Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• After subduing the Corpse Retriever, Chen Miao tests the Five Prisons on him and confirms they affect humans more strongly than ghosts: even slight damage to the man’s soul-heart seems to influence his physical body.
• Chen Miao then targets the man’s sublingual yin bridge, one of the Nine Apertures. The aperture vanishes, leaving the Corpse Retriever unable to feel his tongue and stripped of his cultivation. Chen Miao later restores the sensation and questions him.
• The Corpse Retriever explains that corpse retrievers keep water ghosts for protection while working underwater. His ghost dragged the boy whose corpse he retrieved that day into the river.
• He also reveals that Lin Xiuzhu, a Corpse Keeper at Twin Bridge Town’s Yizhuang, pays a large bonus for corpses. The Corpse Retriever discovered that Lin’s people were gathering fresh corpses on Grave Mountain to produce corpse qi, not necessarily usable zombies.
• This information reminds Chen Miao of Hunchback Lin’s earlier mass burial of corpses, suggesting that Hunchback Lin may also have been cultivating corpse qi.
• The Corpse Retriever identifies Lin Xiuzhu as part of the Flying Corpse Lin Family, a powerful Yin Cultivation clan that controls corpse houses across Jiangya County. The family reportedly has multiple Flying Jiangshi and an ancestor who reached Gate Knocking.
• Chen Miao gathers general information about Jiangya County and begins asking what is sold on Grave Mountain.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao demonstrates the frightening reach of his abilities and uses the Corpse Retriever both to test his techniques and obtain local intelligence. He is increasingly suspicious of the Lin family’s corpse-related activities.
• The Corpse Retriever shifts from an imposing, aloof practitioner to a frightened captive. Once Chen Miao removes his aperture, he abandons resistance and answers openly, even offering his cultivation method to save himself.
• Their exchange is defined by Chen Miao’s calm questioning and the Retriever’s anxious deference, flattery, and regret over having crossed him.
• Lin Xiuzhu and Hunchback Lin do not appear directly, but their practices become central to Chen Miao’s investigation.

Significant themes

• Power and helplessness: Chen Miao’s control over the Retriever’s body and cultivation makes the gap between them stark.
• Body, soul, and cultivation: The Five Prisons and the Nine Apertures reveal a close connection between spiritual structures and physical sensation.
• Exploitation and moral compromise: The Retriever’s water ghosts drag people under, while financial incentives encourage the gathering of corpses.
• Suspicion and hidden motives: The Lin family’s corpse-qi production suggests that corpse cultivation may conceal larger plans.

Plot points and events

• Chen Miao questions the Corpse Retriever about Grave Mountain’s goods, buying limits, and a hidden trading realm beneath a lake in Jiangya County. He also asks about Dongying’s onmyoji, leaving the Corpse Retriever wondering whether Chen is a foreign yin cultivator.
• Chen orders the Corpse Retriever to retrieve all the Soul-Binding Grass from the river. The Retriever reluctantly uproots the precious nine-leaf plant, sealing its escaping yin energy so he can replant it later.
• Underwater, a cord suddenly strangles the Retriever. Though he breaks free, he becomes weak and disoriented; his body vanishes as the Heart-Excavation Prison mark dissipates, confirming his death.
• Chen summons General Effigy and rides toward Twin Bridge Town. After crossing the bridges, he enters town concealed and checks the notebook’s rewards.
• The chapter grants Chen the Corpse Retriever Shi Fan’s memory fragment, additional fragments, Soul-Binding Grass leaves, Water Ghost Coins, obsession, yin virtue, and the Water-Suppressing Mystic Scripture. The inheritance teaches corpse retrieval, aquatic dangers and taboos, yin-object crafting, and an aperture-opening method that requires enduring a special bath for repeated forty-nine-day periods.
• Chen examines the Water Ghost Coins, which can lure water ghosts and, with the scripture’s methods, suppress aquatic threats. He resolves a ghost in an alley with incense and the Grievance-Resolving Mantra, then rides out of town.

Character developments

• Chen Miao remains calm and inquisitive, using the Retriever as a source of practical information while secretly acquiring a valuable inheritance. He continues favoring the Grievance-Resolving Mantra for handling ghosts.
• Shi Fan, the Corpse Retriever, shifts from frightened compliance to brief hopes of escape and retaliation. He ultimately obeys, but his suspicion that Chen may be an onmyoji from Dongying gives him a way to rationalize the encounter—and a plan to report it to the Demon-Suppressing Bureau if he survives. He does not.

Significant themes

• Knowledge as power: Chen’s questions uncover the rules, markets, and hidden networks of yin cultivation.
• Survival under overwhelming power: Shi Fan weighs escape against obedience, recognizing that resistance is futile.
• Inheritance and accumulation: Chen turns each encounter into new techniques, tools, and resources.
• Uncertainty and misjudgment: Shi Fan’s guesses about Chen’s origins and strength never clarify the danger he faces.

Character interactions

• Chen questions Shi Fan about trade and cultivation, then commands him to retrieve the grass; Shi Fan complies while privately grieving the loss of his inherited plant.
• Shi Fan interprets Chen’s ignorance and questions about Dongying as possible evidence that Chen is a foreign onmyoji, but keeps those suspicions to himself.
• Chen’s final encounter with the alley ghost is handled not through force, but through incense and a mantra intended to resolve grievances.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao returns to Qingjiang Town after encountering six roadside ghosts—twice the number he met on his previous journey. One resembles the Man-Faced Ape, but with a wolf’s head; the encounters earn him enough yin virtue to exceed one catty again.
• Having repaired his Five Hells Immortal Body, Chen decides to rely on it and the Five Prisons Mark rather than sending his General Effigy out to hunt ghosts. He tests his enhanced strength by leaping across rooftops, then notices late-night activity at Yizhuang.
• At Yizhuang, Lin Feng reports that corpses in three villages have been destroyed, seven Leaping Hopping Corpses are missing, and Soul-Seizing Bell nets have been cut. Incense ash at the sites leads him and Hunchback Lin to suspect an heir of the feared Incense-Burning Method.
• Hunchback Lin recalls a story behind the warning, “Better to forsake a Flying Jiangshi than provoke an incense burner”: a young incense practitioner once effortlessly destroyed a powerful Lin Family ancestor and his Flying Jiangshi. Fearing the same fate, Hunchback Lin orders the corpse-nurturing operation halted and the remaining corpses moved.
• Lin Feng suggests moving them into the mountains, despite the danger posed by Corpse Stitchers there. Hunchback Lin proposes seeking help from Kong’s Shop, whose Paper Offerings may deal with them. Lin Feng plans to deliver an invitation.
• Chen returns to Kong’s Paper Effigy Shop late at night. Shopkeeper Li checks on him, and Chen explains that he was delayed in Twin Bridge Town but had Ge Feng’s Mountain God Bone for protection. Before leaving, Chen gives Li lotus-leaf chicken from the town, prompting a nostalgic reaction.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao grows more confident in his repaired body, experimenting with its strength while remaining cautious about the dangers of the road. His small gift to Shopkeeper Li reveals a considerate, friendly side.
• Hunchback Lin shifts from managing the corpse operation to retreating from it once he suspects an incense practitioner is involved; his fear is grounded in his family’s history.
• Lin Feng is pragmatic and ambitious, but recognizes the seriousness of the threat. He and Hunchback Lin agree to avoid discussing the Incense-Burning Method and to seek Kong’s Shop’s assistance.
• Shopkeeper Li shows concern for Chen’s safety, while Chen responds with gratitude and warmth.

Significant themes

• Power and restraint: Chen’s new strength gives him greater freedom, but he remains aware that power and protection have limits.
• Fear of the unknown: Even accomplished yin cultivators dread the Incense-Burning Method, whose effects cannot be judged by the practitioner’s apparent strength.
• Old grievances and inherited wisdom: The Lin Family’s caution comes from a devastating ancestral defeat.
• Human connection amid danger: Chen’s gift of food offers a quiet, personal contrast to the chapter’s supernatural threats.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao returns late with the Mountain God Bone, which he says helped the ghosts on the road ignore him. Ge Feng is relieved and asks for the full story.
• Chen Miao shares food from Twin Bridge Town, including Lotus-Leaf Chicken, and recounts seeing a Corpse Retriever, encountering ghosts, and getting trapped in a Ghostly Wall before escaping.
• That night, Chen Miao’s enhanced perception detects no Soul Bodies nearby. He wonders whether the roast chicken somehow kept danger away, but moves on.
• Chen Miao practices the Extreme Yin Body-Refining Art and notices its pain has diminished again, apparently because the Five Hells Immortal Body is strengthening him. He estimates his physical prowess is between Grades B and C and expects to reach Grade B within six months.
• He reviews his recent gains: only eight qian of Yin Virtue in total, including the Yōkai Smoke Wraith’s earnings. He explains that he spent five ghosts testing Five Hells Soul-Refinement. The ability restored about one-fifth of his Soul Power but yielded no Yin Virtue or rewards, making the experiment costly.
• Chen Miao now has twenty-seven Memory Fragments to process. He plans to review four per day and begins with the Wolf-Faced Man’s fragment, hoping it may reveal a special status.

Character developments

• Chen Miao continues to grow stronger physically and in Soul-related abilities, while carefully testing their limits.
• His cautious, experimental approach leads him to accept a major loss in resources in exchange for understanding a potentially useful power.
• Ge Feng’s initial worry gives way to excitement and pride in the Mountain God Bone’s effectiveness and in food from his hometown.

Significant themes

• Power and cost: Chen Miao’s experiment shows that new abilities can be useful yet inefficient and expensive.
• Preparation through knowledge: He tests his skills now so he can make better choices in a future crisis.
• Progress as a burden: His growing pile of Memory Fragments turns an opportunity for advancement into a demanding task.

Character interactions

• Ge Feng worries about Chen Miao’s late return, then listens closely to his account and is pleased that the Mountain God Bone worked.
• The two share food and conversation about Twin Bridge Town, including its distinctive Lotus-Leaf Chicken.
• Chen Miao reflects on his physical improvements and jokes that his muscles might motivate Xiang Shang.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao upgrades Spatial Perception with one jin of yin virtue, gaining Spatial Resonance, which lets him instinctively sense unusual spatial fluctuations.
• The new state draws him to his bathroom mirror. Using knowledge from Divine Path: Chuxi Mirror Escape, he discovers he can enter the space inside it. The space is an all-white void with no clear directions, and using mirrors or bringing objects through requires yin energy.
• Chen Miao learns to connect to nearby mirrors through threads of soul power. He observes the funeral home’s receptionist and Shopkeeper Li through their mirrors, then discovers that travel between connected mirrors works by shifting the surrounding space rather than moving his body.
• He maps nearly a hundred mirrors around the funeral home, including one in Shi Manman’s preparation room. Because each connection occupies soul power and limits his recovery capacity, he releases most of them and keeps only a few strategically useful mirrors.
• In the courtyard, Chen Miao prepares a pond as a ghost-repelling area. He inscribes a stone with runes, plants seven-leaf soul-binding grass in it, and activates the grass with a yin-energy vortex. The pond darkens as yin energy gathers; the setup should reduce the chance of ghosts forming and make the pond a small forbidden zone for them.
• Chen Miao makes a Paper Effigy Double, then begins practicing the Mirror Condensation Technique from Mirror Realm. After sensing spatial fluctuations and directing soul power and yin energy into them, he unexpectedly creates a human-sized mirror in about an hour.

Character developments

• Chen Miao responds to his disappointing Wolf Howl state with practical experimentation rather than dwelling on it. Spatial Resonance proves far more valuable, giving him new ways to explore and travel.
• He shows careful, analytical thinking: he tests the mirror space, works out how mirror connections function, and limits the number he maintains to conserve soul power.
• His growing confidence in spatial abilities culminates in quickly creating a mirror, suggesting Spatial Resonance may greatly accelerate his training.
• Shi Manman is shown to be a diligent, skilled apprentice, proficient at stitching a corpse, though she still needs experience with more difficult work and needs to open her aperture.

Character interactions

• Shi Manman brings Chen Miao breakfast. Later, he watches her work through the mirror in her preparation room and privately assesses her progress.
• Chen Miao overhears Shopkeeper Li struggling to park and asking Old Yu for help, revealing a familiar, lightly comic dynamic among the funeral-home staff.
• Chen Miao considers asking Xie Songde for assistance, preferring his mutual-help relationship with Chen Miao to dealing with the Administration; Qi Ning and others are his alternatives.

Significant themes

• Experimentation and adaptation: Chen Miao turns new abilities into practical tools through methodical testing.
• Power and limits: Mirror travel offers remarkable reach, but maintaining connections consumes a finite share of soul power.
• Preparation and protection: The pond project reflects Chen Miao’s effort to make the funeral home safer from ghosts.
• Growing mastery: His rapid success with Mirror Condensation hints that understanding spatial fluctuations may transform his future cultivation.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao studies the cost and function of the Mirror Condensation Technique. A full-length mirror uses a third of his yin energy but only a tenth of his soul power; his unusually strong soul body explains the imbalance.
• Condensed mirrors require a substantial one-time investment of soul power, but thereafter let people pass between worlds using little yin energy. They can also be stored in the mirror space and summoned when needed. Destroying a mirror returns about half the soul power spent on it.
• Chen Miao tests a smaller, head-sized mirror, which costs about one twenty-fifth of his soul power. He decides that small mirrors are more practical than making several full-sized ones, while keeping perhaps one large mirror in reserve.
• He concludes that the Mirror Realm is beyond his current abilities, but the condensation technique can support a cautious, indirect fighting style: attack through a mirror with talismans or his Peach Wood Sword, use the Five Prisons Mark when an opening appears, and escape through prepared mirrors.
• He discovers that a condensed mirror can disappear into an unseen space. This concealment is highly effective, though it does not let him emerge somewhere else unless another mirror is nearby.
• Chen Miao imagines arranging mirrors as a travel network, potentially allowing rapid movement through the Mortal World. He plans to test whether his technique works there.
• Finally, he assembles six mirrors into a cube. Connecting it to the mirror space drains seventy percent of his soul power, but it creates a portable, accessible storage space: he reaches through a surface mirror, leaves scissors inside, moves to another room, and retrieves them.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Miao shows himself to be a patient, experimental strategist. Rather than relying on direct combat, he adapts the technique toward stealth, ambush, escape, and possibly fast travel.
• He reasons through the limits of his current power and avoids attempting a large Mirror Realm that would likely be ineffective.
• His interactions are mainly with the mirrors and the objects he tests them with; no other characters appear directly.

Significant themes

• Ingenuity over raw strength: Chen Miao turns a specialized ability into a flexible tactical tool.
• Preparation and control: Mirrors placed in advance could shape both a battlefield and an escape route.
• Exploration and experimentation: Each test reveals new costs and possibilities, culminating in the unexpected storage function.
• Power comes with a price: The cube’s usefulness is balanced by a severe soul-power drain.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao successfully creates a small, personal storage space by sealing a pocket of mirror space with soul power. It measures about thirty centimeters per side, but creating it costs most of his available soul power. He buys mirrors to store inside it, though he doubts objects from reality can be taken into the Mortal World.
• After resting, Chen Miao spends over eight hours absorbing four Memory Fragments: one from a Leaping Hopping Corpse and three from Water Ghosts. He gains Water Hiding, which produces concealing mist, and Water Domain Perception, which lets him sense movement and currents while touching water. He judges the latter comparatively ordinary and considers how Water Hiding might become powerful near large or yin-charged bodies of water.
• His soul power recovers slowly, prompting him to recognize that advanced yin cultivation increasingly depends on soul power—not just yin energy. Several of his abilities and techniques place heavy demands on it.
• In the Mortal World, Zhu Sheng begins working alongside Chen Miao and Ge Feng, apparently choosing their company over two Second-Grade Apprentices who wanted him as a lackey. He even takes over Chen Miao’s former task of preparing bamboo splints.
• Shopkeeper Li summons all five Second-Grade Apprentices and both First-Grade Apprentices. They learn that Boss Lin of Yizhuang in Qinghe Town has invited Kong’s Paper Effigy Shop to a disciple-acceptance ceremony. Because Boss Kong has no suitable disciple yet, all seven apprentices are to attend.
• First-Grades Pei Yuanyi and Xu Jin object, arguing that the Second-Grades are inexperienced and could embarrass the shop. Xu also singles out Zhu Sheng as a newcomer. Shopkeeper Li then asks the Second-Grades what they think, leaving them surprised that their opinions may matter.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao’s ingenuity expands his practical abilities, but his depleted reserves make the cost of his growing power clear.
• Zhu Sheng makes a strategic social choice by joining Chen Miao and Ge Feng; his willingness to help them suggests he hopes for genuine friendship as well as better prospects.
• Pei Yuanyi and Xu Jin assert their seniority and status, treating the Second-Grades as unsuitable representatives. Shopkeeper Li’s open-ended question may give the lower-ranked apprentices a chance to respond.

Significant themes

• Power and its price: Chen Miao’s new abilities offer utility, but rely heavily on a limited resource that recovers slowly.
• Ingenuity and opportunity: A seemingly routine task leads Chen Miao to an unexpected breakthrough.
• Status, ambition, and belonging: Zhu Sheng chooses the group he believes offers a future, while the First-Grades defend their prestige.
• Recognition and voice: The ceremony dispute raises whether rank alone should determine who represents the shop.

Key events

• Shopkeeper Li announces that all seven apprentices will accompany the shop to Yizhuang in two days for a ceremony. Two Second-Grade Apprentices advocate going eagerly, hoping to impress Boss Kong; Chen Miao, Ge Feng, and Zhu Sheng say they will follow Boss Kong’s arrangements.
• Shopkeeper Li distributes bamboo tubes and asks each apprentice to provide half a tube of blood from their middle finger. Chen Miao worries the blood could be used for occult tracking or harm, but reasons that he can escape if necessary and gives his blood.
• Later, Chen Miao checks his notes and finds no new chapter warning of danger, which eases his concern about the blood or the trip. Still, he wonders why Yizhuang invited the shop, given what he knows about Hunchback Lin’s activities.
• To prepare for the unexplained situation, Chen Miao obtains a bronze mirror from Zhu Sheng. At two in the morning, as he tries to use it with his Spatial Resonance ability, he senses a strange connection and recognizes it as a paper offering being animated with his blood.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao stays cautious and avoids drawing attention, while using his “iceheart” state to control his fear and reason through the bloodletting. His confidence in his ability to escape has grown, but he remains wary of Boss Kong and Yizhuang.
• Ge Feng shares Chen Miao’s reluctance to speak out, strengthening their quiet rapport.
• Two ambitious apprentices openly support the trip, hoping it will advance their standing. Their challenge angers the First-Grade Apprentices, whose hostility toward Chen Miao also increases despite his silence.
• Zhu Sheng cooperates with Chen Miao by selling him the mirror, accepting the request partly because he values their relationship and may need Chen Miao’s help with Bone Binding.

Significant themes

• Caution and self-preservation: Chen Miao weighs risks carefully, choosing compliance when resistance might attract suspicion.
• Ambition and rivalry: The apprentices’ hopes for advancement deepen tensions within the shop.
• Hidden dangers beneath ordinary events: The ceremony invitation and routine blood collection appear innocuous, but Chen Miao’s final discovery suggests a more ominous purpose.

Key events

• Chen Miao remains unsettled by the Paper Effigies made with his blood, though no immediate danger appears. He suspects the other apprentices may have been used too, and wonders whether the effigies are tied to an upcoming ceremony at Yizhuang.
• Unable to sense the Mirror Space from the Mortal World, he concludes he may need a rune drawn between his brows. He prepares cinnabar ink and uses a redeemed Talisman Brush to practice drawing the rune, eventually completing ten attempts without failure.
• The better brush helps him produce a high-quality Talisman Seal using ordinary materials, revealing how much the tool itself affects his work.
• Chen Miao trains in Divine Path: Yin-Yang Mirror Escape. He learns that Mirror Space power can carry a willing target into a mirror, but cannot force entry against conscious resistance. After practicing on objects, he successfully enters a small mirror and later learns to project only part of himself through it.
• He tests whether his Mirage Shadow can remain in reality while he hides in the Mirror Space. It can, and he can still control it while the mirror passage is open. But closing the connection makes the shadow disappear; he cannot bring it into the Mirror Space or send it out from within.
• He spends the night investigating the Mirror Space, then returns to the Mortal World just before the surge of Yang Energy.

Character development

Chen Miao responds to uncertainty with caution and methodical experimentation. He improves his talisman skills, gains a practical understanding of mirror travel, and becomes more confident in testing the ability—but remains aware that the Mirror Space’s rules are poorly understood.

Significant themes

• Uncertainty and investigation: Chen Miao faces mysteries he cannot yet explain, from the Paper Effigies to the Mirror Space.
• Preparation and self-improvement: Rather than dwell on danger, he practices, acquires better tools, and plans ahead.
• Limits and hidden rules: Mirror travel is governed by principles that remain obscure, especially the connection between the Mirror Space, reality, and the Mirage Shadow.
• Caution amid power: Chen Miao’s fear of repeating Mirror Pillar’s fatal mistake shapes his careful approach to experimentation.

Character interactions

Chen Miao has no direct encounters with other characters in this chapter. His thoughts remain focused on Shopkeeper Li, the Paper Effigy Shop Owner, and the other apprentices, while the main developments come from his solitary training and experiments.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao activates a rune using the Mortal World’s abundant yin energy, allowing him to use Yin-Yang Mirror Escape there. His marked mirror from the real world does not retain its mark, leaving him unsure whether the two worlds share a Mirror Space.
• At night, he enters the Mortal World’s Mirror Space. It appears identical to the one he knows, and he discovers more than a dozen mirrors within range in Qingjiang Town. He connects to them and checks their locations but postpones exploring for ghosts until after the Yizhuang ceremony.
• In the morning, Chen Miao examines a hunter’s Memory Fragment and gains Canine affinity: dogs are naturally friendly toward him and can understand his general meaning. He tests it on Blackie, the gatehouse dog, but cannot get the animal to use a straw to drink soy milk.
• Chen Miao tests the range of his mirror perception and finds it extends roughly one kilometer from his point of entry into the Mirror Space. He plans to check whether any marked mirrors are near Yizhuang or hide one along the route.
• He spends the day opening more Memory Fragments, making Paper Cutouts, and practicing Mirror Escape. His thick-skinned status reaches eight stacks, two short of its next stage. As dawn approaches, he prepares to enter the Mortal World and attend the ceremony.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao becomes more confident in the Mortal World, since Mirror Escape offers him another way to survive and lets him travel without taking his physical body out at night. He remains cautious, however, and plans escape options before the ceremony.
• His new canine affinity makes Blackie unusually friendly, though the dog does not understand his request to drink soy milk through a straw. Qi Hui, the night guard, watches the exchange and decides he will teach Blackie.
• Shi Manman continues her routine of bringing Chen Miao breakfast and tending the office, while Ge Feng remains asleep nearby as Chen Miao avoids revealing his Mirage Shadow.

Significant themes

• Preparation amid uncertainty: No warning of a crisis does not convince Chen Miao that the ceremony is safe; he plans routes and contingencies anyway.
• Experimentation and adaptation: Chen Miao tests his abilities methodically, learning the limits of Mirror Escape and exploring the benefits of his new status.
• Growing agency through supernatural tools: Mirror Escape expands Chen Miao’s mobility and options, though its range and connection between worlds remain uncertain.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao and the Paper Effigy Shop apprentices are summoned after dark and told to carry seven unusual, jointed paper effigies to Yizhuang. Shopkeeper Li leads them; Boss Kong appears to have gone ahead.
• On the way, Chen Miao slips away briefly and returns without making a sound for several steps, hinting at abilities he keeps concealed.
• At Yizhuang, the group leaves the effigies outside and joins a ceremony attended by influential townspeople, including Xu Qingchuan of the local Demon-Suppressing Bureau and Captain Zhao Xun from Jiangya County.
• Hunchback Lin begins an apprentice-taking rite for Lin Feng. He arranges seven oil lamps in a Seven Stars formation, lights them with talismanic techniques, and summons an illusory yin bridge.
• Lin Feng marks the lamps with his blood, crosses the bridge, and receives three corpse-driving implements: a Soul Banner, a bell, and a gong. Hunchback Lin explains their functions and the rules for using them.
• Lin Feng completes the rite by paying respects to the Grandmaster, his master, and the burial grounds. The supernatural glow then disappears.

Character developments

• Chen Miao remains observant and cautious, studying Yizhuang’s layout and noticing clues that suggest it has underground rooms for coffins. His genuine astonishment at the ceremony reveals that Hunchback Lin’s tradition exceeds the corpse-driving knowledge he has encountered.
• Lin Feng is formally initiated into Hunchback Lin’s lineage. His crossing of the yin bridge and acceptance of the implements mark his transition into a practitioner.
• Hunchback Lin demonstrates impressive ritual skill and authority, staging a ceremony that commands the attention of the town’s influential figures.
• Shopkeeper Li and Kong Xunzhen show the seriousness of the Paper Effigy Shop’s relationship with Yizhuang by bringing their apprentices and attending the event.

Character interactions

• Ge Feng patiently answers Zhu Sheng’s questions, reassuring him that a fight is unlikely and steering him away from speculation.
• Shopkeeper Li gives Chen Miao permission to step aside, then leads the group into Yizhuang.
• Hunchback Lin directs Lin Feng through each stage of the rite, while Lin Feng responds respectfully and accepts his master’s instructions.
• The town’s wealthy guests flatter Xu Qingchuan and Captain Zhao, but Xu redirects attention to the ceremony when Zhao appears displeased.

Significant themes

• Tradition and initiation: The ceremony publicly establishes Lin Feng’s place in a lineage and binds him to its teachings.
• The boundary between life and death: The yin bridge, corpse-driving tools, and ritual language portray the dead as souls that must be guided carefully between worlds.
• Knowledge and hidden power: Chen Miao’s observations and the ceremony’s spectacle suggest that the town’s supernatural practices are deeper and more varied than he first understood.
• Rules and responsibility: The instructions for the banner, bell, and gong emphasize that supernatural tools require discipline and must be used according to strict rules.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Feng completes his formal Yin Cultivation apprenticeship ceremony under Hunchback Lin. Soul power flows from the ancestral spirit tablet into him, prompting Chen Miao to wonder whether Shi Manman should receive a proper ceremony too—though he does not know who his own founding master is.
• Hunchback Lin praises Lin Feng’s existing abilities and invites him to demonstrate them. Lin Feng instead asks to spar with one of Kong Xunzhen’s disciples.
• Kong chooses Pei Yuanyi, a Paper Effigy Shop apprentice. Pei is thrilled, hoping that a good showing might earn him recognition as a full disciple.
• Outside, Pei discovers Lin Feng’s opponent is a heavily armored Leaping Hopping Corpse. Shopkeeper Li stops him from confronting it physically and uses Talisman Sacrifice to transfer Pei’s consciousness into a paper effigy bearing his name.
• The paper effigy learns to move and leaps into the arena. Lin Feng rings his bell to command the corpse, which immediately rushes forward.
• Pei’s paper effigy punches the corpse without effect. The corpse then shears off its paper head, abruptly ending the demonstration.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao reflects on the meaning of apprenticeship ceremonies and begins to understand how paper effigies can be used in combat. He also suspects Hunchback Lin and Lin Feng anticipated the unusual contest, while wondering what Kong’s purpose is.
• Lin Feng presents himself confidently, but his choice of opponent turns the demonstration into a stark mismatch.
• Pei Yuanyi moves from excitement and ambition to dread, then steels himself rather than withdraw. His confidence cannot overcome the corpse’s strength.
• Shopkeeper Li protects Pei from fighting in person and explains the shop’s method by putting him into a paper effigy.
• Kong Xunzhen quietly selects Pei for the match, while Zhao Xun breaks his silence to laugh at the absurdly uneven contest.
• The other apprentices’ excitement collapses when Pei’s effigy is destroyed; Xu Jin is especially frustrated that Pei was chosen ahead of him.

Significant themes

• Tradition and recognition: The ceremony highlights the spiritual and social importance of becoming a disciple, while Pei hopes that recognition from Kong might advance his own status.
• Ritual and practical craft: The scene reveals that Paper Effigy Makers can transfer consciousness into effigies, turning their craft into a means of action and combat.
• Ambition versus reality: Pei’s hopes and resolve meet a force far beyond his ability, and the apprentices’ eagerness gives way to shock.
• Unequal power and spectacle: The contest is less a fair spar than a public demonstration of the gap between the corpse’s strength and an apprentice-controlled effigy.

Key plot points and events

• Pei Yuanyi and Xu Jin are quickly defeated by Lin Feng’s Leaping Hopping Corpse. Xu Jin’s caution helps him dodge briefly, but Lin Feng tricks him into exposing his paper effigy to corpse qi.
• Zhu Sheng, a newly arrived Second-Grade Apprentice, shows exceptional control and daring. He charges Lin Feng’s position while the corpse threatens his real body, then attacks it with a dagger after the Talisman Seal wakes him. He loses, but earns praise from Hunchback Lin and Zhao Xun.
• Ge Feng also loses quickly. Chen Miao suspects the matches may be an assessment by Kong Xunzhen, perhaps to identify a suitable disciple by testing control and soul-body strength.
• Chen Miao realizes his own unusual soul power may draw attention. He decides not to hide his ability, reasoning that he can protect himself if matters turn dangerous.
• During Chen Miao’s match, his Paper Offering moves before Lin Feng gives a command, evades the Soul Banner, and nearly reaches him. Lin Feng destroys it with a combined gong-and-bell attack, and Chen Miao’s Talisman Seal burns away.
• Despite the apparent end of the match, Lin Feng sends the corpse toward Chen Miao’s real body. Chen Miao catches the corpse’s arms, holds it back, then knocks it four or five meters with his Heaven-Crushing Elbow, stunning everyone.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhu Sheng emerges from obscurity as talented, nimble, and unusually resolute. His willingness to risk himself impresses the senior observers, though his fellow apprentices resent the praise.
• Chen Miao shifts from cautious speculation to deliberate acceptance of scrutiny. His powerful soul control and extraordinary physical strength reveal how far he has progressed.
• Lin Feng remains skillful and tactical, but Chen Miao’s resistance frustrates and humiliates him. He abandons the agreement to go easy and escalates the fight.
• Kong Xunzhen, Hunchback Lin, and Zhao Xun quietly observe the apprentices. Kong appears intrigued by Chen Miao’s soul power; Zhao briefly hopes Chen’s talent might aid his own advancement, then notes that Chen has not undergone Aperture Opening.
• The matches create rivalry among the apprentices, especially when Zhu Sheng receives praise, while Chen Miao’s final feat leaves both the spectators and practitioners speechless.

Significant themes

• Talent revealed under pressure: The contests expose differences in control, instinct, courage, and soul strength.
• Appearances versus ability: Zhu Sheng’s quiet reputation masks his decisiveness; Chen Miao’s apprentice status conceals extraordinary power.
• Risk and self-preservation: Zhu Sheng and Chen Miao both attack rather than protect their physical bodies, but Chen’s confidence rests on abilities and safeguards others do not know about.
• Escalation and spectacle: A seemingly controlled assessment turns dangerous when Lin Feng reacts to humiliation, culminating in Chen Miao’s shocking display of strength.

Plot points and events

• Freed from the paper effigies’ restraint, Chen Miao easily defeats Lin Feng and his Leaping Hopping Corpse. Shopkeeper Li declares Chen the loser of the spar anyway, and Chen formally concedes.
• Hunchback Lin praises Chen’s unusual strength and soul body, suggesting he would suit the Demon-Suppressing Bureau. Zhao Xun then asks Kong Xunzhen to let Chen join the Bureau.
• Kong refuses to surrender his apprentice and offers a deathmatch instead. To make the threat unmistakable, he strips apart two paper effigies and reconstructs them into one, displaying a remarkable ability that shocks everyone.
• Zhao Xun backs down and leaves with Xu Qingchuan. The gathering breaks up, while Hunchback Lin privately reflects on the significance of Kong’s power and destroys the reconstructed effigy.
• Back at Kong’s shop, Kong tells Chen he could thrive in the Bureau but accepts his decision to stay. He names Chen Bai, Zhu Sheng, and Xu Jin as potential disciples, subject to an assessment.
• Chen returns to his room and finds Ge Feng waiting. He asks Ge Feng to help him find a protective object, easing Ge Feng’s apparent anxiety.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao demonstrates overwhelming physical strength, but willingly follows the rules of the spar and remains loyal to Kong’s shop despite the Bureau’s offer.
• Kong Xunzhen reveals formidable, previously unseen skill in dismantling and rebuilding paper effigies. His willingness to risk a deathmatch shows how strongly he protects Chen and his shop.
• Hunchback Lin shifts from praising Chen’s potential to worrying about Kong’s influence, while still showing a begrudging concern for Lin Feng by helping him up.
• Zhao Xun tests whether he can recruit Chen, but Kong’s display makes him withdraw.
• Ge Feng appears uneasy about Chen, but relaxes when Chen gives him a task.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and belonging: Chen chooses his new home at Kong’s shop over a promising Bureau career.
• Power and reputation: Kong’s hidden ability changes the balance of the gathering and forces even powerful figures to reconsider their plans.
• Appearances and potential: Chen’s rough background and Lin Feng’s status matter less than demonstrated ability and character.

Key plot points and events

• In the Mortal World, two apprentices break into Zhu Sheng’s room and try to strangle him. Zhu Sheng fights back, kills both attackers, and tells Chen Miao and Ge Feng that they tried to murder him. Shopkeeper Li has the bodies removed without much concern and tells Zhu Sheng to prepare to meet the shop owner the next morning.
• Back in reality, Chen Miao reflects on Zhu Sheng’s ordeal and concludes that weakness invites exploitation. He reviews his upgraded Copper Skin and Iron Bones status, which has strengthened his defenses and physical power, making it work especially well with Ape Leap.
• Chen Miao reconsiders his plans regarding Kong Xunzhen, the Paper Effigy Shop owner. Since Kong seems interested in testing him and possibly taking him as a disciple, Chen decides to wait rather than attempt an uncertain escape.
• Chen opens seven Memory Fragments from the souls he helped transcend. Their sorrowful memories leave him emotionally overwhelmed, but yield seven copies of Sorrowful Wind and Wood (VII). The ability lets him create a controllable wind that draws out people’s own grief, or imbue wood with sorrow. He tests it on Shi Manman and his Peach Wood Sword, considering—but ultimately shelving—the idea of forming a mourning band.
• After practicing the Extreme Yin Body-Refining Art, Chen weighs its potential against the Leaping Hopping Corpse, but notes that the rising yang energy limits how long he can remain in the Mortal World. He considers seeking information through another Mirror Pillar, though he doubts its memories would help, and thinks of the absent Xiao Bai.
• Chen returns to the Mortal World and walks with Zhu Sheng to meet Kong Xunzhen. Zhu Sheng, cleaned up but apparently awake all night, says he would not choose this life if he had a choice. Xu Jin is already waiting, visibly eager for the shop owner’s appearance.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhu Sheng proves resourceful and ruthless when attacked, killing both apprentices rather than allowing himself to be killed. His quiet remark to Chen Miao reveals the emotional cost of living without real choices. Despite the violence, he is focused on the opportunity to change his future.
• Chen Miao becomes more physically capable and more cautious in his plans. He studies his new abilities pragmatically, balancing their usefulness against their costs and limitations.
• Chen and Ge Feng talk at length, but Chen recognizes that their relationship will no longer feel as casual as before.
• Chen and Zhu Sheng share an unspoken understanding as they head to meet Kong Xunzhen; Chen does not challenge Zhu Sheng’s bleak observation.
• Xu Jin conceals his displeasure at their arrival, then eagerly awaits Kong Xunzhen alongside Zhu Sheng.

Significant themes

• Survival and power: Zhu Sheng’s attack reinforces Chen’s belief that the weak are readily targeted.
• Agency and coercion: Zhu Sheng’s “if I had a choice” reflects the harsh limits on people’s freedom and the hope that meeting Kong Xunzhen might change his prospects.
• Grief and memory: Chen’s new ability draws out sorrow already present in others, while the Memory Fragments force him to confront the suffering behind the souls he has helped.
• Caution and uncertainty: Chen weighs escape, apprenticeship, and the risks of testing his abilities, choosing patience where outcomes are unclear.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points

• After waiting until dawn, Chen Miao, Xu Jin, and Zhu Sheng follow Kong Xunzhen into a storeroom. He transforms its Paper Offerings into a paper house that conceals a long staircase leading underground.
• Beneath the house, they discover a vast, paper-built imitation town, complete with buildings, effigies, animals, working paper machinery, and a crescent moon beneath its domed ceiling.
• Kong tells them they must live there for a month and achieve Aperture Opening to qualify as his disciples and inherit the Kong family’s paper-effigy arts. They will receive two meals a day and must not damage the Paper Offerings. They may leave early if they give up.
• Kong offers no instruction on how to achieve Aperture Opening, then leaves. The three are left to search or figure out the trial themselves.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao is impressed by Kong’s craftsmanship and observes that the underground palace is a hidden, excavated space rather than a separate realm. He suspects the month-long deadline is deliberate and advises against rushing to search.
• Xu Jin is eager to get ahead and immediately explores the town. Zhu Sheng also hurries after him, though he briefly asks Chen Miao to join. He worries that the opportunity may be competitive or that the palace contains only one path to success.
• Chen Miao stays calm and withholds what he knows about Aperture Opening, pretending ignorance when Xu Jin and Zhu Sheng ask. Instead of entering the town, he begins surveying its perimeter.

Significant themes

• Ambition and competition: The candidates interpret the trial as a race for Kong’s legacy, even though its rules do not explicitly say only one can succeed.
• Patience versus urgency: Chen Miao favors careful observation, while Xu Jin and Zhu Sheng act quickly, revealing contrasting approaches to uncertainty.
• Hidden knowledge and preparation: The concealed entrance and unexplained trial suggest that success may depend on noticing what others overlook.
• The chapter ends with a comic note: Chen Miao realizes that a month underground means no days off, and his pace suddenly quickens.

Plot points and events

• Chen Miao explores Kong Xunzhen’s underground “palace,” a village-sized model filled with paper effigies and beasts that contain soul power. At first, they stand perfectly still, and the three candidates find no clue to the test.
• Xu Jin proposes that he, Chen Miao, and Zhu Sheng search together. They agree, but after hours of fruitless searching, the paper inhabitants suddenly begin moving through the streets.
• Zhu Sheng notices that the ceiling’s crescent moon has become a full sun. He concludes that the paper beings awaken at sunrise and rest at sunset, and suggests that the test concerns the moving effigies. The candidates split up to observe different parts of the village.
• Chen Miao follows a paper dog to a house, where he discovers that it behaves unusually around him. He realizes it contains an infant spirit, which responds to his infant spirit affinity; the other paper beings appear to follow routine, almost mechanical patterns.
• As the underground palace’s sunrise corresponds to night outside, Chen Miao senses the approaching surge of yang energy through intense drowsiness. He hides under a bed and lets himself fall asleep, waking in reality to temper his body.
• Chen Miao worries that repeatedly sleeping through the yang-energy surge could expose his nature to Kong Xunzhen. He considers tracking time through the paper beings’ routines, but avoids leaving through the Yin-Yang Mirror Passage for fear Kong can detect it.
• He also realizes that being trapped in the assessment means losing access to new Memory Fragments and yin virtue. Rather than risk destroying Kong’s elaborate paper world, he considers the enforced break from his relentless routine a possible benefit.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao remains cautious and observant. He notices the hidden day-night cycle, tests his affinity on the paper dog, and prioritizes concealing his vulnerabilities. Though he says he would share discoveries, he suspects Xu Jin and Zhu Sheng would keep useful findings to themselves.
• Xu Jin is frustrated by the lack of progress but regains motivation by comparing his chances favorably with Pei Yuanyi’s. He makes a conciliatory offer to work together and apologize for past offenses, then readily chooses a direction when the group splits up.
• Zhu Sheng supplies the key insight about the sun and moon and proposes dividing the work. He and Chen Miao cooperate with Xu Jin, though Chen Miao privately doubts the alliance will last if either of the others finds something.
• Kong Xunzhen remains an unseen but powerful presence: his rules prevent damage to the effigies, and Chen Miao suspects he monitors the underground palace and knows the habits of Otherworldly Fiends.
• Chen Miao’s encounter with the paper dog and its infant spirit is a rare personal interaction in a world otherwise populated by beings that seem to follow fixed routines.

Significant themes

• Observation and discovery: The solution begins to emerge through attention to the underground world’s changing environment and inhabitants.
• Trust and self-interest: The candidates cooperate out of necessity, but Chen Miao doubts they will share discoveries.
• Concealment and vulnerability: Chen Miao must manage his unusual sleep pattern while hiding his identity and abilities.
• Rest amid relentless effort: The assessment may provide an unexpected pause from Chen Miao’s constant work, even as it blocks his usual progress.

Key plot points

• Chen Miao wakes late after a long, deeply restorative sleep and finds breakfast left for him in his office.
• He reviews his progress: he has 35 statuses, including newly advanced Five Hells Immortal, Spatial Resonance, and Copper Skin and Iron Bones. He reflects on how many ghosts and sinister beings he has encountered in the past year.
• He considers which status to upgrade next. He prioritizes Soul Body Perception over Eyes-Closed Perception, keeps Iceheart under consideration, and rules out several others as unnecessary or too situational.
• Though curious whether Five Hells Immortal can be upgraded further, he decides that improving other statuses may offer better benefits for now. He will wait until he has more yin virtue and reassess based on circumstances.
• Thinking of his disciple Shi Manman, Chen Miao realizes she has struggled to sense her nine apertures while using the Paper Effigy Yin-Congealing Method. He decides to try the Water-Suppressing Mystic Scripture’s aperture-opening method to help her locate them, then switch her back to her original method to limit side effects. He heads downstairs to act on the plan.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao shows greater strategic judgment: rather than upgrading the most powerful ability automatically, he weighs cost, usefulness, and potential drawbacks.
• His confidence and inventiveness are evident in his willingness to combine methods that other practitioners would have to use separately.
• Shi Manman is not present, but Chen Miao’s concern for her training drives his decision. He assumes she will accept his unconventional approach.

Significant themes

• Pragmatism and resource management: Chen Miao carefully weighs the benefits and costs of spending scarce yin virtue.
• Adaptability: He treats techniques and statuses as tools to be combined according to need.
• Growth through experience: His expanding collection of abilities reflects a year of unusually frequent encounters with ghosts and dangers.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao tours the funeral home to assess its recent improvements. Since he took over, business has grown more than threefold, thanks to the closure of a rival, Shi Manman’s charitable corpse-sewing service, and major renovations. The larger Fushou Funeral Center still handles more clients, but Chen Miao is content to let his own operation stabilize rather than expand immediately.
• He checks in with staff and facilities: the renovated supply shop, the functioning basement cold-storage cabinets and expanded charitable morgue, the rebuilt North Gate road, the cremation furnaces, and the funeral hall.
• Chen agrees to consider replacing the old hearses, setting a budget of 300,000 yuan and trusting driver Jiao Zhiyong to find suitable vehicles. He also offers to hire help if Old Yu becomes overworked.
• Over lunch, Luo Zhiyong tells Chen that Zhang Yi remains dependable and that Yang Jiuhua’s supernatural livestreaming venture with Ji Mo is thriving. News on television reports official action against unsafe institutions and other public concerns, suggesting that Chen’s earlier appeals to Lei Zhan have reached the authorities.
• Chen finally visits Shi Manman in her enlarged makeup room. He finds her eating takeout while studying an opened anatomical model. She greets him brightly with, “Master, have you eaten?”

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao shows growing confidence as a manager. He takes pride in the funeral home’s success, values staff welfare, and trusts employees with responsibility, while preferring measured growth over expansion.
• Shi Manman appears enthusiastic about her work and training, but her unusual habit of studying anatomy while eating leaves Chen startled. Her warm greeting reinforces their close master-apprentice relationship.
• Chen and the staff share easy, affectionate rapport. Sister Li tries to arrange a match for Chen, while Chen deflects her suggestion that he date Shi Manman by calling her his apprentice. He also expresses gratitude toward loyal employees such as Jiao Zhiyong and checks that older staff are managing well.
• Zhang Yi is presented as reliable despite having once left for a rival funeral home; Chen has accepted him back without resentment.

Significant themes

• Steady growth and good management: The funeral home’s success comes from reputation, service, investment, and staff effort, not merely size.
• Trust and reciprocity: Chen rewards employees, gives them responsibility, and remembers their loyalty.
• Care and dignity in death: The charitable morgue and funeral services reflect Chen’s commitment to helping families through loss.
• Social change: Reports of government action suggest that individual efforts can eventually contribute to broader reform.
• Humor amid grim work: The chapter balances business concerns and funeral-home routines with light teasing and Shi Manman’s macabre lunchtime study habits.

Key plot points and events

• Shi Manman tells Chen Miao that when she studies corpses for a long time, their organs begin to seem unfamiliar. She wonders whether this means her Eye Aperture is close to opening.
• Chen Miao demonstrates the same effect by having her stare at the character “的.” He explains that prolonged focus can make familiar things temporarily seem strange; it is not a sign of aperture awakening.
• Shi Manman admits she still cannot sense the locations of the Nine Apertures. Chen Miao reassures her and proposes trying different techniques: first the Yin Water Body-Washing Method, then the Corpse-Embracing Aperture-Opening Method if needed.
• Chen Miao prepares seven bottles of body-cleansing liquid for the first seven-day course. Though the method can be repeated and may eventually help open or nourish apertures, accumulating yin energy without success can harm the body. He decides not to subject Shi Manman to the prolonged regimen described in the scripture.
• He escorts her to her dormitory to begin the first wash, then realizes that standing guard may be awkward because Shi Manman is a woman.

Character developments and interactions

• Shi Manman is earnest and diligent, but disappointed that her strange experience does not signal progress. Chen Miao’s reassurance—and his claim that opening his own apertures took about six months—helps ease her worry.
• Chen Miao acts as a practical, protective mentor: he corrects her misunderstanding, offers alternatives, and limits the treatment rather than blindly following the scripture’s more extreme recommendation.
• Their trusting teacher-student relationship is underscored by Shi Manman’s willingness to follow his instructions and Chen Miao’s determination to find a method that works for her.

Significant themes

• Persistence and uncertainty: Opening the Nine Apertures may take a long time, and failure with one method does not mean there are no options.
• Knowledge versus misinterpretation: Shi Manman mistakes a normal perceptual effect for a supernatural sign; Chen Miao explains the ordinary cause.
• Care and responsibility: Chen Miao balances ambition with concern for the physical risks of the technique.
• A touch of humor: The chapter ends on Chen Miao’s belated concern about how to supervise the body-washing ritual.