Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao emerges from the Ghost-God Statue after a dangerous encounter, relieved that Instructor Wen and the old man seem unaware of what happened. He suspects the statue reacted to the fragment of Divinity inside him.
• Far away in Great Xia’s imperial household, a guardian senses a faint fluctuation from a matching Ghost-God Statue, reports it, and is ordered to continue standing guard.
• Instructor Wen tells the recruits to spend the next week learning their Ghost Body Manifestations before beginning bureau duties, warning that recruits have died by entering missions unprepared.
• Kong Yue gathers Chen Miao and Li Zhou to explain her manifestation, Three-Origin Yin Attendants: three noncombatant spirits that can possess people, Paper Offerings, or puppets, strengthening the abilities of whoever or whatever they inhabit.
• Kong Yue reveals that recruits compete during their first three months. The Banner Commander will assess them, and the top three squads will receive extra merit, which can be exchanged for rewards such as Ghost Body Manifestations.
• Their squad must compete against eleven others, many of whom have more experience with their abilities. Kong Yue urges the group to work together and strive for recognition.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao hides his anxiety about the statue and reflects on the risks of drawing attention to his Divinity. He notices that Kong Yue’s manifestation is unusually high-grade for her rank, suggesting influential backing, but also recognizes its value to the team. He agrees to cooperate while remaining more cautious than Kong Yue, since he believes he can start over if necessary.
• Kong Yue shows openness by explaining her abilities and sharing information about the competition. Her ambition is driven by her family’s disregard for her and her father; she hopes success in the bureau will earn the Kong Family’s respect.
• Li Zhou, initially low-spirited, becomes more motivated when he hears about the merit rewards. His own circumstances resemble Kong Yue’s, and he responds earnestly to her appeal.
• Kong Yue’s teamwork-focused ability and her efforts to bring Chen Miao and Li Zhou together establish the beginnings of a cooperative squad.

Significant themes

• Secrecy and danger: Chen Miao must conceal his connection to the statue and the Divinity within him.
• Ambition and recognition: Kong Yue and Li Zhou see bureau success as a way to change how others regard them.
• Teamwork versus individual advancement: Kong Yue prioritizes a manifestation that strengthens allies, and she argues that cooperation is essential to winning.
• Caution versus resolve: Kong Yue is determined to give everything for success, while Chen Miao supports the goal but keeps his own survival and options in mind.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao and Li Zhou spend several days training with Kong Yue, practicing their Ghost Body Manifestations and learning to coordinate in combat.
• Chen Miao discovers that Origin Binding strengthens even ordinary bamboo splints, raising their performance to roughly that of hundred-year splints. Its greatest benefit is improving weaker materials, rather than multiplying the strength of already powerful ones.
• The group learns that every Ghost Body Manifestation offers basic protection and a general boost to its user, sustained by the user’s soul power.
• Kong Yue’s Three-Origin Yin Attendants further enhance Ghost Body Manifestations, physical ability, and paper effigies. Their enhancement is especially useful to Li Zhou, whose Wind-Chasing manifestation makes him faster still.
• When the attendants inhabit Kong Yue’s paper effigies, the effigies gain a degree of independent awareness. They follow instructions precisely, coordinate more effectively, and reduce the effort required to control them.
• In training, Chen Miao and Li Zhou cannot get past the three enhanced effigies. By the seventh day, however, they learn to move and attack alongside them, using them as protective, coordinated support. This roughly doubles their combat effectiveness.
• On the final day, Kong Yue prepares another surprise, though the chapter ends before revealing it.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao becomes more skilled at combining his Ghost Body Manifestation with effigy control. He recognizes that his own powerful abilities make the attendants’ physical and reaction boosts less valuable to him, while remaining cautious about revealing his true strength to the Bureau.
• Li Zhou benefits more directly from the attendants’ enhancement. Seeing how formidable their effigies are, he lets go of his desire for an offensive Ghost Body Manifestation and learns to fight in tandem with them.
• Kong Yue demonstrates the strength of her paper-effigy technique and trains the others in coordinated combat. Her attendants extend her control rather than replacing it, allowing her to direct more effigies with less mental strain.
• Chen Miao initially resists being possessed by an attendant, but accepts the training and observes how the attendants improve each member of the group in different ways.

Significant themes

• Teamwork and complementary strengths: The attendants are most valuable when paired with the person or technique they best support.
• Adaptability over brute force: Chen Miao’s Origin Binding makes ordinary materials viable, while the group’s formation turns defense and distraction into openings for attack.
• Control and autonomy: Kong Yue’s effigies shift from instruments she must micromanage to semi-independent allies that can execute commands.
• Concealed power and restraint: Chen Miao deliberately limits his abilities to avoid drawing attention, shaping how he approaches training.

Plot points and events

• Kong Yue gives Chen Miao ten rare splints of hundred-year blood bamboo to strengthen his Mystic Arts. Chen Miao accepts after initially refusing on the grounds that the gift is too valuable.
• Kong Yue gives Li Zhou a finely made Wild Goose Feather Saber containing yin iron, allowing it to harm ghosts and evil spirits.
• Instructor Wen introduces Ren You, a relatively young member of the Records Department, as the recruits’ new instructor. Ren You is to explain their duties and the prefectural city of Cangzhou.
• When Wang Tingsong dismisses the planned briefing, Ren You challenges him with detailed questions about Cangzhou’s ghost markets, towns, shrines, and burial mountains. Unable to answer, Wang admits he needs the explanation.
• Ren You delivers a four-hour briefing that gives Chen Miao a broad understanding of the city’s occupations and how they connect to the Demon-Suppressing Bureau.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao remains composed when offered the blood bamboo, though his calmness is partly accidental: he does not know what it is for. He listens attentively to Ren You’s briefing and is impressed by the Bureau’s reach, before reminding himself that he is a demon from beyond this realm and should not rely on it.
• Kong Yue shows care and investment in both recruits through her gifts. She trusts Chen Miao’s restrained attitude, while privately judging Li Zhou as less dependable—even as she recognizes that she currently has to rely on him.
• Li Zhou is delighted by the saber and eagerly promises to prove himself, but his focus on the weapon rather than Kong Yue reinforces her doubts about his attitude.
• Ren You proves practical and confident: instead of arguing with Wang Tingsong, he uses pointed questions to demonstrate why the briefing matters. Chen Miao finds him likable.
• Wang Tingsong begins dismissively but acknowledges his ignorance when Ren You exposes gaps in his knowledge.

Significant themes

• Attitude versus ability: Kong Yue values Chen Miao’s composure, while Li Zhou’s eagerness and Wang Tingsong’s overconfidence invite comparison.
• Knowledge as protection: Ren You’s briefing shows that effective service requires detailed familiarity with local dangers and institutions, not just confidence.
• Trust and divided loyalties: Chen Miao recognizes the Bureau’s usefulness but remains wary of depending on an organization that serves a world to which he does not truly belong.

Key events

• Ren You explains the Demon-Suppressing Bureau’s power and the duties of its guards. As he speaks, Chen Miao and several other family scions feel an unexpected surge of admiration and loyalty toward the bureau.
• Chen Miao activates [Clearheart] and realizes Ren You is likely using an invisible mystic art. Later, Bureau officials explain that Ren You’s innate gift subtly plants a seed of goodwill toward the bureau, which grows stronger over time. It may be less effective against people with stronger willpower or soul power.
• Chen Wei is the only person Chen Miao notices remaining unaffected. Chen Miao suspects he may have a protective item or a mental-defense ability like [Clearheart].
• Back in his room, Chen Miao decides to upgrade [Good and Evil Perception] so he can better detect hidden influence and use [Clearheart] only when needed. He spends eight jin of yin virtue and most of his remaining Memory Fragments.
• The upgrade produces [Heart Illumination], a third-tier status that can sense good and evil, perceive thoughts, and expose the true intentions of those who watch or spy on him for a long time.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao becomes more cautious about Ren You’s influence, then makes a calculated investment in his own defenses and perception.
• Ren You is revealed as a strategic asset: his gift can gradually redirect family scions’ loyalties from their clans to the Demon-Suppressing Bureau.
• Chen Wei stands out as seemingly immune to Ren You’s influence, though Chen Miao does not know why.
• Instructor Wen and his companion approve of Ren You’s talent, seeing it as a way to reduce the influence of powerful families and stabilize the bureau over the coming decade.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and institutional power: The bureau seeks to cultivate allegiance beyond family ties, but does so through subtle supernatural influence.
• Free will and manipulation: Ren You’s ability changes people’s feelings without their awareness, raising questions about whether their devotion is truly their own.
• Caution and self-investment: Chen Miao weighs the risks of spending scarce resources against the potential gains of strengthening his abilities.

• Plot and events: On the eighth morning, Chen Miao is woken for another Demon-Suppressing Bureau check. The Notebook has warned him that similar surprise inspections will happen during his service, so he believes he can prepare for them. He equips himself with ordinary bamboo splints and the blood-bamboo splints Kong Yue gave him. Blood bamboo is especially valuable: it can poison and immobilize living targets and damage ghosts, and Chen realizes Kong’s gift represents five taels of yin virtue.
• Assignments begin: The group’s guides summon Feng Xiuyuan and two others to the Prison Suppression Department. Feng parts from the others warmly, and even the normally aloof Chen Wei returns his salute, softening the group’s impression of him. The remaining seven are escorted to the Demon Suppression Department, where they encounter many Bureau-trained guards. Most pay them little attention until they enter an assignment hall, where dozens regard them as rivals.
• Character developments and interactions: Chen is grateful for Kong Yue’s generosity and hopes to cooperate well with him—while privately wishing for more gifts. He also tests his newly improved Heart Illumination, finding that it detects resentment and competitive feelings, not only outright malice. Among the Bureau guards, he senses mild hostility toward the newcomers. Fire-Banner Commander Han Yu, seated at the front, seems merely bored and indifferent; Chen suspects Han’s superior strength limits how long his thoughts can be sensed. Han’s voice also reinforces Chen’s belief that he has a sound-based Mystic Art enhanced by his Ghost Body Manifestation.
• Themes: The chapter highlights preparation and the value of foreknowledge, the importance of rare resources and patronage, and factional rivalry within the Bureau. The newcomers’ arrival is treated as a competition between clan-backed recruits and guards trained by the institution itself.

Plot points and events

• Kong Yue, Chen Yang, and Li Zhou are assigned to patrol the Star Ruins Ghost Market. They receive patrol tokens and a rulebook; Kong Yue’s token also bears a banner, marking her higher status.
• The Cangzhou Bureau has three ghost markets—Star Ruins, the Mist Market, and Stranger’s Ward. Most aristocratic-family recruits are split among them, apparently to prevent them from joining forces. Chen Wei is given a management role at Stranger’s Ward.
• Commander Han Yu warns the recruits that Bureau work is dangerous and urges them to keep improving their strength.
• Wang Tingsong tells Kong Yue not to disgrace the aristocratic families. She counters that he should not face her again if he fails to become a Junior Banner Officer within three months.
• Kong Yue explains Star Ruins’ rules to Chen Miao and Li Zhou. Chen Miao’s main concern is whether patrol guards may kill resisting yin cultivators; Kong Yue says they can, though they should weigh the risks.
• That evening, the trio travels to Star Ruins. At the riverside entrance, Kong Yue activates her token, summoning a black-awning boat from beneath a bridge. Chen Miao senses that a water ghost is carrying it.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao is practical, curious, and eager to earn yin virtue; his cheerful interest in the chance to kill eligible opponents unnerves Li Zhou. On the way to the market, he remains relaxed and observant.
• Kong Yue takes charge, shares what she knows, and increasingly sees Chen Miao as a more promising ally than Li Zhou. Though she cannot entirely disregard Li Zhou’s family ties, she plans to adjust her priorities.
• Li Zhou is nervous about his assignment and initially steps forward before Kong Yue, but Chen Miao stops him from violating protocol.
• Wang Tingsong challenges Kong Yue’s standing; she responds with a pointed test of his future prospects.
• The Bureau’s guards look down on the aristocratic recruits as they leave, while Chen Wei’s privileged departure with senior officials draws particular notice.

Significant themes

• Hierarchy and political maneuvering: Assignments, tokens, and protocol reinforce status, while the Bureau’s distribution of recruits appears designed to prevent aristocratic unity.
• Pragmatism and survival: Han Yu stresses that strength is essential, and Kong Yue warns that even authorized force must be weighed against personal risk.
• Ambition and loyalty: Kong Yue reconsiders whom to support, balancing family obligations against her judgment of competence.
• The supernatural made operational: The ghost market is governed by rules and access controls, yet its eerie entrance—a boat carried by a water ghost—shows the danger and strangeness beneath ordinary Bureau work.

Plot points and events

• Chen Miao travels with Kong Yue by covered boat to Star Ruins, entering the ghost market through a concealed route beneath a bridge and descending into an underground cavern.
• On the way, Kong Yue explains how Cangzhou’s ghost markets operate: the Demon-Suppressing Bureau maintains patrols mainly to settle disputes among vendors, while stalls attract powerful yin cultivators and valuable resources. The Bureau also posts bounties there. Kong Yue hints that the markets have additional, secret purposes known only to senior officials.
• Chen Miao uses the first tier of Qi-Gazing and sees traces of qi in the darkness, likely from the market’s feng shui formation.
• The group emerges into a vast, illuminated cavern crisscrossed by walkways, with elevated houses, streams, and platforms for stalls. The market is still quiet early in the night.
• Wearing their official-looking clothes, the visitors draw wary attention from stallholders. Chen Miao senses several unfriendly stares but keeps Heart Illumination active.
• After walking deep into the market, the group reaches a large, three-story building embedded in the cavern ceiling.

Character developments

• Chen Miao admits he has never visited Star Ruins because he lacked the means, revealing his limited prior access to this world.
• His curiosity and wonder at the cavern show his fascination with the hidden environment, while his awareness of hostile attention suggests he is beginning to consider how his abilities might help in patrol work.
• Kong Yue appears knowledgeable about the market’s organization but acknowledges that important aspects remain beyond her access.

Significant themes

• Order within danger: The ghost market is governed not only by the threat of the Demon-Suppressing Bureau but by patrols that manage disputes and maintain workable relations.
• Pragmatism and mutual benefit: Stalls are allowed because they attract powerful cultivators and valuable goods, serving the Bureau’s interests.
• Hidden knowledge: The market’s deeper purpose is concealed even from many officials.
• Wonder and unease: The cavern’s beauty and scale contrast with the suspicious, potentially hostile atmosphere of its inhabitants.

Character interactions

• Kong Yue guides Chen Miao through the hidden entrance and explains the market’s rules and purpose.
• Chen Miao questions why the Bureau permits stalls and why patrols are needed; Kong Yue answers with both a joking threat of hefty compensation and a more serious explanation.
• The stallholders watch the group cautiously, and Chen Miao’s awareness of their thoughts makes him uncomfortable.

Key plot points and events

• Kong Yue reports herself, Chen Miao, and Li Zhou to the Star Ruins Ghost Market’s administration office. Their squad is assigned to patrol Gui District from before nightfall until dawn, working three days on and one day off. Their quarters are in the district, and they must provide their own food.
• The three head to Gui District, where Kong Yue tells them to explore separately and meet afterward to discuss their duties.
• Chen Miao surveys the area: Gui District has eighteen shops and space for 150 stalls, but few visitors come through because the district has no entrance of its own. He sees only four people during his exploration, and two are shop assistants.
• He checks the shops, which sell goods for yin cultivation, including talismans, materials, Mystic Arts, artifacts, and ghosts. Several shops remain closed, and many displayed materials are decades old.
• At the patrol quarters, Chen Miao finds Kong Yue and Li Zhou drinking Cloud Dew Tea. Kong Yue explains that the tea eases physical fatigue and restores some soul power, and suggests Chen Miao take some for his room.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao approaches his new post with curiosity, carefully studying the district and its businesses. He quickly notices that Gui District’s layout makes it unlikely to attract many stallholders or customers.
• Kong Yue takes charge of the squad, handles the initial reporting, assigns the others to explore, and gathers useful information—including tea from a local shop.
• Li Zhou accompanies the others and is waiting with Kong Yue when Chen Miao returns; his role in the chapter is largely observational.
• The administrative clerk, Xu Feng, deals with the squad tersely and formally. Kong Yue remains courteous, thanking him before leading the group away.
• Kong Yue’s offer of tea hints at a practical, cooperative approach to building relationships with local businesses.

Significant themes

• Learning a new environment: The squad’s first task is to observe and understand the market before deciding how to act.
• Practical economics and geography: Chen Miao links Gui District’s poor access to its low foot traffic and questions whether its many stall spaces can be profitable.
• Routine alongside the uncanny: Despite the supernatural setting, the chapter emphasizes ordinary concerns—work shifts, lodging, fatigue, goods, and local commerce.

Key events

• Kong Yue explains Gui District’s layout and its role in the Star Ruins Ghost Market. The Kong Family, Wang Family, and Feng Family have agreed to keep their businesses in separate districts, with the Demon-Suppressing Bureau’s approval.
• Because Gui District is less naturally busy, the market’s management places distinctive businesses there to draw customers: the Kong Paper Effigy Shop, Li’s Tea Shop, and Fang Family Yin Dart Escort. Their specialized goods and services attract different customers and help keep the district from becoming deserted.
• Kong Yue explains that some shops operate under signs that don’t reflect what they really sell. Chen Miao understands that he and Li Zhou should overlook such activity if the shops obey the rules.
• Kong Yue warns them that cave crevices along Gui District’s outskirts provide hidden routes into the market. Criminal yin cultivators sometimes sneak in with help from guides known as “rats.” Chen Miao and Li Zhou should report suspected stowaways to her or the Ghost Market Administration Office rather than raise an alarm.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao quickly grasps the market’s commercial logic and the implied instruction to turn a blind eye to certain shops. He accepts the tea tin without asking awkward questions.
• Li Zhou refills Kong Yue’s tea, then reluctantly pours Chen Miao a cup after Chen passes him his own empty one. He later accepts his tea tin enthusiastically, prompting Kong Yue to sigh at his lack of subtlety.
• Kong Yue acts as an experienced guide, explaining the district’s business arrangements and giving the two men practical instructions for their duties.

Significant themes

• Order through compromise: The market balances competition and foot traffic through agreements among powerful families and carefully distributed businesses.
• Pragmatism and discretion: Officials are expected to enforce rules selectively, tolerating harmless irregularities while reporting serious threats through proper channels.
• Security and hidden access: The cave network exposes limits in the market’s protective formation, making vigilance and trusted informants essential.

Key plot points and events

• Kong Yue explains that “rats” are specialists who exploit weaknesses in feng shui formations to smuggle yin cultivators into the Ghost Market. Finding and opening a passage can take years, making it impractical for the Demon-Suppressing Bureau to locate and seal every route.
• Patrol officers can use modified tokens to test suspicious people, but frequent checks drain yin energy and soul power. They must use judgment and preserve their strength.
• Kong Yue says an organization operates the rats, whose abilities vary; one reportedly opened a passage into the Great Xia Imperial Palace, though an expert killed him immediately. The Bureau’s attempts to pose as clients and catch the rats have failed.
• As the Ghost Market grows busier, Kong Yue lays out Gui District’s patrol schedule: hourly group patrols, half-hour shifts for Li Zhou and Chen Yang, and immediate reporting or calls for backup when trouble exceeds their ability. Someone must always be visibly patrolling while on duty.
• Chen Miao secures his room, stores his tea, and checks his Notebook. His recorded time of death remains unchanged.
• The trio patrols Gui District as curious stallholders watch them. Kong Yue is confident in her strength and available backup; Chen Miao relies on his heart illumination to avoid exposing his hidden identity.

Character developments and interactions

• Kong Yue moves from explaining the work to firmly directing her team. Her confidence comes from her Netherworld Realm strength, the Three-Origin Yin Attendants, her companions, and the Kong Paper Effigy Shop as backup.
• Chen Miao asks practical questions about the rats, showing curiosity and caution. He accepts Kong Yue’s instructions and intends to pursue yin virtue only when it is safe to do so.
• Li Zhou misunderstands the limits of token checks, then sheepishly retreats behind his tea when Kong Yue explains the cost.
• Kong Yue, Chen Miao, and Li Zhou respond in unison to her orders, establishing a cooperative patrol team, though Li Zhou is less composed than the others.

Significant themes

• Vigilance balanced with restraint: Patrol officers must stay alert without wasting the strength they may need in a real confrontation.
• Hidden threats and imperfect control: The Bureau cannot fully seal the Ghost Market’s routes or easily capture the rats, so it must rely on observation and response.
• Prudence and self-preservation: Chen Miao’s strategy is to avoid dangerous situations and protect his cover, while Kong Yue’s confidence rests on layered support rather than strength alone.

Plot points and events

• During three days of night patrols at the ghost market, Chen Miao finds that his presence prevents disputes from escalating: vendors and customers scatter as soon as a patrol guard approaches. Li Zhou, by contrast, grows noticeably more confident from the job.
• On their first day off, Chen declines Kong Yue’s invitation to go sightseeing, saying he needs to buy offerings and visit his father’s grave. Kong Yue explains that the market’s “day off” lasts two days and one night, provided Chen returns before it reopens.
• Chen buys joss paper from a Kong-family shop and notices that its layout matches the shop in Qingjiang Town. He pays with silver obtained through the Notebook rather than borrowing from Kong Yue.
• Outside the city, Chen reflects on Ren You’s explanation of Cangzhou’s grand feng shui formation. Its nodes are scattered among towns and villages, continually rearranging themselves whenever conditions change. Destroying the formation would require destroying every town, an almost impossible task.
• The formation protects the surrounding settlements from outside ghosts, but its shifting nodes also cause ghosts to arise within them. The Demon-Suppressing Bureau must handle these outbreaks, and casualties are largely accepted as the cost of the towns’ protection.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao remains cautious and self-reliant. He avoids relying on Kong Yue for money, keeps his personal errand private, and uses his time off to visit his father’s grave.
• Li Zhou becomes bolder and more self-assured through the status of being a patrol guard.
• Kong Yue offers Chen practical help and makes no attempt to intrude on his family visit, recognizing that they are not yet close.
• Chen and Kong Yue part amicably, while Chen’s discovery of the Kong shop’s familiar design revives his suspicion of the family’s operations.

Significant themes

• Protection comes at a cost: The formation keeps outside threats away but creates dangers within the protected towns, with casualties treated as an accepted burden.
• Power and deterrence: The ghost-market patrol shows how authority alone can prevent conflict.
• Caution and concealment: Chen’s spending choices and reluctance to depend on others reflect his precarious position as a fugitive.
• A seemingly invulnerable system: The formation’s constant adaptation makes it nearly impossible to defeat, even for someone who understands how it works.

Chapter summary

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao travels to Green Mountain Cemetery. A local man, Fu Yun, offers him a carriage ride and tries—awkwardly—to build a connection with him because he is a Demon-Suppressing Guard.
• Before they part, Chen Miao tells Fu Yun he can be reached through the Kong residence. Fu Yun learns Chen has no settled lodging and decides to use his connections to arrange him a place to stay.
• At the cemetery entrance, Chen Miao discovers visitors must pay to enter. The Grave Keeper recognizes him as a new Demon-Suppressing Guard and says guards can enter without paying, but Chen has already joined the queue.
• Chen does not know where his “father’s” grave is, so a mountain guard dog leads him to it. He makes offerings and waits for several hours, staying an extra half hour after sensing that the attention following him in the city has vanished.
• The next evening, Chen resumes patrol duty at the Star Ruins Ghost Market. He rummages through a stall’s goods, then confronts a neighboring stallholder with, “What are you looking at?”

Character developments

• Chen Miao is increasingly aware of the status his uniform gives him, and lightly amused that people now seek his favor. He remains observant and composed, using [Heart Illumination] to read Fu Yun’s concealed urgency.
• His visit to the grave reveals a more reflective side: he spends hours there and is relieved when the unseen attention on him finally disappears.
• Fu Yun is eager to make connections with a Demon-Suppressing Guard but is too hesitant to ask directly for help. Once Chen gives him a possible way to make contact, Fu Yun eagerly plans to help secure him lodging.
• The Grave Keeper treats Chen as a recognized member of the Demon-Suppressing Guard, while the other cemetery visitors are intimidated by his presence.

Significant themes

• Status and influence: Chen’s uniform changes how ordinary people behave around him, even when he sees himself as an ordinary guard.
• Social maneuvering: Fu Yun tries to gain access to Chen through hospitality and connections, while Chen recognizes the effort without openly encouraging or rejecting it.
• Mortality and remembrance: Chen’s lengthy visit to his “father’s” grave offers a quiet pause amid his duties and the chapter’s supernatural setting.
• Unease beneath ordinary life: Chen senses that someone has been watching him, and his careful wait suggests that danger or scrutiny remains close.

Character interactions

• Fu Yun hosts Chen during the carriage ride and struggles to make his request; Chen offers a channel for future contact, prompting Fu Yun to arrange lodging.
• Cemetery visitors defer to Chen, and the Grave Keeper waives the usual expectation that he pay as a Demon-Suppressing Guard.
• At the ghost market, Chen’s blunt challenge to the neighboring stallholder ends the chapter on a confrontational note.

Key plot points and events

• Zhang Shan waits at his Ghost Market stall, hoping to complete a specific trade while avoiding trouble. He has laid out valuable goods as cover for the real item he intends to sell.
• Patrolman Chen Miao confronts Zhang for looking at him, then handles Zhang’s wares despite Zhang’s objection.
• Chen selects a wooden carving. Zhang quotes an extravagant price—50,000 taels—expecting to drive him away. Chen agrees, then also accepts Zhang’s escalating demands for a piece of hundred-year-old yinwood, carved to match the carving.
• Chen proposes completing the deal at his home, but Zhang invokes the Ghost Market rule that payment must be settled on the spot. Hoping to escape, he insists Chen put the carving down and leave to fetch the money.
• Chen returns the carving, but blood-red, snake-like creatures suddenly bind Zhang’s limbs and pierce his calves. Zhang assumes Chen is resorting to robbery.
• Three pale figures arrive, announce that this is Ghost Market patrol business, and order bystanders to stand back.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Shan tries to stay cautious and deferential, but frustration and alarm repeatedly overcome him. He improvises increasingly elaborate conditions to prevent Chen from buying the carving, then tries to use market rules to escape.
• Chen Miao is provocative and seemingly amused by Zhang’s resistance. He calmly accepts every condition, making Zhang’s attempts to deter him ineffective. His sudden use of the snake-like creatures shifts the encounter from bargaining to apparent force.
• Nearby stallholders watch the exchange, initially disapproving of Zhang’s inflated price but becoming intrigued by Chen’s willingness to pay. Their reactions help pressure Zhang into accepting the deal.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Zhang is on unfamiliar ground and has little control, while Chen’s position as a patrolman gives him authority—and potentially the means to use force.
• Rules versus power: Zhang appeals to Ghost Market trading rules as protection, but the sudden attack suggests rules may not guarantee safety.
• Deception and misdirection: Zhang’s display conceals his real purpose, while his outrageous price and added demands are attempts to disguise his desire to avoid selling.
• Comic escalation: Zhang’s increasingly desperate bargaining contrasts with Chen’s unruffled agreement, until the absurd negotiation turns abruptly threatening.

Plot and key events

• Chen Miao’s staged confrontation at Zhang Shan’s stall turns out to be a trap. The three Paper Offerings land on Zhang Shan, while the surrounding market-goers flee the platform.
• Zhang Shan realizes Chen Miao targeted him because he looked at him—an answer that leaves him furious and confused.
• Zhang Shan breaks free of some restraints using ghostly soul power and a talisman. Chen Miao counters with Origin Binding, while Kong Yue’s paper birds neutralize Zhang Shan’s summoned apparitions.
• The Paper Offerings pin Zhang Shan down and drain his yin energy, disrupting his ability to use soul power. When his talisman fades, the blood bamboo splints cripple him. Li Zhou then kills him with a single saber strike.
• Kong Yue orders Li Zhou to remove the body. Chen Miao recognizes that Kong Yue is frustrated: Zhang Shan may have been an illegal entrant, but Li Zhou killed him before they could question him. Since the market’s onlookers are watching, Kong Yue lets Li Zhou’s fearsome reputation stand rather than publicly reprimanding him.
• The stallholders soon resume business. Kong Yue tells Chen Miao to bring Li Zhou to his room when he returns, and allows Chen Miao to keep the wooden carving. Chen Miao resumes patrolling and checks the Notebook, which records three taels of yin virtue, a memory fragment, and two techniques obtained from Zhang Shan.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao demonstrates that he can use Heart Illumination to detect hostile intent and set a careful trap. He welcomes the attention his actions attract, since others’ thoughts may help him spot future threats. He also wonders whether he should personally kill targets to earn more yin virtue.
• Zhang Shan is exposed as a dangerous yin cultivator. His surprise at Chen Miao’s method gives way to rage, but he is ultimately overwhelmed and killed.
• Kong Yue shows tactical control through the Paper Offerings and paper birds. He is also attentive to authority and appearances, handling Li Zhou’s premature killing indirectly rather than scolding him in public.
• Li Zhou acts decisively, killing Zhang Shan before questioning him. Kong Yue’s cold order makes clear he is displeased, though Li Zhou complies.
• Chen Miao and Kong Yue coordinate the capture, while Chen Miao understands the political reason behind Kong Yue’s reaction. The market crowd, initially alarmed, quickly returns to business.

Significant themes

• Observation and exposure: Zhang Shan is identified simply because he looked at Chen Miao, turning an ordinary glance into a fatal clue.
• Control and restraint: The team combines binding, energy-draining, and disruption to overcome Zhang Shan rather than relying on a direct contest of strength.
• Power and public image: Kong Yue lets Li Zhou’s violent reputation intimidate the market, showing how authority can depend on appearances.
• Pragmatism: The stallholders ignore the blood and resume trading, while Chen Miao treats the killing as an opportunity to learn and prepare for future threats.

Plot points and events

• In Kong Yue’s room, she reprimands Li Zhou for killing a Yin Cultivation practitioner who posed no real threat. She warns that if he wants to fight dangerous opponents, he can be sent to the Demon-Suppressing Guards’ front-line hunts. Li Zhou, frightened by the prospect, apologizes.
• Kong Yue asks Chen Miao how he identified Zhang Shan as a suspicious intruder. Chen Miao says he can sometimes sense people’s malice toward him, and that Zhang Shan’s hostility, behavior, and unusual selling convinced him something was wrong. He had tried to lure Zhang Shan to Kong Yue for a check, but Zhang Shan’s growing hostility prompted Chen Miao to act.
• Kong Yue approves of Chen Miao using the ability cautiously during patrols. She asks him to report suspicious people so she can verify his impressions, but advises him not to intervene in other districts, where a mistaken suspicion could create trouble.
• Chen Miao leaves Gui District and considers how to bring suspicious people from other districts into his own, where his team can act. In Ren District, he tells veteran patrol officer Xiong Yi that he helped expose Zhang Shan, then quietly points him toward a four-person platform where he might find another suspicious group.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Zhou is chastened by Kong Yue’s warning and accepts that his reckless attack could have put him in danger.
• Chen Miao reveals his uncertain but useful ability, showing both caution about making false accusations and growing initiative in applying his talent. He begins thinking strategically about how to help his district beyond his assigned patrol.
• Kong Yue demonstrates trust in Chen Miao while setting practical limits: she will investigate his reports, but wants him to avoid taking risks or meddling in other districts.
• Xiong Yi is initially skeptical of Chen Miao’s claim, but Chen Miao’s discreet hint leaves him intrigued.

Significant themes

• Caution and responsibility: A useful instinct must be checked before it is acted upon, especially when errors can endanger people.
• Trust and teamwork: Chen Miao’s observations are most effective when paired with Kong Yue’s authority and verification.
• Initiative within limits: Chen Miao looks for ways to protect the Ghost Market, while the chapter highlights the risks of acting beyond one’s jurisdiction.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao notices three men on a stall platform in Ren District and alerts veteran patrolman Xiong Yi that something is wrong.
• Xiong Yi initially doubts him, but checks the men’s Entry Tokens discreetly and discovers that two lack tokens. He summons Junior Banner Officer Zhao Ge for assistance.
• When Zhao confronts the men, all three flee. The guards capture them after a brief chase.
• Returning from Yi District, Chen Miao is invited to meet Zhao and Xiong. They explain that the men had shared a single Entry Token, passing it between them to exploit gaps in the patrol checks.
• Because the trio were caught and the loophole exposed, Chen Miao, Xiong, and Zhao each receive one minor merit.
• Zhao asks Chen whether he has a special ability; Chen admits he has “a little skill.”

Character developments

• Chen Miao (using the name Chen Yang): Shows sharp observation and sound judgment, earning the trust and respect of Ren District’s guards. He is careful not to boast about his ability, while recognizing that Zhao’s question may lead to a new opportunity.
• Xiong Yi: Moves from skepticism to gratitude after Chen’s warning proves correct. His caution helps ensure the suspects are captured.
• Zhao Ge: Acts decisively during the arrest and later treats Chen with respect, while probing to learn the source of his insight.

Character interactions

• Chen’s warning prompts Xiong to investigate despite his doubts.
• Xiong and Zhao work together to capture the suspects, then share their findings and toast Chen in appreciation.
• Zhao’s respectful welcome turns the meeting from a report on the arrest into a discussion of Chen’s abilities.

Significant themes

• Observation and experience: Chen’s ability to notice suspicious behavior complements Xiong’s practical patrol experience.
• Vigilance and loopholes: The shared-token scheme shows how criminals exploit routine procedures, and why patrol systems must adapt.
• Merit and recognition: Chen’s contribution earns him respect and reward, opening the possibility of greater influence.

Plot points and events

• Xiong Yi urges Chen Miao to join Ren District and help catch illegal entrants, offering him a share of the merit. Chen Miao refuses to transfer districts, partly to avoid offending the Kong Family, whose support helped him enter the Ghost Market.
• Instead, Chen Miao proposes that Ren and Gui Districts alternate handling illegal entrants found in Ren District. Zhao Ge challenges the arrangement, but Chen Miao argues that Ren District gains nothing without his help, while he can patrol Gui District regardless. Zhao accepts the deal.
• Chen reports the agreement to Kong Yue, who approves. Over the next two days, he deliberately finds no illegal entrants so his ability will not seem suspicious.
• On the day before his time off, Chen identifies an illegal entrant in Ren District. Xiong Yi’s team clears the stall locations around him, pressuring the man to leave. With no space available in Ren District, the entrant heads toward Gui District—where Chen’s side can claim the credit.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao proves shrewd and assertive, negotiating from the leverage his detection ability gives him. He balances potential profit against loyalty to the Kong Family and carefully limits how often he demonstrates his talent.
• Zhao Ge initially hopes to recruit Chen and share in his discoveries, but recognizes the practical value of cooperation and accepts Chen’s terms. He later advises Xiong Yi to maintain a good relationship with him.
• Xiong Yi is enthusiastic about Chen’s abilities and helps carry out the scheme, though he is disappointed when Chen finds no targets for two days.
• Kong Yue supports Chen’s deal and becomes more impressed with him, congratulating herself for recognizing his potential early.

Significant themes

• Negotiation and leverage: Chen turns his unique ability into bargaining power.
• Pragmatism and loyalty: He weighs immediate rewards against the consequences of alienating the Kong Family.
• Strategic restraint: Chen deliberately withholds his ability to avoid attracting suspicion.
• Credit and competition: The districts’ cooperation is shaped by the struggle to claim merit for catching illegal entrants.

Plot points and events

• Chen Miao, Kong Yue, and Li Zhou capture an illegal entrant at the Ghost Market. Chen uses blood bamboo splints to bind the man; Kong Yue’s Paper Offerings restrain him, and Li Zhou cuts the captive so the papers can grip his slippery body.
• Kong Yue takes the prisoner for interrogation. The capture earns praise for the Gui District and reveals information about the “rats,” potentially giving the squad a chance at further credit and minor merit.
• Chen Miao visits the Ren District, thanks Xiong Yi and Junior Banner Officer Zhao, then speaks with Kong Yue about their prospects. He agrees to join her for a meal.
• On returning to the Kong Residence, Chen receives a letter from Fu Yun, an acquaintance he met on the way to the cemetery. He goes to Fu Yun’s modest home, where Fu Yun greets him eagerly, suggesting he is ready to discuss business.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao shows tactical composure during the arrest, though his staged outburst nearly gives the plan away to a stallholder who recognizes the setup. Afterward, he calmly advises the stallholder to stay composed.
• Kong Yue is pleased by the team’s success and optimistic about recognition, a higher squad ranking, and possible merit. Her growing confidence brings her and Chen into warm, cooperative exchanges.
• Li Zhou eagerly supports the capture, using his saber to make the restraints effective.
• Chen Miao and Xiong Yi maintain a friendly relationship, while the stallholder’s fascination with the Ghost Market’s excitement adds a lighter note.
• The letter shifts Chen’s attention from the team’s success to a new, unexplained opportunity involving Fu Yun.

Significant themes

• Teamwork and adaptation: Each member’s abilities complement the others, allowing them to overcome the captive’s unusual defense.
• Recognition and ambition: Successful service may bring status, rewards, and a chance to influence a broader campaign.
• Trust and reputation: Chen’s growing ties with colleagues and acquaintances open doors, while the capture strengthens the Gui District’s standing.

Key plot points and events

• Fu Yun asks Chen Miao for help investigating a Mountain God Shrine outside Wanning Town. After it was built, Fu Yun’s daughter insisted on serving the mountain god. When he refused, people who entered the surrounding mountains began suffering accidents, and townspeople blamed Fu Yun.
• Under pressure, Fu Yun took his daughter to the shrine. The accidents stopped, and the townspeople concluded the mountain god had been appeased. Fu Yun remained convinced his daughter was bewitched.
• The town’s Demon-Suppressing Bureau and its chief found no evidence of an evil shrine. Fu Yun then sought help in the prefecture city, but the guards he approached saw no reason to investigate.
• Chen Miao explains that a local bureau chief inside the city’s protective formation may be as capable as an ordinary prefecture guard; if the chief was compromised, another ordinary guard might uncover nothing. Still, Chen agrees to consider the case.
• Fu Yun offers Chen the deed to a house he bought in the prefecture city. Chen returns it and says he will decide by that evening. He later tells Kong Yue he plans to go to Wanning Town.

Character developments

• Fu Yun is desperate but steadfast: despite fear, social pressure, and failed investigations, he refuses to abandon his daughter. Chen respects his devotion.
• Chen Miao is cautious and pragmatic, questioning whether his investigation can change anything. Yet he is moved by Fu Yun’s commitment and considers going.
• Fu Yun’s daughter is central to the mystery, though she does not appear directly; her sudden devotion to the shrine and the end of the accidents after she entered it remain unexplained.

Character interactions

• Fu Yun appeals to Chen, first offering a plea and then the house deed as payment. Chen refuses the deed and asks what Fu Yun would do if the shrine proves normal.
• Chen challenges Fu Yun’s assumptions about why the prefecture guards declined, while acknowledging the possibility that the local bureau chief could have been bribed.
• Chen informs Kong Yue of his plan to visit Wanning Town.

Significant themes

• Parental devotion and sacrifice: Fu Yun risks his standing and wealth because he cannot leave his daughter in danger.
• Faith, fear, and manipulation: The shrine’s apparent power and the townspeople’s fear turn unexplained accidents into pressure on Fu Yun.
• Limits of authority and certainty: Official inspections reveal nothing, leaving open whether the shrine is harmless, supernatural, or protected by corruption.

Chen Miao decides to travel to Wanning Town to investigate a reported mountain-god shrine, despite Kong Yue’s warning that the local Bureau Chief may be corrupt or the shrine well hidden. He promises only to gather information and take no action. His motives are mixed: he wants to help Fu Yun, whose devotion to his missing son reminds Chen Miao of his own father, but he also wants a safer place to return to reality and hopes to learn more about shrines, gods, and his incomplete divinity.
Kong Yue, initially puzzled by his willingness to help, agrees and equips him with protective tools: concealment and escape talismans, a Demon-Suppressing Guard token that can summon nearby aid, and a Paper Effigy Double to mislead pursuers. Her concern reflects their growing closeness, while Chen Miao feels some guilt accepting so much help. He leaves the Kong Residence discreetly, taking his belongings—including his father’s memorial tablet—and sends word to Third Master Kong through a servant rather than interrupting him.
Meanwhile, Fu Yun waits anxiously, fearing Chen Miao will not come. When Chen Miao arrives, Fu Yun is relieved. Chen Miao asks for the house deed, reiterating that he will only investigate and will not return the house if he finds no problem. He stores his belongings and sets off with Fu Yun.
Character developments and interactions: Chen Miao balances compassion with practical self-interest, while Kong Yue demonstrates trust and protective care. Fu Yun’s desperation and the coachman’s cautious loyalty underline how much the household’s hopes rest on Chen Miao.
Themes: Family bonds and remembrance motivate acts of kindness; trust is shown through practical support; and the existence of local gods and shrines may connect to Chen Miao’s unresolved supernatural abilities.