Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Sun Run reports that the Village Chief and his entire family were found dead: each had drowned in a different place involving water.
• The deaths suggest Lin Xiurou may still be active, despite her body being in the house with Shen Xi’s Spirit-Sealing Talisman intact.
• Luo Sheng decides the group should bury the body. The six set off for the mountain, but choose a grave site at its foot and begin digging.
• While they work, Wu Feng shares what he uncovered: the Village Chief, not Chen Ergou, was behind Lin Xiurou’s drowning. Chen Ergou had falsely accused her on the Village Chief’s orders because she had discovered the Village Chief’s secret.
• Wu Feng suspects Lin Xiurou may have killed the Village Chief’s family, but cannot explain how she escaped the talisman or why her body shows no grievance energy.
• Shen Xi proposes a new possibility: the corpse may not be Lin Xiurou at all.

Character developments and interactions

• Luo Sheng reacts urgently to the deaths and takes charge, choosing burial as the group’s best immediate course.
• Sun Run is frightened and turns to Luo Sheng for direction.
• Wu Feng, previously withholding his findings, now shares them because the deaths leave him equally baffled.
• Shen Xi reconsiders the evidence and challenges the group’s assumption about the corpse’s identity.
• Luo Sheng recognizes that the Village Chief’s earlier behavior toward Chen Ergou was driven by self-preservation, not concern for him.

Significant themes

• Unreliable accounts and hidden truth: The villagers’ understanding of Lin Xiurou’s death keeps changing as new evidence emerges.
• Guilt and injustice: Lin Xiurou was framed and killed to protect the Village Chief’s secret.
• Uncertainty and supernatural threat: The body, talisman, and deaths do not fit together, leaving the group unsure what—or who—is responsible.

Key plot points and events

• After burying the pond corpse as “Lin Xiurou,” the group waits for the mission to resolve, but nothing happens. Shen Xi’s doubt that the body is actually Lin Xiurou now seems significant.
• Luo Sheng splits the group: he and several others return to the pond to investigate, while Shen Xi and Wu Feng go to the village chief’s house to question the villagers.
• They find the village chief, his wife, and his son dead, all bearing expressions of terror. Wu Feng confirms that all three drowned.
• Shen Xi confronts the clan elders, pressing them to explain Lin Xiurou’s death, her connection to the village chief, and the identity of the other woman’s corpse.
• Under pressure from the threat of another rain—and another possible death—the elders admit the village chief forced the decision to drown Lin Xiurou, though they do not know the reason.
• One elder reveals that the village chief’s son could not father children, while his daughter-in-law was blamed for being childless. She disappeared on the day Lin Xiurou was drowned. The elder suspects the corpse in the pond may actually be the daughter-in-law, not Lin Xiurou.

Character developments

• Shen Xi remains composed and perceptive, turning the villagers’ fear into leverage and uncovering the hidden family secret.
• Luo Sheng abandons his earlier reliance on the burial plan and shifts to organized investigation, showing urgency as the danger grows.
• Wu Feng, previously dismissed as a fraud, contributes useful observations and is increasingly treated as a source of expertise.
• The clan elders move from blame and evasion to reluctant disclosure when they realize they may be the next victims.

Significant themes

• Truth versus appearances: The corpse may have been misidentified, and the village’s public story concealed private wrongdoing.
• Complicity and silence: The elders admit they accepted the village chief’s decision to protect their authority, even though they suspected it was wrong.
• Fear and self-preservation: The looming rain pushes people to reveal information they had kept hidden.
• Escalating danger: With the village chief’s family dead and the supernatural threat still unresolved, the group has little time to act.

Character interactions

• Luo Sheng organizes the group and consults Wu Feng despite his doubts about him.
• Shen Xi challenges the clan elders directly, while Wu Feng investigates the bodies.
• The elders’ account exposes their uneasy relationship with the village chief: they opposed his actions privately but yielded to preserve their standing.
• The elder’s suspicion that the pond corpse was the missing daughter-in-law reframes the investigation and raises new questions about what happened to both women.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Xi and Wu Feng learn that the story of the Chen Family Village drowning has changed repeatedly. The Clan Elders had concealed what they knew and, by protecting their status, allowed the Village Chief’s actions to go unchecked.
• Shen Xi leaves the Village Chief’s house, accusing the Elders of complicity and warning that fleeing might be their only chance to survive.
• At the Pond, Shen Xi tells the others that the body recovered the previous day was not Lin Xiurou’s. The group decides to search for Lin’s actual body.
• Luo Sheng takes a small bamboo raft out onto the Pond. Shen Xi gives him an Evil-Breaking Talisman, while Wu Feng lends him metal-sha-infused scissors to protect the raft.
• Chen Zhen visits the Pond. He has no useful information about Lin Xiurou, but Shen Xi warns him to stay indoors during rain or at night and gives him a Yin Dart for protection.
• Luo Sheng retrieves an empty, weighted cage with a broken section. He then finds a second cage, confirming that the group buried the wrong person.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Xi shifts from questioning the Clan Elders to condemning their cowardice and complicity. She remains protective of others, equipping Luo Sheng and warning Chen Zhen.
• Wu Feng supports the search by providing a protective tool and acting alongside Shen Xi.
• Luo Sheng volunteers for the risky retrieval, accepting the others’ safeguards.
• The Clan Elders are exposed as having prioritized their standing over preventing the Village Chief’s wrongdoing.
• Chen Zhen is shown to be trusting and obedient toward Shen Xi, who treats him with kindness.
• In the real world, Zhao Gongzi anxiously asks after Shen Xi; Chen Miao reassures him while continuing to watch events.

Significant themes

• Complicity and self-interest: The Elders’ silence helped enable the Village Chief’s actions.
• Truth amid conflicting accounts: Repeated versions of the drowning make it clear that the group must investigate rather than trust village stories.
• Protection and responsibility: Shen Xi and Wu Feng prepare others for danger, while Shen Xi takes special care to protect Chen Zhen.
• Hidden wrongdoing: The cages and mistaken burial suggest that the village’s history conceals more than one crime.

Key plot points and events

• Luo Sheng’s group brings two cages ashore. Both appear to have been broken from the outside, prompting suspicion that someone released the corpses.
• The group struggles to explain the timing: Lin Xiurou’s body may have been removed during the roughly thirty minutes between Luo Sheng’s departure and Wu Feng and Shen Xi’s arrival. But who could have done it unnoticed—and why would Lin Xiurou have spared them?
• Wu Feng suggests a different explanation: Lin Xiurou may have used her hair to wrench open the smaller cage and release the other female corpse after killing Chen Ergou. The cage’s damaged frame seems consistent with this. If true, Lin Xiurou may be more capable and intelligent than they thought.
• Rain begins again, threatening another round of attacks. Luo Sheng and Wu Feng argue that the group cannot simply wait it out: Lin Xiurou could kill many more people and become much harder to stop.
• Wu Feng identifies two priorities: locate Lin Xiurou’s body, and protect her likely next targets—her parents-in-law and the Clan Elders.
• Luo Sheng divides the group: he and Ren Chuan will guard the parents-in-law; Sun Run and Yin Yu will gather and protect the Elders; Zhao Xi and Wu Feng will search for the body. They may abandon the guards if the situation demands it.

Character developments

• Luo Sheng weighs the clues carefully, challenges the initial theory, and takes charge of assigning the group’s next moves.
• Wu Feng contributes the theory that Lin Xiurou opened the smaller cage with her hair, and warns that delay could make her far more dangerous.
• Shen Xi helps clarify the timeline by explaining the delay caused by the rain.
• Sun Run proposes that Lin Xiurou might have escaped from the cage herself, though Wu Feng rejects the idea.

Character interactions

• The group debates the cages’ damage, the missing body, and whether Lin Xiurou could have released the other corpse.
• Luo Sheng and Wu Feng urge the others to face the danger rather than flee from the rain; Ren Chuan and Luo Yu initially want to seek shelter.
• Luo Sheng consults the group and assigns teams, balancing protection of likely victims with the search for Lin Xiurou’s body.

Significant themes

• Uncertainty and deduction: The evidence supports competing explanations, and every answer raises new questions.
• Escalating danger: The rain signals renewed attacks, while delay may make Lin Xiurou increasingly powerful.
• Duty versus self-preservation: The group must choose whether to protect potential victims or focus on stopping the ghost.
• Limited time and sacrifice: Luo Sheng’s plan accepts that the guards may have to abandon their posts if the search becomes urgent.

Key plot points and events

• Luo Sheng’s plan is accepted as the group’s last chance. With the rain worsening, Shen Xi and Wu Feng borrow rain capes from Chen Zhen, who keeps them at the gate rather than inviting them inside.
• Wu Feng explains that they will use their remaining Grievance-Revealing Talismans to watch the village from high ground, splitting it into eastern and western search areas. Shen Xi suggests making more before the rain intensifies—and quickly learns to draw the talismans herself, astonishing Wu Feng.
• Shen Xi climbs a tree in the western section and scans the village through her talisman. She and Brother San Shui discuss Lin Xiurou’s ghost: its obsession gives it something like instinctive cunning, but once its targets are gone, it may kill indiscriminately.
• The group’s remaining task is to locate Lin Xiurou’s corpse and perform a physical Transcendence Rite. Shen Xi, fearing she may not survive, asks San Shui to pass a message to Zhao Gongzi if she fails.
• Elsewhere, Sun Run and Yin Yu keep five clan elders gathered at Chen Fufeng’s home after arranging for their families to leave. Sun Run says they are waiting for Lin Xiurou. When one elder tries to leave, Sun Run warns that the ghost may target him and his family, invoking the Village Chief’s family as a reminder of the elders’ possible responsibility. The elder returns to his seat.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Xi shows initiative and remarkable talent: she proposes making more talismans and masters their drawing after minimal instruction. Her private message to San Shui reveals her awareness of the danger and her feelings toward Zhao Gongzi.
• Wu Feng is shaken by Shen Xi’s rapid progress, which challenges his long-held confidence in his own skill.
• Chen Zhen helps Shen Xi and Wu Feng but maintains a boundary by lending the rain capes without inviting them inside; Shen Xi recognizes that they remain outsiders to his household.
• Sun Run is practical and forceful, using fear and the elders’ guilt to keep them in place. The elders’ reluctance to face the ghost suggests self-preservation and unresolved culpability.

Significant themes

• Trust and belonging: Chen Zhen’s help is genuine but cautious, reflecting the divide between villagers and outsiders.
• Skill, humility, and changing confidence: Shen Xi’s talent unsettles Wu Feng and forces him to reconsider his view of himself.
• Fear, guilt, and responsibility: Sun Run uses the danger to expose the elders’ vulnerability and possible complicity.
• Risk and attachment: Shen Xi’s request to pass on a message underscores the personal stakes of a mission that may not end with everyone returning.

Key plot points and events

• While Sun Run and Yin Yu keep the five Clan Elders confined inside Chen Fufeng’s house, one Elder’s grandson arrives with dinner. Sun Run cautiously retrieves it after checking that none of their guidance rules out food as a Ghost’s disguise.
• The Elders eat, and Chen Fufeng offers to fetch wine. Sun Run takes charge of the jar, limits each Elder to one cup, and eventually joins the meal with Yin Yu.
• As the table fills, Sun Run realizes there are eight people seated despite only seven people being present: five Elders, Sun Run, and Yin Yu. He reaches for a Spirit-Sealing Talisman, but an icy hand grabs his wrist.
• Ten minutes later, Yin Yu appears at the gate of the house where Luo Sheng and Ren Chuan are holding Lin Xiurou’s in-laws. He warns them that something has appeared with the Elders and claims Sun Run pinned it down with a talisman.
• Ren Chuan immediately slaps a Spirit-Sealing Talisman onto Yin Yu. Yin Yu’s body falls backward into the rain, and both men remain grim, suggesting he was not truly Yin Yu.

Character developments

• Sun Run remains alert and responsible, taking precautions while also recognizing the group’s hunger and fatigue. His moment of relaxation at the meal leaves him vulnerable to the hidden threat.
• Yin Yu has grown more trusting of Sun Run, whom he associates with safety. Yet the apparent Yin Yu at the end may be a Ghost impersonation, turning that trust into a source of danger.
• Ren Chuan acts decisively and suspiciously: he attacks the arriving Yin Yu before accepting his warning.
• The Clan Elders shift from angry impatience to eager enjoyment of familiar food, creating a brief appearance of ordinary domestic life.

Significant themes

• Vigilance versus comfort: The meal offers relief from tension, but Sun Run’s moment of ease coincides with the Ghost’s attack.
• Uncertainty and deception: A seemingly harmless gathering hides an extra presence, and someone’s familiar appearance and voice cannot be trusted.
• Trust under pressure: The characters must decide whether to rely on apparent allies while facing a threat that can imitate them.

Character interactions

• Sun Run questions the Elder about the food, then manages the meal and wine to keep the Elders calm and controlled.
• Chen Fufeng encourages Sun Run and Yin Yu to eat, while the Elders toast them for protecting the group.
• At the second house, Luo Sheng and Ren Chuan respond to Yin Yu’s warning by rushing out—but Ren Chuan strikes him with a talisman before hearing him out.

Key plot points and events

• The group’s recognition code is a call-and-response line from a familiar verse or rhyme, intended to expose ghosts impersonating people.
• Luo Sheng and Ren Chuan bring Yin Yu’s corpse inside, suspecting the Clan Elder’s home has already been overrun. Luo Sheng rebukes Lin Xiurou’s in-laws for staying silent when she was drowned.
• Someone knocks and claims to be Sun Run, saying Zhao Xi and the others have handled the body. Suspicious, Luo Sheng gives Ren Chuan the remaining Spirit-Sealing Talisman. When they open the gate, Ren Chuan’s talisman strikes the real Sun Run, whose corpse drops—while five old men stand behind him.
• Meanwhile, Shen Xi and Wu Feng hurry toward the place where she saw a surge of grievance energy. Shen Xi recognizes it as Chen Zhen’s house, where she has been before.
• Chen Zhen initially acts familiar, but turns cold when Shen Xi insists on entering. He reveals his anger over Lin Xiurou’s death and says the villagers deserve what is happening.
• Shen Xi forces her way inside. Chen Zhen throws the Yin Dart she taught him, but she catches it easily. She then uses another dart to strike a middle-aged woman, revealing that Lin Xiurou is controlling the bodies of Chen Zhen’s parents.
• Shen Xi enters a room and finds Lin Xiurou’s body lying on a bed, watching her.

Character developments and interactions

• Luo Sheng grows more cautious and decisive, relying on the recognition code and talismans while recognizing that the group’s chances are worsening. His anger at Lin Xiurou’s in-laws reflects his contempt for their cowardice.
• Ren Chuan moves from fear toward grim resolve, but the apparent arrival of Sun Run ends in another shocking loss.
• Shen Xi confronts Chen Zhen and shows formidable supernatural power. Her concern is ultimately self-preservation, not saving the villagers.
• Chen Zhen drops his friendly façade and openly defends Lin Xiurou, revealing that grief and resentment drive his actions. He attacks Shen Xi, though his attempt is ineffective.
• Wu Feng helps Shen Xi reach the house and identifies the apparent attackers as dead bodies being controlled by Lin Xiurou.
• Shen Xi and Chen Zhen shift from apparent trust to open conflict: she demands an end to the deaths, while he insists the villagers deserve punishment and forbids anyone from disturbing Xiurou.

Significant themes

• Deception and mistrust: The recognition code underscores how easily ghosts can imitate the living; familiar voices and relationships are no longer reliable.
• Guilt and revenge: Chen Zhen’s rage is rooted in the village’s treatment of Xiurou, while the villagers’ past silence now exposes them to danger.
• Survival versus justice: Shen Xi seeks to stop events because she does not want to die, while Chen Zhen sees the deaths as deserved retribution.
• Grief and attachment: Chen Zhen’s devotion to Xiurou drives him to defend her, even as her body and power threaten others.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Xi discovers that the apparent Lin Xiurou is a decoy: the real Lin Xiurou has been concealed as a bloated corpse beneath the bedding. A Yin Dart reveals her, and she escapes into the rain, where her disguise falls away.
• Lin Xiurou has enthralled Wu Feng, Chen Zhen, and the neighbors, who attack Shen Xi. Facing the odds, Shen Xi asks “San Shui” if she will survive and relinquishes control of her body to Chen Miao.
• Chen Miao uses Blood Pupil to slow time and fights off the attackers with the Rusty Scissors, talismans, and a Yin Dart. The dart strikes Chen Zhen, breaking Lin Xiurou’s hold over him.
• Regaining his memories, Chen Zhen realizes he helped Lin Xiurou and ignored the deaths of his family. He confronts her, but she fatally wounds him. Chen Miao kills Lin Xiurou with the scissors and a talisman.
• Dying, Chen Zhen tells Shen Xi he always thought she was beautiful. Shen Xi closes his eyes and replies that he never got to see what she really looked like.
• After the rain stops, the survivors burn the bodies at Chen Zhen’s home. A blood-red doorway appears at the gate. Shen Xi and Luo Sheng leave; Wu Feng tries to follow, but the pair vanish from his sight.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Xi moves from desperate resistance to trusting Chen Miao with her body, and later shows compassion toward the dying Chen Zhen.
• Chen Miao takes decisive control, combining Blood Gate abilities and talismans to defeat the possessed attackers and kill Lin Xiurou.
• Chen Zhen is freed from Lin Xiurou’s influence and forced to face his complicity. His final exchange with Shen Xi is tender, despite the tragedy.
• Wu Feng is freed from the enchantment and attempts to accompany Shen Xi and Luo Sheng, but is left behind.
• Luo Sheng joins Shen Xi in leaving once the ordeal is over.

Significant themes

• Possession and responsibility: Lin Xiurou’s control clouds Chen Zhen’s judgment, but his memories make him confront the harm he enabled.
• Truth beneath appearances: The false body and hidden real corpse reflect the chapter’s atmosphere of deception.
• Death, grief, and release: Chen Zhen’s death, the burning of the bodies, and Shen Xi’s departure close a painful chapter.
• Identity and appearance: Chen Zhen’s final compliment contrasts with Shen Xi’s reminder that he never saw her true face.

Plot points and events

• Zhao Gongzi anxiously wakes when Chen Miao calls to him, fearing something has happened to Shen Xi. He is overjoyed when she returns safely and embraces her; Chen Miao leaves them alone.
• While waiting downstairs, Chen Miao reflects on what Shen Xi’s Blood Gate mission revealed: the Blood Gate World resembles the Mortal World in its locations, ghost lore, and cultivation methods, though its known cultivation apparently reaches only aperture cultivation. Its time also passes at a different rate from reality.
• Chen Miao considers how to investigate the Blood Gate further and whether his Five Prisons Common-Faced God Shrine—or the split soul inside it—could enter a Blood Gate mission. He suspects that the connection between the Blood Gate and the Mortal World might offer a way, but lacks enough information.
• He decides that Shen Xi could explore more on a future visit, though she would need greater strength to survive her mission and investigate beyond it.
• Chen Miao discovers two new Notebook side stories, apparently about Lin Xiurou and Xiao Bai. Xiao Bai’s chapter records a substantial gain in yin virtue, confirming Chen Miao’s belief that teaching Xiao Bai techniques pays off.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhao Gongzi reveals how deeply he worries about Shen Xi, then shifts immediately to relief and affection when she returns.
• Shen Xi comes back safely and reunites warmly with Zhao Gongzi.
• Chen Miao is strategic and curious, probing the Blood Gate’s nature while carefully weighing risks. He uses Clearheart to restrain his frustration when his theories lead nowhere.
• Chen Miao’s interactions are mostly indirect: he gives the reunited couple privacy, then turns to the Notebook and his plans for Shen Xi and Xiao Bai.

Significant themes

• Mystery and connection: The similarities between the Blood Gate World and the Mortal World suggest a deeper relationship whose nature remains unknown.
• Knowledge versus risk: Chen Miao wants to investigate, but recognizes that sending people or objects into the Blood Gate could be dangerous.
• Preparation and survival: Shen Xi’s future usefulness as an explorer depends on first improving her ability to survive missions.
• Investment and reward: Xiao Bai’s success reinforces Chen Miao’s view that training others can produce valuable returns.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao reviews the aftermath of Shen Xi’s Blood Gate mission and recovers much of the yin virtue he spent transferring power to Xiao Bai. He expects further returns as Xiao Bai continues refining corpses.
• He concludes that Blood Gate missions have shifting difficulty within an “upper” and “lower” limit. The Apostles’ choices can make a mission safer or more dangerous, though even an easier mission can still be deadly.
• Chen Miao considers whether experienced Blood Gate Apostles might survive better in the Mortal World than newcomers, but wonders if the Blood Gate could help them evade the Soul-Inquiry Hall’s inspection.
• Xiao Bai’s side story shows him refining corpses in a town apparently controlled by the Curse Cult. His Yin-Yang Dharma Eye makes him exceptionally effective, though limited access to corpses means producing a Flying Jiangshi will take time.
• Reexamining Shen Xi’s mission, Chen Miao wonders whether visiting Wu Feng was a trap: without Chen Miao’s influence, Shen Xi might have left sooner and had a chance to discover Chen Zhen’s actions. He suspects Blood Pupil’s presence may have increased the mission’s difficulty.
• Zhao Gongzi and Shen Xi join Chen Miao. He tells them to move to Tianmen County, partly so he can teach Shen Xi more ways to protect herself. Zhao Gongzi chooses to go with her, leaving his belongings for a friend to handle.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao reflects more strategically on Blood Gate missions, recognizing both their danger and the way Apostles’ decisions shape outcomes. He also remains focused on building Xiao Bai’s power and preparing Shen Xi for future missions.
• Xiao Bai is steadily advancing his corpse-refining work, supported by the Curse Cult but constrained by the supply of corpses.
• Shen Xi is shown to have survived her mission and appears happy when Zhao Gongzi prioritizes staying with her.
• Zhao Gongzi openly places Shen Xi above his possessions and readily agrees to accompany her.
• Chen Miao’s practical concern for the pair’s safety turns briefly awkward when he misunderstands why they took only twenty minutes upstairs; he ends the scene impatiently urging them to pack.

Significant themes

• Agency and risk: Blood Gate worlds have variable difficulty, and Apostles’ decisions can prevent disasters—or inadvertently lead them into danger.
• Preparation and survival: Experience and abilities may improve one’s odds, but neither guarantees safety.
• Power and its costs: Chen Miao’s power transfer brings future returns, while Xiao Bai’s growing strength depends on scarce resources.
• Loyalty and affection: Zhao Gongzi’s decision to leave his belongings behind underscores his commitment to Shen Xi.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao returns to Tianmen County with Zhao Gongzi and Shen Xi after their mission.
• At the Administration’s Blood Gate Apostle Research Institute, Director Luo Que learns that an Apostle named Luo Sheng encountered a woman in the Blood Gate World who could draw effective talismans and make ghost-killing jujube-wood darts.
• Luo Sheng recounts the Chen Family Village mission. He could not learn much about the woman because she was cautious, but he gave her his contact information.
• Luo Que suspects she borrowed the local yin cultivator’s power to create the charms, and that someone must have taught her the techniques. He is more interested in finding that teacher than in recruiting her.
• Back in Tianmen County, Chen Miao keeps Shen Xi and Zhao Gongzi at a hotel rather than the Funeral Home, protecting Shen Xi’s identity as a Blood Gate Apostle. He plans to find them a place in his uncle’s residential complex.
• Chen Miao notices that outsiders are increasingly buying property in Tianmen County, though the trend may fade as the Administration expands Feng Shui Formations across Great Xia.
• He checks on the Funeral Home, where demand for its Ancient Method funeral services has kept the yin cultivators busy. He decides not to add to their workload.
• With the Hundred-Day Seal lifted, Chen Miao prepares to cultivate and attempt the final step toward Underworld Communion.

Character developments and interactions

• Luo Que is increasingly focused on the Blood Gate, having shifted from his earlier research into supernatural realms. He wants practical ways to improve Apostles’ survival, especially as mission difficulty rises sharply after the third mission.
• Luo Sheng follows his training to question the mysterious Apostle but fails to overcome her guardedness. He cooperates with Luo Que and the institute by sharing his observations.
• Chen Miao now has personal reasons, as well as Zhao Gongzi’s, to protect Shen Xi. His careful arrangements show both concern for her safety and awareness of the Administration’s interest.
• Zhao Gongzi and Shen Xi are brought back to Tianmen County and housed discreetly, preserving their connection while avoiding unwanted exposure.
• The Funeral Home’s yin cultivators take pride in their growing work, while Chen Miao balances the business’s success against their capacity.

Significant themes

• Survival and preparation: The Administration struggles to equip Blood Gate Apostles for increasingly lethal missions, while possible supernatural skills offer hope.
• Knowledge, secrecy, and recruitment: Luo Que seeks the hidden teacher behind the talisman-maker, but the Apostles’ caution and limited institutional resources make that difficult.
• Protection and self-interest: Chen Miao’s motives evolve from helping Shen Xi for Zhao Gongzi’s sake to wanting to protect her himself.
• Changing fortunes: Tianmen County’s rising popularity and the Funeral Home’s success reflect a world being reshaped by supernatural threats and the measures taken to manage them.

Plot and key events

• Chen Miao reviews the stages of Yin cultivation and decides to enter the Netherworld Realm through his fully solidified Heavenly Spirit Yin Aperture, rather than wait to perfect all nine apertures.
• At Twin Ridge Mountain, he combines several perception and focus states with yin control, drawing the mountain’s abundant yin energy around him. He also activates I Am Justice to strengthen his resolve.
• Chen Miao directs soul power and yin energy into the aperture. After about ten minutes, a special power forms and sends his soul power into a pitch-black, unfamiliar realm.
• That power constructs the framework of a bridge, with a door at its far end. Chen Miao begins solidifying the bridge with soul power and estimates that completing it will take about a year, though his growing strength may shorten the process.
• Returning to his body, he discovers that underworld communion has greatly improved the Heavenly Spirit Yin Aperture. Its yin-energy capacity has increased tenfold, it absorbs yin energy faster, and it can now operate alongside another aperture.
• Impressed by the breakthrough, Chen Miao becomes eager to try knocking on the door, though he has not yet attempted it.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Miao shows confidence and pragmatism: rather than spend years perfecting every aperture first, he advances using the one best prepared.
• His exceptional soul strength, strong control over yin energy, and disciplined preparation make the breakthrough unusually smooth.
• There are no direct interactions with other characters; the chapter focuses on Chen Miao’s internal cultivation and discoveries.

Significant themes

• Progress through focused specialization: Chen Miao advances by developing his strongest aperture first instead of waiting for complete preparation.
• Preparation and self-mastery: His success depends on coordinating multiple abilities, controlling his thoughts, and committing firmly to the attempt.
• Escalating ambition: Each breakthrough reveals greater potential, turning Chen Miao’s attention toward the next threshold—knocking on the door.

Plot points and events

• In another simulation, Chen Miao enters the Mortal World as a mid-ranking member of a small clan, already at the second stage of aperture cultivation. His unfamiliarity with the identity he has taken over leads him to reveal too much.
• A suspicious clan elder alerts the Demon-Suppressing Bureau. Chen Miao escapes for a little over a week, but three Heaven-Ascending Grandmasters capture him.
• At the Bureau’s Soul-Inquiry Hall, Chen Miao discovers that Blood Pupil can control a remnant soul while it is being summoned. The discovery comes too late: the Bureau identifies him as an Otherworldly Fiend, and a Grandmaster kills him so he can be made into a Heaven-Ascending Step.
• Back in the present, Chen Miao concludes that the Bureau’s intensified hunt reflects its growing hope of using captured Otherworldly Fiends to achieve ascension. He suspects factions within the Bureau may be competing for them.
• He considers whether Blood Pupil could help resist Soul Inquiry, but realizes he would first need to locate his hidden remnant soul. Since learning Soul-Inquiry Art seems difficult, he plans to investigate soul summoning instead and seeks more advanced Spirit Medium inheritances through the Administration.
• At the Tianmen County Administration, Chen Miao chats with three trainee Investigators. One, Baili Xuanyan, nervously admits the county feels too small and uneventful. Chen Miao responds by praising his name, leaving Baili worried his upcoming assessment may be in jeopardy.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao gains a useful insight into Blood Pupil but also recognizes the limits of his current knowledge: controlling a remnant soul is not the same as finding or summoning it.
• His past regret over leaving a useful booklet behind in Jiangya County resurfaces, reinforcing his sense that small choices can have major consequences.
• At the Administration, Chen Miao makes an unusual effort to engage warmly with junior staff. Baili’s anxious reaction shows the gap between the director’s casual manner and the trainees’ fear of displeasing him.

Significant themes

• Knowledge gained through failure: Chen Miao’s fatal capture reveals a possible defense against Soul Inquiry.
• Institutional ambition and exploitation: The Bureau’s pursuit of Otherworldly Fiends is driven by hopes of ascension, with captives treated as resources.
• Preparation and unintended consequences: Chen Miao’s unfamiliarity with his simulated identity, and his regret over missing an earlier opportunity to learn, highlight the cost of insufficient knowledge.
• Power and hierarchy: The disparity between Chen Miao and the Grandmasters—and between the director and the trainees—shapes both the danger and the everyday interactions in the chapter.

Plot points

• Chen Miao is frustrated that Twin Ridge Mountain has only three ghosts, far too few to serve as the trial ground he envisioned. He leaves the trainees and returns to his office.
• After Chen leaves, Baili Xuanyan confronts Xu Yan and Jiang Wang for praising his earlier complaint while having shared similar grievances themselves. He calls out their past remarks about the branch and its director, leaving both men embarrassed.
• Baili says he is willing to risk failing his assessment and being reassigned rather than pretend he has no complaints. Xu Yan and Jiang Wang recognize that they, too, resent being posted to a county branch while their former classmates work in larger city branches.
• Chen overhears the conversation and understands why the trainees are dissatisfied. He decides to improve their prospects and make their time in Tianmen more worthwhile.
• Using his director privileges, Chen studies Spirit Medium cultivation arts, applies to requisition ghosts’ physical vessels from Headquarters for the trial ground, and buys rewards and equipment for the trainees.
• He redeems ten bottles of Vital Blood Pills—enough for one pill per trainee per trial, with extra for strong performance—and buys each of the five trainees a Vital Blood Training Suit, which accelerates vital-blood training despite making movement harder.
• He then turns to shopping for the branch’s two Grade-C Investigators, Chen Guokun and Tong Yu.

Character developments and interactions

• Baili Xuanyan shifts from grumbling privately to speaking boldly in front of the director. He also refuses to let Xu Yan and Jiang Wang distance themselves from complaints they had made in private.
• Xu Yan and Jiang Wang are exposed as sharing Baili’s frustration. Their resentment comes from feeling disadvantaged compared with classmates assigned to larger branches, though they have been waiting for their assessments before seeking transfers.
• Chen Miao shows that he is attentive to the trainees’ morale, despite their dissatisfaction. Rather than confronting them, he responds by investing in training, rewards, and better trial opportunities.
• The exchange among the trainees reveals both solidarity and tension: they share a grievance, but Baili is the one willing to openly accept the consequences of voicing it.

Significant themes

• Fairness and ambition: The trainees compare their limited opportunities with those of their former classmates and fear falling behind.
• Leadership through action: Chen responds to criticism by improving the branch’s resources rather than demanding loyalty.
• Risk and honesty: Baili is willing to risk his appointment to speak plainly, while his peers are more cautious.
• Preparation and opportunity: The planned trials, cultivation arts, rewards, and equipment suggest Chen intends to turn Tianmen’s isolation into a place where Investigators can develop.

Plot points and events

• Director Chen Miao spends the afternoon browsing the Administration’s equipment catalogue and buys a large supply of gear for the Bureau’s Investigators. The cost is substantial, and he hopes his staff will soon earn points through missions so he won’t have to fund everything himself.
• Before leaving, Chen Miao arranges for a new warehouse to be prepared. Chen Guokun assigns trainee Lin Chong to coordinate it.
• Lin Chong handles the job diligently, securing approval and cleaning the warehouse without seeking praise. His coworkers initially assume the director has assigned a mission, but lose interest when they hear it is merely warehouse work.
• In private, Lin Chong advises Zuo Qing not to worry about Baili Xuanyan, who has decided to slack off after offending the director. Lin Chong reflects on whether to transfer after their internship ends: the branch offers limited opportunities, but he values his good relationship with Captain Kun and the chance to work under a Grade-C Investigator.
• The next day, Lin Chong is sent to collect packages from Headquarters. There are so many that he calls on the other trainees for help. Even Baili eventually comes to see what is happening.
• The group discovers the packages fill roughly a fifth of the large new warehouse. Chen Guokun and Tong Yu arrive, visibly excited, and order everyone to open them.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao shows investment in the branch by spending heavily on supplies, while also expecting his subordinates to become capable enough to earn their own points.
• Lin Chong distinguishes himself through initiative, reliability, and tact. He has cultivated a strong working relationship with Chen Guokun and quietly weighs career advancement against loyalty and comfort.
• Zuo Qing is uncertain about the director and his own future, but accepts Lin Chong’s advice to focus on doing his job for now.
• Baili Xuanyan remains openly contemptuous after offending Chen Miao and withdraws from the group’s work; his status as the son of a deputy director gives him more freedom to slack off than the others.
• Chen Guokun trusts Lin Chong with practical tasks, while Lin Chong’s coworkers increasingly follow his lead when he makes clear that cooperation may matter later.

Significant themes

• Work ethic and initiative: Lin Chong earns trust by doing necessary, unglamorous work without demanding recognition.
• Opportunity versus stability: Lin Chong’s dilemma highlights the trade-off between pursuing advancement elsewhere and staying where he has built relationships.
• Hierarchy and privilege: Baili’s family connections contrast with the other trainees’ need to prove themselves.
• Investing in future strength: Chen Miao’s purchases signal that the branch is preparing to equip and develop its staff, setting up the next scene’s reveal of what he acquired.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Guokun unveils a shipment of advanced training equipment at the Heavenly Gate Branch Administration. Trainee Investigator Baili Xuanyan recognizes several items, including armor that accelerates vital-blood training, a breathing mask, and a rare gravity-tempering chamber.
• Baili explains that such equipment is scarce and usually monopolized by senior Investigators. The trainees initially assume they will not get access, but realize the small branch may have enough equipment and time for everyone to take turns.
• The staff spend the morning assembling and unpacking a large collection of devices, along with energy supplies. The branch now has multiple units of several kinds of equipment, enough to fill its warehouse.
• Director Chen Miao arrives and distributes training pills: three types for routine use, and Vital Blood Pills to be earned through future trials. Each trainee will receive one per trial, with an additional pill awarded to the best performer.
• Chen Miao tells the trainees to test the equipment, report defects, and study the manuals. The chapter ends with them eagerly doing so and the warehouse becoming a training room.

Character developments

• Baili Xuanyan begins as the knowledgeable guide, confidently explaining the equipment and its rarity. The sheer scale of the shipment leaves him stunned, and he admits he does not know how to operate the devices. He responds by studying the instructions.
• Chen Guokun oversees the shipment and assembly, teasing Baili while keeping the source and purpose of the equipment unexplained.
• Chen Miao is shown investing heavily in the branch’s training and establishing a performance-based reward system for trials.
• The trainees shift from resignation and envy to excitement, curiosity, and determination to make use of the resources.

Significant themes

• Opportunity and advancement: Powerful equipment and supplements could dramatically shorten training and help lower-ranked Investigators progress.
• Scarcity versus access: Baili’s experience highlights how seniority, wealth, and connections normally determine who gets to use advanced resources; the small branch’s abundant supply challenges that expectation.
• Merit and competition: Vital Blood Pills will reward both participation and standout performance in trials.
• Learning through initiative: Though the trainees lack experience, they take responsibility for learning how to use the equipment.

Character interactions

• Baili explains the equipment to the other trainees, who question his assumption that they will not get a turn.
• Chen Guokun playfully needles Baili and encourages everyone to keep unpacking, while leaving the unusual shipment’s origins a mystery.
• Chen Miao gives the group clear instructions and outlines the trial-based pill distribution.
• When asked to teach them, Baili cannot help; the trainees follow his lead and begin studying the manuals themselves.

Plot points and events

• Chen Miao confirms the Twin Ridge Mountain trials can safely include more than a dozen ghosts: the mountain’s feng shui formation will contain them, and he will intervene if necessary.
• He sets limits on talismans so participants retain some risk: a team may bring one talisman of each permitted type, with the total number tied to the number of people entering.
• The trials are to begin after a briefing the following day. Later, investigators and yin cultivators will train in mixed teams and compete, with Vital Blood Pills and training-equipment time as possible rewards.
• Chen Guokun and Tong Yu ask whether they can use the training equipment. Chen Miao approves, but says the first batch of energy must last at least three months. Guokun realizes the equipment and pills could greatly accelerate his path to Grade B, and the two promise to strengthen their branch.
• To monitor the mountain without having to watch it constantly, Chen Miao completes three Five Prisons Common-Faced God Shrines, placing a split soul in each. His stronger Netherworld Realm makes soul-splitting harder, and his first paper knife breaks, so he uses better materials.
• He then experiments with combining Soul Crystal Fragments into a complete soul crystal. Since the crystal is too large for the small shrines, he builds a much larger shrine—one meter tall—so it can hold the crystal and its rune formation.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao shows growing confidence and responsibility: he oversees the trials, supports the investigators’ advancement, and devises shrines to protect participants while managing his other duties. His increased strength brings greater control and skill, but also makes soul-splitting more difficult.
• Chen Guokun shifts from anxiety about the ghosts’ safety to excitement about the branch’s prospects and his own advancement. His trust in Chen Miao remains strong.
• Tong Yu shares Guokun’s commitment, joining him in pledging to make the Heavenly Gate Branch competitive.
• Chen Miao and the two investigators discuss trial rules, training plans, resources, and the branch’s future; their exchange combines Chen Miao’s authority with the investigators’ growing confidence in his support.

Significant themes

• Progress through disciplined risk: The trials are designed to challenge participants without removing danger entirely.
• Mentorship and institutional growth: Chen Miao invests resources in the investigators, who respond with loyalty and ambition.
• Innovation through experimentation: Chen Miao adapts his methods and materials, using a larger shrine to test the potential of a complete soul crystal.
• The costs of power: Greater strength improves Chen Miao’s control but complicates soul-splitting, showing that advancement brings new limitations as well as benefits.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao connects with a soul crystal containing the equivalent of a hundred Soul Crystal Fragments. Its flood of stray thoughts nearly overwhelms him, but he suppresses them with [Clearheart].
• He spends six hours inscribing a Rune Formation inside a giant Five Prisons Common-Faced God Shrine. The work consumes only half the soul crystal, and he saves the remainder.
• Testing the giant shrine, Chen Miao discovers that it does not strengthen its split soul or its status abilities. Instead, it rapidly restores the split soul’s soul power—within two or three breaths.
• He determines that the shrine’s recovery draws on the soul crystal powder embedded in its Rune Formation, not the surrounding air. Since that supply is finite, he limits its use to emergencies and puts the leftover half of the soul crystal inside as a further reserve.
• Chen Miao decides to place the giant shrine on Twin Ridge Mountain and distribute the three smaller shrines among Elder Uncle, Dad Xiang, and the main hall. He then heads to the Heavenly Gate Branch Administration to hand off work to the trainee Investigators.
• With only four days until Shen Xi enters the next Blood Gate, he resolves to return his attention to her situation and continue researching the Blood Gates.

Character developments

• Chen Miao shows caution and methodical thinking: he keeps the split soul’s strength constant during testing, identifies the shrine’s energy source, and sets limits to conserve its finite reserve.
• He remains pragmatic despite disappointment that the giant shrine cannot recharge indefinitely. He treats the soul crystal as emergency “batteries,” while hoping to investigate better uses for soul crystals later.
• His concern over Shen Xi grows into a source of stress; he recognizes that managing her predicament is consuming too much of his attention.

Significant themes

• Experimentation and resource management: Chen Miao tests the shrine systematically and weighs its benefits against the cost of consuming soul crystal powder.
• Power with limits: The shrine offers rapid recovery, but its dependence on a finite reserve prevents it from becoming truly self-sustaining.
• Responsibility and divided attention: Chen Miao must balance his duties, his plans for the shrines, and his concern for Shen Xi.

Character interactions

• Chen Miao’s main interaction is with his own split soul, which he moves between shrines to test their functions before choosing a larger split soul for the giant shrine.
• He plans to leave smaller shrines with Elder Uncle and Dad Xiang, and to hand responsibilities at the branch administration to Brother Kun.
• Shen Xi is not present, but her upcoming Blood Gate shapes Chen Miao’s next priorities.

Key plot points and events

• Baili Xuanyan and Jiang Wang are called to a meeting with Team Leader Kun and Director Chen Miao. Baili speeds up when he learns Chen will attend, eager to make a good impression.
• Baili insists he now understands Chen’s intentions and says he hopes to join the Heavenly Gate Branch Administration. Jiang Wang privately teases him for suddenly acting like a devoted flatterer.
• The branch’s seven working Investigators gather. They praise the training equipment Chen provided: Tong Yu feels its benefits already, Lin Chong values the Data Wristband’s personalized plan, and Baili explains how to combine the gravity chamber with a weighted suit.
• Chen tells them the equipment is theirs to use, then explains his larger goal: though their branch is small and receives few trainees, its people can prove it produces Investigators others cannot dismiss.

Character developments and interactions

• Baili Xuanyan shifts from reluctance to serious enthusiasm for training, partly out of respect for Chen and partly because he recognizes the opportunity the equipment offers. His earnest praise amuses and surprises Jiang Wang, who sees through his sudden change in attitude.
• Chen Miao shows himself to be both generous and ambitious: he invests in his subordinates’ development and wants their achievements—not merely his own reputation—to define the branch.
• The Investigators respond positively to the equipment and share practical advice, suggesting growing trust and cooperation within the team.

Significant themes

• Investment and potential: Providing proper tools and guidance can turn a small, overlooked team into a strong one.
• Collective pride and recognition: Chen wants the branch’s reputation to rest on the accomplishments of its members.
• Effort and opportunity: The equipment creates possibilities, but the Investigators themselves must train and prove their worth.

Key plot points and events

• The five trainee Investigators begin their first trial on Twin Ridge Mountain under Chen Guokun’s supervision. They must either defeat at least three ghosts and return, or reach the summit and descend after daybreak.
• The trainees choose five talismans: Spirit-Sealing, Mind-Clearing, Evil-Breaking, Bloodlight, and Illusion-Breaking. When Lin Chong asks for additional weapons, Chen Guokun angrily tells them to make do and head up the mountain.
• Once the group enters the mountain, Baili Xuanyan argues that they should split up to cover more ground. Lin Chong initially objects, worried they could be attacked separately, but eventually agrees.
• Baili and Jiang Wang form one team; Lin Chong, Zuo Qing, and Xu Yan form the other. Each team takes a different selection of talismans and begins exploring.
• Chen Miao learns through the Giant Shrine that the trainees have split up. He considers them careless for underestimating the trial grounds and resolves to teach them that the mountain is dangerous.

Character developments

• Lin Chong weighs caution against the chance to stand out. Though he recognizes that splitting up is risky, he decides not to yield his opportunity to compete for first place.
• Baili Xuanyan emerges as ambitious and persuasive, pushing for a split so the group can search more efficiently—and likely to improve his own standing.
• Chen Guokun is blunt and stern, but his warnings make clear that injuries could seriously set back the trainees’ cultivation.
• Chen Miao shifts from teaching Shen Xi to a colder, more threatening resolve once he learns the trainees’ plan.

Significant themes

• Risk versus ambition: The trainees must balance safety against the need to find enough ghosts or distinguish themselves.
• Preparation and self-reliance: They are expected to use their training and limited talismans rather than rely on extra equipment or protection.
• Consequences of underestimating danger: The trial may be supervised, but injuries and setbacks are real, and the mountain’s hazards may be more serious than the rookies assume.
• Competition within a team: The trainees share a trial, yet personal ambitions influence their decisions and divide the group.

Character interactions

• Chen Guokun warns the trainees about the rules and consequences, then sharply rejects Lin Chong’s request for weapons.
• Baili debates Lin Chong about splitting up, using efficiency and the risk of failing the trial to overcome Lin Chong’s caution.
• Lin Chong forms a team with Zuo Qing and Xu Yan, while Baili pairs with Jiang Wang.
• Chen Miao’s sudden change in mood unsettles Shen Xi, who notices his cold reaction to the trainees’ decision.