Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• In the trial’s increasingly dense mountain fog, Baili Xuanren persuades Jiang Wang to abandon their plan to scout separately and regroup at the summit. Baili wants first place to improve his chances of staying with the Heavenly Gate Branch Administration, and promises to share supplies and help Jiang Wang in a future trial.
• Jiang Wang reluctantly agrees, hoping to claim first place next time.
• Baili soon realizes Jiang Wang has disappeared. Though alarmed, he chooses to keep climbing rather than turn back, determined to prove himself and win the trial.
• A shadow appears and vanishes in the fog. Baili activates his Bloodlight Talisman, which improves visibility but consumes blood, giving him limited time to reach the summit or confront the ghost.
• Hearing a voice that sounds like Jiang Wang, Baili remembers to verify returning teammates. He tells the figure to stay still so he can test it—but then hears more footsteps.
• Multiple identical Jiang Wangs emerge from the fog, surrounding Baili and asking in unison whether they can move now.

Character development

• Baili Xuanren is ambitious and status-conscious, willing to break the agreed plan to pursue first place. Though initially frightened by Jiang Wang’s disappearance and the mysterious figure, he draws on his training and becomes more alert and confident.
• Jiang Wang is cautious and reluctant to take risks, but is persuaded by Baili’s promises and ambition. His actual fate after vanishing remains unclear.

Character interactions

• Baili pressures Jiang Wang to help him pursue first place, appealing to their friendship, shared advancement, and the promise of future rewards.
• Later, Baili treats the apparent Jiang Wang as a possible impostor and orders him not to move. The figure complies, but the arrival of many more copies turns the encounter into an immediate threat.

Significant themes

• Ambition versus caution: Baili’s desire for advancement leads him to abandon the safer plan and press onward alone.
• Trust and uncertainty: In the fog, even a familiar teammate may be an imitation, so Baili must question what he sees and hears.
• Training under pressure: Baili’s lessons and preparation help him respond to danger, but they cannot prevent the unsettling revelation that he is surrounded by copies.

Key events

• Baili Xuanyan tries to fight his way through a swarm of Jiang Wang apparitions, believing they are illusions. The attackers keep returning, exhaust him, and prevent him from withdrawing. They tear out part of his tongue and devour his hands; after repeated bouts of agony and unconsciousness, they vanish, leaving only a pool of blood.
• Hidden in a tree, Jiang Wang witnesses Baili’s apparent death. Before he can seek help, an identical version of himself appears and asks which one is the real Jiang Wang.
• On another part of the mountain, Lin Chong, Zuo Qing, and Xu Yan debate Baili’s decision to split the group. Lin Chong insists on caution: they have encountered no ghosts, and the trial should be treated like a real mission, not a contest.
• A shaken Jiang Wang finds the group and says Baili was killed by ghosts. Lin Chong doubts the story but tests Jiang with Xu Yan’s Evil-Breaking Talisman; it has no effect, so they tentatively accept him as genuine.
• Before Jiang Wang can explain further, another figure emerges: a deathly pale Baili. Jiang Wang immediately identifies him as a ghost, but the group recoils, unsure whom to trust.

Character developments and interactions

• Baili Xuanyan shifts from confident, dismissive resistance to helpless terror as the apparitions overwhelm him.
• Jiang Wang is traumatized by what he witnesses and becomes entangled in the mountain’s identity-bending supernatural threat.
• Lin Chong acts cautiously and methodically, prioritizing survival and verification over assumptions. He questions Jiang Wang and uses Xu Yan’s talisman to test him.
• Zuo Qing remains suspicious of Baili’s motives and alert to danger, while Xu Yan follows Lin Chong’s instructions and assists with the test.
• The group’s tentative trust in Jiang Wang collapses when the apparent Baili arrives, creating an immediate confrontation over who—or what—is real.

Significant themes

• Illusion and identity: Doubles of Jiang Wang and Baili make appearances unreliable and raise the question of who is genuine.
• The danger of overconfidence: Baili dismisses the threat as illusion and pays a brutal price.
• Caution and survival: Lin Chong emphasizes that a trial is not a game and that real investigators must stay alert.
• Fear and uncertainty: Even basic evidence—a familiar face or a working talisman—offers little reassurance in a setting where ghosts can imitate people.

Key plot points

• Baili Xuanyan and Jiang Wang accuse each other of being ghosts, each convinced they saw the other die. Lin Chong establishes that both are real: the Evil-Breaking Talisman has no effect on either of them.
• They realize ghosts deceived them into wasting several talismans and separating. Lin Chong persuades the group to stay together and continue climbing.
• The five reach the summit and pause to regroup. Another group of five arrives, appearing exactly like Lin Chong, Zuo Qing, Xu Yan, Jiang Wang, and Baili.
• Baili recognizes a warning they were given: a teammate who leaves and returns must be verified. When Xu Yan dodges Baili’s Bloodlight Talisman, Baili suspects that the companions who rejoined him may be impostors.
• The two groups clash. Two figures struck by the other group dissolve into mist. Baili grabs Jiang Wang, strikes the nearby Xu Yan—who also turns to mist—and shouts for everyone to run.

Character development and interactions

• Baili shifts from furious certainty to suspicion and quick action. Though he had trusted the reunited group, he notices the clues and acts decisively to protect Jiang Wang.
• Jiang Wang and Baili move from accusing each other to accepting that both were victims of deception; they also show concern for one another’s safety.
• Lin Chong takes charge, explains the likely trick, organizes the group, and urges them to continue together.
• Xu Yan’s evasive reaction becomes the key clue that reveals something is wrong.
• The group’s earlier mistrust of each other gives way to cooperation, but the arrival of apparent duplicates turns that cooperation into a new crisis.

Significant themes

• Deception and uncertain identity: Familiar appearances and memories cannot be trusted.
• Trust under pressure: The team must cooperate, yet verify even apparent companions.
• Courage and resourcefulness: Baili acts despite fear and incomplete information.
• The cost of confusion: Their mistaken encounters waste talismans and leave the team vulnerable.

Summary

Key plot points and events

• Baili Xuanyan and Jiang Wang rush toward what they believe are their remaining teammates, pursued by fake Lin Chong and Zuo Qing.
• Exhausted from using the Bloodlight Talisman, Baili hands Jiang Wang the Red Rod. Jiang throws it away—revealing that the real Jiang had already been replaced by a fake.
• Baili spots five people gathered near the rod and realizes he can no longer tell who his actual teammates are. The fakes capture him, and he gives in to sleep.
• Chen Guokun arrives at Twin Ridge Mountain expecting the interns may have passed the trial, but finds all five unconscious and assumes they were eliminated.
• Chen Miao explains that he deliberately made the trial harder to curb the newcomers’ growing conceit. He shows Chen Guokun what happened on the mountain.
• The interns had split up, allowing Chen Miao to divide them into five apparent teams, each containing one real person and four fakes. The repeated deceptions eventually made even genuine teammates seem unreal.
• Lin Chong, the last to fall, was especially badly shaken: he attacked the real Xu Yan and dismissed Xu Yan’s Evil-Breaking Talisman as another illusion.
• Concerned that the interns may wake up traumatized, Chen Guokun takes them to the Administration’s sanatorium rather than simply seeking treatment for their injuries.
• Elsewhere, Chen Miao returns from training Shen Xi and decides to fuse Blood Pupil.

Character developments and interactions

• Baili Xuanyan moves from confidence to exhaustion and despair. His earlier choice to split up the group contributes to the trap, and he ends unable to distinguish friend from foe.
• Jiang Wang appears to betray Baili when he discards the rod; the revelation that he is a fake underscores how thoroughly the group has been infiltrated.
• Lin Chong suffers the worst psychological damage, losing trust in his own perceptions and attacking the genuine Xu Yan.
• Chen Guokun initially feels ashamed of the interns’ quick defeat, then recognizes how effectively the deceptions exploited their decision to separate. He resolves to address their conduct and takes their mental well-being seriously.
• Chen Miao admits his intervention made the trial unusually difficult, but argues that the interns’ poor teamwork and lowered guard made the deception possible. He remains calm and strategic throughout.

Significant themes

• Trust and paranoia: Repeated impersonations erode the interns’ ability to recognize allies or believe evidence.
• Teamwork and consequences: Their decision to split up turns a difficult trial into a cascade of isolated traps.
• Training through adversity: Chen Miao uses the trial to challenge the interns’ overconfidence, though the psychological cost is substantial.
• Perception versus reality: The fakes become so convincing that even clear signs of authenticity are dismissed as deception.

Key events

• With Shen Xi’s next Blood Gate mission approaching, Chen Miao worries that a week of training cannot prepare her adequately. Transferring abilities has limits: many require yin energy, and some would only help if she encountered the right circumstances.
• Blood Pupil lets Chen Miao guide Shen Xi around dangers and control her in combat, but it cannot guarantee survival—especially as later missions grow harder. He concludes that Blood Pupil must gain abilities that can affect the Blood Gate World more directly.
• Chen Miao considers whether State Fusion’s loss of traits might be reduced by combining states of different tiers. He reasons that a higher-tier state could remain dominant over a lower-tier one.
• He chooses three first-tier states as possible additions to Blood Pupil: Three-Eyed, for illusions and eye-based support; Ancestor’s Protection, for defense and ghost-harming power; and Steaming, for ranged attacks that can damage ghosts.
• He rejects the second-tier Twin Birth state because it is vital to sustaining the split soul in the Five Prisons Common-Faced God Shrine, and fusion could destroy its useful traits.
• The plan is costly: because Blood Pupil is third-tier, each fusion would require the price of a third-tier fusion—ten jin of yin virtue.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Miao shifts from relying on training and ability transfers to pursuing a more fundamental upgrade for Shen Xi’s survival. His choices show both his determination to protect her and his caution about sacrificing valuable abilities.
• Shen Xi is not present, but Chen Miao’s preparations center on strengthening her for increasingly dangerous missions.
• Chen Miao compares State Fusion to the hierarchy among the trainee Investigators on the Twin Ridge Mountain trial: he believes a stronger state, like a higher-ranking Investigator, may be able to retain authority over weaker ones.

Significant themes

• Preparation versus uncertainty: Training and transferred abilities cannot cover every danger in the Blood Gate World.
• Power and hierarchy: Chen Miao hypothesizes that differences in tier may determine which state’s traits survive fusion.
• The limits of strength: Blood Gate Apostles may gain formidable physical abilities, yet remain vulnerable because they lack effective means to harm ghosts.
• Protection and sacrifice: Chen Miao must weigh the high cost of fusion against the risk of losing abilities he already depends on.

Chapter summary

• Chen Miao weighs his options: With just over forty-three jin of Yin Virtue, he can fuse Blood Pupil with only two statuses. He rejects Three-Eyed, whose uncontrolled illusions may be unreliable, and chooses Ancestor’s Protection for its balance of offense and defense.
• A new status develops: Chen Miao upgrades Ancestor’s Protection into Ancestor’s Blessing. It retains the ability to gain protection by burning joss paper and adds the power to summon the soul of someone buried at a grave by making an offering there. The summoned soul can protect Chen Miao or fight under his command, but only for ten minutes.
• Blood Pupil absorbs the blessing: Chen Miao fuses Ancestor’s Blessing into Blood Pupil. The fusion preserves Blood Pupil’s existing traits without strengthening them, while adding the ancestor-related abilities to its Sub-Body branch. Thus, sub-bodies such as Shen Xi—not Chen Miao’s main body—can use them.
• The summoning changes: A sub-body can now summon Chen Miao himself as its “ancestor” simply by setting out a memorial tablet bearing his name. Chen Miao finds this odd, then realizes the ability might let Shen Xi summon his soul into the Blood Gate World. If a shrine to the Five Prisons Common-Faced God exists there, he may be able to inhabit it and protect her.
• Chen Miao acts quickly: Concerned about the risks and limits of the summoning, he decides to test the idea—possibly by sending a split-off portion of his soul first. Since Shen Xi’s missions are imminent, he calls Zhao Gongzi and heads out to see her at midnight.

Character developments and interactions

Chen Miao is methodical about managing his limited Yin Virtue, but the fusion sparks a more ambitious plan: using his new “ancestor” role to intervene directly in Shen Xi’s missions. His concern for her safety drives him to investigate the ability despite its unknown dangers. His relationship with Shen Xi is central to the chapter, though she does not appear directly; the newly fused status gives her protection and may provide a way for Chen Miao to guard her himself. Chen Miao also contacts Zhao Gongzi before leaving, ensuring someone knows where he is going.

Significant themes

The chapter explores the costs and trade-offs of power, as Chen Miao must choose how to spend scarce resources; the blending of life, death, and identity, as a living man becomes a summonable “ancestor”; and protection through connection, with Chen Miao’s powers increasingly linked to the people and sub-bodies he seeks to safeguard.

Key plot points and events

• Zhao Gongzi and Shen Xi wait for Chen Miao, who makes a startling entrance by dropping through the wooden ceiling using his Wood-Merging Art.
• Chen Miao gives Shen Xi joss paper and demonstrates that burning it creates a golden protective aura. The aura can repel or harm ghosts, but it has limits, so she must learn when to use it.
• He then asks Shen Xi to burn joss paper before a tablet bearing the name “Five Prisons Common-Faced Deity” and call upon the deity.
• The ritual produces a summons that Chen Miao can choose to accept or refuse. He tests it first with a split soul housed in a shrine, then with his main soul.
• The split soul appears after ten seconds, though it experiences the journey as instantaneous. It can be recalled at will, but most of its usual states fail to work; only Blood Pupil activates.
• When Chen Miao answers the summons with his main soul, he experiences a smoky, disordered space during the ten-second interval. He returns to Shen Xi with no explanation for what the space is.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao acts as a cautious instructor and experimenter. He gives Shen Xi practical protection, tests the ritual’s limits, and grows wary as its mechanics prove stranger than expected.
• Shen Xi follows his instructions despite not understanding the ritual. Her initial excitement about being protected gives way to a more measured acceptance of its limits.
• Zhao Gongzi is uneasy about the late-night meeting and startled by Chen Miao’s entrance, but Shen Xi reassures him and he steps aside for the demonstration.
• Chen Miao and Shen Xi’s exchange is cooperative: she performs the ritual repeatedly while he guides her and studies its effects.

Significant themes

• Preparation and survival: Joss paper offers protection, but only as a limited safeguard requiring judgment and preparation.
• Experimentation amid uncertainty: Chen Miao tests an unfamiliar summoning power rather than assuming how it works.
• Mystery and altered perception: The split soul experiences no passage of time, while Chen Miao’s main soul perceives a strange transit through a smoky space—suggesting the ability has hidden rules and destinations.

Chapter Summary: “Blood Pupil at the Cost of Thirty Jin of Yin Virtue”

Key plot points and events

• While testing Ancestor Summoning, Chen Miao discovers that his summoned Soul Body is temporarily independent of his physical body. The separation lasts about ten minutes, and during that time his body enters suspended animation.
• As a Soul Body, Chen Miao cannot use most of his statuses. He can activate only Blood Pupil, apparently because the summoning itself is tied to that power. He can do so even without inhabiting his Five Prisons Common-Faced God Shrine.
• Further tests show that any of Chen Miao’s Split Souls can answer Shen Xi’s summons, even one far away, but only with the main soul’s permission. Burning paper again before the ten-minute limit resets the duration, though maintaining a continuous summon would be difficult and would restrict Shen Xi’s movements.
• Concerned that Blood Pupil alone may be insufficient for Shen Xi’s missions, Chen Miao spends Yin Virtue to strengthen it. He upgrades Steaming into Scorching Mist, then fuses it with Blood Pupil, spending thirty jin of Yin Virtue in total.
• The fusion grants Chen Miao and his offshoots the ability to create and control blood-red mist, which can appear anywhere within Chen Miao’s sight.
• Shen Xi practices the new abilities as her third Blood Gate mission approaches. At the research institute, other Apostles preparing to enter the Blood Gate World include Luo Sheng, her teammate from the previous mission.

Character developments

• Chen Miao learns more about the risks and limits of Ancestor Summoning. He decides never to let his entire Soul Body be summoned, since doing so would leave him without his physical strength or Yin Cultivation arts.
• He proves willing to make a costly investment in Blood Pupil to improve Shen Xi’s chances, though he worries whether the mission’s rewards will justify the expense.
• Shen Xi gains a stronger set of tools for her upcoming mission and trains with them, though she will still need to manage the practical limits of summoning Chen Miao.

Significant themes

• Power comes with constraints: Chen Miao’s summoned Soul Body gains unusual independence but loses access to nearly all his abilities.
• Preparation and sacrifice: Chen Miao spends a large amount of Yin Virtue to improve Shen Xi’s prospects, accepting a costly gamble before the mission.
• The unknown and risk: The mysterious mist-filled space and the unexplained effects of summoning remain unresolved, reinforcing the dangers of Chen Miao’s world.

Character interactions

• Chen Miao and Shen Xi conduct repeated experiments together, establishing the rules and limitations of Ancestor Summoning.
• Chen Miao shares the new mist abilities with Shen Xi and lets her practice them before her mission.
• Luo Sheng’s reappearance in the group preparing to enter the Blood Gate World links Shen Xi’s upcoming mission to her previous team.

Key plot points and events

• Luo Sheng’s superiors urge him to recruit Zhao Xi or learn more about her, but he privately hopes they won’t meet. He believes Zhao Xi’s previous success depended on a Yin Cultivation practitioner, and that bringing her into a fourth-level mission would raise the danger for both of them.
• The chapter explains how Blood Gate mission difficulty is assigned: the first three missions can be averaged across a team, but one Apostle on their fourth mission or later makes the mission at least fourth-level difficulty. Fourth missions have a death rate near two-thirds.
• Luo Sheng enters his fourth mission and finds himself beside a broken-down carriage with three other Apostles. Two signal that they work for the Administration.
• The three introduce themselves: Luo Sheng, Ke Meng, and Ye Jiangfan are all on their fourth mission. Ye is a brain-domain mutant with exceptional memory, analysis, limited telekinetic ability, and some capacity to sense ghosts.
• The fourth Apostle introduces herself as Zhao Xi. She recognizes Luo Sheng, confirming they have met before.

Character developments and interactions

• Luo Sheng is anxious about the mission’s danger and especially about meeting Zhao Xi, but initially feels reassured by the presence of experienced official Apostles and Ye’s valuable abilities. His confidence collapses when Zhao Xi reveals herself.
• Ye Jiangfan appears methodical and prepared: he has memorized information about Apostles from other sections to improve cooperation. His brain-domain abilities make him a valuable source of knowledge, though he is weak in close combat.
• Ke Meng identifies Ye’s unusual ability, helping Luo Sheng realize who Ye is.
• Zhao Xi and Luo Sheng reunite unexpectedly. The chapter ends on Luo Sheng’s dread at their encounter.

Significant themes

• Risk and unequal experience: Mission difficulty is structured so experienced Apostles can make a team’s mission much more dangerous.
• Preparation and specialization: Ye’s information-gathering and mental abilities may be more useful than brute strength in supernatural missions.
• Dreadful coincidence: Luo Sheng’s efforts to avoid a dangerous reunion are undercut by the mission’s apparent chance encounter.

Plot points and events

• Shen Xi reunites with Luo Sheng, whose displeasure at seeing her again prompts him to explain what happened in his fourth Blood Gate mission. Chen Miao, observing from the real world, wonders whether the Blood Gate is deliberately assigning Shen Xi missions beyond her apparent progression.
• Ye Jiangfan offers Shen Xi two ways to work with the institute: join as an official Apostle or exchange her Blood Gate knowledge and techniques for mission information. He warns that Apostles may have only one or two weeks left, and that surviving the fifth mission seems unlikely.
• Shen Xi says survival is her priority but postpones any decision until after the current mission. She trusts Chen Miao more than the institute and expects to survive with his help.
• The group receives its fourth mission: deal with the zombies appearing at night in Whitegrass Town and survive until dawn. A carriage problem sends them to the nearby town, where unusually quiet streets and anxious shopkeepers suggest the zombies may already be a concern.
• At the inn, the group agrees to investigate separately and regroup before taking action. Shen Xi goes to a funeral-supplies shop, finds paper offerings and unfinished memorial tablets, but realizes she has no money.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Xi remains focused on survival, declines to commit to the institute, and shows quiet confidence in her ability to endure the mission. Her choice to seek funeral supplies suggests she is already considering how to prepare for the zombies.
• Luo Sheng explains his prior encounter with Shen Xi and returns to his more composed manner after accepting the situation.
• Ye Jiangfan takes the lead, presents the institute’s offer, and organizes the group’s investigation. He accepts Shen Xi’s decision without pressure.
• Ke Meng supports learning about the town before acting.
• Chen Miao suspects the Blood Gate may be targeting Shen Xi with unusually advanced missions, though he lacks enough evidence to be certain.
• The group’s members cooperate despite different levels of trust and differing backgrounds; Shen Xi is willing to follow the investigation plan but remains guided by her trust in Chen Miao.

Significant themes

• Survival and uncertainty: The Apostles face a rapidly worsening outlook, while the mission’s apparent simplicity raises suspicion of a hidden danger.
• Trust and cooperation: Shen Xi weighs the institute’s practical support against her stronger faith in Chen Miao, while the group shares information and plans cautiously.
• Preparation amid limited resources: The team investigates before acting, but Shen Xi’s lack of money creates an immediate practical obstacle.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Xi, lacking money, uses Blood Pupil to create a blood mist and takes joss paper, a blank memorial tablet, and a carving knife from a funeral shop. The frightened shopkeeper later lights incense and flees.
• At the inn, Shen Xi carves “Five Prisons Common-Faced Deity” onto the tablet, burns the joss paper, and summons Chen Miao. Chen Miao confirms his split soul retains Blood Pupil’s abilities, though its power is somewhat restricted.
• Chen Miao tells Shen Xi to investigate the town while he explores independently. He visits the funeral shop, finds no sign of yin-cultivation practitioners, and discovers that incense smoke feels soothing to his soul body but cannot be used to activate the Six Jiangzhen Secrets. His summoned time soon expires, and he vanishes.
• Shen Xi learns from an elderly resident that the town is Whitegrass Town, where people have been found drained of blood for seven days each year since the incidents began ten years ago. This year’s deaths started six days ago.
• Residents are effectively trapped: neighboring communities reject them, while travel is dangerous. Authorities have largely stopped investigating after constables died, and Spirit Mediums hired each year have either fled or failed. The old man identifies the Shi Residence as the home of Master Shi, who brought in this year’s mediums. Shen Xi heads there.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Xi shows resourcefulness—and a willingness to use force—when she takes the supplies she needs. She then follows Jiang Fan’s advice to gather information rather than relying solely on her summoned ally.
• Chen Miao investigates the limits of his split soul. He concludes it can move freely in daylight and may be stronger than an ordinary ghost, though he remains uncertain about the limits of his abilities in the Blood Gate world.
• The shopkeeper is left terrified by Shen Xi’s blood mist and responds by making an offering of incense before fleeing.
• The elderly resident gives Shen Xi a candid account of Whitegrass Town’s danger and isolation, directing her toward Master Shi.

Significant themes

• Survival and moral compromise: Shen Xi’s urgent need leads her to take supplies rather than find a lawful way to pay.
• Isolation and helplessness: Fear, stigma, and dangerous roads leave Whitegrass Town’s residents with few ways to escape.
• Uncertainty and supernatural limits: Chen Miao’s exploration reveals possible strengths, but also leaves key questions about souls, incense, and the Blood Gate unanswered.
• Distrust of institutions and experts: The authorities and hired Spirit Mediums have failed to protect the town, deepening residents’ cynicism.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Xi meets Ye Jiang Fan outside the Shi Residence. Both have learned that the town’s zombie problem is widely known, but its origin remains a mystery; all leads point toward the Shi family.
• Back at the inn, Ye Jiang Fan, Shen Xi, Luo Sheng, and Ke Meng compare what they know. They agree the Shi Residence may be involved and could pose a danger.
• Ye proposes that he and Shen Xi enter the residence while Luo Sheng and Ke Meng remain hidden, ready to intervene. Since using Blood Gate powers would reveal their full abilities, Ye plans to conceal his own power and present himself as a ranged fighter.
• Shen Xi agrees to trade the techniques for making Yin Darts and talismans with local practitioners. Ye arranges for the Shi family to provide yang wood, and he and Shen Xi privately test how his object manipulation might work with her darts.
• At the Shi Residence, they meet its owner, Master Shi, and three other invited specialists: the strongman Li Dali, Daoist Green Pine, and Ma Tusheng, who reportedly subdued a transformed corpse.
• Asked to demonstrate their abilities, Ye uses object manipulation to make the teacups fly to the men who had refused his initial toast. Impressed, they all accept his invitation.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye is cautious and strategic, drawing on past experience with supposed allies who later turned against the Blood Gate Apostles. He takes charge of the plan and handles conversations at the residence.
• Shen Xi follows Ye’s plan and is willing to share her techniques, though she does so because Chen Miao instructed her to. She is content to let Ye represent them publicly.
• Luo Sheng agrees with Ye’s suspicions but points out the risk of entering without a concealed reserve of strength.
• Li Dali and Daoist Green Pine initially withhold cooperation, while Ma Tusheng accepts Ye’s toast. Ye’s display changes the group’s attitude, prompting all three to raise their cups.

Significant themes

• Trust and suspicion: The Shi family may be potential allies, but the group prepares for betrayal.
• Concealment and strategy: The protagonists must manage what they reveal about their powers while assessing the people around them.
• Cooperation through exchange: Shen Xi’s techniques and the specialists’ potential help may form a practical alliance.
• Power and status: Ye’s controlled demonstration establishes their credibility and influence without openly revealing everything they can do.

Plot points and events

• Master Shi provides the requested supplies: century-old peach and jujube wood, fresh rooster and black-dog blood, talisman materials, and a battered executioner’s saber. Daoist Green Pine explains that the saber’s accumulated baleful energy makes it useful against zombies.
• Shen Xi asks Ma Tusheng about entering yin. She invites him to visit her quarters to discuss their shared inheritance, and he agrees.
• Master Shi explains that the zombies haunting Whitegrass Town have existed for years and target the Shi Family specifically. The family cannot flee because the threat is tied to its past.
• He reveals that his ancestor Shi Geng learned authentic corpse-driving methods and later entered yin alongside a talented disciple. The disciple secretly began nurturing corpses by feeding them the blood of living people, a practice Shi Geng found intolerable.
• When Shi Geng tried to stop him, the disciple escaped. Five years later, he returned with powerful corpses and attacked Shi Geng. For nine years, Shi Geng has defended his family and prepared to confront him, but the enemy’s corpses have grown too strong. He has gathered the group to end the conflict.

Character developments and interactions

• Master Shi shifts from host and supplier to storyteller, revealing his family’s history and the reason for the crisis.
• Shen Xi shows her interest in yin cultivation and makes a connection with Ma Tusheng, who responds favorably after witnessing Ye Jiang Fan’s abilities.
• Ma Tusheng confirms his expertise by inspecting the blood and talisman materials, and agrees to exchange knowledge with Shen Xi.
• Li Dali initially distrusts the shabby saber but accepts it once he learns it is an executioner’s weapon suited to fighting zombies; he also negotiates for a better saber and payment.
• Daoist Green Pine identifies the useful materials and saber, but becomes annoyed when Shen Xi ignores him.
• Shi Geng’s former disciple, though absent, emerges as the central antagonist: a powerful practitioner who uses human blood to create stronger corpses.

Significant themes

• Corrupted knowledge and moral limits: The disciple turns corpse cultivation into a practice built on sacrificing living people.
• Responsibility and betrayal: Shi Geng must oppose the disciple he trained, and the conflict follows his family even after he tries to leave that life behind.
• Preparation and uneasy cooperation: The group’s supplies, skills, and knowledge-sharing are all gathered in anticipation of a dangerous final confrontation.

Chapter summary

Key plot points

• Master Shi explains that he has only two leaping hopping corpses left after years of fighting his former disciple, an evil cultivator. The enemy is believed to command at least five leaping hopping corpses and five black jiangshi.
• The enemy’s zombies are unusually agile, able to climb walls. Though slightly weaker and less durable than ordinary zombies, their speed makes them much more dangerous, leaving the group concerned about whether they have enough strength to fight.
• Ye Jiang Fan argues that they must try to stop the cultivator before he endangers others. Daoist Green Pine agrees and promises to call on old allies if needed. Master Shi offers each participant an additional fifty taels of silver.
• After the meeting, Ma Tusheng tries to avoid Shen Xi by saying he needs to draw talismans. She follows him anyway and demonstrates that she can draw a Spirit-Sealing Talisman, though it lacks yin energy. She claims she also knows Bloodlight and Evil-Breaking Talismans.
• Shen Xi offers to introduce Ma Tusheng to her teacher. She burns joss paper beside a memorial tablet, and an illusory figure appears. Ma Tusheng prepares to attack, but the figure tells him, “Don’t panic. I’m not a ghost.”

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Jiang Fan takes a practical, responsible stance, asking for detailed intelligence and insisting that the group act for the wider public good.
• Daoist Green Pine supports the mission and offers further help through his connections.
• Master Shi reveals how close to defeat he is and sweetens the reward to secure the group’s commitment.
• Li Dali remains eager and confident, focusing on his new blade and the promise of payment.
• Shen Xi shows unexpected skill and confidence in talisman-making. Her directness unsettles the more reserved Ma Tusheng, who shifts from skepticism to respect after seeing her work.
• Ma Tusheng is cautious and initially wary of Shen Xi’s mysterious introduction, but his curiosity about her teacher leads him into the supernatural encounter.

Significant themes

• Responsibility and collective action: The group accepts danger to prevent the evil cultivator from harming more people.
• Knowledge and preparation: Understanding the enemy’s abilities is essential, especially when unusual traits can outweigh raw strength.
• Hidden expertise and appearances: Shen Xi’s abilities—and the identity of her teacher—are greater than Ma Tusheng first assumes.
• Comic tension amid danger: The serious threat of the coming battle contrasts with Ma Tusheng’s awkwardness around Shen Xi and his mistaken alarm at the apparition.

Key plot points and events

• Ma Tusheng is startled when Chen Miao’s soul body speaks and tries to seal it with a Spirit-Sealing Talisman. Shen Xi stops him, and the talisman’s lack of reaction convinces Ma that Chen Miao is not an ordinary ghost.
• Chen Miao offers Ma a trade: the methods for drawing Bloodlight and Evil-Breaking Talismans in exchange for information. To demonstrate his power, he destroys a table with blood mist, and Ma agrees to answer.
• Chen Miao asks the date and location. Ma says it is the fifteenth day of the ninth month, year 36 of the Jingshuo era, in Whitegrass Town. He adds that 102 years have passed since the twenty-fourth year of Jinghe.
• Chen Miao realizes that while only seven days passed in his own reality, more than a century has passed in the Blood Gate World. He concludes that this world is the Mortal World’s distant past, before Yin Cultivation advanced and ghosts became widespread.
• He considers withdrawing from the Blood Gate World, but decides that if he is already part of a larger “game,” he must increase his influence there to improve his chances of survival.

Character developments

• Chen Miao shifts from seeking basic information to grasping the potentially enormous implications of the Blood Gate. Though frightened by the possibility that powerful forces are manipulating events, he chooses to act rather than retreat.
• Ma Tusheng moves from disbelief and hostility to wary cooperation. He suspects Chen Miao is an ancient cultivator, based on his unusual soul form and ignorance of the current era.
• Shen Xi acts as Chen Miao’s protector, physically preventing Ma from attacking him.

Character interactions

• Ma tests Chen Miao with a sealing talisman; Shen Xi intervenes, and Chen Miao calmly takes control of the encounter.
• Chen uses a demonstration of force to persuade Ma that resistance would be futile, then bargains with him for information.
• Ma watches Chen’s reaction to the date and uses it to strengthen his theory that Chen comes from an ancient era.

Significant themes

• Time and history: The Blood Gate’s missions appear to place Apostles in the Mortal World’s past, with time advancing at a radically different rate.
• Power and negotiation: Chen secures cooperation through a mix of valuable knowledge and intimidation.
• Fate, agency, and survival: Faced with the possibility of being a piece in a vast unseen game, Chen chooses to deepen his involvement in hopes of gaining leverage.
• A changing supernatural world: The differences in cultivation and the prevalence of ghosts reflect a Mortal World in an earlier, less developed stage.

Plot points and events

• Chen Miao realizes the Blood Gate World may be the Mortal World’s past and wonders whether changing its history could alter the future.
• He presents himself to Ma Tusheng as an ancient cultivator. Ma, an unaffiliated cultivator, respectfully explains the current state of Yin Cultivation in Great Xia.
• A century has passed since Chen Miao’s last visit. Yin Cultivation has grown, and the Cangzhou Kong Paper Effigies have expanded from three practitioners to ten; their strongest member is at the peak of Aperture Cultivation but has reached a dead end.
• Chen Miao estimates that practitioners may discover Underworld Communion within one or two centuries. He initially thinks the Blood Gate’s timeline will catch up with the Mortal World after only four or five more missions, leaving little time to prepare.
• Recalling Shen Xi’s mission schedule, he corrects his calculation: missions occur roughly every fifty years, so about ten missions—nearly three months in real time—may remain.
• He suspects the Administration knows the timelines may converge but keeps Apostles alive to control the investigation, since stopping missions through their deaths would not prevent the Blood Gate from selecting other people.
• Chen Miao decides to gather information about more Blood Gate Apostles, not just Shen Xi. He also considers whether Apostles might eventually witness an event involving the Blood-Haired Demon outside Jiangya County Town—and whether he himself has become part of history.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao shifts from relaxed curiosity to urgency, then regains some relief after revising his timeline estimate. He adopts a strategic, questioning attitude toward both the Blood Gate and the Administration.
• Ma Tusheng treats Chen Miao with deference after mistaking—or accepting—him as an ancient cultivator, and willingly shares information about Great Xia.
• Chen Miao’s exchange with Ma gives him a clearer view of how Yin Cultivation has advanced and helps him refine his predictions.

Significant themes

• History and causality: Chen Miao questions whether actions in the Blood Gate World can reshape the Mortal World’s future.
• Time and convergence: The approaching alignment of the two timelines may trigger a major event.
• Knowledge and control: The Administration may be trying to manage an unavoidable process to preserve its ability to investigate it.
• Fate and participation in history: Chen Miao wonders whether he is merely observing the past or has become part of the history he once knew.

Key plot points and events

• Ma Tusheng learns that yin cultivation extends beyond aperture cultivation through three further stages: underworld communion, gate knocking, and the Heaven-Ascending Steps. Shocked by how little he has advanced, he begs Chen Miao to teach him the next path.
• Chen Miao agrees to pass on the teachings if Ma Tusheng accepts a Blood Pupil. Ma swallows it, and Chen Miao gives him access to teachings on underworld communion and additional aperture-cultivation arts, as well as instructions to ask Zhao Xi about using the Blood Pupil.
• Chen Miao warns Ma not to summon him without cause and disappears. Zhao Xi tells Ma to keep everything about the Divine Lord secret, clarifying that she and Chen are not his disciples in the usual sense. Ma is impressed by the name on the memorial tablet: “Five Prisons Common-Faced Deity.”
• In the real world, Chen Miao senses something strange about the Blood Pupil implanted in Ma: it seems attached to something unreal, even though Ma has a soul and can use its powers. He postpones investigating until the mission ends and considers implanting Blood Pupils in Luo Sheng and other Administration Apostles.
• Back in the Blood Gate World, Zhao Xi returns to her room and later goes to Ma’s with a piece of jujube wood. Ye Jiangfan uses his ability to send a message over the courtyard wall while avoiding the Shi Residence’s watchers.
• After nightfall, Shi Geng gathers the group and shows them his two Leaping Hopping Corpses. As he prepares them for the evening’s task, intruders climb over the courtyard wall. Li Dali spots them, and Shi Geng and the others immediately attack, plunging the residence into chaos.

Character developments and interactions

• Ma Tusheng moves from astonishment and hesitation to desperate resolve: he accepts the dangerous-looking Blood Pupil to gain access to higher cultivation teachings. He treats Zhao Xi as a senior sister until she rejects the title, and he remains awed by the Divine Lord’s identity.
• Chen Miao uses the promise of secret knowledge to secure Ma’s willing acceptance of the Blood Pupil. He is also increasingly focused on expanding his investigations through other Apostles, while remaining wary of the Blood Gate’s effects.
• Zhao Xi (Shen Xi) manages Ma’s expectations and stresses secrecy, but privately recognizes Chen Miao’s skill at persuading people.
• Shi Geng, Li Dali, and the group shift from preparation to combat when the intruders appear; Shi Geng deploys his two corpses, and the others join the fight.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and allegiance: Access to secret teachings comes with a test of trust and commitment.
• Unease about reality: Chen Miao’s sense that Ma may not be entirely “real” raises questions about the Blood Gate World and its inhabitants.
• Secrecy and power: The Divine Lord’s identity and the Blood Pupil’s capabilities must be kept hidden as Chen Miao weighs extending his influence.
• A sudden shift from preparation to danger: The chapter ends on an abrupt attack, leaving the group’s mission unresolved.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Xi and Ye Jiangfan coordinate against the zombies: Ye uses Spirit-Sealing Talismans to pin targets down, while Shen strikes with Yin Darts made from old jujube wood. The darts force corpse qi out of a zombie, allowing it to burn away, then return to Shen.
• A specially modified Leaping Hopping Corpse proves much faster and smarter than ordinary ones, using zombies as shields and corpse qi to deflect attacks. Ye helps Shen redirect a Yin Dart mid-flight, bringing the creature down.
• Ye warns that redirecting a dart takes considerable effort. He suggests using ordinary darts as decoys and striking two special zombies together, so their allies need not expose themselves.
• Across the Shi Residence, the defenders are struggling: Shi Geng’s two slower Leaping Hopping Corpses are being battered; Li Dali is badly wounded; Daoist Green Pine’s unusual horsetail whisk is effective against a corpse; and Ma Tusheng uses bound zombies and a talisman to contain another.
• Shen and Ye join Shi Geng. Together, they drive two special corpses into a trap using darts, talismans, and pursuit from Shi Geng’s zombies.
• A strange whistle triggers one special corpse to explode in a burst of corpse qi, scattering the attackers and propelling the other corpse toward Shen. It strikes her down, and the chapter ends with it bearing down on her.

Character developments

• Shen demonstrates quick thinking and confidence in combat, adapting her tactics and coordinating effectively with Ye. Her skill with the Yin Darts becomes central to the fight.
• Ye shows how carefully he applies the limits of his object-control ability, using talismans for speed and precision, and warns Shen when a more taxing maneuver is involved.
• Daoist Green Pine’s combat ability—and his yin-cultivation whisk—raise questions about his capabilities, since Ma Tusheng had said he had not achieved entering yin.
• Li Dali is shown to be outmatched by the stronger corpses, while Ma Tusheng and Shi Geng continue fighting despite the danger.

Significant themes

• Cooperation and complementary abilities: Shen’s fast darts, Ye’s controlled talismans, and Shi Geng’s pursuing corpses work best in combination.
• Adaptation against intelligent enemies: The special corpses exploit shields, feints, and coordinated movement, forcing the defenders to change tactics.
• The cost and limits of power: Ye’s redirection consumes significant energy, while even effective weapons and strong fighters face risks.

Character interactions

• Shen and Ye work closely, combining their abilities and exchanging tactical advice.
• Shen steps in to support Shi Geng, who responds by driving his corpses forward to help corner the special zombies.
• The defenders’ simultaneous struggles—particularly Li Dali’s near defeat and Ma Tusheng’s risky containment—show the pressure on the whole group as the battle turns against Shen.

Plot points and events

• Three special Leaping Hopping Corpses converge on Shen Xi, breaking through Ma Tusheng’s blood-mist defense with corpse qi.
• Five more special corpses appear, each carrying a bloodied member of Shi Geng’s family. Their arrival reveals the enemy’s overwhelming numbers and Shi Geng’s personal loss.
• Golden light protects Shen Xi after the corpse qi dissolves the mist. Ma Tusheng recognizes the light as the Divine Lord’s protection, likely activated by joss paper Shen Xi had given him.
• Shen Xi emerges from the light and, with help from Ye Jiangfan and Daoist Green Pine, subdues the first three corpses. The group then faces the remaining five, but Daoist Green Pine flees, leaving fewer fighters.
• Shi Geng prepares to die rather than flee. Two blood-patterned figures and the golden-lit Shen Xi, Ye Jiangfan, and Ma Tusheng intervene. They kill all five remaining corpses.
• One figure returns carrying the enemy disciple, badly injured. Shi Geng recognizes and kills him, avenging his family. He thanks the survivors.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Xi proves resilient and powerful, using the Divine Lord’s protection to turn a near-fatal attack into a counterattack. He urges the others to act rather than gape in surprise.
• Ma Tusheng risks himself to protect Shen Xi with blood mist, then recognizes the divine protection and joins the final battle.
• Ye Jiangfan helps coordinate the fight and supports Shen Xi, though he initially considers summoning reinforcements.
• Daoist Green Pine abandons the group at a critical moment, reducing their numbers and exposing his self-preserving nature.
• Shi Geng moves from despair over his murdered family to resolve, grief, and finally relief after killing his treacherous disciple.
• Li Dali is killed during the assault, underscoring the cost of the battle.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and betrayal: Shen Xi’s allies risk themselves for one another, while Shi Geng’s disciple betrays him and Daoist Green Pine chooses flight.
• Protection and faith: The golden light, linked to the Divine Lord and joss paper, saves Shen Xi when ordinary defenses fail.
• Vengeance and grief: Shi Geng’s revenge brings relief but cannot undo the loss of his family.
• Courage under pressure: The fighters recover from apparent defeat and rally despite dwindling numbers.

Plot points and events

• After the group defeats the zombie horde, they burn the remains. Shi Geng handles his family’s bodies himself and refuses to burn the treacherous disciple he strangled.
• Ye Jiangfan asks Shen Xi about her golden-light ability. She explains it comes from an inheritance controlled by the Five Prisons Common-Faced Deity, not by her.
• Shen Xi warns the Blood Gate Apostles that receiving the inheritance is their choice. After burning joss paper before the deity’s memorial tablet, she produces three blood-red eyeballs, each containing the inheritance.
• Ye Jiangfan decides to take the risk: with his fifth mission approaching and little confidence of surviving it, he swallows one. He then sees the deity—a gray-robed figure seated in midair, with a featureless face bearing the character “common.”

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Xi remains calm and self-assured, making clear that neither threats nor capture would let the authorities obtain the inheritance from her; the deity alone decides who receives it. She challenges the others to accept the risk themselves.
• Ye Jiangfan moves from questioning Shen Xi and warning her about the authorities to choosing the inheritance, driven by the danger of his upcoming mission. His willingness to gamble reveals his desperation and pragmatism.
• Luo Sheng is wary of the mysterious power and worries that Shen Xi’s patron might be an evil cultivator, despite recognizing that she has repeatedly saved the group.
• Ma Tusheng has already received the inheritance from Shen Xi, while the other Apostles observe the ritual with suspicion.

Significant themes

• Power and authority: Shen Xi’s power lies beyond the authorities’ control, and she insists that the deity—not she—determines access to it.
• Faith and risk: The inheritance requires an act of trust with an unknown cost; Ye Jiangfan accepts it because the prospect of certain danger is worse.
• Survival and moral uncertainty: The Apostles must weigh a potentially life-saving gift against fear that its source may be sinister.