exhausted Chen Miao, dragging Zhong Cai’s corpse, and asks him to teach the Corpse Refining Technique.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao shifts from panic to decisive action, gambling all his remaining resources on a way to save himself and Xiao Bai. Though badly injured and exhausted, he survives the encounter and becomes the only person Xiao Bai addresses afterward.
• Xiao Bai completes a dramatic transformation from a trembling child in a coffin into a powerful, otherworldly being. He ignores Old Ghost’s celebration and Li Quan’s attempt to speak with him, instead showing interest in Chen Miao and corpse refinement.
• Old Ghost moves from suspicion to delight at what he believes is Elder Bamboo’s successful transformation. His confidence collapses when Xiao Bai kills him instantly.
• Li Quan arrives as a capable, decisive leader and initially treats Xiao Bai’s emergence as a possible opportunity. He quickly realizes Xiao Bai is no ally and orders a retreat, but is frozen before he can escape.
• Chen Miao and Old Ghost engage in a tense exchange: Chen Miao deliberately misleads him about the “immortal mist,” while Old Ghost’s fascination with Xiao Bai leaves him vulnerable.
• Xiao Bai and Zhong Cai are linked by the final image of Xiao Bai raising and dragging Zhong Cai’s corpse, suggesting an emerging connection to corpse-related practices.

Significant themes

• Power and misjudgment: Old Ghost and Li Quan both misread Xiao Bai—first as a promised immortal, then as a potential ally—and pay for underestimating him.
• Transformation and the uncanny: Xiao Bai’s perfected body and extraordinary abilities blur the boundary between child, corpse, immortal, and monster.
• Desperate ingenuity: Chen Miao survives by acting on a risky hypothesis rather than waiting for certainty.
• Uneasy alliances: The Administration and Curse Cult are enemies, but Xiao Bai’s arrival makes their conflict secondary to a threat neither can control.

Key plot points and events

• After waking, Xiao Bai calls Chen Miao “Uncle” and reveals Zhong Cai’s spirit, holding it together with five-colored light.
• Xiao Bai heals Chen Miao completely and removes the yin mark that had afflicted him.
• He explains that he has gained memories suggesting Zhong Cai can be brought back. To preserve Zhong Cai’s body until then, Xiao Bai intends to refine it into a zombie.
• Chen Miao shares two Corpse Refining techniques, including the Extreme Yin method. Xiao Bai says he can manage the associated requirements without feng shui formations.
• Xiao Bai transforms Old Ghost’s remains and Three-Tail into a Mummy that now belongs to Chen Miao, rather than controlling him.
• He converts blood and vitality taken from Li Quan and others into roughly 160 years’ worth of yang energy for Chen Miao’s Heavenly Heart Yang-Locking Art.
• Xiao Bai announces he is going to the Curse Cult to claim the title of Star Lord of Ascending Life, which will give him access to the Mortal World and the means to resurrect Zhong Cai. He promises that he and Zhong Cai will visit Chen Miao.

Character developments

• Xiao Bai has become vastly more powerful and somewhat changed by memories likely connected to Elder Bamboo’s attempted possession. He remains himself, however, and is driven by loyalty to Zhong Cai.
• Chen Miao struggles to reconcile the transformed Xiao Bai with the child he knew. He ultimately trusts Xiao Bai’s judgment and accepts his help.
• Zhong Cai remains dead for now, but Xiao Bai’s determination and new knowledge offer a possible path to his return.

Character interactions

• Xiao Bai cares for Chen Miao by healing him, removing his yin mark, and strengthening his yang energy.
• Chen Miao supports Xiao Bai’s plan by teaching him Corpse Refining techniques, choosing not to impose his own judgment.
• Xiao Bai gives Chen Miao control of the Mummy, reversing their former dynamic: Chen Miao is now the one being looked after.
• Their farewell recalls their family-like bond, ending with Chen Miao accepting Xiao Bai’s promise to return.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and grief: Xiao Bai’s plan to preserve and resurrect Zhong Cai is rooted in devotion to his master.
• Reversal of roles: The former protector, Chen Miao, becomes dependent on Xiao Bai’s care.
• Transformation and identity: Xiao Bai’s powers and demeanor have changed, yet his enduring affection suggests he remains himself.
• Trust amid uncertainty: Chen Miao cannot explain Xiao Bai’s abilities or fully understand his memories, but chooses to trust him.

• Investigation aftermath: Ten hours after the grotto battle, Jiao Liangcai, Xiang Tao, and Ren Lei find the surviving investigators and the badly injured Elder Li Quan. Li Quan recalls facing Old Ghost of the Curse Cult and a mysterious child. His blood and qi have been drained for hours, and frost has spread over him; the three fear his health may be permanently ruined, even if he survives. Several other investigators were also drained, though they are expected to recover.
• Clues and uncertainty: A search of the grotto turns up bodies and fragments, along with a Painted Skin made using the Southern School’s Corpse-Sewing Art. Xiang Tao notes that nearby Feng, Ma, and Liu families possess that skill, but Ren Lei warns against accusing anyone without evidence: the Curse Cult may have brought its own Corpse Stitcher. The investigators send the evidence to headquarters.
• Chen returns: Three days later, Chen Miao is back at Tianmen Funeral Home after being away for eighteen days. His Elder Uncle scolds him for disappearing and missing the Lantern Festival, but ultimately reassures Chen that he can rely on family when he is in trouble. Chen is touched by his concern.
• Parting with Xiao Bai: After the grotto incident, Chen gathered his belongings and left with Xiao Bai. Xiao Bai then departed to find a place to refine his master’s corpse, refusing Chen’s offer of money and materials. Before leaving, he gave Chen the promised instructions for drawing talismans, found among Zhong Cai’s belongings. Chen spends two days recovering before contacting his uncle and returning home.
• A new understanding of cultivation: Chen has studied a memory fragment of Elder Bamboo, whose recollections focus on cultivation, paper-offering craft, and the Five Hells Six Livestock Reincarnation Art. The memories reveal that the “mortal world” in Notes on Achieving Divinity in the Mortal World is not Chen’s ordinary world. It is a cultivation realm reached after Gate Knocking, beyond Aperture Awakening, Aperture Nourishment, Aperture Solidification, and Nether Communion. This realm is also called Walking Yin.
  Character developments and interactions: Li Quan’s stubbornness and commitment to his hometown have left him vulnerable, and he understands that his injuries may end his strength or life. The investigators balance anger and grief with caution, especially Ren Lei, who urges evidence-based investigation despite his ties to the Liu family. Chen, meanwhile, returns changed by his ordeal: his gratitude toward his uncle deepens, and his new knowledge transforms how he understands his cultivation path.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao learns from Elder Bamboo’s memories that a “gate” inside the human body leads to the mysterious mortal world. Strengthening the soul—described as “building a bridge”—may allow someone to knock on and enter it. Chen Miao suspects the world may hold a way to resurrect Zhong Cai, deepening his curiosity and grief over his friend.
• The book updates Chen Miao’s age to twenty-five and records his new status: five hells immortal (incomplete). He realizes Elder Bamboo had merged with two of Xiao Bai’s five hells before Chen Miao stopped him; had the process reached three-fifths, Elder Bamboo would have awakened in Xiao Bai’s body.
• The two hells Chen Miao acquired—the fire pit hell and ice prison—have strengthened his body and greatly increased the yin energy his nine apertures can hold. They also let him refine his soul through controlled punishment and place corresponding hells marks on others, though he cannot wield the hells as Xiao Bai can.
• After the chapter’s settlement, Chen Miao earned a catty and two taels of yin virtue. The book consumed a catty without warning, leaving him only two taels—but this expenditure advanced Notes on Achieving Divinity in the Mortal World to a new stage.
• The upgraded notes can appear in smaller books and let Chen Miao enter recorded chapters as an observer. He can inspect events firsthand and alter the passage of time, though he cannot interact with anything or feel physical sensations. Reading the text remains useful because it can flag suspicious details that he might miss while observing.
• The notes can now upgrade certain states using yin virtue. Completing the five hells immortal constitution would cost three jin—one jin per missing hell—and further upgrades may cost even more. Chen Miao decides to focus on developing himself rather than spending heavily for now.
• A new miscellaneous art appears in the book: the Spirit Effigy Sutra.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Miao becomes more informed and ambitious: Elder Bamboo’s memories give him a possible framework for understanding soul cultivation and reaching the mortal world. His loss of Zhong Cai briefly weighs on him, but he regains his composure.
• He shows cautious resourcefulness, thinking through both practical uses and potential abuses of the book’s new chapter-immersion ability. The surprise loss of yin virtue also makes him wary of future upgrades and determined to plan ahead.
• Chen Miao’s conflict with Elder Bamboo continues to shape events: his decisive intervention prevented Elder Bamboo from taking over Xiao Bai. Xiao Bai’s complete five-hell constitution provides a benchmark for the power Chen Miao has only partly inherited.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and the unknown: Memories and the book reveal new possibilities, but the mortal world remains mysterious.
• Growth through suffering: Chen Miao can strengthen both body and soul by enduring controlled trials.
• Power and cost: New abilities offer enormous potential, but require scarce yin virtue and may consume resources without warning.
• Memory versus direct experience: Written accounts can expose what is suspicious, while firsthand observation offers details the text cannot convey; Chen Miao sees value in combining both.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao initially regrets receiving the Spirit Effigy Sutra, hoping instead for techniques such as Old Ghost’s yin marks or the Five Hells Six Livestock Reincarnation Art. Reading it changes his mind: the sutra contains an extensive Paper Effigy Maker inheritance, including ritual arts and the Paper Figure Yin-Congealing Method, which teaches yin cultivation from opening apertures through Nether Communion.
• Impressed by its completeness—and helped by his existing skills and statuses—Chen decides to become a Paper Effigy Maker. The profession will also let him craft the effigies required by his new cultivation method. With two Masters of Ceremonies now at the Funeral Home, he can focus on overseeing the business rather than handling ceremonies himself.
• He plans to defer studying the Thousand-Thread Puppet Art, maintain his talisman practice without making it a priority, and concentrate on strengthening his yin cultivation.
• Chen names the mummy Scorpion Corpse. With Three-Tail inside it, the mummy can inherit some of Three-Tail’s abilities, including concealment and venom, and Chen can control it indirectly through Three-Tail. This gives Chen a powerful new combat option.
• Chen also receives Xiao Bai’s Centennial Heavenly Heart Fire. Together, the fire and Scorpion Corpse greatly improve his ability to face powerful enemies such as Old Ghost.
• Recognizing how much stronger he has become, Chen nevertheless cautions himself that opportunity brings danger. He looks ahead to reaching Nether Communion and discovering whether the Mortal World truly contains Immortals and Gods.
• In a separate scene, a white-haired child and an armored zombie leave a mountain village. The child leaves the mutilated Feng Shui Master’s corpse—still wearing the Human-Skin Mask—with a booklet titled Courtyard Spring Breeze Formation, marked as a gift from Pang Xuanmo to Zhong Cai. The corpse and booklet burn, and the pair depart unseen.

Character developments

• Chen Miao shifts from disappointment to enthusiasm as he recognizes the Spirit Effigy Sutra’s broader value. He commits to a new profession and a more focused cultivation plan, while remaining mindful of the risks of his growing power.
• Three-Tail becomes even more valuable through its link to Scorpion Corpse: its growth will also strengthen the mummy.
• Xiao Bai leaves Chen substantial resources—the fire and talisman methods—as well as the unusual connection between Three-Tail and the mummy.
• The white-haired child’s calm treatment of the Feng Shui Master’s corpse, and the unseen armored companion, suggest a dangerous connection to the events Chen experienced, though their identities and motives remain unclear.

Significant themes

• Inheritance and self-made traditions: The Spirit Effigy Sutra gives Chen the means to establish a school of yin cultivation rather than rely on scattered techniques.
• Growth through adaptation: Chen’s existing talents and resources make a new profession a practical path to greater strength.
• Power and peril: His gains are significant, but he recognizes that dangerous opportunities can carry even greater costs.
• Unanswered mysteries: The Mortal World and the departing pair’s actions foreshadow threats and discoveries beyond Chen’s immediate plans.

Character interactions

• Chen’s relationship with Three-Tail becomes a practical chain of control: Three-Tail controls Scorpion Corpse, while Chen controls Three-Tail.
• Xiao Bai’s gifts and arrangements continue to shape Chen’s capabilities even after the chapter’s main events.
• The final scene links Pang Xuanmo and Zhong Cai through the inscribed booklet, while the child and armored zombie depart together without being noticed.

Chapter summary: “A month and a half”

Key events and developments

• Tianmen Funeral Home expands and improves. A renovated cremation room now has two furnaces: a faster, more expensive one and the old, cheaper one, serving customers with different budgets. Cold Storage is also upgraded: refrigerated cabinets move to the basement, a freight elevator is installed, and storage capacity increases from six bodies to eighteen. The ground floor becomes office space and Shi Manman’s mortuary.
• The ashes hall is being rebuilt. Chen Miao enlarges and decorates his parents’ memorial chamber. Inspired by the design, Elder Uncle plans to place his own grandparents’ tablets there and begin a family genealogy with Chen Miao’s grandfather’s generation.
• The funeral home’s rival becomes less troublesome. Fushou Funeral Center behaves better after Xie Songde’s intervention. Chen Miao thanks Xie by trading him talismans; Xie pays one million despite Chen Miao quoting five hundred thousand, leaving Chen with more savings even after his renovations.
• Chen Miao helps Xiang Shang change direction. Xiang’s talisman success rate remains extremely poor, and his progress is slowed by time and distractions. Chen teaches him the Extreme Yin Body-Refining Art, then supplies Mind-Clearing Talismans to ease the painful practice and teaches him to make them. Xiang responds with renewed focus.
• Chen Miao advances his cultivation. After Xiao Bai removes his yin mark, he abandons his plan to prioritize the sublingual yin bridge. Instead, he awakens his remaining three apertures in just one month, aided by his five-hells half-immortal body. He learns that the yin well can store yin energy and that his scorpion corpse—and Three-Tail—can enter it as gray mist. He chooses the heavenly spirit yin aperture as his main future focus because it supports several abilities and may strengthen his soul body.
• His paper-effigy skills improve rapidly, but not far enough. Chen reaches the Blue Artisan rank, able to craft birds and livestock, but still cannot make human figures. He plans to seek instruction from ordinary paper-effigy makers, while studying the Paper Figure Yin-Congealing Method and developing an ambitious idea for accelerating his cultivation.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao emerges as a generous, practical manager, investing heavily in the funeral home while balancing commercial needs with dignity for the dead. His cultivation and craft skills also progress quickly, and he increasingly plans for long-term advancement.
• Elder Uncle is proud of Chen’s business decisions and becomes interested in preserving the family line through a genealogy and expanded memorial space.
• Shi Manman has advanced from beginning blind stitches to doing nearly all her stitching blind. Ordinary body preparation is no longer challenging enough, so Chen considers finding her forensic work to help her qualify in corpse identification.
• Xiang Shang struggles with talisman-making but accepts a more suitable path in body refinement. After initially accusing Chen of trying to kill him because of the pain, he is convinced by Chen’s strength, accepts the Mind-Clearing Talismans, and commits himself to learning them.
• Xie Songde supports Chen’s business interests and accepts a batch of talismans, paying more than requested.
• Chen’s relationship with his apprentices and associates is marked by practical mentorship: he gives Shi Manman tools for advanced training and redirects Xiang Shang toward work better suited to his abilities.

Significant themes

• Growth through adaptation: Chen adjusts business practices, training plans, and cultivation priorities as circumstances change.
• Respect and responsibility: The funeral home’s renovations separate the living from the dead and provide services for families of different means.
• Patience versus talent: Xiang’s slow progress contrasts with Chen’s extraordinary advancement, showing that discipline alone may not overcome every limitation.
• Tradition and legacy: The memorial chamber and proposed genealogy suggest a new effort to preserve family history.
• Ambition and possibility: Chen’s rapid progress in cultivation and paper-effigy craft leads him to wonder whether extraordinary methods might bring the mortal world within reach.

Chapter Summary

Over the past month and a half, Chen Miao has made steady progress in several disciplines. He can now complete eight rounds of the Extreme Yin Body-Refining Art in one session and has learned to shift and concentrate his protective aura, allowing him to reinforce a specific area against an attack. His Five Hells Soul-Refinement has also strengthened his soul and improved his ordinary thinking and perception. His eyes-closed perception now reaches three meters normally, nine meters with iceheart (II), and eighteen meters when he also activates his heavenly spirit yin aperture. Several other abilities, including good-and-evil perception and yin absorption, have improved as well.
Chen Miao continues practicing talisman drawing, Feng Shui formations, and ingredient selection for the Ghost Scorpion. He focuses on Yin-Dispelling, Evil-Breaking, and Mind-Clearing Talismans, which he uses regularly.

Key Events and Interactions

Yang Jiuhua helps Chen Miao sell Yin-Dispelling Talismans to followers of his livestreams. A fan who has been left weak and chilled after an apparent supernatural encounter drinks water made from one talisman and quickly recovers. He posts a video of the result, prompting other fans to buy the remaining talismans immediately. Chen Miao sends Yang ten more to sell each week, partly to earn money but mainly to attract reports of supernatural incidents that might lead to work—and much-needed yin virtue.
Chen Miao’s recent yin-virtue gains have otherwise been limited to the six Ghost Babies he rescued from Infant Man and helped transcend. Their departure earned him one tael and two qian of yin virtue and raised his Infant Spirit Affinity to level VII.
Before Yang’s network brings him another case, Zhao Gongzi calls with urgent news: the Peachwood Talisman Chen Miao gave him has cracked.

Character Development and Themes

Chen Miao’s growing discipline and skill are evident in his progress across body refinement, soul cultivation, and practical work. He also thinks strategically: he limits talisman sales to preserve his time and uses Yang’s audience as a way to discover supernatural cases, not merely as a source of income.
The chapter emphasizes that cultivation can produce broad, lasting gains, while supernatural expertise can become both a livelihood and a means of helping others. It ends on a suspenseful note, raising the question of what caused Zhao’s protective talisman to crack.

Key plot points and events

• Zhao Gongzi calls Chen Miao after finding that a peachwood talisman in his studio has cracked. Chen identifies traces of lingering yin energy around a stand where a Japanese cherry-blossom kimono had been kept.
• Zhao explains that he bought the unusually fine kimono cheaply and sold it to a customer for an anime convention. Chen suspects the seller knew it was dangerous, but they decide to find the wearer.
• At the convention, Chen discovers that the kimono emits powerful yin energy and seems to enchant audiences, making them watch its wearer in a trance. He waits for a safe opportunity rather than acting in the crowded venue.
• Chen uses a Mind-Clearing Talisman to wake Zhao from the enchantment and explain what is happening. They follow the cosplayer after the convention and persuade her to return the garment.
• The woman agrees to change, but emerges still wearing the kimono and refuses to give it back. She suddenly attacks Zhao. Chen’s Soul-Calming Wood Set traps her, and he uses his Tobacco Pipe to send smoke around her, restraining her just before she can reach the set.

Character developments

• Chen Miao is eager to test his greatly enhanced supernatural abilities. His calm judgment, Iceheart State, and prepared tools let him resist the kimono’s influence and manage the danger without panicking.
• Zhao Gongzi is nervous and self-preserving, yet feels responsible for the trouble because he sold the garment. He accompanies Chen despite his fear, then realizes Chen is far more capable than an ordinary person.
• The cosplayer initially appears coherent and grateful, but her sudden refusal and attack reveal that the kimono’s influence has taken hold of her.

Character interactions

• Chen reassures Zhao while investigating, and Zhao chooses to help rather than leave him to face the danger alone.
• At the convention, Chen pushes through the crowd while Zhao is recognized by local cosplayers and taken backstage.
• Chen protects Zhao by clearing his mind and later stepping in when the wearer attacks. Zhao watches in disbelief as Chen’s supernatural equipment restrains her.

Significant themes

• Responsibility and integrity: Zhao’s honest business choice brings the dangerous garment into the open, and he accepts some responsibility for resolving the consequences.
• Power and restraint: Chen recognizes the danger but waits until the crowd has dispersed before acting.
• Appearance versus reality: The beautiful kimono seems to bring admiration and delight, yet it hides an old, powerful supernatural presence.
• Fear and trust: Zhao’s anxiety contrasts with Chen’s confidence, but he ultimately trusts Chen’s ability to protect them.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao tests the polluted Tobacco Pipe and learns that it can strike supernatural beings, release controllable smoke that binds them, and—when its smoke is ignited with yin energy—serve other purposes. Book-redeemed tobacco proves stronger than ordinary tobacco, though even layered smoke holds the powerful Scorpion Corpse for less than a second.
• In an underground garage, Chen Miao uses the pipe’s smoke to restrain a girl wearing a haunted Cherry Blossom Kimono. His Soul Body Perception detects multiple souls connected to the garment, although his other senses reveal only one ghost.
• The girl breaks free and attacks, but an unseen barrier protects Chen Miao. He recognizes something about the garment’s pattern, then uses bamboo splints hidden beneath his Soul-Calming Wood Set to bind her again.
• Chen Miao drives a smoke dart into the kimono and pulls out seven indistinct soul bodies. As they emerge, the kneeling silhouettes beneath the garment’s cherry tree disappear.
• A passerby mistakes the scene for an assault, then sees the extracted spirits and Chen Miao’s eerie appearance. Assuming he is an underworld officer, the man apologizes and flees with his friends.
• Chen Miao performs a rite to send the souls on. Six depart, but the seventh is unaffected by the incense and Peach Wood Sword. Chen Miao concludes that it may be a living person’s soul.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao demonstrates growing skill and confidence with supernatural tools, carefully applying his perception and recognizing that the kimono contains multiple souls. His investigation continues even when the girl attacks him.
• The girl is hostile and tries first to strike Chen Miao, then to seize the Soul-Calming Wood Set. She is subdued and becomes the source from which the bound souls are extracted.
• Zhao Gongzi witnesses the danger and warns Chen Miao, who remains focused on examining the garment.
• The passerby’s misunderstanding turns to fear and deference once he realizes Chen Miao is handling spirits rather than harming the girl.

Significant themes

• Perception and hidden truths: Chen Miao’s specialized senses reveal what ordinary sight—and his other supernatural methods—cannot.
• The boundary between life and death: Six souls can be sent on, but one resists both the rite and the sword, raising the possibility that it belongs to someone still alive.
• Supernatural power and preparation: Chen Miao’s success depends on testing his tools, choosing stronger materials, and combining the Tobacco Pipe with the bamboo splints and Soul-Calming Wood Set.

Plot points and events

• Chen Miao exorcises the haunting tied to Zhao Gongzi’s Cherry Blossom Kimono. He captures the spirits drawn out by the garment and burns it, leaving ashes behind.
• The girl who wore the kimono, frightened by the supernatural events, refuses Chen Miao’s offer to work for him. He gives her a Yin-Dispelling Talisman before she leaves.
• Chen Miao explains that the kimono may have trapped the soul of its previous owner, who could still be alive. Zhao contacts the seller, who eventually provides an address in Lin’an.
• Zhao and Chen Miao meet Wang Chen, who leads them to Zhang Xiaoxue, a young woman who has lain unconscious for six days. Wang had concealed the real destination and asks them not to raise her parents’ hopes unless they are certain.
• Chen Miao reveals Xiaoxue’s soul, confirming that it was trapped in the kimono. After her parents beg for help, he performs a soul-calling ritual and returns her soul to her body. Xiaoxue wakes.
• Chen Miao then confronts Wang Chen, demanding an explanation of the kimono and why it was sold so cheaply.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao remains calm and decisive, balancing practical concerns—such as reporting the incident to the Administration—with supernatural expertise. He shows compassion by rescuing Xiaoxue and helping the frightened wearer, while pressing Wang Chen for the truth afterward.
• Zhao Gongzi shifts from stunned observer to active partner: he contacts the seller, helps pursue the lead, and grows more confident with Chen Miao beside him.
• Wang Chen is cautious and conflicted. He wants Xiaoxue saved but fears reopening her parents’ hopes; once Chen Miao succeeds, he agrees to explain what he knows.
• Xiaoxue’s parents move from exhausted resignation to desperate hope after seeing their daughter’s soul, then rejoice when she awakens.
• The girl who wore the kimono leaves terrified but accepts Chen Miao’s protective talisman and asks for a refund from Zhao.

Significant themes

• Hope amid grief: Xiaoxue’s parents have endured disappointment, yet the possibility of a supernatural cure revives their hope.
• The cost of exploiting the supernatural: The kimono has harmed multiple people and may have trapped a living person’s soul.
• Trust and responsibility: Chen Miao acts to save a stranger despite uncertainty, while Wang Chen struggles with whether to risk giving Xiaoxue’s family hope.
• Life, death, and the unseen: The chapter treats souls and spiritual rites as concrete forces, linking supernatural danger to urgent human consequences.

Key plot points

• Wang Chen explains that Zhang Xiaoxue’s obsession with the Cherry Blossom Kimono began after she wore it dancing and received praise. She eventually wore it everywhere, and became hostile to anyone who criticized it.
• When Zhang Xiaoxue fell into a vegetative state, Wang Chen tried to burn the kimono, but it reappeared intact. He then sold it cheaply online, hoping to rid himself of it. Though it did not return to him, Zhang Xiaoxue remained unconscious.
• Wang Chen suspects the kimono left of its own accord and that passing it on may have exposed someone else to its curse. He kept silent until Zhao Gongzi offered a chance to save Zhang Xiaoxue. Wang Chen agreed because of his affection for her and gratitude to her family.
• Chen Miao confirms Zhang Xiaoxue has been helped, advises her parents to nourish her and have her drink water mixed with a burned talisman’s ashes, and accepts only 50,000 yuan from their offered payment.
• Back at Zhao Gongzi’s home, Chen Miao releases the Kimono Ghost from the Ghost Cube. Three-Tail immediately paralyzes it with its stinger.
• Chen Miao notices the ghost has an unusual third eye set horizontally between its other two eyes. Rather than let Three-Tail devour it, he performs a Transcendence Rite, hoping to learn more about it.
• The chapter’s settlement awards Chen Miao two taels of yin virtue, Zhang Xiaoxue’s gratitude and dance mastery, Wu Yuanhua’s Memory Fragment, and a new item or ability called “Making Demon Ghosts.” Chen Miao wonders why the rewards are so substantial and what demon ghosts are.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Chen is revealed as a caring but frightened figure: he knowingly passed on a dangerous object, yet did so after believing he had no other way to escape it. His decision to help now is driven by loyalty to Zhang Xiaoxue and her family.
• Chen Miao shows compassion and restraint. He helps Zhang Xiaoxue, refuses most of the family’s money, and chooses to spare the strange ghost so he can investigate its origins.
• Mr. and Mrs. Zhang express intense gratitude; Mr. Zhang tries to kneel, while Mrs. Zhang offers Chen Miao a large payment.
• Zhao Gongzi drives Chen Miao home and seems eager to ask him something, but Chen Miao leaves him waiting.

Significant themes

• Curses and responsibility: Passing on the kimono freed Wang Chen from its immediate effects but may have transferred the danger to someone else.
• Fear versus compassion: Wang Chen’s silence comes from fear, while his return to the matter comes from care for Zhang Xiaoxue.
• Mercy and inquiry: Chen Miao prioritizes understanding the ghost over using it as food.
• Uncertainty and hidden systems: The chapter closes by expanding the supernatural mystery through the three-eyed ghost and the unexplained “demon ghosts” reward.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao reviews the rewards from dealing with the kimono ghost. Helping Zhang Xiaoxue return to her body seems to have earned more yin virtue—and a skill-related reward—than simply performing Transcendence Rites.
• He studies Making Demon Ghosts, which describes how Island Nation yōkai can be created through sacrificial rituals. The required offerings can be horrific: human eyes for a Three-Eyed Ghost and children for a River Child.
• A memory fragment reveals Wu Yuanhua’s story. After losing his chance to perform to the well-connected Fu Hui, he is taunted by his roommate Meng Huaixin and, desperate for a future in dance, accepts help from Onmyoji Suzuki Yamato.
• Suzuki arranges for Wu to take the stage when Fu Hui is injured. Wu performs brilliantly and believes his career is finally secure, but later discovers that their agreement requires him to consume human eyeballs.
• When Wu hesitates, Suzuki restrains him and forces the sacrifice through. A soul-born creature consumes the eyes, leaving one to be placed between Wu’s brows, creating a Three-Eyed yōkai.
• Chen wakes with the Three-Eyed status. He discovers that its supernatural eye exists on his soul body, can function alongside his other vision abilities, and can cast illusions.
• The chapter ends with Suzuki performing another altar ritual, receiving a blood-red third eye on a paper figure and using it to obtain guidance from the Three-Eyed Great God.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao approaches the new information analytically, comparing rewards and testing his acquired ability. He suspects Suzuki came to Great Xia to create yōkai, but lacks enough details to locate him.
• Wu Yuanhua shifts from bitterness and ambition to hopeful triumph, then to terror and regret when he learns the true cost of his success. His gratitude toward Suzuki turns into desperate bargaining, but he is unable to resist the ritual.
• Meng Huaixin mocks Wu after his rejection and encourages him to accommodate Fu Hui’s connections. After Wu succeeds, he acts friendly and takes him to celebrate, despite his earlier cruelty.
• Suzuki Yamato presents the arrangement as a binding transaction. He invokes the contract when Wu tries to withdraw, revealing his cold, coercive approach to fulfilling the ritual.
• Fu Hui’s injury creates Wu’s opportunity, while the instructor’s call and the audience’s applause briefly make Wu believe his ambitions have been realized.

Significant themes

• Ambition and exploitation: Wu’s desire to perform makes him vulnerable to a deal whose consequences he does not fully understand.
• Contracts, consent, and manipulation: Suzuki treats Wu’s sober phone call as consent, though Wu has forgotten the terms and later cannot freely refuse.
• Corruption of success: Wu’s triumphant performance is inseparable from a grotesque sacrifice.
• Cultural and supernatural exchange: The chapter introduces Island Nation yōkai and an Onmyoji operating in Great Xia, hinting at a wider conflict or hidden agenda.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao confirms that his third eye’s illusions make targets experience their deepest fears. Zhao Gongzi saw a cherry-blossom kimono pursue and suffocate him; Chen Miao’s own earlier test had shown him Elder Bamboo attacking from a mirror.
• Chen Miao concludes the illusions can briefly hinder ordinary people, but are less effective against powerful yin cultivators or strong souls. They can be resisted with abilities such as Iceheart or Yin-Yang Eyes, or dispelled with a Mind-Clearing Talisman. He considers upgrading the eye later, perhaps to gain control over its visions.
• Zhao Gongzi asks whether Chen Miao is cultivating immortality. Chen Miao explains his abilities, then asks about Zhao’s crafting background.
• Zhao describes studying basic craft skills with an old artisan who specializes in paper offerings. The artisan once demonstrated his talent by making a remarkably realistic paper sword over a bamboo-splint frame. Zhao now sends him larger or time-sensitive commissions and splits the payment with him.
• Interested in learning the artisan’s techniques, Chen asks Zhao for an introduction. They travel to the outskirts of Lin’an and visit Fangzheng Paper Offerings Shop.
• Chen admires the shop’s unusually detailed wares and notices the construction of a paper horse differs from what he knows. Just as he reaches to inspect it, an old man warns that touching it means buying it.

Character developments

• Chen Miao gains a clearer understanding of the third eye’s limits and possible value, while showing continued curiosity about practical crafts and a willingness to seek expert instruction.
• Zhao Gongzi reveals that his crafting abilities were developed through study and collaboration, not solely self-teaching. His business relationship with the artisan suggests resourcefulness and mutual trust.
• The old craftsman is introduced indirectly as highly skilled and commercially minded; his first words establish a blunt, possessive attitude toward his work.

Significant themes

• Fear and perception: The third eye turns personal fears into illusions, making its effects depend on each target’s inner vulnerabilities.
• Skill and mentorship: Zhao’s experience shows how self-taught ability can reach limits and how fundamentals and expert guidance matter.
• Craftsmanship and value: The shop’s detailed paper creations blur the boundary between flimsy ritual objects and convincing works of art.
• Power tempered by limits: Chen’s new ability is useful but not universally effective, and improving it must compete with other priorities.

Character interactions

• Chen reassures Zhao after the illusion and answers his question about Chen’s powers.
• Zhao shares his history with the artisan and readily agrees to bring Chen to the shop.
• At the shop, Chen’s eager inspection of the paper horse is interrupted by the craftsman’s warning, setting up their first direct encounter.