Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao supervises Shi Manman’s first bath with Body-Cleansing Liquid, using Eyes-Closed Perception to monitor her. She tolerates the treatment well and insists she will open her apertures before her forty-eight-day deadline.
• While waiting, Chen Miao weighs the risks and benefits of becoming Kong Xunzhen’s disciple. He suspects failure could leave him trapped—or turned into a paper effigy—but believes discipleship could offer protection, access to aperture-opening methods, and instruction in Kong’s abilities. He sets himself a three-week target to find the underground palace’s assessment.
• Over three days in the Paper Effigy Underground Palace, Chen Miao makes no assessment progress, though he learns how to estimate time by observing routines and confirms that few Paper Effigy Dogs inhabit the area he has explored.
• In reality, he absorbs his remaining Memory Fragments, raising Yin Absorption to level nine. He also experiments with portable mirror spaces, compressing Old Ghost into a frozen “Soul Ball” that takes up little room, and discovers he can store substantial yin energy in the spaces.
• Xie Songde calls to report that the Peachwood Talisman Chen gave him has cracked. Suspecting multiple ghosts are involved, Chen Miao prepares to investigate in Shannan City and brings Shi Manman along.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao remains cautious and strategic about Kong Xunzhen, but increasingly sees discipleship as a worthwhile gamble. He also shows inventive, sometimes overcomplicated experimentation with mirror-space abilities.
• Shi Manman handles the Body-Cleansing Liquid treatment successfully and gains confidence, declaring her determination to open her apertures. Chen Miao encourages her, though his teasing warning about the consequences underscores the pressure she is under.
• Old Ghost is forcibly compressed and frozen for Chen Miao’s experiment, demonstrating the flexibility of soul bodies and becoming the first test subject for the Soul Ball technique.
• Xie Songde provides the new lead by reporting the cracked talisman, prompting Chen Miao to act.

Significant themes

• Risk, trust, and self-preservation: Chen Miao considers whether Kong Xunzhen may protect, exploit, or imprison him.
• Experimentation and resourcefulness: Chen Miao develops new uses for his abilities, even when his first ideas prove unnecessarily complicated.
• Determination under pressure: Shi Manman’s resolve to open her apertures contrasts with the severe consequences awaiting her if she fails.
• Power and restraint: Chen Miao’s ability to manipulate souls and yin energy offers new possibilities, but also raises questions about how far he will go to use them.

Plot points and events

• At a gathering with friends, Xie Songde is questioned about the Peachwood Talisman on his key ring. He admits it is for protection, though he keeps quiet about having obtained several.
• Ding Lang tells the group that a drowning victim’s ghost had been capsizing rafts at his resort. After he placed a shrine at the river, the incidents stopped; he also says worshipping it leaves him feeling refreshed.
• Hong Fan describes a similar haunting at his construction site: after a worker died in a fall, workers heard repeated impacts and saw what looked like someone jumping from the unfinished building, though nothing was ever found. Hong asks to borrow Ding Lang’s shrine.
• Ding gives Hong one of his spare shrines. A week later, Hong’s problem has been resolved.
• Xie and Song Peilin each obtain a shrine from Ding. The shrines contain a Smiling Buddha. Xie reveres his and feels clearer after worshipping it, despite never having tested it during an incident.
• Seven days after bringing it home, Xie wakes to find his Peachwood Talisman cracked. He rushes to the shrine with another talisman, but that one cracks when it touches the shrine.

Character developments and interactions

• Xie Songde is increasingly cautious about supernatural threats, having already faced incidents involving his villa. Though initially uncertain about the shrine, he grows devoted to it and is alarmed when his protective talismans break.
• Ding Lang presents himself as a confident believer, citing the shrine’s success at his resort and offering spare shrines to his friends.
• Hong Fan, initially curious about Xie’s talisman, reveals his own fear after confronting the construction-site haunting. He turns to Ding for help, and the shrine appears to resolve the trouble.
• Song Peilin helps draw out the discussion and later obtains a shrine alongside Xie.
• The friends’ conversation shifts from skepticism and curiosity to practical reliance on supernatural protection.

Significant themes

• Belief shaped by experience: The men become more open to the supernatural after encountering events they cannot explain.
• Protection and uncertainty: Talismans and shrines offer apparent safety, but the cracking talismans suggest the shrine may be dangerous or conceal a greater power.
• Supernatural consequences of death: Both hauntings follow fatal accidents that the living initially try to treat as ordinary business problems.

Chapter Summary: “Master and Disciple”

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao arrives in Shannan City with his disciple, Shi Manman, and meets Xie Songde, who has called him to investigate a mysterious Buddhist shrine.
• On the way to Xie’s villa, Chen warns him that knowing about Yin Cultivation can be dangerous. Xie realizes the shrine may be part of a wider scheme involving a corrupt Yin cultivator, especially since his acquaintance Ding Lang distributed four similar shrines.
• Chen prepares carefully before entering the villa, giving Xie and Shi protective talismans and safeguards. The shrine conceals its contents from most of Chen’s senses, though his Soul Body Perception detects something only at close range.
• When Chen sets the shrine upright, it releases Soul Power that creates a refreshing sensation but is ultimately an illusion. Chen burns it away, then uses incense and the Fiend-Subduing Mantra to force a ghost out of the shrine. He quickly captures it and stores both the soul orb and the shrine in his Mirror Space.
• The notebook shows no new chapter, suggesting the matter is not fully resolved. Chen suspects the other three recipients’ shrines are connected and asks Xie to arrange meetings with them. Some are unavailable until the next day.
• Over dinner, Chen declines Xie’s offer of money and instead asks him to arrange for Shi Manman to accompany the Forensic Department on assignments. Xie agrees. Chen later plans to stay at Xiang Shang’s villa.

Character developments

• Chen Miao reflects on what it means to be a master and pass on a legacy as he introduces Shi Manman to Xie. He also takes responsibility for her training, exposing her to supernatural cases while protecting her and considering what skills her inheritance lacks.
• Shi Manman remains curious and eager to learn, particularly when she sees Chen use his Mirror Space. Chen intends to broaden her practical experience and eventually help her choose additional cultivation methods once she opens her aperture.
• Xie Songde becomes more cautious about Yin Cultivation after understanding that a malicious practitioner may be behind the shrines. His respect for Chen grows, and he readily helps with both the investigation and Shi Manman’s career opportunity.

Character interactions

• Chen introduces Shi Manman to Xie, modeling the relationship between master and disciple and placing her in contact with a useful ally.
• Chen cautions Xie against approaching unfamiliar Yin cultivators without understanding the risks; Xie accepts the warning.
• Chen trains Shi Manman through observation and planned field experience, while keeping safeguards in place to protect her.
• Xie cooperates with Chen by contacting the other shrine owners and arranging Shi Manman’s access to forensic work.

Significant themes

• Inheritance and mentorship: Chen begins to understand that being a master means not only teaching techniques but also guiding and preparing a disciple for the future.
• Power and moral responsibility: Chen contrasts ordinary businesspeople’s pursuit of profit with the potential dangers of practitioners who misuse their abilities.
• Caution and preparation: Chen’s layered precautions underscore that supernatural work is dangerous and that confidence should not become carelessness.
• Relationships as practical support: Chen’s alliance with Xie shows how trust and cooperation can complement supernatural strength.

Plot points and events

• Chen Miao meets Xiang Shang, his girlfriend Li Zi, and his disciple Shi Manman. Xiang Shang again jokes that Chen Miao and Shi Manman should share a room, but Chen Miao insists they are master and disciple and knocks Xiang Shang off balance with a slap.
• Xiang Shang admits he has repeatedly failed to complete even one round of Chen Miao’s body-refining training because of the pain. Chen Miao reveals his impressive physique, convincing Xiang Shang that the method can work and persuading him to try again.
• Chen Miao asks Xiang Shang to obtain eight full-length mirrors. He arranges them in the basement so that Xiang Shang and Shi Manman can sit surrounded by reflections.
• Chen Miao enters a Mirror Space and activates the mystical art Divine Mirror Reflecting the Heart, intending to strengthen their willpower. Xiang Shang quickly grows drowsy while looking into the mirrors. Li Zi sees that his reflections do not match his movements, panics, and faints. Chen Miao catches her and realizes he should have warned her.

Character developments

• Chen Miao shows off the results of his training and takes a practical, if unsettling, approach to helping Xiang Shang and Shi Manman develop greater willpower.
• Xiang Shang shifts from rejecting the painful training to expressing renewed interest after seeing Chen Miao’s results, though he remains wary of the discomfort.
• Shi Manman follows Chen Miao’s instructions and becomes one of the first subjects of his new technique.
• Li Zi reacts with fear to the supernatural mirror effect, prompting Chen Miao to recognize his lack of consideration.

Themes and interactions

• The chapter contrasts discipline with discomfort: Xiang Shang wants the benefits of training but struggles to endure its pain.
• Chen Miao’s extraordinary cultivation increasingly blurs the line between physical training and supernatural ability.
• The mirror art introduces a theme of confronting the mind and will, while the mismatched reflections create suspense.
• Xiang Shang and Chen Miao trade teasing, familiar banter; Chen Miao’s confidence and strength are also evident in his interactions with both Xiang Shang and Li Zi.

Key plot points and events

• Xiang Shang awakens from the Divine Mirror Reflecting the Heart illusion, in which he experienced a century of escalating torment: he rescued his father, defeated the Curse Cult, then endured repeated captivity and humiliation at the hands of the Beast-of-Burden Sect before ultimately killing his captors and dying in a final act of defiance.
• Confused by the illusion’s lingering memories, Xiang Shang believes he has been reborn after a hundred years. He tearfully greets Li Zi, vows revenge on the Beast-of-Burden Sect, and proposes having a child to fight beside him. Chen Miao explains that the ordeal was an illusion; Li Zi reacts with embarrassment and irritation.
• Shi Manman also awakens from her own illusion. Chen Miao concludes the mirror’s effects are powerful and decides to leave more time between uses.
• Chen Miao invites Xiang Shang to continue body refinement. Xiang Shang asks him to teach Li Zi self-defense, motivated by the helplessness he felt in the illusion. Chen Miao agrees that Xiang Shang can teach her talisman drawing and considers finding her a cultivation method later, but decides to wait until the couple is married.
• Xiang Shang completes his morning body-refinement session without asking for help, despite intense pain. Chen Miao is impressed that the illusion seems to have strengthened his resolve.
• Xie Songde brings Chen Miao to a meeting with Hong Fan and Song Peilin, who have brought their Buddhist shrines. Chen Miao reveals that the shrines are evil objects by summoning and capturing the spirits within them. A third ghost emerges from Hong Fan’s shrine at the chapter’s end.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiang Shang remains devoted to Li Zi and protective of her. His imagined century of suffering leaves him determined to become stronger, though his lingering confusion leads to an awkward, overdramatic reunion. He also shows greater consideration by asking Chen Miao to help Li Zi defend herself.
• Chen Miao balances mentorship with caution: he supports Xiang Shang’s training, considers Li Zi’s future cultivation, and sets boundaries around sharing knowledge. He also recognizes the mirror’s risks and demonstrates his power at the shrine meeting.
• Li Zi is concerned for Xiang Shang but embarrassed and annoyed by his false memories and sudden proposal.
• Shi Manman awakens with a notably emotional reaction toward Chen Miao, though she says little; her feelings remain unclear.
• Hong Fan and Song Peilin shift from curiosity to shock when Chen Miao proves that their Buddhist shrines contain dangerous spirits.

Significant themes

• Perseverance through suffering: Xiang Shang’s illusion tests his will, and its apparent effect carries over into his real training.
• Love and protection: Xiang Shang’s concern for Li Zi motivates him to seek ways for her to protect herself.
• The danger of blurred reality: The mirror’s vivid illusions can leave memories and emotions that confuse people after they awaken.
• Power and responsibility: Chen Miao is careful about whom he teaches, what knowledge he shares, and when he uses powerful techniques.

• The shrine ghosts are dealt with: After banishing two ghosts from the Buddhist shrines, Chen Miao senses another spirit and captures it too. Hong Fan recognizes it as a worker who died at his construction site, and realizes he may have been in danger from worshipping the shrines. He suspects their supplier, Ding Lang, knowingly put him at risk, though Xie Songde cautions that Ding may not have known what was inside.
• Chen Miao earns the businessmen’s gratitude: Hong Fan and Song Peilin offer Chen gifts—a dinner invitation and a villa—but Chen redirects their thanks to Xie Songde, who arranged the meeting. Xie then presents Chen’s talismans to the two men. They eagerly take several sets for themselves and their families, leaving Xie with only three and provoking his exasperation. The group chats about ghosts and Chen’s past ghost-hunting, but Ding Lang fails to appear.
• The shrines are linked to the Curse Cult: After lunch, Chen brings the shrines to the Shannan City Administration and tells Qi Ning that they came from Ding Lang. Qi identifies them as belonging to the Curse Buddha lineage of the Curse Cult, a dangerous organization that previously attacked the Administration. He immediately escalates the discovery to his superior.
• A troubling reunion: Chen learns that the director is a Grade-B Investigator transferred from headquarters after the Curse Cult attack. He recognizes the man as the Investigator whose blood and vital energy Xiao Bai once drained to nourish Chen’s Heavenly Heart Fire.
  Character developments and interactions: Hong Fan and Song Peilin shift from gratitude to wary dependence on Chen, while competing to secure his help and obtain talismans. Xie Songde acts as Chen’s intermediary and benefits from their respect for his connection to him, though he resents how many talismans he must hand over. Chen remains modest and practical, but the discovery of the Curse Cult’s involvement—and his unexpected connection to the new director—raises the stakes.
  Themes: The danger of hidden supernatural threats, the value of trust and connections, and the uneasy overlap between business dealings and genuine peril.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao reports the suspicious Buddhist shrines to Director Li Quan. Li breaks one open, revealing a honeycomb-like interior resembling a Calamity-Guarding Object, but the shrine appears to trap and collect ghosts rather than destroy them. Chen suspects the collected souls may serve a purpose connected to cross-world contact.
• Li assigns Grade-C Investigator Kui Yang and Qi Ning to investigate the Curse Cult. Chen is thanked and promised points, but is not allowed to join the operation. Qi Ning explains that the Administration is especially wary of the Cult after its attack on the Shannan City Administration.
• The investigation targets Ding Lang, one of the shrine owners. The shrines have been making him mentally foggy and erasing his memories. After praying to one, he briefly regains clarity—but cannot remember where he obtained the shrines. Kui Yang’s team arrests him and confiscates one. Ding Lang’s wife and child are also detained, while the other shrines are searched for.
• The Administration’s tests confirm that Ding Lang’s memory loss is real, likely caused by the Curse Cult, rather than deliberate evasion.
• Chen returns to Tianmen Funeral Home and resumes his routine: practicing, teaching Shi Manman Talisman Drawing, and overseeing Xiang Shang’s body-tempering progress. He remains alert because the shrine incident is still unresolved.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao acts cautiously, reports the discovery, and recognizes the possible link between the shrines, ghosts, and cross-world communication. He accepts being excluded from the investigation and returns to his ongoing work, though he remains uneasy.
• Li Quan responds decisively, personally examines and breaks open a shrine, then delegates the operation. Chen wonders whether Li’s past conflict with Xiao Bai may have intensified his hostility toward the Curse Cult.
• Qi Ning serves as the liaison between Chen and the investigation. He explains the Administration’s strict approach and later updates Chen on Ding Lang’s arrest and the failed interrogation.
• Kui Yang leads the investigation, ordering a careful search and using a Yin-Sealing Pouch to secure the shrine without touching it directly.
• Ding Lang is shown as a victim as well as a shrine owner: despite his anger at Xie Songde’s warning, he cannot remember the shrines’ origin, and his reliance on them has left him vulnerable to manipulation.

Significant themes

• Manipulation through supernatural objects: the shrines provide relief and clarity while also collecting ghosts and eroding their users’ memories.
• Uncertainty and hidden purpose: the shrines’ connection to the Curse Cult—and the intended use of the collected souls—remains unknown.
• Vigilance beneath apparent calm: Chen’s routine resumes, but the unresolved notebook entry signals that the threat is still active.

Plot points and events

• Cheng Lü, a Thank Heaven employee, arranges an expensive “Emperor Package” for a customer, hoping to earn a large commission. In the restroom, he notices mist that appears in the room but not in the mirror.
• The mist thickens, and Cheng Lü repeatedly finds himself back at the urinal whenever he tries to leave. It rises up his body, suffocates him, and ultimately swallows him as he watches himself in the clear mirror. No one responds to his cries.
• Wang He, a regular customer, visits the bathhouse. He had previously reported Cheng Lü for hinting at the Emperor Package, and the manager assured him the attendant had been fired. At the baths, Wang He sees someone resembling Cheng Lü but decides not to confront him.
• After Wang falls asleep, he wakes to find the bathhouse unusually quiet and filled with mist. He follows the apparent attendant, who seems to be pursuing him, then sees him fall into a bath and jumps in to help.
• Wang discovers a small wooden puppet at the bottom of the bath. When he grabs it, his hands become stuck and he cannot surface properly. The man he rescued presses his hands against the puppet and reveals a matching, eerie smile.
• Xie Songde is approached by the person in charge of the Thank Heaven Bathing Center, who reports that someone has gone missing there.

Character developments and interactions

• Cheng Lü shifts from greedy confidence to confusion, panic, and helpless despair as the mist traps him.
• Wang He is a cautious but well-meaning customer: despite distrusting the attendant, he risks himself to rescue him. That decision leaves him trapped with the puppet and the strange man.
• Xie Songde is drawn into the crisis after a brief period of calm; the report suggests the bathhouse’s supernatural danger has become a serious problem.
• Cheng Lü and Wang He’s encounters connect the two disappearances: Wang sees the suspicious attendant, then tries to save him, only to be caught in the same mystery.

Significant themes

• Supernatural entrapment: Repeated returns, impossible mist, and distorted space make escape seem futile.
• False appearances and uncertainty: The mirror, the apparent drowning, and the man’s matching smile undermine what characters think they see.
• Greed and consequences: Cheng Lü’s pursuit of profit precedes his terrifying fate, while Wang He’s compassion places him in danger.
• Isolation and helplessness: Cheng’s unanswered cries and Wang’s struggle in the bath show how ordinary surroundings can become deadly, with no help arriving.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Xie Songde visits bathhouse owner Leng Zhiyuan after hearing that someone is protesting outside. Leng explains that several customers have disappeared after entering the bathhouse.
• Security footage shows two unsettling incidents: one man repeatedly enters and exits a restroom, growing increasingly terrified before vanishing; another enters an empty, cold pool, appears to reach for something, and disappears beneath the water. Other reported disappearances lack footage.
• Leng admits he paid the missing customers’ families to keep quiet, fearing damage to the bathhouse’s reputation. Xie rejects this approach and contacts Qi Ning through Chen Miao’s connection, arranging for specialized police to investigate.
• Xie and Leng inspect the restroom and pool during the day. Nothing appears unusual, and the peachwood talismans Xie gives the guards remain intact. Xie concludes the incidents likely occur at night and closes the bathhouse until morning, ordering further checks of neglected areas.
• While the inspection is underway, Leng secretly orders staff to clear out the bathhouse’s “imperial suites,” which contain sexual props. He had hoped to use the rooms—and possibly secret recordings of influential guests—to gain power and status.
• Leng puts on a peachwood talisman Xie previously gave him. It suddenly cracks in half, suggesting something supernatural may be close or affecting him.

Character developments

• Xie Songde takes charge of the crisis, prioritizing an official investigation over hush money and reputation management. He is cautious, practical, and alert to the possibility that the danger is active only at night.
• Leng Zhiyuan reveals both his fear of scandal and his ambition to expand his influence through coercive, potentially compromising schemes. His confidence falters when the talisman breaks.
• The security guards show willingness to take risks for rewards, while Xie uses talismans and bonuses to encourage cooperation.

Significant themes

• Supernatural danger and uncertainty: The disappearances seem connected to specific places, but daytime inspections reveal no clear cause.
• Concealment versus accountability: Leng tries to suppress the incidents, while Xie insists that official authorities must investigate.
• Ambition and corruption: Leng’s plans to exploit private suites and record powerful guests expose the darker side of his desire for status.
• False security: A talisman offers Leng reassurance, but its sudden break signals that the threat may be closer than he realizes.

Character interactions

• Xie confronts Leng about the disappearances and challenges his decision to pay families off.
• Leng asks Xie to involve Chen Miao, but Xie instead contacts Qi Ning and arranges a specialized police response.
• Xie directs the guards’ inspections, warns them about the talismans, and rewards those who participate.
• Leng outwardly follows Xie’s instructions but secretly clears the compromising suites, revealing a major difference between their priorities.

Plot points and events

• After several people go missing at a bathhouse, Qi Ning offers to bypass the usual investigation and connect the case to the earlier Buddhist shrine incident. This would require Xie Songde to undergo a potentially harsh interrogation, so Chen Miao agrees to accept the risk and proceed with Qi Ning’s help.
• Chen Miao brings Xie Songde into the bathhouse, reasoning that the haunting may be targeting him. He gives Xie the Scorpion Corpse Orb for protection, then enters the restroom ahead of Qi Ning.
• In the final locked stall, Chen Miao finds nothing. A ghost appears behind him without producing any detectable yin-energy fluctuation. Thickening mist prevents Chen Miao from approaching it.
• Chen Miao attracts the ghost by raising a cup of liquor. When it comes close, he captures it in a Soul Ball, then uses a Yin-Dispelling Talisman to clear the mist.
• He marks a mirror with the Fire Pit Hell Mark, but the mirror’s surface evaporates and the entity escapes. Outside the restroom, Chen Miao finds the bathhouse engulfed in mist—and Qi Ning and Xie Songde missing. He suspects a malevolent fiend is responsible.

Character developments

• Chen Miao displays markedly greater confidence and strength. He takes the lead, protects Xie, and confronts the ghost without hesitation. Qi Ning now sees him as a reassuring, highly capable investigator, perhaps comparable to a Grade-C operative.
• Qi Ning trusts Chen Miao’s judgment and accepts his leadership, while privately wondering how Chen gained access to a high-level incident.
• Xie Songde is frightened but continues to trust Chen Miao and follows his instructions.

Character interactions

• Chen Miao and Qi Ning negotiate a risky shortcut through official procedure, with Chen accepting the consequences for Xie.
• Chen keeps Xie close and equips him with the Scorpion Corpse Orb, prioritizing his safety.
• Qi Ning’s growing respect contrasts with his uncertainty about Chen’s past and abilities.

Significant themes

• Trust and risk: Chen accepts a procedural and personal risk to move quickly, while others rely on his judgment.
• Growing power and confidence: Chen’s changed presence reshapes how his allies respond to him.
• Escalating supernatural danger: The silent ghost, unnatural mist, escaped entity, and disappearances point to a threat beyond an ordinary haunting.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao recognizes the bathhouse threat as a Malevolent Fiend with a ghost domain. The fog is real, not an illusion: within the domain, the Fiend can conceal itself, manipulate the environment, move freely, and return after being “killed” unless its true body or the whole domain is destroyed.
• His suspicions grow when the restroom mirror reveals a hidden Ghost that his Yin-Yang Eyes cannot detect. Chen Miao enters the mirror to investigate, leaving Qi Ning and Xie Songde in danger.
• Separated by the domain, Qi Ning is trapped in a Ghostly Wall. He uses Chen Miao’s talismans and tools to resist mental interference and the supernatural heaviness of his wet clothes. He determines that the fog is part of a ghost domain, not a simple illusion.
• When his last Barrier-Breaking Talisman begins to fail, Qi Ning attacks a figure in the fog. The Ghost’s hair traps his dagger and spreads over him; his Ghost Cube captures the figure, but another presence grabs him.
• Chen Miao arrives and destroys the attacker with fire, then drives the lingering sinister energy from Qi Ning’s body. Qi Ning identifies the Fiend as a water ghost and claims to know who she is.

Character developments

• Chen Miao shifts from investigating what he assumes is an ordinary Ghost to recognizing the much greater danger of a ghost-domain Malevolent Fiend. He remains decisive but regrets not placing a protective mark on Qi Ning.
• Qi Ning demonstrates caution, resourcefulness, and knowledge of supernatural threats. Though the domain manipulates his thoughts and nearly kills him, he adapts and survives by using his tools while trusting Chen Miao to help.
• Xie Songde remains separated from the others; Chen Miao is concerned for his safety, but his fate is unresolved here.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and uncertainty: Familiar investigative classifications prove inadequate when the threat is more powerful than expected.
• Trust and teamwork: Qi Ning’s faith in Chen Miao keeps him from making reckless choices, while Chen Miao’s intervention saves him.
• The limits of apparent victory: In a ghost domain, destroying a visible Ghost may only eliminate a duplicate.
• Escalating danger: The Malevolent Fiend, its domain, and its connection to the larger Curse Cult mystery suggest the bathhouse incident is far more serious than initially believed.

Character interactions

• Chen Miao leaves to investigate through the mirror, while Qi Ning is isolated by the domain.
• Qi Ning relies on Chen Miao’s supplies and expects him to find a way through.
• Chen Miao rescues Qi Ning and removes the hostile energy from him; Qi Ning responds by sharing what he knows about the water ghost, prompting Chen Miao to question him.

Plot points and events

• Qi Ning recognizes the water ghost as the girl who drowned in the rafting accident connected to Ding Lang’s resort. Her soul had once been sought in Ding Lang’s Buddhist shrine, but the group now realizes she has become a malevolent fiend.
• The ghost attacks while Chen Miao prepares a countermeasure. She possesses Qi Ning in an attempt to kill Chen, but Chen detects and burns her away with his fire-pit hell mark.
• Remembering techniques from the Water-Suppressing Mystic Scripture, Chen draws three Fine Talismans for River-Wind Summoning: the Wind-Gate Opening, Wind-Eye Stabilizing, and Wind-Tail Sending talismans.
• Chen leads Qi Ning to a bathing hall with four pools. He activates the wind talismans and performs the Wind-Inviting Chant, summoning a powerful current that clears the hall of mist.
• Chen hides the Wind-Gate Opening Talisman in the pools’ mist, expecting it to keep the fog from returning. He and Qi Ning set out to find Xie Songde, then pursue the water ghost.
• Chen’s earlier use of Yin-Yang Mirror Escape also revealed mirrors it could not connect to, suggesting something unusual is interfering with them.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao stays composed and resourceful, combining talisman craft, Mystic Arts, and careful observation to overcome the ghost’s attacks and dispel her mist.
• Qi Ning serves as Chen’s lookout and follows him closely. Witnessing Chen’s repeated success leaves him deeply impressed and increasingly confident that Chen can overcome any danger; his admiration is beginning to take on a more devoted quality.
• The two work in complementary roles: Chen plans and performs the ritual, while Qi Ning guards him and supports the operation.

Significant themes

• Ingenuity under pressure: Chen adapts traditional techniques to the immediate danger, even skipping some ritual steps while still achieving a strong result.
• Trust and admiration: Qi Ning’s confidence in Chen grows from respect into something approaching devotion.
• Hidden supernatural consequences: The drowned girl’s transformation and the unexplained mirror interference point to dangers beyond the immediate fight.

The chapter text isn’t available here, so I can’t reliably summarize its plot, characters, themes, or interactions from the title alone. If you share the chapter text or a detailed excerpt, I can provide a concise reference summary.

Key plot points

• Separated from Qi Ning, Xie Songde becomes lost in the bathing center’s mist and is pursued by the ghostly Leng Zhiyuan. His Peachwood Talisman shatters, leaving him seemingly defenseless.
• The gray ball Chen Miao gave him unfolds into a human skin. It blocks Leng Zhiyuan’s hair and carries Xie through the building, evading other pale figures.
• When a gust clears the mist, the skin takes Xie to the first basement level, then slips away. Chen Miao and Qi Ning find him there. Chen gives Xie a fresh talisman and tells him they are going to confront the threat.
• Chen equips Xie and Qi Ning with protective talismans and instructs them to stay back during any fight.
• The three enter a corridor of family VIP suites. The rooms are unexpectedly outfitted with extensive erotic equipment, which Xie realizes Leng Zhiyuan must have installed.
• Suite 008, at the end of the hall, is the only room still filled with mist. Chen tells the others to remain outside and resist any deceptive calls to enter. He burns joss paper at the doorway, then goes inside alone.

Character developments and interactions

• Xie Songde moves from panic and near despair to relief after the human skin saves him and he reunites with Chen and Qi. His brief suspicion of them shows some caution, though Chen privately considers it inadequate. Xie also grieves the presumed death of his brother-in-law, Leng Zhiyuan, and feels embarrassed by the suites’ renovations.
• Chen Miao remains composed and decisive. He protects and equips the others, assesses the danger, and enters the misty suite alone rather than expose them to it.
• Qi Ning stays with Xie as instructed and accepts the protective talismans.
• The human skin—revealed to be concealed in the gray ball—acts as Xie’s supernatural protector, though its motives and destination remain unclear.

Significant themes

• Fear, survival, and trust: Xie must decide whom to trust while trapped in an uncanny environment.
• Protection with uncertain costs: The human skin saves Xie, but its ghostly nature and sudden departure make its help unsettling.
• Grief and unresolved responsibility: Xie’s thoughts turn to his family and to explaining Leng Zhiyuan’s fate.
• Deception and preparation: Chen warns the others that voices may be illusions, emphasizing how the supernatural threat can manipulate perception.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao enters the water ghost’s fog-built rafting illusion. He realizes the ghost is replaying a memory and joins in rather than disrupting it.
• While playing with the girl in the illusion, Chen Miao reflects on how his strengthening soul may be making him less responsive to ordinary joys and other people’s suffering. He worries that power could erode his humanity.
• The illusion turns into a drowning trap. Chen Miao’s swimming skill and Water Domain Perception let him move freely underwater. Though he recognizes the girl’s plea for help as hostile, he takes her hand anyway.
• The water ghost briefly helps Chen Miao, but red threads seize her and renew her malice. Chen Miao attacks with the Five Prisons Mark, burns away the threads, captures her as a Soul Ball, and breaks the illusion.
• Back in the suite’s bathing pool, Qi Ning recognizes a hidden Smiling Buddha Shrine. He realizes it had been concealed through the Curse Buddha’s manipulation of Ding Lang’s memories and was responsible for the bathhouse disappearances.
• The shrine releases rotten flesh and blood-red tissue, which form a towering, living Smiling Buddha. It charges Chen Miao and smashes him into a load-bearing wall.
• Chen Miao emerges unharmed, then drives an elbow into the creature and knocks it back into the pool, shocking Qi Ning and Xie Songde.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao shows both compassion and tactical resolve: he helps the girl despite sensing danger, then decisively destroys the water ghost’s control over her.
• His thoughts reveal growing concern that yin cultivation and a powerful soul could dull his empathy. He begins consciously considering how to grow stronger without losing himself.
• Qi Ning pieces together the shrine’s connection to the disappearances and fears Chen Miao has been killed by the Buddha’s physical attack. He prepares to fight rather than abandon him.
• Chen Miao’s effortless survival and counterattack overturn Qi Ning’s assumptions about the limits of a yin cultivator. Xie Songde is equally stunned.

Significant themes

• Power and humanity: Increased strength may bring emotional detachment, making Chen Miao question the cost of cultivation.
• Compassion amid danger: Chen Miao chooses to help someone he suspects is trying to trap him.
• Hidden corruption and manipulation: The shrine’s concealment shows how supernatural influence can distort memory and conceal the source of harm.
• Subverted expectations: Chen Miao’s physical toughness proves far beyond what his role and cultivation stage would suggest.

Plot points and events

• Chen Miao discovers that the Flesh Buddha is stronger than he is, but his Copper Skin and Iron Bones and Extreme Yin Body-Refining Art largely neutralize its blows. Rather than continue trading hits, he uses the Five Prisons Mark, but it fails to bind the creature despite signs that it has a Soul Body.
• Chen Miao restrains the Flesh Buddha with the Malevolent Fiend water ghost’s Soul Intestines and traps part of its legs in a realm-crossing mirror, cutting them off. The monster forces its way free and regrows them—but emerges shorter.
• Realizing the Flesh Buddha has a limited supply of mass, Chen Miao infers that the bathhouse’s missing people’s bodies have been absorbed by the soul shrine and incorporated into it. He uses the mirrors repeatedly to remove more flesh.
• The Flesh Buddha turns on Qi Ning and Xie Songde. Chen Miao uses Give Me a Hand to divert its charge, allowing them to escape.
• Chen Miao burns the Wind-Tail Sending Talisman, filling the area with mist he controls. He lures the enraged, hungry Flesh Buddha into a concealed mirror, removing its head. He then drives his fist into its neck, pulverizing the remaining body into sludge.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao shifts from testing his durability against the monster to fighting strategically, combining his abilities, the water ghost, mirrors, and mist.
• Qi Ning and Xie Songde are frozen with fear when the Flesh Buddha attacks, but Chen Miao saves them, and they flee.
• The Malevolent Fiend water ghost helps restrain the monster but becomes uncontrollable as its malice surges, forcing Chen Miao to seal it again.

Significant themes

• Strategy over brute force: Chen Miao wins by exploiting the Flesh Buddha’s vulnerabilities rather than matching its strength.
• The horror of bodily exploitation: The monster’s mass comes from the missing people’s bodies, revealing the physical cost of the bathhouse’s supernatural evil.
• Power and control: Chen Miao’s success depends on directing dangerous supernatural forces—especially the water ghost and the mist—without letting them overwhelm him.

Plot and events

• Chen Miao retrieves and destroys the Smiling Buddha shrine, revealing a glass-like shard. It dissolves and produces a translucent, bald monk who introduces himself as Smiling Face—the shrine’s creator.
• Smiling Face claims he only came to see who destroyed the shrine, then sends a glowing butterfly into Chen Miao’s arm, leaving a mark. Chen Miao burns away the soul power in it with Fire Pit Hell.
• To complete the chapter, Chen Miao performs rites for the five ghosts he had collected, including the malevolent fiend and four Vengeful Ghosts. When the settlement still does not appear, he realizes Qi Ning’s captured ghost must also be included. He performs its rite and returns the Ghost Cube.
• Chen Miao leaves the scene with Qi Ning and the others, discreetly retrieves Scorpion Corpse, and checks into a hotel. Administration personnel arrive shortly afterward to investigate the wrecked room, leaving Kui Yang stunned by the scale of the damage.
• The notebook records the chapter’s completion after seven days, rewarding Chen Miao with yin virtue, several memory fragments, the Soul Shrine Crafting Method, and the Soul-Splitting Projection Technique.
• Chen Miao studies the technique and concludes that Smiling Face’s appearance was a prepared projection, not a soul that had traveled to the shrine. The monk’s butterfly and mark were likely part of a separate tracking or marking art. Chen Miao then turns to examine the Soul Shrine Crafting Method.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Miao remains cautious and analytical: he tests the mark immediately, works out what the projection technique does, and considers whether Smiling Face’s mark might become useful rather than dangerous.
• Qi Ning is grateful and trusts Chen Miao, readily handing over his Ghost Cube. He warns that Chen Miao may still have to answer to the Administration.
• Smiling Face appears courteous but enigmatic. His theatrical greeting proves to be a prerecorded projection, while the mark he leaves suggests a continuing connection or threat.
• Kui Yang arrives after Chen Miao has left and is shocked by the evidence of the battle.

Significant themes

• Appearances versus reality: Smiling Face’s seemingly personal visit was only a prepared projection, and Chen Miao’s apparent encounter concealed a more technical mechanism.
• Power and knowledge: The rewards reveal sophisticated soul techniques, while Chen Miao’s understanding of their requirements lets him infer that Smiling Face is far stronger than an ordinary yin cultivator.
• Grievances and obligations: Chen Miao must settle every captured ghost—including Qi Ning’s—to complete the chapter, emphasizing that unresolved spirits and debts cannot simply be ignored.
• Threats that may become opportunities: Chen Miao treats the new mark cautiously but recognizes that, given his growing abilities, a future encounter with Smiling Face could benefit him.

Plot points and events

• Chen Miao studies the Soul Shrine Crafting Method and learns that a shrine can take many forms; it is not inherently Buddhist or evil. Its effects depend on the maker’s will, which can direct the ghosts inside it to influence worshippers or capture other ghosts.
• Making one requires century-old yinwood, a Soul Crystal Fragment taken from a Flawless Resentment Body, a soul connection that risks corrupting the maker, and a three-dimensional rune formation sealed with the maker’s blood.
• Chen Miao suspects the method may be related to Calamity-Guarding Objects. He also wonders whether Curse Buddha developed the Flesh Buddha by combining shrine techniques with other mystic arts.
• A memory fragment reveals a bald Curse Buddha member completing a shrine and leaving a projection. Chen Miao concludes that the Soul-Splitting Projection Technique may accidentally copy nearby memories, so he resolves to avoid doing important things around the time he creates projections.
• Chen Miao notices that his forty-one Obsession Fragments resemble the shard dropped by the Buddhist shrine. A brief memory confirms the shard was a Soul Crystal Fragment, but he cannot yet prove the two are the same and decides to test the possibility later.
• He keeps his yin virtue in reserve because he may need it to fight the Paper Effigy Shop Owner; the underground palace has shown no progress in ten days. He then goes to sleep while exploring a memory fragment from a malevolent-fiend-level Water Ghost.
• The next morning, Qi Ning tells Chen Miao he need not report to the Administration, so he heads back to Tianmen Funeral Home.
• At the Administration, Director Li Quan tells Kui Yang that Chen Miao helped kill Mirror Pillar, a highly elusive member of the Hundred Ghosts Seat, during a major incident. Li’s admiration surprises Kui Yang, who reconsiders his earlier judgment of Chen and thinks about reconnecting with his former colleague, Chen Guokun.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao shows growing curiosity and caution: he considers making a shrine, recognizes the risks of soul contamination, and adapts his habits after learning that projections may carry unintended memories. He also demonstrates strategic restraint by saving his yin virtue.
• Kui Yang revises his opinion of Chen Miao. Though he had initially found little remarkable about him, news of Chen’s achievement makes him recognize that he had underestimated him.
• Li Quan expresses strong admiration for Chen Miao and shares the classified account with Kui Yang.
• Qi Ning relays the decision that Chen Miao does not need to report in, though she does not know why.
• The scene connects Chen’s present investigations with his earlier conflict involving Curse Buddha and the Administration’s assessment of him.

Significant themes

• Tools are shaped by intent: A Soul Shrine is not inherently evil; its maker’s will determines how it is used.
• Power has a cost: Creating a shrine can expose its maker to resentment and emotional corruption.
• Knowledge and uncertainty: Chen makes deductions from fragments of evidence but distinguishes what he knows from what still needs testing.
• Reputation and perspective: Kui Yang’s reassessment shows how limited information can lead to underestimating someone.

Key plot points and events

• After returning to the Funeral Home, Chen Miao makes another batch of Body-Cleansing Liquid for Shi Manman, then tests a new state gained from the Water Ghost’s memories: Water Binding (Six).
• The state lets him manifest and control long black hair in damp places or near water. Using the yin-rich courtyard pool, he fills the courtyard with hair, then finds that doing so consumes over half the pool’s yin energy.
• Chen Miao experiments with combining Mist Condensation, Water Hiding, Water Binding, and Yin Absorption. In the mist, he can create hair throughout the space and even use it as support to walk through the air.
• He concludes that these states can imitate many effects of a Ghost Domain, though the combination rapidly drains his soul power. He decides that strengthening his soul power is now more important than advancing his aperture cultivation.
• He considers what to do after completing the remaining stages of his Five Prisons soul tempering, including whether he could learn a Netherworld Realm soul-tempering method. He then turns to making a Soul Shrine to test whether Obsession fragments are Soul Crystal Fragments.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Miao becomes more inventive and confident in combining his abilities, transforming separate states into a versatile, artificial Ghost Domain.
• His experiments sharpen his understanding of their limits: Water Binding depends on both moisture and yin energy, while maintaining several states at once is costly.
• His only direct interaction is with Shi Manman through the Body-Cleansing Liquid he prepares for her; the rest of the chapter focuses on solo experimentation and planning.

Significant themes

• Experimentation and adaptation: Chen Miao finds new uses for his abilities by testing how they work together.
• Power and limitations: His growing combat potential is constrained by his available soul power and access to suitable environments.
• Progression and preparation: He weighs his next training path and looks for ways to sustain his advancement beyond his current technique.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao chooses century-old pagoda tree wood for a Soul Shrine, planning to use the leftover wood for other techniques and items. He practices carving on ordinary wood before working with the valuable material.
• Unsure what image should represent him on the shrine, he rejects carving his own face and decides to combine the Five Prisons True Form Diagram with a symbol from his Notes on Achieving Divinity in the Mortal World.
• He enlists Old Ghost, who controls the Soul Corpse, to carve a simplified version of the diagram into the shrine. Old Ghost succeeds despite the tiny working area.
• Under Old Ghost’s guidance, Chen Miao practices throughout the day, then carves his own shrine overnight. He adds the character “common” to the figure’s blank face, naming the result the Five Prisons Common-Faced God Shrine.
• After viewing a Memory Fragment belonging to Leng Zhiyuan, Chen Miao wakes with a new status: “Don’t Look Down on a Poor Middle-Aged Man.” Its effects depend on whether he is middle-aged: it inspires trust and expectations in listeners, or makes middle-aged listeners feel favorably toward him.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao shows patience and practical thrift, practicing before using rare wood. His strong learning ability lets him rapidly improve, though his carving still benefits from Old Ghost’s instruction. He is pleased with the shrine’s unusual design.
• Old Ghost remains wary of Chen Miao, remembering past humiliations and recognizing that escape is unlikely. He nevertheless cooperates skillfully and is relieved by Chen Miao’s approval; his flattery reflects his subservient, cautious position.
• Shi Manman brings Chen Miao meals and is startled by the Soul Corpse, but its obedient, lackey-like behavior makes the sight more amusing than frightening. She chooses not to interrupt Chen’s concentration.

Significant themes

• Power and subservience: Old Ghost’s changing attitude shows how Chen Miao’s growing strength has replaced hopes of resistance with cautious compliance.
• Craft, learning, and resourcefulness: Chen Miao builds skill through practice and adapts Old Ghost’s expertise to solve a problem he cannot handle alone.
• Identity and symbolism: The shrine’s blank face and bold “common” character give Chen Miao a symbolic representation rather than a literal self-portrait, blending the Five Prisons imagery with the Notes on Achieving Divinity.