Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao suggests tracing the salesperson who arranged Yue Na’s burial. Cemetery staff identify him as Qian Zhixian, who is brought in for questioning.
• Though initially evasive, Qian admits that he dug up Yue Na’s grave the night after her burial—not to obtain her ashes for spiritual purposes, but to clear the plot.
• A wealthy buyer wanted nine graves laid out in a “Nine Palace Grid” for good fortune. After offering Qian a large commission and an extra fifty thousand, the buyer persuaded him to remove Yue Na’s remains. Qian left the headstone in place to conceal the empty grave.
• Qian says he gave Yue Na’s ashes and belongings to Yue Xiaodao, an orphan from the private Getting Better orphanage. Yue Na had supported the struggling orphanage for four years, and the children had attended her funeral.
• Qian donated the proceeds from Yue Na’s plot to the orphanage. As the officers leave to follow up, he reveals that the orphanage has since been renamed Yue Getting Better.

Character developments

• Qian Zhixian is exposed as greedy and complicit in desecrating Yue Na’s grave, though he claims remorse and says he donated the money to the orphanage. He is relieved when the officers do not immediately arrest him.
• Yue Na is revealed as a former orphan who quietly devoted years of support to the children who shared her circumstances. Her public image as a minor internet celebrity had obscured her generosity.
• Yue Xiaodao emerges as someone close to Yue Na and the person entrusted with her ashes and belongings.
• Chen Guokun, Tong Yu, and Chen Miao stay focused on recovering Yue Na’s remains and quickly move on to investigate the orphanage.

Significant themes

• Greed versus compassion: Qian’s lucrative commission contrasts sharply with Yue Na’s sustained, selfless care for the orphanage.
• Appearance and concealment: The headstone makes the grave seem undisturbed, while Yue Na’s celebrity status hides the depth of her kindness.
• Memory and legacy: The orphanage’s new name honors Yue Na and suggests that her support continues to shape the children’s lives.
• Exploitation and superstition: The buyer’s fortune-seeking burial arrangement leads to the violation of a dead woman’s grave.

Character interactions

• Chen Guokun’s firm questioning corners Qian, while the caretaker urges him to cooperate.
• Qian explains his actions and reveals Yue Na’s connection to the orphanage; the investigators listen, then leave to pursue the lead.
• Qian calls after them at the last moment to share the orphanage’s new name, adding a final detail to their investigation.

Plot points

• Chen Miao reads the book’s account of the team’s previous visit to Yue Na’s grave and the “Yue Getting Better” orphanage. The grave was empty, and at the orphanage they found Yue Na’s ashes and belongings inside a small, coffin-like wooden house beneath three locust trees.
• When Chen Guokun opened the house, Yue Na appeared. Yue Xiaodao stabbed Tong Yu from behind, and Yue Na and Xiaodao attacked the group together. Tong Yu, Chen Guokun, and finally the narrator were killed; the house’s interior was covered in faces.
• Knowing this predicted outcome, Chen Miao resolves to change it. He plans to use the daytime to weaken Yue Na and prevent Xiaodao’s ambush by drawing attention to possible lies Xiaodao tells about Yue Na.
• Chen Miao avoids making an unsupported accusation that might make his companions distrust him. Instead, he asks Chen Guokun how the team detects lies. Chen confirms they can identify deception but conceals that Tong Yu has this ability.
• Reassured that lie detection is available, Chen Miao believes his plan can work, but remains troubled by the unexplained circumstances of Yue Na’s appearance.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao becomes more strategic under pressure: he uses Iceheart to control his panic and carefully considers how to warn his companions without exposing his foreknowledge or undermining their trust.
• Chen Guokun remains guarded, answering Chen Miao’s question without revealing Tong Yu’s ability.
• Tong Yu is shown to possess a sensitive lie-detection ability, which has previously caused him trouble and contributed to his assignment in Tianmen County.
• In the book’s fatal account, Yue Xiaodao appears harmless and cooperative before revealing himself as a ruthless attacker. Yue Na serves as his supernatural partner in the assault.

Themes

• Foreknowledge and changing fate: Chen Miao tries to use the book’s account to avert the deaths it describes.
• Trust and secrecy: He must protect his credibility while persuading the others to scrutinize Xiaodao.
• Appearance versus reality: Xiaodao’s innocent presentation hides lethal intent, while the strange wooden “coffin” and the faces inside suggest deeper horrors surrounding Yue Na.

Plot points and events

• Chen Miao realizes that opening the cabin door may free Yue Na, but the investigators’ plan is to turn in her Ghost Cube for an official reward. The Administration still grants basic points if a ghost is destroyed, but destroying Yue Na now would trigger a review, making the investigators unlikely to agree.
• Chen Miao decides to continue with the mission rather than return to Tianmen County. He fears Yue Na could kill Chen Guokun and Tong Yu and then come after him, leaving him without their help.
• The three arrive at Yue Getting Better orphanage. They meet its director, Wen Qiubai, and donate money: Chen Guokun gives 50,000, Tong Yu also donates, and Chen Miao contributes 30,000.
• Wen Qiubai takes them to see the children and introduces Yue Xiaodao, whose name immediately changes the expressions of all three men.

Character developments

• Chen Miao weighs the risks, recognizes he cannot persuade the investigators to let him destroy Yue Na early, and commits to handling the danger alongside them.
• Chen Guokun and Tong Yu show generosity by donating, but their professional obligations—and the reward system—complicate Chen Miao’s plan.
• Wen Qiubai is cautious about donations because of past disputes, yet grateful and sincere in showing the visitors how the orphanage is run.

Themes

• Risk and responsibility: Chen Miao chooses to stay with the investigators because withdrawing may not keep him safe.
• Institutional incentives: The Administration’s rewards and oversight shape how the investigators handle ghosts.
• Compassion and trust: The donations help the orphanage, while Wen Qiubai’s careful process reflects her concern for the children and the institution’s needs.
• Hidden danger beneath ordinary life: A routine visit to an orphanage is tied to the supernatural threat surrounding Yue Na.

Character interactions

• Chen Miao questions Tong Yu about the Ghost Cube reward system and tests whether Yue Na can be destroyed ahead of schedule; Tong Yu’s explanation confirms that doing so would be difficult.
• Chen Guokun and Tong Yu support the orphanage financially. Chen Miao reassures Wen Qiubai that his smaller donation is still meaningful.
• Wen Qiubai welcomes the group, explains the orphanage’s circumstances, and introduces the children; Yue Xiaodao’s introduction signals that the mission’s central mystery is now close at hand.

Key plot points and events

• Wen Qiubai explains Yue Xiaodao’s history to Chen Guokun. Xiaodao was abandoned as a child, adopted at age one by an elderly couple, and returned to the orphanage four years later after they died. He gave Wen the inheritance they left him, insisting he could not keep it while the other children had nothing.
• At seven, Xiaodao was adopted again, this time by a young woman who helped him become less withdrawn. She died four years later, and Xiaodao returned to the orphanage at eleven, more closed off and determined never to be adopted again.
• After hearing his story, Chen Guokun decides he would like to consider adopting Xiaodao. He tells Wen he has no children and dismisses concerns about supposed supernatural misfortune. Wen urges him to visit and build trust before raising adoption with the boy.
• Xiaodao guides Chen Guokun, Chen Miao, and Tong Yu around the orphanage. Chen asks whether Xiaodao knew Yue Na and requests to visit her grave. When Xiaodao asks what offerings they brought, Chen is caught unprepared; Chen Miao produces incense, and Xiaodao agrees to lead them there.

Character developments

• Yue Xiaodao is revealed as generous and responsible despite repeated bereavement. His losses have made him guarded, and he refuses further adoption, though he remains considerate and dutiful at the orphanage.
• Wen Qiubai is deeply protective of Xiaodao and hopes he can find a lasting home, while recognizing that trust will take time.
• Chen Guokun moves from learning about Xiaodao to considering adoption, though his claim that he dismisses supernatural concerns is knowingly insincere.
• Chen Miao quietly rescues the group’s cover story by producing incense when Chen Guokun cannot answer Xiaodao’s question.

Significant themes

• Loss and resilience: Xiaodao has endured the deaths of both sets of adoptive parents, yet continues to show generosity and care for others.
• Family and belonging: The chapter explores whether a stable home can be offered to a child who has repeatedly lost one.
• Trust and patience: Wen advises that Xiaodao should not be pressured; a relationship must develop through repeated visits.
• Compassion and responsibility: Xiaodao’s choice to share his inheritance reflects his concern for the other children.

Character interactions

• Wen shares Xiaodao’s history with Chen Guokun and the others, explaining both his generosity and his reluctance to be adopted again.
• Chen Guokun asks Wen to call Xiaodao, but Wen suggests he first spend time with the boy without revealing his intentions.
• Xiaodao is polite but reserved as he guides the visitors. His questions about their connection to Yue Na and their offerings test their stated reason for visiting, before Chen Miao’s incense allows them to proceed.

Key plot points and events

• Yue Xiaodao leads Chen Guokun, Chen Miao, and Tong Yu to the orphanage’s backyard—not outside—to visit Yue Na’s resting place.
• Yue Na’s ashes are kept in a small, child-decorated wooden house beneath three enormous pagoda trees. She was not buried because her grave had previously been disturbed.
• Chen Miao explains the conflicting folk beliefs surrounding pagoda trees, including the ominous saying that one in a courtyard makes “the spirit tablet weep.” He also offers practical explanations for the taboos, such as roots damaging foundations, blocked sunlight, and rotting leaves.
• Yue Xiaodao says the orphanage director, whom he calls Grandma Director, chose the trees’ location and the ashes’ arrangement. She also had the children hang red cords and decorations, ostensibly because they looked festive.
• Tong Yu asks Yue Xiaodao directly whether he believes in ghosts. Xiaodao says no—but Tong Yu’s secret lie-detection signal indicates this is the third lie he has told.

Character developments and interactions

• Yue Xiaodao appears unusually mature and guarded for a child, shaped by his experiences. He answers questions plainly, but the revelation that he has lied repeatedly suggests he is concealing something important.
• Chen Miao demonstrates expertise in funeral customs and folklore, explaining the symbolism without directly accusing anyone. He suspects the director may have known the red cords’ protective associations.
• Tong Yu shifts from quiet observation to probing Xiaodao, using a covert signal to communicate with Chen Guokun that the boy is lying.
• Chen Guokun is surprised by Xiaodao’s maturity and watches closely once Tong Yu signals that Xiaodao’s denial is false.

Significant themes

• Tradition versus practical explanation: Folk taboos may arise from ordinary environmental concerns, but gain supernatural meaning over time.
• Grief and protection: The decorated shelter and red cords suggest an attempt to honor Yue Na and protect her resting place.
• Secrecy and distrust: Xiaodao’s repeated lies make the supernatural question—and the director’s motives—more suspicious.

Key plot points

• Chen Guokun asks permission to visit the hut containing Yue Na’s ashes. When he offers to go, Chen Miao volunteers instead—but Yue Xiaodao rejects Chen Miao and Tong Yu, claiming Yue Na dislikes people who are too young or handsome. Chen Guokun is left as the only permitted visitor.
• Before Chen Guokun approaches the hut, Chen Miao has him hand over the Ghost Cube. Chen Miao then checks his book, which reveals that Yue Xiaodao is about to attack Tong Yu with a knife hidden in the book, and that the pagoda tree’s shadow and a ghost will also threaten Chen Miao.
• Chen Miao warns Tong Yu about the knife and Yue Xiaodao’s extraordinary strength. Tong Yu avoids the fatal attack, breaks Yue Xiaodao’s arm, and pins him down.
• Yue Xiaodao smiles, then contorts himself into an unnatural position and kicks Tong Yu away. Chen Miao lights four incense sticks and begins chanting a protective incantation as the others try to stop Yue Xiaodao.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao acts quickly on what he learns from the book, protects the Ghost Cube, and warns Tong Yu. His intervention changes the outcome of the attack, though he recognizes that the danger is not over.
• Tong Yu trusts Chen Miao’s warnings and uses his fighting skill to disarm and restrain Yue Xiaodao, but Yue Xiaodao’s unnatural strength defeats the hold.
• Chen Guokun accepts Chen Miao’s plan and gives him the Ghost Cube before approaching the hut. He stops when Yue Xiaodao breaks free.
• Yue Xiaodao shifts from guarded host to attacker. His strength and bizarre movements suggest that something supernatural may be at work. His lie about not believing in ghosts also raises suspicion about his connection to Yue Na.

Significant themes

• Trust and deception: Yue Xiaodao’s statements conceal danger, while the others rely on cautious, unspoken cooperation.
• Foreknowledge and changing events: Chen Miao’s book reveals a deadly sequence, but acting on it does not eliminate the threat.
• Supernatural danger: The Ghost Cube, protective talismans, the shadow of the pagoda tree, and Yue Xiaodao’s impossible strength point to forces beyond ordinary human control.

Plot points and events

• Yue Xiaodao spits out his tongue and blood, sending bloody mist toward the pagoda-tree hut. Chen Guokun partly disperses it with a spray, but the remaining mist dives into the ground. The hut’s door bursts open, and its shadow expands around Chen Miao.
• The Ghost Cube breaks as Yue Na appears behind Chen Miao. He strikes her with a century-old peachwood sword and scatters peachwood shavings, dissolving her into gray mist. He then relights incense and passes the sword to Chen Guokun.
• Chen Guokun fights Yue Na with the sword and his sprayed fist. A Ghost Cube briefly captures her, but it quickly breaks, forcing him to keep fighting her directly.
• Meanwhile, Yue Xiaodao hurls Tong Yu aside and turns on Chen Miao. Chen Miao’s incense smoke draws black qi from Yue Xiaodao, while peachwood scraps can slow him. Chen Miao suspects Yue Xiaodao may be a zombie rather than merely a possessed human.
• Chen Miao gives Tong Yu a short peachwood sword and a rough amulet blank. He then supplies a Corpse-Control Talisman and a Spirit-Sealing Talisman. Tong Yu wounds Yue Xiaodao and puts both talismans into the wound; the Spirit-Sealing Talisman is consumed by the black smoke, while the Corpse-Control Talisman remains.
• Yue Xiaodao strikes Tong Yu, apparently breaking his left arm. At that moment, Chen Miao rings the Corpse-Control Bell, ending the chapter on the sound’s effect.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao stays resourceful under pressure, sharing his limited weapons and materials with Chen Guokun and Tong Yu rather than hoarding them. He also revises his tactics when he recognizes the black qi as resembling that of a corpse.
• Chen Guokun proves skilled with the peachwood sword, using disciplined footwork and technique against Yue Na. He and Chen Miao coordinate their attacks.
• Tong Yu continues fighting despite being thrown aside, accepts Chen Miao’s equipment, and takes the risk of placing the talismans inside Yue Xiaodao’s wound.
• Yue Xiaodao becomes visibly inhuman—black-eyed, with lengthened nails—and displays strength and resilience beyond an ordinary possessed person.
• Yue Na repeatedly reforms after attacks, while the Ghost Cubes prove unable to contain her.
• Chen Miao supports both allies directly: he arms Chen Guokun and Tong Yu, then calls to Tong Yu to use the talismans.

Significant themes

• Improvisation and adaptation: The characters change methods as Ghost Cubes fail and incense proves ineffective against Yue Xiaodao.
• Cooperation and mutual survival: Chen Miao’s willingness to share scarce resources reflects his dependence on his allies.
• Uncertainty and escalation: The black qi raises the possibility that Yue Xiaodao is a living zombie, suggesting a threat more dangerous than possession.
• The limits of familiar tools: Talismans, incense, and Ghost Cubes have uneven effects, keeping the outcome uncertain.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao uses the Corpse-Control Bell to restrain Yue Xiaodao, then gives Tong Yu two Spirit-Sealing Talismans. The restraint is temporary, and Chen Guokun remains locked in a dangerous fight with Yue Na.
• Rather than rush into the mysterious wooden hut, Chen Miao searches the book for clues. It describes a previous attempt in which Tong Yu was injured by intense yin energy near the hut. A Yin-Dispelling Talisman has no effect, but the Fiend-Subduing Mantra sends incense smoke both into the hut and underground, harming Yue Na and Yue Xiaodao.
• In that account, Chen Guokun is eventually killed when the pair recover and attack; Tong Yu and the narrator also die. Chen Miao stops Tong Yu from approaching the hut, though changing events does not yet change the book’s outcome.
• Chen Miao studies the trees, shadows, hut, and underground clues. He concludes that the site is a feng shui formation, and that the earlier theory was only partly correct: someone is both raising a ghost and using a formation.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao stays composed by entering his iceheart state and chooses investigation over a reckless attack. He connects the clues and reaches the chapter’s central revelation.
• Tong Yu is injured and eager to help by approaching the hut, but obeys Chen Miao’s warning to wait.
• Chen Guokun continues fighting Yue Na despite her seeming impossible to kill, but the book’s account shows him ultimately overwhelmed.
• Yue Na and Yue Xiaodao appear linked to separate parts of the site: the hut and the ground beneath it. Both are affected by the mantra and then recover when it stops.
• Chen Miao’s warning briefly interrupts Tong Yu’s planned approach, while Chen Guokun’s efforts in the book’s account protect the others temporarily.

Significant themes

• Knowledge versus impulsive action: The book’s warnings encourage Chen Miao to investigate rather than charge into danger.
• Fate and changing outcomes: Chen Miao alters the immediate sequence of events, but the book’s recorded outcome remains unchanged.
• Hidden connections: The paired effects on Yue Na and Yue Xiaodao point to a larger supernatural mechanism beneath the apparent haunting.
• Layered supernatural threats: The danger is not just a ghost or a corpse, but a haunting combined with a feng shui formation.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao concludes that Yue Na and Yue Xiaodao’s apparent immortality comes from the yin energy sustaining the feng shui formation around the wooden hut. Rather than risk breaking the formation directly, he devises a way to draw its yin energy away.
• He gives Tong Yu another unfinished Peachwood Amulet and asks him to hold off Yue Xiaodao. Tong Yu, fighting with one usable arm, obeys.
• Chen Miao repeatedly draws yin energy from the hut with his Yin Gathering ability, then redirects it toward two Yin-Gathering Talismans placed far apart. The talismans cannot pull energy directly from the formation, but they collect the energy Chen Miao extracts.
• As the yin energy diminishes, Yue Xiaodao’s wounds close more slowly, and Yue Na recovers more slowly after being struck. Tong Yu and Chen Guokun realize that Chen Miao’s plan is working.
• After checking his book, Chen Miao throws his last Yin-Dispelling Talisman into the hut. The courtyard’s shade retreats toward the trees, forcing Yue Na into sunlight. Chen Guokun presses the advantage, and Yue Na flees into the hut as a faint shadow.
• Chen Miao prepares twelve incense sticks and begins reciting the Descending the True Transcendence Incantation, a rite intended to help those who died by suicide attain transcendence.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao demonstrates quick thinking and growing command of his abilities: he avoids directly tampering with an unfamiliar formation and instead targets its source of power. He also coordinates the others, entrusting Tong Yu with defense and timing his own actions to weaken the enemies.
• Tong Yu remains dependable despite his injury, holding off Yue Xiaodao with limited weapons and one usable arm. He notices the enemy’s declining resilience and gains hope.
• Chen Guokun moves from desperation to cautious confidence as Yue Na weakens. He uses the opening to drive her into sunlight and reflects that bringing Chen Miao along was a wise decision; he even considers Zhong Cai’s suggestion that Chen Miao be assigned to him.
• Yue Na and Yue Xiaodao lose some of their supernatural protection as the yin energy is drained. Yue Na is forced to retreat and ultimately returns to the hut.

Significant themes

• Resourcefulness over brute force: Chen Miao solves the crisis by understanding and disrupting the source of the enemies’ power rather than attacking them head-on.
• Trust and cooperation: Tong Yu’s obedience and Chen Guokun’s ability to exploit Chen Miao’s work show how the group’s survival depends on coordinated roles.
• The possibility of release: The transcendence ritual introduces compassion toward the dead, suggesting that the goal may be not only to defeat the supernatural threat but also to help the spirits find peace.

Chapter summary

This is an author’s announcement about the novel moving to paid release on Monday, rather than a story chapter.

• Release and schedule: The first paid-release update will be 10,000 characters. Afterward, the author plans to post 6,000 characters daily, split across two or three chapters.
• Bonus updates: The existing offer of one bonus chapter per 200 monthly votes remains in place; two chapters are currently owed and will be posted gradually. From next month, the rate changes to one bonus update per 500 votes. Tips earn additional updates: three per Alliance Leader contribution and ten per Silver Alliance contribution, with totals accumulating. A Silver Alliance contribution also triggers a separate 10,000-character update.
• Reasoning: The author suspects readers are waiting for story arcs to finish, which may have hurt the book’s chances of qualifying for Sanjiang. Since the novel is leisurely and slice-of-life in style, the author decides not to keep waiting before going premium.
• Writing constraints: Plotting takes time, and the author has little backlog. They explain that pacing bonus updates according to votes, tips, and available saved chapters helps protect the story’s quality and ending.
• Reader interaction: The author thanks readers, asks those who can to purchase the first paid chapter, and invites them to recommend books. They also suggest three titles by veteran authors and note that a fourth recommendation did not reach paid release.
  Character development and interactions: There are no fictional characters or plot developments. The interaction is between the author and readers, with the author explaining the schedule, acknowledging reader preferences, and asking for support and recommendations.

Key plot points and events

• In the book’s original version, Chen Miao’s Fiend-Subduing Mantra fails to stop Yue Na. Its smoke is diverted by the faces hanging inside the Little Wooden House, which attack him while Chen Guokun protects him.
• Chen Miao realizes the Six Jiangzhen incantations serve different purposes. The Resolving Grievances incantation reaches both the faces and the envelope on the urn; the Descending the True Transcendence incantation sends all its smoke into the envelope, softening the faces’ expressions.
• Though he runs out of incense, Chen Guokun is able to collect the faces and Yue Na. A corpse is later found buried beneath a tree. The book’s narrator then dreams of someone cutting at his face and, seven days later, dies by suicide.
• In the present, Chen Miao avoids repeating the book’s failed attempts and uses three batches of incense with the Descending the True Transcendence incantation. The smoke enters the envelope, and the faces gradually become gentle.
• Yue Na emerges from the envelope. Chen Guokun starts to confront her, then stops and puts away his sword. Yue Na approaches the fallen Yue Xiaodao, tries to touch him, and silently weeps before disappearing. Chen Miao looks down at the book, which now reads “Chapter 3: The skin.”

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao learns to match each incantation to its purpose and uses the book’s warning to change his approach. He remains cautious, gripping his unfinished peachwood sword when Yue Na appears.
• Chen Guokun repeatedly shields Chen Miao from the attacking faces. In the altered events, he recognizes that Yue Na is not attacking and chooses not to fight her.
• Yue Na shifts from a threatening presence to a grieving figure. Her attempt to comfort Yue Xiaodao and her tears suggest a personal bond and unresolved sorrow.
• Yue Xiaodao lies incapacitated after the supernatural assault; Yue Na’s farewell-like gesture toward him becomes the scene’s emotional focus.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and adaptation: Understanding the distinct uses of the incantations lets Chen Miao avoid the original story’s costly mistakes.
• Grief and unresolved bonds: Yue Na’s tears and attempted touch reveal sorrow beneath the apparent horror.
• Fate and altered narratives: Chen Miao changes events from the book, but the new chapter title hints that the danger—and the story itself—continues.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao finishes the chapter about Yue Na: a Yin-Dispelling Talisman weakens her, and he uses the Jiangzhen Transcendence Incantation to help her move on. Her stitched wounds vanish, and she leaves after touching Yue Xiaodao’s face.
• The book records Chen Miao’s rewards: yin virtue, a fragment of Yue Na’s memory, the Great Compassion Sutra of Soul-Pacifying Vows, and the Southern School art of Corpse Stitching. The ominous [Haunted by Resentment (∞)] status also disappears, though Chen Miao remains unsure what caused his earlier death in the previous version.
• At the orphanage, Chen Miao performs a second Jiangzhen rite for whatever is beneath the Little Wooden House. The incense smoke sinks into the ground, then partly returns, and the book confirms the rite worked.
• Inside, Chen Miao sees six flayed faces, an envelope on an urn, and Sanskrit writing on the walls—apparently the Great Compassion Sutra. Chen Guokun recognizes that the scene involves another case and decides the house must be taken away and reported.
• Chen Guokun gives Chen Miao a Ghost Cube and offers to convert future captures into contribution points. Chen Miao accepts the cube but values yin virtue more.
• Chen Miao leaves as the orphanage director rushes to Yue Xiaodao. He returns to the funeral home to inspect the book and assess his gains and losses.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao shows greater confidence after gaining yin virtue, but remains cautious about the unresolved presence beneath the house. He uses ritual knowledge rather than force and continues investigating through the book.
• Yue Na is released from her torment and appears peaceful; her farewell to Yue Xiaodao suggests an emotional bond and brings Chen Miao’s fear of her to an end.
• Chen Guokun trusts Chen Miao’s judgment, cooperates with his ritual, and rewards his help, while keeping the newly discovered case’s details private.
• Tong Yu stays beside the bleeding Yue Xiaodao and returns Chen Miao’s peachwood sword. The director’s alarm at the boy’s condition underscores the crisis still facing him.

Significant themes

• Compassion and release: Chen Miao chooses to help Yue Na pass on rather than simply destroy her.
• Unresolved consequences: Yue Na’s departure restores normality, but the hidden matter beneath the house and Yue Xiaodao’s condition remain unsettled.
• Knowledge and uncertainty: The book provides rewards and clues, yet key questions—especially the origin of the Sanskrit scripture and the earlier timeline’s events—remain unanswered.
• Practical value versus spiritual merit: Chen Miao accepts useful equipment but prioritizes yin virtue over official contribution points.

Key plot points and events

• After Yue Na’s transcendence, Chen Miao suspects something remains beneath the Little Wooden House. He uses incense and the Grievance-Resolving Mantra, confirming an entity is buried underground, but leaves before seeing it.
• Chen Guokun later reports that the corpse is Li Cai—the person who had caused Yue Na’s grave to be moved. Two of the remaining face pelts in the house belonged to Li Cai’s wife and son. Yue Xiaodao was responsible for the killings, and is still alive.
• The side story awards Chen Miao two qian of Yin Virtue, Li Cai’s memory fragments, and the Curse Dao · Corpse-Substitution Technique. His total Yin Virtue from the chapter reaches one liang and four qian.
• Reviewing the investigation’s costs, Chen Miao notes that he used most of his talismans and incense, spent five qian of Yin Virtue on incense, depleted some peachwood supplies, and damaged a short peachwood sword. He considers the rewards worthwhile.
• He studies two major discoveries: the Curse Buddha · Great Compassion Soul-Sealing Original Vow Sutra and the Corpse-Substitution Technique. The scripture traps souls and prevents Yin Energy from escaping; the technique lets a caster draw corpse aura from a specially prepared corpse and transform into a powerful semi-corpse state.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao grows more curious about Yue Xiaodao’s abilities, but learns nothing about where Xiaodao acquired them.
• Chen Guokun helps uncover the wooden house’s secrets and later informs Chen Miao about Li Cai’s identity and the victims’ connection to him.
• Chen Miao compares the newly acquired arts to the apparent resilience of Yue Na and Yue Xiaodao. He suspects the soul-sealing scripture can sustain a practitioner of the Corpse-Substitution Technique, making them difficult to kill.
• Reflecting on his supplies and the rewards, Chen Miao becomes more confident in the value of his growing collection of supernatural knowledge, though he remains unsure about the connection between “Curse Dao” and “Curse Buddha.”

Significant themes

• The cost of confronting the supernatural: talismans, incense, and spiritual tools are expensive and easily exhausted.
• Knowledge gained through investigation: uncovering the corpse explains more of the wooden house’s horror, while also revealing new techniques.
• Power and endurance: the combination of soul-trapping and corpse aura may make a practitioner exceptionally hard to kill; Chen Miao concludes that overwhelming strength may be the best counter.
• Ambiguous spiritual traditions: the near-identical names of a soul-delivering scripture and a soul-sealing one raise questions about coincidence and the relationship between the Curse Dao and Curse Buddha.

Key events

• Chen Miao reads the Southern School Corpse-Sewing Secrets, learning that corpse sewing is a Yin Gate profession with Northern, Southern, and esoteric lineages. The Northern School specializes in stitching bodies; the Southern School restores appearances through its Eighteen Skin-Painting Forms.
• The manual describes shared techniques, spiritual practices, taboos, and a three-part qualification test: blind stitching, reconstructing appearances from bones, and handling a Malevolent Corpse alone. Only passing all three earns the title of Corpse-Sewing Artisan.
• Chen realizes that book knowledge is no substitute for experience. He then chooses Yue Na’s memory fragment to investigate unanswered questions about the recent events.
• In the memory, a young woman hears a child at the Getting Better Welfare Home claim that another boy will suffer a loss or calamity. The first boy dismisses him, but the young fortune-teller reports that he found money and kept it. The orphanage director punishes both boys: one for keeping the money, the other for reporting him out of self-interest.
• Amused by their exchange, the young woman introduces herself as Yue Na and says she has come to make a donation.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen is curious and increasingly knowledgeable, but recognizes the limits of learning without firsthand experience.
• The child fortune-teller is mischievous and perceptive; he uses his supposed prediction to expose the other boy’s wrongdoing. The other boy’s selfishness is also checked.
• The orphanage director’s punishment stresses that both the original act and the reporter’s motive matter.
• Yue Na shifts from amused observer to a prospective benefactor, approaching the orphanage after watching the children.

Significant themes

• Knowledge versus experience: technical mastery requires practice, not merely absorbing information.
• Ethics and accountability: wrongdoing includes acting from self-interest, even when one exposes someone else’s misconduct.
• The Yin Gate’s uneasy role: corpse-related professions are shunned yet necessary, and their work crosses practical and spiritual boundaries.

Plot points and events

• Yue Na befriends Shi Xiaodao, a quiet orphan who learned his mystical knowledge from his first adoptive parents. As they grow close, she considers adopting him but cannot afford to support him.
• Hoping to earn enough, Yue Na has cosmetic surgery and becomes a successful livestreamer. She pays off her debt and donates her remaining income to the orphanage, but Shi Xiaodao grows quieter.
• Yue Na eventually adopts him. He explains that seeing her face makes him wonder how hard he will have to work to ensure she never worries about money. He takes her surname and becomes Yue Xiaodao.
• Yue Na continues supporting the orphanage, and mother and son seem to be building a better life—until a dispute with the aesthetic clinic over a contract ends in a court ruling against her. Despairing, Yue Na jumps from a rooftop, regretting that she will leave Yue Xiaodao an orphan again.
• The next morning, Chen Miao reviews Yue Na’s fragmented memories. He realizes she had killed five people before the incidents he knew about, including a family of three connected to the man who moved her grave. Her memories also reveal that Chen Miao helped dissolve the resentment controlling her, after which Yue Na went to Yue Xiaodao and apologized.
• Chen Miao still cannot explain how Yue Na escaped the Ghost Cube or what caused the pagoda tree’s shade to expand. He suspects Yue Xiaodao’s first adoptive parents were practitioners like Zhong Cai and reflects that he may have encountered people like them without recognizing them.
• Chen Miao checks his book and finds a new ability listed: good and evil perception, which lets him sense benevolent or malicious thoughts directed at him.

Character developments and interactions

• Yue Na grows from a struggling, lonely woman into a determined adoptive mother who uses her earnings to help both Yue Xiaodao and the orphanage. Her financial success does not protect her from exploitation and despair.
• Shi Xiaodao’s guarded silence gives way to lively conversation with Yue Na, then returns as he worries about her safety and future. After the adoption, he becomes more open again.
• Chen Miao pieces together Yue Na’s past and the sequence of her killings, while confronting how much remains unknown about the supernatural world.

Significant themes

• Love and sacrifice: Yue Na’s efforts to provide for Yue Xiaodao and the orphanage shape her choices; Xiaodao, in turn, worries about protecting her.
• Poverty and exploitation: Yue Na feels driven to alter her appearance and monetize her image, while a contract she trusted ultimately leaves her without recourse.
• Grief and second chances: Yue Na’s suicide leaves Xiaodao orphaned again, but Chen Miao’s intervention frees her from the resentment controlling her.
• The unseen supernatural world: Chen Miao begins to suspect that practitioners may be more common—and closer to him—than he realized.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao tests his new Good and Evil Perception by walking around the Funeral Home. He senses goodwill from several employees, including Li Fu, a normally aloof cold-storage attendant.
• Chen Miao guesses Li Fu’s attitude changed after witnessing him respectfully perform rites for a deceased man—something Li Fu may value because of his former work as a tomb guardian.
• A guard’s dog, Blackie, suddenly radiates strong malice toward Chen Miao. Chen feeds him meat buns, and the hostility fades into goodwill—but only while Chen stays at a distance. Moving closer brings the dog’s suspicion back.
• The encounter teaches Chen Miao that goodwill and malice can shift with circumstances, and that his new perception is not a fixed judgment of someone’s character.
• Chen Miao evaluates Tao Bo, an experienced master of ceremonies, and offers him a job. Tao Bo is interested but wants time to consider.
• That evening, Chen Miao draws a Spirit-Sealing Talisman and takes the book to his bedroom. Li Cai’s memory fragment disappears from it.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao grows more observant and cautious as he experiments with his ability, while remaining practical and sociable with the Funeral Home staff.
• His respectful treatment of the dead may have earned Li Fu’s approval and could open the door to learning about Li Fu’s past.
• Chen Miao handles Blackie patiently, using food to calm the dog rather than reacting with force. Their uneasy, conditional rapport demonstrates how quickly feelings can change.
• Chen Miao gives Tao Bo room to decide, confident that the Funeral Home can manage in the meantime.

Significant themes

• The instability of good and evil: Feelings are changeable, not permanent labels.
• The limits of perception: Chen Miao can sense emotional attitudes, but their causes and meanings still require interpretation.
• Respect for the dead: Chen’s funeral rites may influence how others perceive him.
• Trust and caution: Even apparent goodwill can have boundaries, as Blackie’s behavior makes clear.

Plot points and events

• Li Cai, a wealthy landowner who had profited from Longtang’s development, trusted an Old Immortal’s feng shui advice and buried his father in an auspicious cemetery plot. The plot had already been occupied, so Li Cai paid to have the existing grave moved.
• That night, his wife and son claimed they saw ghosts. Li Cai dismissed them, then killed them when they continued to panic. He cut off their faces, wandered to the Little Wooden House beneath the trees, left the faces there, and buried himself alive.
• Chen Miao wakes from Li Cai’s memory fragment and suspects Yue Xiaodao was responsible for burying him. He speculates that Yue’s first adoptive parents deliberately recognized his talent and taught him their occult arts, perhaps anticipating their deaths.
• Chen notices that his yin gathering status has advanced to yin gathering (II). Its range appears to have doubled, and it can now hold gathered yin energy together for about a minute after he stops using the ability.
• Though unsure how useful the new effect is, Chen decides to keep the Yin-Gathering Talisman as well, then prepares to preside over a memorial service.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Cai is revealed as both a beneficiary of fortune-telling and a cruel, unstable man: he trusts the Old Immortal’s predictions, but responds to his family’s fear with murder. His final acceptance of burial echoes the Old Immortal’s promise that he would “lie back and take it easy.”
• Chen Miao grows more curious about Yue Xiaodao’s past and the expertise of his first adoptive parents. He also tests and evaluates his upgraded ability pragmatically.
• Yue Xiaodao does not appear directly, but Chen infers that he learned substantial occult knowledge from his first adoptive parents.
• The Old Immortal influences Li Cai’s choices through his feng shui advice and prophecy.

Significant themes

• Greed and the cost of ambition: Li Cai’s wealth and desire for an easy life do not protect him from violence or ruin.
• Fate, prophecy, and irony: The Old Immortal’s words prove true in a grimly literal way.
• Knowledge passed on under uncertain motives: Chen wonders whether Yue’s adoptive parents trained him out of affection, foresight, or some darker purpose.
• Pragmatism amid the supernatural: Chen tests his new power but recognizes that existing tools may still be more useful.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao spends a busy week at Tianmen Funeral Home, replenishing his talisman supply and intensively studying his inherited arts.
• He draws nine talismans, bringing his collection to ten, and practices all six Jiangzhen incantations rather than relying on only two. He also begins transcribing the Curse Buddha sutra, though his copies still contain mistakes.
• To manage his growing collection of techniques, Chen Miao realizes he must prioritize focused study instead of trying to master everything at once.
• He hires the old master of ceremonies, who agrees to start within a week. His arrival should free Chen Miao to spend more time training.
• Chen Guokun visits with the investigation’s findings and news that rewards and contribution points have been determined, though the exact amount is not revealed here. Tong Yu is recovering from a broken arm using the Administration’s special treatment.
• The investigation confirms that Li Cai, a wealthy local who had ordered Yue Na’s ashes and belongings removed, was murdered. His wife and child had also been killed, and their faces appeared in the Little Wooden House.
• Yue Xiaodao confesses to the crimes and explains that his first adoptive parents trained him from childhood. Their graves contain matching skeletons, confirming they are dead.
• Chen Guokun warns Chen Miao not to approach anything bearing writing like that in the Little Wooden House; he should retreat and contact the bureau. Chen Miao realizes he has a stack of practice drafts of the dangerous sutra in his desk.

Character developments

• Chen Miao becomes more disciplined and cautious. His experiences with Yue Na and Yue Xiaodao prompt him to prepare extra Corpse-Control Talismans, broaden his incantation practice, and think strategically about what skills to master.
• Chen Guokun acts as a source of official case updates and practical warnings, while maintaining the bureau’s secrecy around the Little Wooden House.
• Yue Xiaodao is cooperative after Yue Na’s final appearance, and his confession reveals the strict, teacher-like upbringing imposed by his first adoptive parents.
• Tong Yu is recovering and has chosen higher-quality treatment by spending the team’s earned points.

Significant themes

• Preparation through experience: Chen Miao adapts his tools and training based on what went wrong in earlier cases.
• Focus versus breadth: He recognizes that collecting many techniques is not the same as mastering them, especially when facing powerful threats.
• Institutional power and procedure: The bureau’s investigation, treatment, and reward systems show the scale and organization of the state’s response to supernatural incidents.
• Knowledge carries risk: Chen Miao’s practice of the sutra places him uncomfortably close to the very material the bureau warns him to avoid.

Character interactions

• Chen Miao and Chen Guokun discuss Tong Yu’s recovery, the case findings, and the hazards of the Little Wooden House. Chen Miao probes whether Yue Xiaodao’s adoptive parents truly died; Guokun confirms the evidence.
• Chen Miao’s final reaction is private but telling: after hearing Guokun’s warning, he discreetly checks the drawer containing his sutra drafts.

Key events

• Chen Guokun explains how the Administration classified the mission: Yue Na and the corpse were treated as one Grade D incident, while Yue Xiaodao and the Little Wooden House were part of a Grade C incident.
• The team receives 62 contribution points: 8 for Yue Na, 4 for the corpse, and 50 for handing over the Little Wooden House. Chen Miao receives 22 points; Guokun and Tong Yu receive 20 each.
• Chen Miao accepts the split, believing his share reflects his own contribution. He browses the points shop and discovers that points can buy both cash and useful ghost-hunting supplies.
• Seeing that a Ghost Cube costs 50 points, Chen Miao realizes how generous Guokun’s earlier gift was. In return, he gives Guokun two short peachwood swords, keeping the long one for now.
• Chen Miao examines several practical sprays that let ordinary users harm ghosts, remove traces, reveal ghostly tracks, or conceal a living person’s presence.
• He is impressed by the Administration’s accessible tools and then notices a peculiar listing: “Polluted Object No. 41501: Faucet.”

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Miao shows confidence in accepting a fair reward, gratitude for Guokun’s generosity, and curiosity about the Administration’s equipment. The tools also make him question whether his traditional learning is becoming outdated.
• Chen Guokun treats transparency about points as the basis for future cooperation. He praises Chen Miao’s role in the mission and accepts the peachwood swords without insisting on further formality.
• Tong Yu is absent from the conversation but remains part of the team’s reward split; Guokun notes the physical cost of the mission, including Tong Yu losing an arm.

Significant themes

• Trust and fair cooperation: Open accounting and equitable rewards help build a working relationship.
• Tradition versus modernization: The Administration’s standardized, broadly usable tools challenge older, guarded supernatural practices.
• The value of generosity: Chen Miao reassesses Guokun’s Ghost Cube gift after learning its steep point cost, and responds with a gift of his own.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Miao browses the Administration’s catalogue of “polluted objects,” learning that they range from odd but harmless items—such as a faucet that produces water in places with enough yin energy—to dangerous tools like the Bone-Cleaving Knife, which can badly injure ghosts.
• Chen Guokun explains that the catalogue’s notes are mostly reminders, while genuine taboo-bound objects are restricted. Chen Miao is disappointed that, as a non-Investigator, he cannot borrow any of them.
• He spends his remaining points on the crafting method for a Seven-Star Peach Wood Sword (15 points) and three Bloodlight Talismans (6 points). The last point is exchanged for 10,000 yuan.
• Chen Miao plans to obtain the sword materials himself, including black dog blood. He intends to ask Qi Hui, who owns Blackie, the pure black dog at the East Gate guardhouse.
• Chen Guokun says the redeemed items should arrive in three to five days, but Chen Miao must accompany him to verify and record the redemption.
• Before Chen Guokun leaves, Chen Miao asks about Yue Na’s true vessel. It is a thank-you letter written by the orphanage’s children after her death.

Character developments

• Chen Miao is practical and eager to strengthen himself. Rather than save points for a costly talisman-making method, he chooses equipment he can use soon. His interest in the Bone-Cleaving Knife also shows his continuing curiosity about tools that can harm ghosts.
• Chen Guokun acts as a knowledgeable guide, explaining the Administration’s rules and helping Chen Miao redeem his selections. He also shares the key information about Yue Na’s vessel.
• Chen Miao’s next step is already taking shape: he needs to find a tactful way to ask Qi Hui for some of Blackie’s blood.

Significant themes

• Preparation and self-reliance: Chen Miao prioritizes immediately improving his ability to face supernatural threats.
• The strange and practical coexist: Polluted objects may be bizarre, yet their usefulness depends on understanding their limits and instructions.
• Memory and gratitude: Yue Na’s true vessel—a letter from the children she cared for—connects her supernatural existence to the human relationships she left behind.

Character interactions

• Chen Miao questions Chen Guokun about the catalogue, the objects’ warnings, and whether he can borrow them; Chen Guokun answers and clarifies the restrictions.
• Chen Miao asks Chen Guokun to redeem the sword method and talismans, and agrees to complete the required verification later.
• As they part, Chen Miao asks about Yue Na’s vessel, prompting Chen Guokun to reveal the emotionally significant letter.