Chapter Summaries

Luo Bin and Gu Yiren returned to the Two-Story House, where Mo Qian joined them after being treated for his injuries and learned that Shang Liuli was the Demon Hunter. Meanwhile, Lu Fu took shelter in the mountain god temple, where a horrifying rat-headed creature confronted him.

• Mo Qian rejected Li Yuan's concern, and Luo Bin told Gu Yiren that Mo Qian kept others at a distance to protect himself from false hope.
• Luo Bin and Gu Yiren returned to the Two-Story House, where Luo Bin wondered whether Lu Fu and Shang Liuli had survived their confrontation.
• Mo Qian arrived at the house, learned from Luo Bin that Shang Liuli was the Demon Hunter, and ate the noodles Gu Yiren had prepared.
• Lu Fu, feeling pursued, sought shelter in the mountain god temple as darkness fell.
• A rat-headed creature dropped from the roof beam and declared that Lu Fu would die.

Lu Fu was killed by Blood Fireflies inside the Mountain God Temple after the evil spirits outside departed. At dawn, Shang Liuli identified the likely demon, while Luo Bin and Mo Qian arrived and realized Lu Fu had died after failing to light a bonfire.

• Lu Fu saw Rat Head vanish, then spotted a figure hanging from a beam as Blood Fireflies gathered around it.
• Blood Fireflies swarmed Lu Fu when he tried to escape, leaving him dead and covered in tiny holes by dawn.
• Shang Liuli found Lu Fu’s corpse, concluded Blood Fireflies had killed him, and hurried back toward town.
• Luo Bin prepared provisions with Gu Yiren, gave her instructions for seeking help, and left town with Mo Qian.
• At the Mountain God Temple, Luo Bin and Mo Qian found Lu Fu’s corpse, and Luo Bin suspected the Blood Fireflies had attacked after Lu Fu went without a bonfire.

Luo Bin investigated Blood Firefly’s presence in the Mountain God Temple and devised a way to use the temple and its entrance to trap evil spirits. He later followed a path toward the Manager’s courtyard and, after considering how lamp oil might provoke the Manager, noticed that the forest had gone strangely quiet.

• Luo Bin explained the town’s evil spirits to Mo Qian and concluded that keeping a bonfire lit would let them remain in the Mountain God Temple despite Blood Firefly.
• Luo Bin climbed onto the roof beam but found no trace of Blood Firefly, then proposed setting traps at the temple entrance to catch evil spirits.
• Mo Qian moved Lu Fu’s corpse aside and began planning the trap while Luo Bin went into the cedar forest.
• Luo Bin retraced the route toward the Manager’s fenced courtyard and reasoned that making lamp oil might anger the Manager and create an opening to act.
• Luo Bin noticed that the forest was unusually quiet and wondered where Two-Legged Sheep had gone.

Luo Bin overheard Li Yunyi and Shangguan Xingyue plotting to intensify the Outsider from Beyond the Mountain’s fear so a Three-Life Flower would bloom. He realized the Outsider was himself and that his parents, Feng Luo and Gu Ya, were still alive, but remained hidden as hatred and dread overwhelmed him.

• Luo Bin crept to a cedar tree near the courtyard and hid among its branches to listen to the two people inside.
• Li Yunyi urged Shangguan Xingyue to keep their private visit to the Flower Garden secret until the Three-Life Flower bloomed.
• Shangguan Xingyue proposed bringing Feng Luo and Gu Ya from Cabinet Mountain Village and making them eat people in front of the Outsider from Beyond the Mountain.
• Li Yunyi resented the Outsider because the flower still had not bloomed, while Shangguan Xingyue remained under the influence of his hidden drug.
• Luo Bin recognized that he was the Outsider and that Feng Luo and Gu Ya were his living parents, then restrained himself from attacking Shangguan Xingyue.

Li Yunyi failed to win Shangguan Xingyue over and secretly prepared to drug her, while Luo Bin waited for night and stole a flag he suspected could ward off demons. Before leaving the Flower Garden, Luo Bin spotted the three-life flower with three buds.

• Shangguan Xingyue rejected Li Yunyi’s romantic advances and left to fetch the couple while he contacted his Master and the others.
• Li Yunyi cursed Shangguan Xingyue, added drug powder to the incense burner, and planned to keep her at Cabinet Mountain.
• Luo Bin stayed hidden in a tree as Two-Legged Sheep and other strange creatures gathered around the courtyard.
• After night fell and the creatures disappeared, Luo Bin entered the courtyard and pulled up the copper-pole flag Li Yunyi had moved.
• Luo Bin recognized several strange designs stitched into the flag, wrapped it, and tucked it into his clothes.
• As Luo Bin prepared to leave, he noticed the three-life flower with three buds.

Luo Bin cut the roots of every Flower Plant in the Flower Garden, stole an Incense Burner, and set the grounds on fire before returning to the Mountain God Temple. He reunited with Mo Qian, who had prepared a trap, but Luo Bin kicked apart the temple’s bonfire, leaving Mo Qian terrified.

• Luo Bin suspected the Three-Life Flower was close to blooming and cut its roots and those of the flowers representing Gu Yiren, Mo Qian, and You Jiang.
• Luo Bin severed every Flower Plant in the garden, took an Incense Burner from a room, and set the place on fire.
• Luo Bin noticed You Jiang’s flower had withered and its fruits had ripened, so he picked them before leaving.
• Luo Bin returned to the Mountain God Temple and entered through a window, where he found Mo Qian waiting after setting a trap.
• Luo Bin kicked apart the temple’s bonfire, and Mo Qian shouted that he was putting them both in danger.

Luo Bin used a stolen Flag to kill two demons that appeared after he scattered the bonfire in the Mountain God Temple. He handed the Flag to Mo Qian and set out to catch an evil spirit, but Mo Qian stopped him before they left through the window.

• Luo Bin kicked apart the bonfire, and a shadow rose as Blood Firefly appeared in the temple.
• Luo Bin unfurled the Flag, which made Blood Firefly collapse and smoke as it died.
• Luo Bin and Mo Qian found another demon hanging upside down behind the Mountain God Statue, and it also shriveled and died from the Flag's power.
• Mo Qian asked to see the Flag, and Luo Bin handed it over before saying they had to catch an evil spirit that night.
• Luo Bin headed for the window to avoid the front door, but Mo Qian called for him to wait.

Luo Bin and Mo Qian trapped an evil spirit outside the Mountain God Temple and carried it inside to study how to refine oil from it. When Mo Qian revealed that the process required a Night Watchman’s secret technique, Luo Bin suspected the Small Banner might offer another method.

• Mo Qian’s chain trap caught an evil spirit, but the others noticed the trap and retreated.
• At daybreak, Mo Qian and Luo Bin found the captured evil spirit hanging from a tree in the Cedar Forest and brought him to the temple.
• Luo Bin examined the motionless evil spirit and wondered whether different kinds of evil spirits could be saved from death or poison.
• Mo Qian returned the Small Banner to Luo Bin, then asked how to refine oil from the captive.
• After hearing about Feng Ji and Zhong Zhicheng’s methods, Mo Qian said oil refining required a Night Watchman’s secret technique and asked whether Cabinet Mountain Town had one.
• Luo Bin said that was not right and looked down at the Small Banner, prompting Mo Qian to wonder whether it could provide an alternative method.

Luo Bin explained that the Small Banner worked without Lamp Oil, while Zhong Zhicheng had merely stumbled upon one way to make it. Mo Qian rendered fat from an evil spirit into Lamp Oil, and the two discussed testing it in town while avoiding the returning Managers and other dangers.

• Luo Bin told Mo Qian that the Small Banner needed no primer and that Zhong Zhicheng had likely discovered only one way to produce Lamp Oil.
• Mo Qian agreed to render the evil spirit’s fat and struggled to cut through its tough skin before opening it from the mouth.
• Mo Qian skinned the evil spirit and filled an iron pot with its fat while Luo Bin gathered firewood.
• Luo Bin and Mo Qian rendered the fat over a fire until it darkened and thickened into oil resembling the Lamp Oil they had brought.
• Mo Qian suggested testing the new Lamp Oil that night, and Luo Bin proposed going to town to lure evil spirits while reducing the risk of being detected.

Li Yunyi returned to Cabinet Mountain with the Lord of Cabinet Mountain and the disciples, expecting praise for cultivating a Three-Life Flower. He found the courtyard in ruins and the Emotion Flowers and Three-Life Flower eaten by Two-Legged Sheep, leaving him ordered to restore them and furious at whoever caused the disaster.

• Li Yunyi impressed the Lord of Cabinet Mountain and the disciples by revealing that the Twin-Bloom Flower was a Three-Life Flower.
• Li Yunyi and the others crossed Cabinet Mountain’s hidden paths toward the Cedar Forest, where they discovered the burned courtyard and Two-Legged Sheep eating the Flower Plants.
• Li Yunyi saw the largest Two-Legged Sheep chewing on the Three-Life Flower’s bud and collapsed in terror.
• The Lord of Cabinet Mountain spared Li Yunyi but ordered him to restore the Emotion Flowers and the Three-Life Flower.
• After the others left, Li Yunyi stood and screamed, demanding to know who had caused the destruction.

Li Yunyi discovered that the Two-Legged Sheep had devastated the Flower Garden after someone cut the roots of its emotion flowers, and he vowed to find the culprit. Shangguan Xingyue blamed and rejected him, while the unaware Luo Bin returned to Cabinet Mountain Town with Mo Qian, who intended to become its new town chief.

• Li Yunyi drove the Two-Legged Sheep from the Flower Garden and found that the Three-Life Flower and the other emotion flowers had been ruined, their roots cut.
• Li Yunyi suspected someone in Cabinet Mountain had sabotaged him and threatened to find and kill the culprit.
• Shangguan Xingyue arrived with Luo Feng and Gu Ya, criticized Li Yunyi, and refused to hand over the couple unless he produced another Three-Life Flower.
• Shangguan Xingyue left with Luo Feng and Gu Ya, while Li Yunyi seethed with hatred and rage.
• Luo Bin headed back to Cabinet Mountain Town with Mo Qian, who insisted on bringing back Lu Fu's body and revealed that he wanted to become the new town chief.

Mo Qian brought Lu Fu’s corpse and a skinned evil spirit to Cabinet Mountain Town, then claimed Lu Fu had entrusted him with a plan to reshape the town and the position of Town Chief. The crowd distrusted his claim, and someone challenged his right to take the role.

• Luo Bin returned to the Two-Story House and asked Gu Yiren to give blood, reassuring her he would not hand her over to Mo Qian.
• Mo Qian arrived at the town entrance carrying Lu Fu’s corpse and dragging the skinned evil spirit, then demanded to see the Land Guards’ leader.
• Yu Hao asked Mo Qian what had happened, and Mo Qian claimed Lu Fu had fled town after the Poison Cat’s attack and died soon after Mo Qian found him.
• Mo Qian told the crowd that Lu Fu had discovered a way to protect the town from evil spirits and had entrusted him with the method and the Town Chief position.
• Mo Qian declared that he would be Town Chief, but the crowd distrusted him and an unidentified person challenged his claim.

Mo Qian seized control of Cabinet Mountain Town by killing Liu Xiang and declaring himself Town Chief, then announced he would test Lu Fu’s method against the Evil Spirits that night. He chose Luo Bin to assist him, while the townspeople submitted but remained reluctant to risk their lives.

• Liu Xiang challenged Mo Qian’s claim to be Town Chief, and Mo Qian killed him in front of the townspeople.
• Yu Hao and the other Land Guards bowed to Mo Qian, who asked about the town’s Blacksmith and Night Watchman and said he would test Lu Fu’s method that night.
• Mo Qian offered the volunteer who helped him the position of Deputy Town Chief, but no one stepped forward.
• Mo Qian threatened to force someone to assist him, then pointed at Luo Bin.
• Yu Hao and another Land Guard praised Luo Bin as Mo Qian’s chosen assistant.

Luo Bin and Mo Qian prepared to test whether Lamp Oil could repel Evil Spirits, drawing townspeople’s curiosity while keeping Luo Bin’s connection to Mo Qian hidden. As night fell, the Oil Lamp still had not triggered Luo Bin’s expected aversion to light, and Mo Qian lured Evil Spirits to the courtyard gate.

• Luo Bin accepted Mo Qian’s request to help test Lu Fu’s method and asked Zhang Baijiao to keep Gu Yiren safe.
• Mo Qian announced that Lu Fu’s body deserved a proper burial if his method worked, and the townspeople crowded around the Evil Spirit’s corpse.
• Mo Qian and Luo Bin entered a courtyard, where they discussed how to test the Lamp Oil while encouraging townspeople to follow and become curious.
• Mo Qian poured the Lamp Oil into Luo Bin’s Oil Lamp, and the two waited until nightfall to begin the test.
• Luo Bin felt his thirst for blood intensify but still experienced no aversion to light as Mo Qian lured Evil Spirits toward the gate.

Luo Bin and Mo Qian confirmed that lamp oil kept Cabinet Mountain Town’s evil spirits from entering, then planned to capture one using oil pouches and Luo Bin’s blood. Luo Bin lured a little girl evil spirit toward their courtyard, but discovered her parents following close behind, leaving him to choose between abandoning the trap or risking a fight against all three.

• Mo Qian and Luo Bin watched three evil spirits approach the courtyard gate and turn away without entering, confirming that the lamp oil worked against them.
• Luo Bin gave Mo Qian pouches of his blood and explained that they could use it to suppress evil spirits if their lamp-oil pouches failed.
• After a group of seven evil spirits approached and inspected the courtyard, Mo Qian proposed luring a lone spirit inside; Luo Bin went out to try the plan himself.
• Luo Bin encountered a little girl evil spirit he had fought before and led her toward the courtyard while keeping a steady distance.
• Luo Bin saw the girl’s parents following about twenty meters behind her and had to decide whether to abandon the trap or risk subduing all three evil spirits.

Luo Bin and Mo Qian lured three Evil Spirits into a courtyard, subdued them, and survived the night inside the main hall. At dawn, Mo Qian declared himself Town Chief and promised to make homes safe, while the townspeople prepared to follow his orders.

• Luo Bin entered the courtyard and helped Mo Qian ambush the little girl Evil Spirit, then they subdued the two Evil Spirits who followed her.
• Luo Bin and Mo Qian fled into the main hall as a crowd of Evil Spirits entered the courtyard, and they waited there until dawn.
• Mo Qian and Luo Bin found the three Evil Spirits motionless, and Luo Bin worried that Feng Luo and Gu Ya had also become Evil Spirits and might be taken to Cabinet Mountain Town.
• Yu Hao and the townspeople gathered at the courtyard, and Mo Qian explained how he and Luo Bin had moved safely outside and captured the Evil Spirits.
• Mo Qian ordered the townspeople to gather copper items and promised, as Town Chief, to make homes safe with oil lamps lit and doors and windows shut.

Mo Qian named Luo Bin deputy town chief and organized the making of oil lamps and lamp oil as protection against evil spirits. Luo Bin left the gathering and met Zhang Baijiao, Gu Yiren, and Shang Liuli, who thanked him for saving her from being mistaken for the poison cat.

• Mo Qian raised Luo Bin's hand and declared him deputy town chief, prompting Li Yuan, Yu Hao, the Land Guards, and the townspeople to join the chant.
• Mo Qian explained the oil lamp to blacksmith Shang Qu and taught Night Watchman Pan Ji how to make lamp oil.
• Li Yuan argued that the townspeople should not be sent recklessly to capture evil spirits, and Mo Qian praised him and restored his authority over the Land Guards.
• Luo Bin left the courtyard and found Zhang Baijiao, Gu Yiren, and Shang Liuli waiting outside the crowd.
• Shang Liuli thanked Luo Bin for revealing that Li Yuan had been possessed by the poison cat, and Luo Bin told her she should not have been killed.

Luo Bin followed Shang Liuli to her courtyard, where she revealed that she understood his concerns about Mo Qian and invited him to exchange information. The two eased their suspicions, but Luo Bin waited to hear her account before deciding what to reveal.

• Luo Bin hinted that he owed Shang Liuli a kindness, and she offered to cleanse his bad luck.
• Luo Bin followed Shang Liuli to her courtyard and grew wary when he spotted black cats and gray rats in the shadows.
• Shang Liuli explained that the animals were not poison cats or rat kings and asked Luo Bin to close the gate.
• Shang Liuli showed that she knew Luo Bin was concerned she might target Mo Qian, and Luo Bin lowered his guard.
• Shang Liuli invited Luo Bin to speak first or let her begin, and Luo Bin asked her to go first so he could assess whether to trust her.

Luo Bin told Shang Liuli about Cabinet Mountain’s hidden Managers and the steps he had taken against their lair, then learned that a demon still lurked in town. Shang Liuli agreed to help hunt it and identified a fatal flaw in Luo Bin’s plan: they might not have enough time.

• Shang Liuli explained that her bronze warding bell rang when demons entered town but could not detect evil spirits.
• Luo Bin realized that a demon besides the poison cat might still be hiding in Cabinet Mountain Town.
• Luo Bin revealed the Managers’ control of the mountain and town, described destroying the Manager’s residence and Flower Garden, and showed Shang Liuli the Small Banner.
• Shang Liuli concluded that the hidden demon had witnessed Luo Bin’s actions and would likely try to undermine his plans, and she agreed to find it when it left traces.
• Shang Liuli warned that the Manager might retaliate against the townspeople and that Luo Bin’s plan depended on having enough time.
• Shang Liuli asked to see Mo Qian and examine the oil lamp, saying the time gap was a fatal flaw in the plan.

Li Yunyi weighed the risks of unleashing Nightmare and chose to use talismans on Cloth Dolls to restore the Flower Garden while keeping the outsider under control. That night, evil spirits tortured townspeople as new creatures entered Cabinet Mountain Town, and Shang Liuli’s bell rang eight times while she was away.

• Luo Bin told Shang Liuli that Cabinet Mountain Town had no safe place to gather its residents and that they could not control every variable.
• Li Yunyi considered using Nightmare to control the town, but feared it would bring Qin Jiumo back to the outsider, so he attached talismans to Cloth Dolls instead.
• Li Yunyi predicted that new Flower Plants would sprout that night after he finished preparing the talismans.
• Evil spirits entered Luo Bin and Gu Yiren’s room, tortured an unidentified townsman, and ignored the man’s claims that Luo Bin was awake and resisting them.
• Shang Liuli’s bell rang eight times while she was away, and creatures slipped into houses near the town’s edge, where screams soon followed.