Chapter Summaries

Luo Bin subdued Mo Qian after the latter tried to kill him, then kept him quiet beneath the bed while evil spirits searched the room. After they left, Mo Qian hesitated to escape, and Luo Bin opened his eyes and smiled at him.

• Mo Qian attacked Luo Bin in his sleep, but Luo Bin caught his hand and endured his attempts to stab and break his neck.
• Gu Yiren woke and stabbed at Mo Qian, but her dagger struck Luo Bin; Luo Bin then pinned Mo Qian and ordered him to hide beneath the bed.
• Luo Bin comforted Gu Yiren and pretended to sleep as evil spirits entered and gathered around the bed.
• Mo Qian stayed motionless beneath the bed while the evil spirits inspected the room, then crawled out after they left.
• Mo Qian considered escaping but wondered why Luo Bin had been waiting for him, and Luo Bin opened his eyes and met his gaze with a smile.

Luo Bin told Mo Qian how their group had reached Cabinet Mountain Town and shared his plans to confront the Manager, while Mo Qian urged him to find and hunt the person controlling them. After Zhang Baijiao reported another killing, he taught Luo Bin and Gu Yiren about the demons lurking in the Cedar Forest, including dangerous creatures near rivers and ruined shelters.

• Luo Bin explained their journey from Cabinet Mountain Village to the town and told Mo Qian that the Hunter had killed Si and brought them there.
• Mo Qian urged Luo Bin to find the Manager and make him reveal how to escape Cabinet Mountain, and Luo Bin agreed that they would search for him together.
• Luo Bin hid Mo Qian when Zhang Baijiao arrived and reported another corpse with its organs removed and the word “demon” written nearby.
• Luo Bin asked Zhang Baijiao about Carp Wraiths and Blood Fireflies, and Zhang Baijiao explained their appearances and how they killed people.
• Zhang Baijiao warned Luo Bin and Gu Yiren about Beauty Snakes hiding in ruined houses and caves, and Luo Bin recalled the graves and dangerous river near Cabinet Mountain Village.

Luo Bin rejected Mo Qian’s demand to take Gu Yiren, but Mo Qian returned and agreed to work with him on finding a safe place to trap evil spirits and test whether they could refine lamp oil. After Luo Bin and Gu Yiren returned to their house, a woman who called herself a friend of Uncle Zhang arrived with two bundles of sage.

• Mo Qian asked Luo Bin to give Gu Yiren to him, but Luo Bin refused and told him to leave.
• Mo Qian returned, and he and Luo Bin agreed to search for a secure shelter while testing the Mountain God Temple as a place to catch an evil spirit.
• Mo Qian told Luo Bin and Gu Yiren to leave his courtyard and said he would meet them at noon to show them a hidden path outside town.
• Luo Bin and Gu Yiren returned to the Two-Story House, where Gu Yiren began cleaning the bloody traces left by an evil spirit.
• A woman claiming to be a friend of Uncle Zhang offered Luo Bin two bundles of sage to cleanse the house.

Luo Bin and Mo Qian returned to the Mountain God Temple to establish a base and prepare traps, but something unseen began watching them inside. The chapter ended with Luo Bin spotting a crouching shadow and warning Mo Qian not to look up.

• Luo Bin refused to accept the woman’s grass and decided to verify her story with Zhang Baijiao the next morning.
• Luo Bin and Mo Qian traveled through a secluded path and reached the Mountain God Temple before nightfall.
• Mo Qian proposed using the temple as their base and setting traps, while Luo Bin planned to warn Lu Fu away from the area.
• As they settled in for the night, Mo Qian sensed someone watching them and saw a strange shadow inside the temple.
• Luo Bin woke and saw the crouching shadow too, then quietly told Mo Qian not to look up.

Luo Bin discovered that a hidden creature in the Mountain God Temple feared fire, and he and Mo Qian survived the night by keeping the bonfire lit. The next morning, Luo Bin found that paths through the Cedar Forest looped around a particular area, leaving him to suspect something was being kept from discovery.

• Luo Bin rewound his memories and realized a strange figure had watched him and Gu Yiren in the temple, while an evil spirit outside appeared to avoid it.
• As the shadow between Luo Bin and Mo Qian began to rise and stretch over the dying bonfire, Luo Bin fed the flames with lamp oil and cloth, forcing it to retreat.
• Mo Qian helped build up the fire, then questioned Luo Bin about the creature and his need to drink lamp oil; Luo Bin admitted the oil kept him lucid.
• Luo Bin and Mo Qian spent the night safely beside the fire, and Mo Qian left at dawn to set traps.
• While searching for a suitable place to stay, Luo Bin found that several routes through the Cedar Forest returned him to the same starting point and suspected the loops were keeping people away from something.

Luo Bin escaped the looping path and discovered a fenced courtyard with a flower garden and a man he suspected was the Manager. As he watched from the bushes, a snake-bodied woman emerged beside him, and he stabbed her with the Woodcutter's Knife.

• Luo Bin blindfolded himself, walked beyond the looping path, and marked a tree to show the way back.
• Luo Bin followed the strange animal and grass smells until he spotted Two-Legged Sheep grazing at the forest's edge.
• Li Yunyi watched the Flower Plant representing the Outsider from Beyond the Mountain and urged it to keep blooming until Junior Sister Xingyue arrived.
• Luo Bin crept closer and saw a Fenced Courtyard, a flower garden, and a resting man he suspected was the Manager.
• A beautiful woman with a snake's body sprang from the leaves beside Luo Bin, and he drove the Woodcutter's Knife into her head.

Luo Bin escaped the Cedar Forest after killing a Beauty Snake and told Mo Qian about the Manager and the flower bed, while Li Yunyi sent another message about the Outsider from Beyond the Mountain’s third flower. Luo Bin wondered whether he and Feng Luo had once been close to finding another Radiant Flower bed on the mountaintop.

• Luo Bin fled the Cedar Forest with the dead Beauty Snake impaled on his Woodcutter’s Knife and realized the Manager was nearby, protected by demons.
• Li Yunyi saw the Outsider from Beyond the Mountain’s flower grow a third blossom, then sent his junior sister a talisman-wrapped Cloth Doll urging her to come witness it.
• Li Yunyi concealed a small incense burner in the flower bed as a strong wind swept through the Cedar Forest.
• Mo Qian refused to take Luo Bin’s knife, and Luo Bin told him about the courtyard, the Manager, and the demons guarding the flower bed.
• Mo Qian warned that they could not kill the Manager directly, while Luo Bin wondered whether the path to the mountaintop hid another flower bed they had nearly found before.

Luo Bin and Mo Qian began planning to capture the Manager and force him to reveal a way out of Cabinet Mountain, then returned to town to prepare. Luo Bin rested at Gu Yiren’s home, intending to use the Beauty Snake’s remains to test whether the Demon Hunter would mistake him for a Demon.

• Mo Qian proposed capturing the Manager rather than killing him and making him reveal how to escape Cabinet Mountain.
• Luo Bin and Mo Qian returned to town, agreeing to set things up and wait for an opportunity to draw the Manager out.
• Gu Yiren told Luo Bin that Grandpa Zhang had visited and that Shang Liuli, the Temple Keeper, had provided sage to ward off bad luck.
• Luo Bin ate the meal Gu Yiren had prepared, then planned to put the Beauty Snake’s head in the street after resting.
• Luo Bin wondered whether the Demon Hunter had mistaken him for a Demon and whether a real Demon might still be active in town.

Luo Bin waited for the Evil Spirits to leave so he could dispose of the Beauty Snake, unaware that a rat had already carried it to Shang Liuli. She realized Luo Bin had killed a demon, but Evil Spirits soon crowded around her as she lay motionless.

• Luo Bin and Gu Yiren each took a quilt and went to sleep, while Luo Bin periodically checked his Pocket Watch and waited for a chance to leave.
• A rat dragged the Beauty Snake's bundle from Luo Bin's house through the dark streets to Shang Liuli's courtyard.
• Shang Liuli recalled how she had investigated the demon among the outsiders and used a hidden rat to test whether Luo Bin was one.
• Shang Liuli found the Beauty Snake's severed head and wounded body in the bundle, realizing Luo Bin had solved one of the town's problems.
• Seven or eight Evil Spirits entered Shang Liuli's room and stared at her as she lay motionless on the bed.

After the Beauty Snake’s severed head appeared outside Luo Bin’s home, the townspeople believed the demon had been slain by a Demon Hunter. Zhang Baijiao took Luo Bin to the Medicine Shop to treat his shoulder, then prepared a bowl of medicine while Luo Bin began to feel that something was wrong.

• Luo Bin found the Beauty Snake’s bundle missing, then saw a crowd gathered around its severed head and the word “Demon” written in blood.
• Lu Fu announced that the demon had been slain, while Luo Bin told Gu Yiren they might not be safe and concealed his own role in the killing.
• Zhang Baijiao came for Luo Bin, questioned him about the Demon Hunter, and led him to the Medicine Shop to treat his wound.
• Zhang Baijiao tore off Luo Bin’s scab, applied a new ointment, and insisted that he stay for a bowl of nourishing medicine.
• Zhang Baijiao secretly poured a bowl of thick medicine and returned, calling, “Luo Bin, come. Time for your medicine.”

Luo Bin left Zhang Baijiao’s Medicine Shop without drinking the secret brew, which Lu Fu then drank before setting out. Lu Fu mistook Huang Quan for a Two-Legged Sheep and beheaded him, while Luo Bin returned home to find white worms burrowing through his shoulder wound.

• Zhang Baijiao gave Luo Bin a bowl of secret medicine, but Lu Fu arrived and Zhang sent Luo Bin away before he drank it.
• Zhang Baijiao made Lu Fu drink Luo Bin’s medicine, then prepared more secret brew and pills for him to take out of town.
• Lu Fu encountered a Two-Legged Sheep and killed Huang Quan, mistaking him for the demon as three more Two-Legged Sheep charged nearby.
• Lu Fu barricaded himself inside the Coffin House as Li Yuan, Yu Hao, and Liu Xiang found Huang Quan’s body and demanded to know why Lu Fu had killed him.
• Luo Bin returned home with unbearable itching and scraped ointment from his shoulder, revealing tiny white worms burrowing into the wound.

Luo Bin discovered that bugs had been hidden in the medicine Zhang Baijiao gave him and set out to confront the doctor while Mo Qian stayed behind to protect Gu Yiren. Meanwhile, Lu Fu remained trapped inside the coffin house after killing Huang Quan, and Shang Liuli realized the second Demon had possessed him.

• Gu Yiren burned the bugs out of Luo Bin’s wound, and Luo Bin recalled that Zhang Baijiao had changed his medicine after removing his scab.
• Mo Qian urged Luo Bin to deal with Zhang Baijiao, while Luo Bin left Mo Qian to protect Gu Yiren and went to the Medicine Shop alone.
• Luo Bin saw townspeople rushing toward a crowd but continued toward the Medicine Shop because finding Zhang Baijiao was his priority.
• A crowd gathered outside the coffin house after Lu Fu killed Huang Quan, and Shang Liuli identified Lu Fu as the second Demon’s host.
• Lu Fu feared the Two-Legged Sheep surrounding the coffin house and decided he had to escape by another route.
• Luo Bin cautiously knocked on the Medicine Shop door with his hand on the cleaver at his waist.

Luo Bin found Zhang Baijiao nearly hanged in the Medicine Shop and learned that the Poison Cat had possessed him and tampered with medicine meant for Luo Bin and Lu Fu. After realizing Lu Fu may be hallucinating and mistake people for demons, Luo Bin suspected the Poison Cat had targeted him only as part of a larger trap.

• Luo Bin broke into the Medicine Shop and cut Zhang Baijiao down from a hemp rope.
• Zhang Baijiao urgently asked who had visited the shop, then revealed he had been possessed by the Poison Cat.
• Luo Bin recalled Zhang Baijiao's suspicious behavior while treating his wound and told him what had happened.
• Zhang Baijiao explained that the Poison Cat had put insects in Luo Bin's wound and prepared a hallucinogenic decoction for Lu Fu.
• Luo Bin learned that Lu Fu's home resembled a coffin and feared the drug could make him mistake people for demons.
• Luo Bin questioned why the Poison Cat had acted so boldly after the Beautiful Woman Snake's death, suspecting its true target was Lu Fu.

Luo Bin and Zhang Baijiao tried to calm the townspeople and help Lu Fu, but they discovered that Lu Fu had escaped from the Coffin House through a hole in its back wall.

• Luo Bin told Zhang Baijiao that Lu Fu was surrounded, then warned him not to reveal that the Poison Cat had possessed him.
• Zhang Baijiao persuaded the townspeople to leave the Coffin House by claiming Lu Fu had taken hallucinogenic medicine, and he ordered Li Yuan to establish a perimeter.
• Zhang Baijiao burned crushed medicine and blew the smoke into the Coffin House while Luo Bin prepared to open the door.
• Luo Bin cut through an obstruction behind the door, and Zhang Baijiao found a hole broken through the rear wall.
• Zhang Baijiao and Luo Bin crawled outside and realized that Lu Fu had already escaped.

Lu Fu fled Cabinet Mountain Town while Shang Liuli followed him, and Shangguan Xingyue learned that an Outsider from Beyond the Mountain had produced a rare Three-Life Flower. Enraged, she awakened Luo Feng and Gu Ya as lucid evil spirits and told Luo Feng that his son was now trapped in Mountain Cabinet too.

• Lu Fu escaped the town after finding it overrun by Two-Legged Sheep, and Shang Liuli followed him to make sure he could not return and harm anyone.
• Shangguan Xingyue received a message about a Three-Life Flower and grew angry that an Outsider from Beyond the Mountain had produced one after leaving her reach.
• Shangguan Xingyue found Luo Feng and Gu Ya among the evil spirits and used talismans to awaken them as lucid evil spirits.
• Shangguan Xingyue told Luo Feng that his son was trapped in Mountain Cabinet and taunted him over his misery.

After Lu Fu disappeared while under the drug’s effects, the townspeople and Demon Hunters grew suspicious that a Poison Cat was involved. Luo Bin and Gu Yiren were summoned for questioning, and they arrived to find Zhang Baijiao standing inside a ring of firewood.

• Luo Bin and Zhang Baijiao returned to the Coffin House, where Li Yuan, Yu Hao, and Liu Xiang learned Lu Fu might remain dangerous for three days and went to organize a search.
• Zhang Baijiao warned that someone might have tampered with the medicine and that a Poison Cat could be involved, alerting the townspeople and Demon Hunters.
• Luo Bin told Mo Qian and Gu Yiren what had happened, and Mo Qian left while Luo Bin and Gu Yiren stayed behind.
• Yu Hao came to Luo Bin’s home and ordered him and Gu Yiren to come for individual checks, explaining that the Town Chief was still missing and everyone was a suspect.
• Luo Bin and Gu Yiren arrived at a clearing and saw Zhang Baijiao standing amid piles of firewood as the townspeople gathered.

Li Yuan organized a town-wide bonfire test to find the Poison Cat, and Zhang Baijiao explained that the Town Chief had taught Li Yuan the method. After everyone present passed, Li Yuan declared Shang Liuli’s unexplained absence suspicious and the crowd began calling her the Poison Cat.

• Li Yuan announced that the Town Chief was missing and that Zhang Baijiao believed a Poison Cat had harmed him.
• Land Guards lit the bonfires, and Zhang Baijiao passed the test before residents entered in groups.
• Zhang Baijiao told Luo Bin and Gu Yiren that he had meant to alert the Demon Hunter and that the Town Chief had secretly taught Li Yuan how to detect a Poison Cat.
• Luo Bin and the other residents passed through the bonfires, and Li Yuan joined the final group for testing.
• Li Yuan announced that everyone present was clear but that Lu Fu and Shang Liuli were absent.
• Li Yuan dismissed Lu Fu’s absence as understandable and accused Shang Liuli, prompting the crowd to chant that she was the Poison Cat.

Li Yuan convinced the townspeople that Shang Liuli was the Poison Cat, but Luo Bin realized the test was a frame-up orchestrated by the real Poison Cat. He challenged Li Yuan over a tail he spotted behind him, leaving the crowd stunned.

• Li Yuan declared Shang Liuli the Poison Cat, and the Land Guards and townspeople began chanting for her to be burned.
• Luo Bin deduced that Shang Liuli was likely the Demon Hunter and that the Poison Cat had manipulated events to frame her.
• Li Yuan ordered the townspeople to hide from the Town Chief and capture Shang Liuli if they saw her.
• Luo Bin questioned what would happen to the Town Chief after Shang Liuli was burned, drawing suspicion from Li Yuan and the crowd.
• Luo Bin asked Li Yuan to explain the tail behind him, and Li Yuan turned to look before calling it nonsense.

Luo Bin accused Li Yuan of being the Poison Cat and persuaded the Land Guards to demand that he enter the fire pit again. Li Yuan revealed his demonic form and tried to flee into the crowd, but Mo Qian tackled him into a burning fire pit.

• Luo Bin challenged Li Yuan’s account and argued that he had seen a tail, making the townspeople and Land Guards suspicious of him.
• Li Yuan denied the accusation and demanded that Luo Bin be seized, but the Land Guards called on Li Yuan to prove himself by standing in the fire pit for ten minutes.
• Li Yuan moved toward the Land Guards, and a black tail appeared behind his shadow as his face took on a sinister, fur-like appearance.
• Mo Qian tackled Li Yuan to stop him from reaching the crowd, and Luo Bin warned Mo Qian that the Poison Cat might possess him.
• Mo Qian and Li Yuan rolled into a fire pit, where burning wood collapsed over them as the Poison Cat screamed in agony.

Luo Bin killed the Poison Cat after it emerged from the bonfire, saving Cabinet Mountain Town and freeing Li Yuan from its control. The town began to recover, while Mo Qian rejected Zhang Baijiao’s offer to examine his strange skin condition.

• Li Yuan and Mo Qian rolled out of the collapsed bonfire as the Poison Cat continued screaming inside it.
• The Poison Cat burst from the fire and charged the crowd, but Luo Bin struck it with a knife and killed it.
• Zhang Baijiao sent Yu Hao to clear the townspeople away and took Li Yuan and Mo Qian to the pharmacy for burn treatment.
• Luo Bin retrieved the Woodcutter's Knife from the Poison Cat and left the gathering with Gu Yiren for the pharmacy.
• Li Yuan thanked Luo Bin for saving him, while Mo Qian refused Zhang Baijiao’s offer to examine his skin.