Chapter Summaries

Plot and key events

• Shi Manman tries to reach Shi Ying, who is trapped inside her room with a ghost disguised as a headless black cat. When Shi Ying does not answer, Manman threads a Corpse-Sewing Needle beneath the door and uses blood and yin energy to draw it toward the ghost.
• The ghost pins the needle, but Manman’s thread surges with red light, pierces the cat, and drives its ghostly form out through the open window. The struggle leaves Manman’s yin energy greatly reduced.
• Shi Ying recounts how she opened her window to a seemingly harmless cat, which attacked and nearly strangled her. She realizes Manman is a genuine spirit medium and apologizes, then clings to her for safety.
• A resident, Li, falls from the third floor and dies without crying out. Manman suspects a ghost is controlling people and leaves to investigate. Shi Ying insists on coming.
• On the stairwell, Shi Ying becomes entranced and nearly climbs out a window. Manman pulls her back and breaks the influence with a Mind-Clearing Talisman.
• On the third floor, all four room doors are shut, and Manman senses strong yin energy. She tells Shi Ying she can help save the residents—and earn permanent employment—if she remains still. Manman begins using the Corpse-Sewing Needle and thread on Shi Ying’s back, seemingly to use her in confronting the threat.

Character developments and interactions

• Shi Manman remains controlled under pressure, applies her ghost-hunting tools effectively, and quickly recognizes that the danger has spread beyond Shi Ying’s room. Her stern instructions contrast with her willingness to protect Shi Ying.
• Shi Ying shifts from excited confidence—believing Chen Xue’s choice of her over Manman meant Manman had lost standing—to terror, gratitude, and dependence. Despite her fear, she agrees to help when Manman offers her a path to permanent employment.
• Manman and Shi Ying move from mistrust and rivalry to a reluctant partnership: Shi Ying apologizes and follows Manman, while Manman demands obedience and puts her through a painful, unexplained procedure.
• Chen Xue is absent, but her earlier decision to take Shi Ying on a solo mission shapes Shi Ying’s initial sense of triumph.

Significant themes

• Appearances deceive: the friendly black cat is a murderous ghost, and the danger can manipulate victims into walking to their deaths.
• Composure and trust in crisis: Manman’s calm technique saves Shi Ying, who must learn to follow her directions.
• Ambition versus vulnerability: Shi Ying’s desire for permanent employment helps her endure fear and pain, while the chapter leaves open the cost of that opportunity.
• Escalating supernatural danger: the ghost’s escape and Li’s death suggest the threat is larger than one room and that the third floor is under attack.

Key plot points and events

• Shi Manman stitches a special, open circle onto Shi Ying’s back, using a corpse-sewing technique to lure a ghost into trying to possess her. She backs away and prepares talismans and weapons, leaving Shi Ying in the hallway as bait.
• A ghost appears beside Shi Ying as a disembodied head, followed by its headless body—the same entity that had fled Shi Ying’s room. Shi Manman uses a Spirit-Sealing Talisman and attacks with talisman-wrapped ballpoint pens, destroying both the body and the head.
• Afterward, Shi Manman checks the apartments on the third floor. The group finds one resident dead by strangulation and another person who had jumped from a window but is still alive. Other residents describe frightening encounters, and one survivor bears visible strangulation marks. Some call the police; others rush downstairs.
• Shi Ying tells the group that Shi Manman saved her. Chen Xue, who already knew some of Shi Manman’s earlier claims, begins to believe she has real supernatural abilities—but is still troubled by DNA results showing that a previous corpse matched the person in question.

Character developments and interactions

• Shi Manman stays focused and resourceful despite Shi Ying’s fear, using her specialized knowledge and talismans to defeat the ghost. Her actions strengthen the group’s view of her as capable, though she does not explain herself.
• Shi Ying is frightened but endures the stitching and follows Manman’s instructions imperfectly, turning toward the ghost despite being warned not to. After being rescued, she openly credits Manman.
• Chen Xue shifts toward believing Shi Manman, but the apparent contradiction between Manman’s account and the DNA evidence leaves her uncertain.
• The residents move from fear and suspicion toward seeking explanations, while their varied reactions—calling police, fleeing, or checking on the injured—show how unsettled they are.

Significant themes

• Trust versus skepticism: The supernatural events support Shi Manman’s claims, but the DNA test remains a rational-seeming obstacle.
• Courage and vulnerability: Shi Ying’s resolve helps the plan succeed, even as her fear and one impulsive turn put her at risk.
• Evidence and uncertainty: Physical signs of violence and the surviving victim make the residents’ experiences difficult to dismiss, yet no clear explanation emerges.

Key events

• Shi Manman realizes that the head and headless body attacked earlier belonged to two separate ghosts, not one dismembered spirit. She suspects the missing counterparts may be in the Morgue.
• Fearing that danger remains, she heads there. Chen Xue and more than a dozen forensic pathologists follow, believing they will be safer with Shi Manman.
• At the Morgue entrance, Shi Manman senses unusually strong yin energy. She arms herself with several premium talismans before entering.
• She calls her master, Chen Miao, who is away from home. After learning she has already dealt with two ghosts, he is surprised but agrees to hear the full story later.
• In the Morgue, Shi Manman finds the matching head and headless body trapped inside a drawer, apparently restrained by measures installed by someone at the Forensic Medicine Department. She pierces them with her red-glowing Ballpoint Pen.
• Chen Miao discovers that Shi Manman’s experience has appeared as an extra chapter in his mysterious Notes, earning him two qian of yin virtue. He watches the events from her perspective but remains puzzled about why her story was recorded.

Character development and interactions

• Shi Manman demonstrates sharp deduction, initiative, and confidence, while remaining cautious: she investigates the ghosts’ connection, leads others to safety, and enters the Morgue only after preparing thoroughly.
• Chen Xue and the other forensic pathologists trust Shi Manman’s judgment and choose to stay close to her rather than remain in the Dormitory.
• Chen Miao is impressed by his apprentice’s skill and composure. Their brief call shows his concern, while his later discovery of the extra chapter raises new questions about the Notes.

Significant themes

• Observation and reasoning: Shi Manman solves the mystery by noticing how the ghostly body parts behave and connecting them to an earlier dismemberment case.
• Courage balanced with caution: She acts decisively but prepares carefully before entering a dangerous place.
• Trust and protection: The group follows Shi Manman because they regard her as their safest option.
• Mystery and hidden systems: The Morgue drawer’s restraints and the Notes’ unexplained recording of Shi Manman’s actions suggest forces at work beyond the characters’ understanding.

Chen Miao realizes that Shi Manman’s supernatural work is recorded in his divinity notes because transferring power may have linked them through karma or a master-disciple bond. He receives only half the yin virtue from her ghost-hunting, but wonders whether her actions could also create karmic debt for him. Her risky decision to use Shi Ying as bait makes him reconsider giving power to others: he plans to train Xiang Shang cautiously, teach Li Zi and the others normally first, and avoid mass power transfers. Though empowering the Administration’s Investigators could be more efficient, he wants to become strong enough to negotiate as an equal rather than be used by them. He decides to give Shi Manman a Ghost Scorpion so she can obtain the Yin Dart and better protect herself.
Meanwhile, Shi Manman works with forensic examiners to investigate remains believed to belong to two people. She explains that she can separate the remains using her own methods and potentially locate the missing body parts. She draws blood into a hollow Bone Needle, inserts it into the remains, and channels yin energy; the needle then moves by itself, selecting among the pieces. Chen Xue watches in astonishment, while Shi Ying is unfazed. Before the group can see what the needle will reveal, Zou Shang arrives and angrily demands to know what Shi Manman is doing.
Character developments and interactions: Chen Miao becomes more cautious and strategic about sharing power, while remaining concerned for Shi Manman’s safety. Shi Manman confidently applies supernatural methods to forensic work, earning Chen Xue’s growing respect but risking conflict over evidence handling. The chapter contrasts Chen Miao’s careful mentorship with Shi Manman’s bold, sometimes risky choices.
Themes: Power brings responsibility and possible karmic consequences; supernatural ability can aid practical investigation, but raises questions about risk, trust, and proper procedure.

Key plot points and events

• Zou Shang remains anxious about his nephew Wu Feng’s role in a killing. The victim’s missing head is the key piece of evidence, but neither Wu Feng nor Old Zheng has located it. Zou Shang hopes to delay discovery and believes he can manipulate any later identification.
• He is awakened by news of a crisis at the forensic examiners’ dormitory. In the morgue, Shi Manman is using supernatural bone needles to identify and reassemble remains, with the aim of locating the rest of the body.
• Zou Shang tries repeatedly to stop her, calling her work destructive and attempting to seize her and her needles. Shi Manman warns him off by striking the back of each hand with a bone needle.
• Old Zheng arrives with Jiao Yue, an investigator from the Lin’an City Administration. Jiao Yue confirms Shi Manman is unregistered and says she must accompany him, despite her request to finish using the remains to find the missing body parts. He allows her to make a phone call.

Character developments and interactions

• Zou Shang shifts from anxious schemer to openly desperate aggressor when Shi Manman’s work threatens to expose his nephew. His insistence that she be arrested contrasts with his colleagues’ support for her.
• Shi Manman remains focused and composed under pressure, using her abilities decisively to defend herself and continue the investigation. She agrees to cooperate enough to call someone, but seeks to complete her task first.
• Shi Ying and the forensic team protect Shi Manman from Zou Shang, recognizing the danger of interrupting her supernatural work.
• Old Zheng initially prepares to confront Shi Manman but defers when Jiao Yue takes charge.
• Jiao Yue introduces the Administration’s authority into the scene. He acknowledges Shi Manman’s help but insists that her lack of registration requires her to come with him.

Significant themes

• Concealment versus discovery: Zou Shang’s efforts to protect Wu Feng are threatened by the search for the missing remains.
• Supernatural power and institutional control: Shi Manman’s abilities are useful to the investigation, yet the Administration seeks to regulate her.
• Fear and moral compromise: Zou Shang’s fear of exposure drives him to obstruct an investigation and attack the person conducting it.

Key plot points and events

• Jiao Yue initially doubts that Shi Manman’s appeal to her master will help, but a call from his director—prompted by Headquarters—orders the team to let her proceed. The body parts are returned to her for examination.
• Shi Manman separates the remains into two groups: those joined by Corpse-Sewing Thread and those that are not, indicating two different bodies.
• She asks Shi Ying to gather tools and asks Chen Xue to retrieve bloodstained soil. Chen complies, though Zou Shang refuses to cooperate and accuses the others of tampering with evidence.
• Forensic department head Yan Ge arrives, overrules Zou Shang, and gives Chen the key. He then watches Shi Manman’s procedure.
• Shi Manman prepares a mixture of water, tissue and bone fragments, bloodstained soil, and cinnabar. She soaks two hairs attached to separate sections of Corpse-Sewing Thread, then loosens the thread’s knots.
• The hairs suddenly straighten and point toward one another, revealing a supernatural reaction and setting up the next stage of the investigation.

Character developments

• Shi Manman remains calm and confident, relying on her master’s promise and demonstrating specialized corpse-related techniques.
• Jiao Yue shifts from skepticism to compliance after receiving orders from above, though he is unsettled by Shi Manman’s confidence.
• Zou Shang grows increasingly defensive and appears to be considering a new plan, while concealing his panic when Yan Ge asserts authority.
• Chen Xue readily assists Shi Manman, despite her earlier uncertainty about Shi Ying’s change in attitude.
• Shi Ying now follows Shi Manman’s instructions without hesitation, contrasting with her earlier hostility.
• Yan Ge establishes his authority and gives Shi Manman room to work, showing interest in her method.

Significant themes

• Institutional authority and cooperation: Headquarters’ intervention and Yan Ge’s command override Zou Shang’s obstruction.
• Trust and confidence: Shi Manman’s faith in her master contrasts with Jiao Yue’s initial doubt.
• Supernatural investigation: The ritual procedure blends physical evidence with occult methods.
• Hidden motives and suspicion: Zou Shang’s resistance and private scheming suggest that the case may involve more than a routine forensic dispute.

Character interactions

• Jiao Yue and Shi Manman negotiate over access to the remains; after his director’s call, he steps aside.
• Shi Manman directs Shi Ying and Chen Xue, who both help with the examination.
• Zou Shang clashes with Old Zheng over releasing the evidence-room key until Yan Ge intervenes.
• Yan Ge tells Shi Manman to continue working and observes her procedure alongside Jiao Yue and the other Investigators.

Key plot points

• Shi Manman uses the Corpse-Sewing Needle to separate the corpse’s hair and remains from the murky mixture. The needle then points toward the missing remains.
• Jiao Yue orders Old Zheng and several teammates to follow it. After searching by car, they trace the needle to a residential building.
• The needle leads them to apartment 704. The investigators pose as property-management staff to get the occupant to open the door, then rush inside and arrest him.
• In the bathroom, Old Zheng finds two preserved heads and dozens of containers holding other body parts, revealing that the apartment contains remains from multiple victims.

Character developments and interactions

• Shi Manman demonstrates an unusual, effective skill, drawing the attention of Yan Ge and increasing Jiao Yue’s curiosity about her background. She declines to identify her master, saying she was told to keep a low profile.
• Yan Ge recognizes the Corpse-Sewing Art and recalls once trying unsuccessfully to learn from its practitioners.
• Old Zheng moves from skepticism to determined action, relying on the needle and devising a careful way to approach the suspect. His team works together to locate and arrest the occupant.

Significant themes

• Tradition and secrecy: Shi Manman’s inherited art is rare and guarded, and her master’s influence remains unknown.
• Supernatural methods and practical investigation: The needle provides a lead, but patient searching and police tactics are still needed to solve the case.
• Horror beneath the ordinary: A routine-looking apartment conceals a chilling collection of preserved human remains.

Key plot points and events

• Old Zheng hesitates before questioning the captured suspect, troubled by the man’s apparent preparedness and his professional handling of the remains. A case file reveals that the suspect, Lü Xing, was once a forensic examiner.
• Lü Xing confesses quickly. Twenty years earlier, he was dismissed after a report was falsified; he believes his colleague, Zou Shang, now head of the pathology team, framed him. With no proof, Lü Xing spent years pursuing revenge.
• Unable to find evidence against Zou Shang, Lü Xing focused on Zou’s nephew, Wu Feng, whom Zou and his wife, Wu Lan, doted on. Lü Xing believed Zou would again compromise his duties to protect family.
• Lü Xing drugged Wu Feng and his girlfriend, killed and dismembered the girlfriend, and let Wu Feng glimpse enough to become confused about what had happened. He also killed the girlfriend’s twin sister, then combined remains from the two victims into a single corpse to mislead investigators.
• Lü Xing preserved the remaining body parts, intending to use the murders to provoke Zou into misconduct. He recorded Zou’s actions after Wu Feng, panicked by the discovered remains, sought his help.
• Lü Xing initially planned to turn himself in once Zou had incriminated himself. Instead, his revenge escalated: he wanted to kill Wu Feng and Wu Lan and present Zou with their heads. Police caught him before he could carry this out.
• Old Zheng orders Zou Shang and Wu Feng detained. He concludes that Lü Xing’s mental illness should not excuse his crimes and resolves to establish that Lü Xing retained control when he committed them.

Character developments and interactions

• Old Zheng moves from suspicion and anger to a grim, practical resolve: he recognizes Lü Xing’s madness but focuses on ensuring accountability.
• Lü Xing is revealed as a former forensic professional whose long-held grievance turns into calculated, escalating violence. His technical expertise enables the elaborate staging of the crime.
• Zou Shang is exposed as the target of Lü Xing’s revenge. Lü Xing’s plan depends on the belief that Zou will bend rules again to protect Wu Feng.
• Wu Feng is manipulated into fearing he may have committed murder, then turns to Zou for help—becoming the means by which Lü Xing tries to provoke him.
• Old Li supports Old Zheng’s investigation, bringing the file that identifies Lü Xing’s forensic background and later carrying out the order to detain Zou and Wu Feng.

Significant themes

• Revenge and its corruption: Lü Xing’s desire for justice becomes a prolonged campaign that destroys innocent lives.
• Abuse of professional knowledge: Lü Xing uses forensic skill not to uncover truth but to conceal crimes and manipulate an investigation.
• Family loyalty versus duty: Zou’s protectiveness toward Wu Feng becomes central to Lü Xing’s scheme.
• Justice and responsibility: The chapter questions whether mental instability should reduce culpability, while Old Zheng insists that deliberate actions must still be judged.

• The case is closed: Lü Xing’s testimony, the recordings, and tests proving that Zou Shang had submitted a different corpse sample confirm key parts of Lü Xing’s account. Wu Feng admits that Zou Shang helped him. Lü Xing is likely to receive the death penalty, and Zou Shang will also be punished, though his role in Lü Xing’s dismissal twenty years earlier cannot be proven. Wu Feng is released because the dismemberment video confirms he was one of the victims.
• Chen Miao gains a new status: Shi Manman tells Chen Miao that the Lin’an Administration’s attitude changed after he contacted a friend at Headquarters—Lei Zhan. Chen discovers he has been appointed a Great Xia Administration Temporary Consultant, a title that functions much like a “Temporary Worker”: it grants privileges and benefits comparable to those of a Grade-A Investigator, without local branches’ authority over him, but requires at least one Grade-A assignment per year. Chen is surprised that Lei had enough influence to secure the appointment, especially given Chen’s current cultivation level.
• Chen warns and prepares Shi Manman: He praises her work on the case but scolds her for taking unnecessary risks at the Morgue, stressing that she must stay alive. He then teaches her how to raise ghost scorpions and helps her begin cultivating one. His upgraded Subtle Insight into Truth lets him assess every scorpion in a group, making it possible to select exceptionally high-quality specimens. The next morning, Shi Manman successfully refines a first-stage ghost-pattern scorpion and is delighted by it.
• Chen equips Shi Manman before leaving: He helps Zhao Gongzi consecrate a Century-Old Peach Wood Sword and receives thirty-six Yin Darts made from century-old jujube wood. He keeps half and gives Shi Manman the other half, along with a replenished supply of talismans, to improve her safety.
• A new opportunity arises: Just as Chen is preparing to leave Lin’an, Director Jiao Liangcai calls to invite Shi Manman to join the Administration as an Official Corpse Stitcher, setting up a possible new direction for her.
  Character developments and relationships: Chen’s influence within the Administration grows, while his protective, mentor-like relationship with Shi Manman deepens. Shi Manman shows initiative and commitment but must learn to balance bravery with caution; her new scorpion and weapons give her greater independence. The chapter also emphasizes Chen’s continued investment in her training and security.
  Significant themes: Justice can be achieved even when some past wrongdoing remains unprovable; institutional status brings both privileges and obligations; and power and responsibility go hand in hand. The chapter also highlights mentorship, self-preservation, and the tension between acting courageously and taking needless risks.

Plot points and events

• Chen Miao asks Jiao Liangcai about the Administration’s Official Corpse Stitcher role. He learns it is a part-time specialist position: Shi Manman would work only a few days each month, receive Full Investigator benefits, and follow the Administration’s rules.
• Chen Miao declines the offer for now, saying Shi Manman should finish her training first. He suggests she join the Shannan City branch instead, which would bring her closer to home.
• Chen returns to Tianmen Funeral Home and reviews several projects: advancing the Ghost Scorpion, studying Feng Shui Arts, adjusting the courtyard’s spring-breeze formation, and pursuing State Fusion.
• He begins with Three-Tail, feeding it a Fire Soul. Its tails inject toxin and absorb the soul over half an hour; Three-Tail then falls asleep, eager to consume more.
• Chen spends 100 Memory Fragments to upgrade his Qi Sensing status to Qi Observation.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Miao acts as a mentor and planner, weighing Shi Manman’s training needs and career options while prioritizing his own growing responsibilities.
• Shi Manman is confident she can master Bone Discernment within a month and is enthusiastic about working in Shannan City once Chen points out the advantage of being near home.
• Jiao Liangcai explains the role and accepts Chen’s decision to postpone Shi Manman’s appointment.
• Three-Tail shows how it feeds through its tails rather than by biting, and responds eagerly to the promise of more Fire Souls.
• Old Ghost, now focused on researching Ghost Body, has been moved from the Scorpion Corpse into a Soul Shrine.

Significant themes

• Training and professional growth: Shi Manman must complete her apprenticeship before taking on official work.
• Mentorship and practical opportunity: Chen supports her advancement while steering her toward a position better suited to her circumstances.
• Preparation and cultivation: Chen methodically invests resources and studies new skills to strengthen his abilities and the funeral home.
• Home and belonging: Chen’s return underscores the comfort and attachment he feels toward Tianmen Funeral Home.

Summary

• Over ten days, Three-Tail devours its tenth fire soul and evolves into a tiny, fiery-red Ghost Fiend Scorpion. Before Chen Miao can test its new abilities, he learns that his disciple Shi Manman has vanished.
• Shi Manman’s roommate, Shi Ying, says Manman met someone the previous afternoon, returned that evening, and was gone the next morning. Her phone and belongings remain behind. Shi Ying also recalls seeing something float out of Manman’s window during the night, which makes her fear a supernatural abduction.
• Chen Miao searches the room but finds no lingering yin energy or obvious signs of entry. A closer examination reveals wood shavings near the window and bed, suggesting Manman’s Peachwood Talisman broke during an attack and that she tried to fight back with her Yin Darts. Two darts are missing, and her Ghost Scorpion is unaccounted for. Chen Miao suspects the attacker overwhelmed her before she could fully defend herself.
• Chen Miao asks Jiao Liangcai to investigate the attack and identify the person Manman met. The Administration finds no suspicious surveillance footage, despite a camera facing her window. It also identifies her meeting: Feng Ping, an experienced Corpse Stitcher employed by the bureau, who had invited Manman to discuss their art and help her prepare for joining the Administration. Chen Miao and Jiao Yue go to question Feng Ping.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao shifts from anticipating Three-Tail’s new abilities to urgently investigating his disciple’s disappearance. His careful use of supernatural perception and physical evidence shows his methodical approach.
• Shi Ying is frightened and uncertain, but trusts Chen Miao as the person best able to handle a supernatural threat.
• Shi Manman, though absent, is shown to have resisted the attack: the broken talisman and missing Yin Darts suggest she woke and fought back.
• Jiao Liangcai and Jiao Yue support Chen Miao by arranging an investigation, with Jiao Yue taking responsibility for the case.
• Feng Ping is introduced as a senior, experienced Corpse Stitcher and becomes the next person Chen Miao must question.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and responsibility: Chen Miao treats Manman’s disappearance as a personal duty, while her roommate and colleagues turn to him for help.
• The limits of evidence: Ordinary surveillance and lingering supernatural traces reveal nothing, forcing Chen Miao to rely on subtle clues.
• Vulnerability and resistance: Manman appears to have been caught by a powerful attacker, but the signs in her room show she did not go quietly.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao questions Feng Ping about Shi Manman’s recent visit. Feng says they discussed the Corpse-Sewing Art, and she had invited Shi Manman to join the City Administration as a forensic examiner, but Shi declined out of deference to her master.
• Feng and Jiao Yue promise to help search for Shi Manman, including checking nearby cities’ facial-recognition records and investigating her recent contacts.
• Chen Miao reviews the evidence from Shi Manman’s dormitory and the people connected to the earlier dismembered-twins case. He finds no clear suspect or sign that yin cultivation was involved, leaving the investigation at a dead end.
• Looking for another way to find his apprentice, Chen Miao recalls a tracking technique in his notebook: the Hair-Wrapping Bone-Pinning Curse. It requires the target’s hair and an object she has used, and lets the caster sense her direction and distance.
• He returns to Shi Manman’s dormitory, gathers strands of her hair and a blood-stained Bone Needle, and asks Shi Ying to keep watch while he performs the technique. After roughly half an hour, he emerges at night with a small Paper Effigy.

Character developments

• Chen Miao remains worried but shifts from waiting for official leads to taking action himself, using his knowledge of mystic arts to pursue a new lead.
• Feng Ping shows genuine respect for Shi Manman’s abilities and maintains a supportive relationship with her.
• Shi Ying is cooperative and trusts Chen Miao, even though she does not know what he is doing.
• Jiao Yue is sympathetic toward Chen Miao and privately envies Shi Manman for having such a devoted master.

Character interactions

• Chen Miao questions Feng Ping and asks her to report any new information; Feng offers details about Shi Manman’s visit and agrees to assist.
• Jiao Yue reassures Chen Miao that the Administration is searching and will investigate Shi Manman’s contacts.
• Chen Miao asks Shi Ying to guard the dormitory while he gathers the curse’s required materials and works undisturbed.

Significant themes

• Devotion and responsibility: Chen Miao’s concern for Shi Manman drives him to keep searching rather than rely solely on others.
• Trust and mentorship: Shi Manman’s deference to Chen Miao and Shi Ying’s willingness to follow his instructions emphasize the bonds around her.
• Persistence amid uncertainty: With ordinary investigation yielding no answers, Chen Miao turns to supernatural methods.
• The limits of appearances: The lack of obvious suspects does not prove that everyone around Shi Manman is innocent.

Summary

Key plot points and events

• After leaving the Forensic Medicine Department, Chen Miao tests a Paper Offering with a Bone Needle. Its delayed turn reveals the direction and distance to Shi Manman: 12.8 kilometers west, near a village. He sets the location on his map and drives there.
• Shi Manman is being held captive. In a cellar, an unseen captor explains that she was abducted because her Yin Darts nearly harmed Flowing Cloud’s prized pet and because she raises Gu Worms. She is bound and unable to resist.
• Shi Manman recalls meeting an elderly woman the day before. The woman gave her advice on corpse stitching and asked whether she wanted to become an official Corpse Stitcher or pursue greater knowledge. Shi Manman declined the position and said she preferred to follow her master’s arrangements. The woman’s farewell—“I’m afraid there won’t be a chance”—now seems ominous.
• Captors move Shi Manman from the cellar to a farmhouse courtyard, where she is tied to a post beside three unconscious prisoners. She is the only one awake.
• A familiar, gentle voice identifies herself as Feng Buping, apparently the woman who arranged Shi Manman’s earlier meeting. The excerpt ends before the confrontation develops.

Character developments

• Chen Miao acts decisively and methodically, using the curse’s timing to track Shi Manman.
• Shi Manman shows resilience and a thoughtful, independent outlook. Though she wants to improve her skills, she rejects an open-ended pursuit of knowledge and places her trust in her master.
• Feng Buping is revealed as connected to Shi Manman’s abduction, recasting her earlier friendly mentorship as potentially manipulative.
• The captors regard Shi Manman as unusually capable, not the ordinary person she claims to be.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and ambition: Shi Manman weighs the desire to learn against the limits of time and energy.
• Trust and deception: A seemingly helpful conversation may have concealed a plan to capture her.
• Agency and dependence: Shi Manman resists formal affiliation and chooses to rely on her master, but her captivity leaves her physically powerless.
• Supernatural investigation: Chen Miao’s tracking method shows how occult practices can serve practical investigative purposes.

Character interactions

• Chen briefly thanks Shi Ying, gives her a Peachwood Talisman, and leaves without explaining what happened.
• Shi Manman is interrogated by a captor who dismisses her claim to be ordinary and cites her combat skills and Gu Worms.
• In her memories, the elderly woman guides Shi Manman into discussing her craft, ambitions, and loyalties, then hints that they will not meet again.
• In the courtyard, a captor remarks on Shi Manman’s unusual abilities before Feng Buping speaks, setting up a tense reunion.

Plot points and events

• Feng Buping reveals that she is not an official Corpse Stitcher and identifies herself as a member of the Curse Cult. She says she captured Shi Manman because of her talent: she is young, has reached Aperture Opening, and has mastered the Corpse-Sewing Art.
• Feng invites Shi Manman to join. Remembering her master’s advice to prioritize survival, Shi Manman immediately agrees, hoping to stay alive until her master can rescue her.
• Feng accepts her answer and says she will be tattooed before leaving with the cult. Bug, a cult member with a cigarette, handles the captives. Although Shi Manman feels sharp pains in her foot, Bug appears to leave her alone after she agrees.
• Bug questions the other captives. One young man spits at him and denounces the cult; Bug sends a centipede into the man’s mouth, and it kills him. The remaining captives, Li Yifeng and another man, are pressured by pain into agreeing to join.
• Bug returns to the shadows and summons Blind Man, whose startling, protruding eyes catch Shi Manman’s attention.

Character developments and interactions

• Shi Manman shows quick judgment and pragmatism: her agreement is a survival tactic, not a sincere conversion. She stays observant even while captive, noticing the cultists’ methods and the unexplained pain in her foot.
• Feng Buping presents recruitment as an opportunity, but her calm, cordial manner masks coercive intentions. She is surprised by Shi Manman’s decisive response, then accepts it.
• Bug enforces the cult’s control through grotesque violence and intimidation. He kills a defiant captive and uses pain to compel the others.
• The captives react differently: one resists and dies; Li Yifeng capitulates, while the last man initially condemns him before pain forces him to surrender.
• The episode highlights the divide between the cult’s captors and captives, with Feng negotiating and Bug exercising direct physical control.

Significant themes

• Survival and compromise: Shi Manman follows her master’s advice, treating submission as a temporary means to stay alive.
• Coercion versus choice: The cult calls its demand “joining,” but its recruitment is backed by pain and lethal force.
• Talent as a target: Shi Manman’s abilities make her valuable to the cult—and put her in greater danger.
• Horror and bodily violation: The centipedes, implanted sensations, and graphic killing establish the cult’s unsettling methods and the captives’ vulnerability.

Plot points and events

• Shi Manman realizes that Blind Man’s eyes can move, though he never blinks. He carries a case of tattooing tools and uses them to tattoo the captives.
• Blind Man accepts the prisoners’ suggestions to go to someone else first, until he reaches the last person. He immobilizes that man with a needle and begins tattooing him.
• Seeing the case’s strong yin energy, Shi Manman suspects it contains at least four ghosts, one of which may soon be tattooed onto her.
• Pain repeatedly stabs the top of Shi Manman’s foot. She initially thinks her master, Chen Miao, may be causing it to help her, but begins to doubt this.
• Blind Man eventually immobilizes Shi Manman and starts tattooing her. She resolves to endure and hopes her master will rescue her, though she fears being separated from him for years.
• A fireball crashes into the courtyard, revealing a gigantic, flaming ape. It crushes Blind Man’s case, then grabs Blind Man despite his attempted counterattack.
• The ape asks what Blind Man is doing to its disciple. It crushes him, and the Curse Cult members flee.

Character developments and interactions

• Shi Manman remains trusting of Chen Miao but grows frightened as she is restrained and tattooed. Her thoughts shift from trying to delay Blind Man to focusing on survival.
• Blind Man is methodical and follows the prisoners’ requests until no one remains to go first. He is abruptly overpowered by the Fire Ape.
• The Fire Ape arrives as Shi Manman’s apparent protector, revealing that she is its disciple. Its swift rescue demonstrates overwhelming strength.
• Shi Manman and Blind Man: Blind Man ignores her attempts to delay her turn and begins tattooing her.
• The Fire Ape and Blind Man: The ape interrupts the tattoo, destroys his case, and kills him.

Significant themes

• Trust and uncertainty: Shi Manman relies on her faith in her master even when she cannot tell whether he is helping her.
• Vulnerability and endurance: Immobilized and in danger, she can only wait and hope to survive.
• Sudden reversal of power: The Curse Cult’s threatening ritual ends when a far stronger protector arrives.

Plot points and events

• Shi Manman recognizes Chen Miao’s voice from inside the Fire Ape and warns him that Curse Cult gu worms are in her stomach. His Three-Tail Ghost Scorpion removes them, making her vomit them out before they can kill her.
• Two people who had defected alongside Shi Manman die from their own gu worms. She realizes that speaking up immediately saved her.
• Chen Miao defeats Bug with one punch. Gu worms emerge from Bug’s corpse and devour it; Chen also finds and retrieves Shi Manman’s stolen Ghost Scorpion.
• To stop the remaining cultists escaping, Chen uses the Nethermist Domain to disorient and trap them, while conserving soul power. He chooses to kill them rather than risk interrogation, intending to obtain their memories afterward.
• Chen encounters Meng Xiuqin, a Spirit Medium who has summoned a malevolent fiend into her body. The chapter ends as she experiences the grotesque effects of possession.

Character developments

• Shi Manman shows that she has learned Chen’s lesson to be cautious: instead of greeting him, she immediately explains the danger. Her relief grows into admiration and excitement about what she might learn from him.
• Chen Miao acts decisively to rescue and protect his disciple. He balances the cost of his abilities with the need to prevent the cultists from escaping, and prioritizes the reliability of memory fragments over interrogation.
• Meng Xiuqin is revealed as resourceful but desperate to survive. She has obtained incomplete teachings in possession techniques and willingly accepts their frightening physical consequences.

Character interactions

• Chen’s Three-Tail Ghost Scorpion protects Shi Manman by extracting the gu worms, while its power impresses her in comparison with her own Ghost Scorpion.
• Shi Manman’s warning allows Chen to address the immediate threat, and her caution reflects the influence of his earlier teaching.
• Chen treats the Curse Cult members as threats to eliminate, while Meng Xiuqin prepares to confront him using her possessed body.

Significant themes

• Caution and survival: Shi Manman’s careful choice of words proves life-saving.
• Power and its costs: Chen’s domain drains soul power, while Meng Xiuqin’s possession causes severe bodily damage.
• Loyalty and protection: Chen’s intervention saves Shi Manman and recovers her stolen familiar.
• Pragmatism and risk: Chen chooses a direct, lethal approach rather than spending time on interrogation.

Plot points and events

• Chen Miao tests his Fire Ape form against Meng Xiuqin, a Curse Cult fighter possessed during deity invocation. Her blood-red claws strike his abdomen but cannot even pierce the Fire Ape’s skin.
• Meng Xiuqin flees, convinced the Fire Ape is too durable to challenge directly. She recalls glimpsing Chen Miao inside its briefly ethereal abdomen and resolves to investigate his identity.
• As she escapes the fog, Meng Xiuqin encounters Chen’s smaller Water Ape form. It effortlessly keeps pace with her and blocks her attempts to flee.
• The Water Ape catches and restrains her, then tears off both her arms. Her bite fails too: her teeth shatter against its neck.
• The Water Ape gives way to the Fire Ape, which kills Meng Xiuqin by crushing her head between its hands, then leaps back into the fog.

Character developments

• Chen Miao remains curious and controlled in combat. Rather than simply defeat Meng Xiuqin, he uses the encounter to test both his Fire Ape and Water Ape forms, revealing their extreme durability and speed.
• Meng Xiuqin is introduced as a formidable but overconfident fighter, relying on her speed and supposedly armor-piercing claws. Her attacks fail completely, and her fear grows as she realizes the apes outmatch her.

Significant themes

• Power and misjudgment: Meng Xiuqin’s reputation and confidence prove useless against abilities she cannot understand or overcome.
• The unknown and monstrous: Her unanswered questions about Chen and the apes build a sense of mystery, culminating in her desperate question: “What kind of monster are you?”
• Testing power through conflict: Chen treats the encounter as an opportunity to discover his forms’ capabilities, while Meng Xiuqin experiences the same fight as a futile struggle for survival.

Character interactions

• Chen’s Fire Ape initially withstands Meng Xiuqin’s full-force claws without reacting. His Water Ape then pursues and confronts her, calmly asking, “Nothing else?” and “Is that all?”
• Meng Xiuqin repeatedly attacks and tries to escape, but each effort is stopped. The encounter ends with the Fire Ape silently killing her, leaving Chen’s identity and purpose unexplained.

Summary

• Feng Buping (also called Feng Ping) and Flowing Cloud escape the mist and split up. Flowing Cloud uses a polluted object—a transparent gauze that makes its wearer invisible and nearly weightless—to disappear. He has previously used it to abduct four people without detection.
• The chapter explains Feng Ping’s family history. She is the last member of a minor branch of the corpse-stitching Feng Family. A year earlier, the Shannan City Administration summoned her to examine a corpse that resembled a zombie but retained human traits. She concluded that the dead man had cultivated an unusual Body-Refinement Art.
• The corpse was her estranged brother, Feng Jue. Feng Ping learned that he had taken the name Feng Bujue and used a feng shui formation to control a village for cultivation. As a child, she had heard her parents speak of him, but only later discovered that he had left home after acquiring unorthodox Mystic Arts that conflicted with the family’s beliefs.
• A letter worsened the fallout. The Administration showed Feng Ping a preserved letter Feng Bujue had meant to send their parents. It expressed his longing for them alongside his excitement about his plans. Because it suggested a connection between his activities and the Feng Family, the authorities investigated the family. Feng Ping’s explanation that his arts came from an unknown source was rejected.
• Feng Ping and her family suffered the consequences. The Feng Family lost credibility with the authorities; Feng Bujue was removed from its genealogy, her parents’ memorial tablets were taken from the ancestral hall, and Feng Ping was barred from passing on the family legacy. She accepted these punishments, visited her parents’ graves, and later joined the Curse Cult when its members invited her. She went on to undertake many tasks for them, including the dangerous effort to help one of their members become immortal.

Character developments and interactions

Feng Ping is portrayed as dutiful and emotionally restrained, but the discovery of her brother and the family’s punishment stir buried grief and sympathy for her parents. Her relationship with Feng Bujue is indirect—she never knew him personally, yet his choices reshape her life and sever her from her family’s traditions. Flowing Cloud, by contrast, is practical and self-reliant, preferring to use his concealment tool and operate separately from Feng Ping.

Significant themes

The chapter explores family loyalty and inherited responsibility, as Feng Ping bears the consequences of her brother’s actions; the costs of secrecy and estrangement, embodied by Feng Bujue’s unsent letter and long absence; and institutional suspicion and punishment, as the Administration’s investigation damages the Feng Family despite Feng Ping’s attempts to distance it from his deeds.

Plot points and events

• Feng Ping, a Curse Cult member, is preparing to abandon her cover and take on a new identity. She expects the Administration to trace her within months, but the cult’s silence about an earlier disastrous incident has convinced her that its true capabilities—and the forces behind events—are greater than she understood.
• Feng Ping helped abduct four promising recruits, including Shi Manman, hoping the cult could draw talented people away from the Administration by marking and training them.
• When Chen Miao’s giant fire-ape form attacks the group, Feng Ping and Flowing Cloud flee. Feng Ping secretly places a sliver of wood from Shi Manman’s Yin Dart on Flowing Cloud’s gauze, apparently using it to help Chen Miao track him.
• The white ape—Chen Miao—kills Flowing Cloud by knocking him from the air and retrieves the sliver. He then catches up with Feng Ping, only to discover the person he seized is a hollow human-skin disguise.
• Recognizing its stitches and the Corpse-Sewing Art, Chen Miao connects the escape to the same old woman who previously evaded him in the cave where Xiao Bai attempted to become immortal. He vows to pursue her.

Character developments and interactions

• Feng Ping is cautious and self-preserving, but also calculating: she joined the cult, abducted recruits, and considered revenge against the people involved in her brother’s village. Her plans to test Chen Miao through Shi Manman reveal both her hostility and her uncertainty about his strength. She escapes by using a human-skin decoy.
• Chen Miao proves far more powerful than Feng Ping anticipated. He recognizes her methods from an earlier encounter and shifts from merely stopping the abductors to treating her as a recurring, personal enemy.
• Flowing Cloud escapes the initial attack but is killed while fleeing. Feng Ping’s subtle assistance enables Chen Miao to locate and intercept him.
• Feng Ping’s past links the present conflict to Feng Bujue, Zhong Cai, and Qi Ning; her current actions bring her into direct conflict with Chen Miao through Shi Manman.

Significant themes

• Deception and hidden identities: Cult members operate undercover, while Feng Ping’s human-skin substitute turns escape itself into a performance.
• Recruitment and coercion: The Curse Cult seeks talented people and uses Yin Marks to bind recruits to it.
• Knowledge as power: Feng Ping’s limited understanding of the earlier cave incident shapes her choices, while Chen Miao’s recognition of familiar clues exposes the disguise.
• Revenge and entanglement: Feng Ping’s old grudges and attempt to involve Shi Manman deepen her connection to Chen Miao, even as she tries to remain hidden.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao returns with Three-Tail, while Shi Manman’s Ghost Scorpion is revealed to have strong potential. He gives it back to her along with a fire soul, expecting it could become a powerful protector.
• Shi Manman identifies the stitched human skin Chen Miao recovered as a skin suit belonging to Feng Ping, a known Administration member. Chen Miao uses a head-down curse and a bone needle to try to track her, but the spell fails.
• Chen Miao concludes Feng Ping is still inside the Lin’an City Administration, whose feng shui formation blocks tracking. Believing she may feel protected there, he takes Shi Manman back to the city and arranges a hotel room for her.
• Chen Miao enters the Mirror Realm but cannot sense mirrors inside the Administration, further confirming its defenses. He then goes to Director Jiao Liangcai with the skin suit and reports that Feng Ping is tied to the Curse Cult, giving him the location of the village where other cultists’ bodies and victims can be found.
• Jiao Liangcai sends people to verify the evidence. He notes Feng Ping had reported a skin suit stolen half a month earlier, suggesting she has a cover story, but agrees she must be investigated.
• Jiao Liangcai summons his son, Jiao Yue, to bring Feng Ping in. When Feng Ping arrives, Chen Miao asks whether she is another skin suit.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao acts protectively toward Shi Manman, provides her with a promising Ghost Scorpion, and pursues Feng Ping methodically rather than rushing into the Administration.
• Shi Manman shows her expertise as a Corpse Stitcher by recognizing the suit’s construction and identifying Feng Ping’s skin. She is also given the means to become safer and more independent.
• Feng Ping appears confident enough to remain inside the Administration, despite the evidence against her. Her earlier stolen-suit report gives her a possible defense.
• Jiao Liangcai is cautious but takes Chen Miao’s evidence seriously, recognizing that a genuine Curse Cult connection could have wider consequences for the Feng Family. Chen Miao’s calm insistence puts him under pressure.
• Chen Miao and Jiao Liangcai maintain a tense, businesslike exchange: Chen Miao demands that Feng Ping not be allowed to disappear, while Jiao Liangcai promises an investigation.

Significant themes

• Protection and growth: Chen Miao’s gifts offer Shi Manman a path toward defending herself.
• Appearance and identity: Feng Ping’s skin suits raise doubts about whether the person before Chen Miao is truly Feng Ping.
• Power and institutional shelter: The Administration’s defenses prevent tracking and may give Feng Ping a sense of impunity.
• Evidence versus influence: Chen Miao brings physical proof, but Feng Ping’s prior report and family ties complicate the investigation.