Chapter Summaries

Mo Qian’s wooden lamp kept an evil spirit from entering the courtyard, but a Carp Wraith nearly strangled him in his bedroom before he killed her. Meanwhile, Luo Bin endured the administrator’s torture and resolved to protect Feng Luo and Gu Ya if they appeared.

• Mo Qian tested Shang Liuli’s wooden lamp and saw that the evil spirit outside could not open the courtyard gate.
• Mo Qian found a woman in his bedroom and attacked her, but she revealed herself as a Carp Wraith and bound him with her limbs and hair.
• Mo Qian wounded the Carp Wraith’s neck and chest with blades hidden beneath his fingernails, killing her.
• Luo Bin was forced by the administrator to watch an evil spirit torture a townsman and struggled to control his fear.
• Luo Bin decided to endure the ordeal so the administrator would not suspect his plan, and vowed to protect Feng Luo and Gu Ya if they appeared.

Shangguan Xingyue returned Luo Feng and Gu Ya to Li Yunyi, who prepared to use them and the three-life flower to control the outsider. In town, Gu Yiren followed Luo Bin after a night of horror, and Luo Bin suddenly sensed danger and shouted for her to stop.

• Shangguan Xingyue's master said an unknown outsider had interfered with his divination and ordered her to help Li Yunyi.
• Shangguan Xingyue brought Luo Feng and Gu Ya to Li Yunyi, who showed her new shoots growing where the three-life flower had stood.
• Luo Bin and Gu Yiren found the townsman's remains beneath the bed, and Gu Yiren decided to stay behind to deal with the body.
• Luo Bin headed into town to find Mo Gan, while Gu Yiren followed him down the main road.
• Luo Bin felt alarmed and shouted for Gu Yiren to stop, but she kept coming toward him with fear on her face.

Luo Bin discovered that demons had entered Cabinet Mountain Town and used the Small Banner to identify and kill them. After the banner exposed and destroyed a poison cat in Mo Qian’s courtyard, the Land Guards began organizing to investigate the town.

• Luo Bin saw through Two-Legged Sheep disguising themselves as Gu Yiren and Zhang Baijiao, then killed both with his blade.
• Luo Bin returned to the Two-Story House, told Gu Yiren that demons were active during the day, and brought her to Mo Qian’s courtyard.
• Mo Qian reported that a carp fiend had attacked him, and Luo Bin warned the Land Guards that Two-Legged Sheep were also in town.
• Luo Bin used the Small Banner to check Li Yuan and Yu Hao, then blocked a disguised Land Guard from escaping as a poison cat.
• Luo Bin swept the Small Banner at the poison cat, which shriveled into a dried corpse, and Mo Qian ordered the Land Guards to investigate the town.
• Luo Bin stopped the group before they left to investigate.

Luo Bin and Mo Qian organized the town’s carpenters to make wooden oil lamps while keeping their plan to identify Demons secret. When Shang Liuli returned home with Luo Bin and Gu Yiren, they found her Cat-Rats slaughtered, and a crowd of hostile figures trapped them in the courtyard.

• Luo Bin explained which Demons could disguise themselves or possess people, and Mo Qian decided to have the townspeople make wooden oil lamps while delaying the search for Demons.
• Luo Bin persuaded the Land Guards to keep the plan secret until the lamps were ready, then accompanied Shang Qu to gather carpenters and secretly tested them with his flag.
• Mo Qian told the carpenters that Demons had entered town, and the carpenters began making oil lamps as the Land Guards brought timber.
• Shang Liuli insisted on checking her home, so Luo Bin and Gu Yiren followed her despite Mo Qian's warning.
• Shang Liuli found her Cat-Rats slaughtered and her Town Bell smeared with blood, fur, and intestines.
• The Town Bell began ringing, and dozens of hostile figures entered the courtyard before the gate slammed shut.

Demons attacked Shang Liuli, but she killed them all with Luo Bin’s little flag, and the pair prepared to lure the Manager into town. Back at the Two-Story House, Luo Bin drank Mountain Cabinet Town Lamp Oil and found that it intensified his urge to go out and dismember someone, leaving him at the door with his hand on the handle.

• A group of demons surrounded Shang Liuli, Luo Bin, and Gu Yiren, but Shang Liuli used Luo Bin’s little flag to kill them before they could attack.
• Li Yunyi planned to frighten the Outsider from Beyond the Mountain that night while Shangguan Xingyue watched over the talisman-bound Luo Feng and Gu Ya.
• Shang Liuli told Luo Bin that lighting the lamps could draw the Manager into Cabinet Mountain Town, and Luo Bin agreed to capture him and demand information about leaving Cabinet Mountain.
• Luo Bin and Shang Liuli worked with Mo Qian to prepare wooden lamps, then Luo Bin and Gu Yiren returned to the Two-Story House as demons watched them.
• Luo Bin drank Mountain Cabinet Town Lamp Oil, which eased his blood thirst but made his urge to leave the house and dismember someone almost impossible to suppress.
• Gu Yiren called out as Luo Bin realized he had walked to the door and was gripping its handle.

Luo Bin watched Evil Spirits torture three townspeople outside the Two-Story House and struggled against the guilt their cries stirred in him. Gu Yiren revealed that a second Si had appeared and warned that Luo Feng and Gu Ya were going to find Zhang Baijiao, leaving Luo Bin with a new person to save and a possible ally in the fight against the curse.

• Luo Bin went upstairs with Gu Yiren and watched eight Evil Spirits bring three townspeople to the Two-Story House.
• The Evil Spirits pinned the townspeople to the ground with steel rods, left them alive, and departed while they begged Luo Bin for help.
• Luo Bin refused to go outside and realized that the townspeople's suffering was stirring guilt in him.
• Gu Yiren told Luo Bin that Luo Feng and Gu Ya were going to find Zhang Baijiao and relayed a warning from a guide about the curse and the need to save someone trapped there.
• Gu Yiren saw a little girl on the bed and recognized her as a second Si.

Luo Bin left the safety of the Oil Lamp to find Zhang Baijiao, hoping to change the events that might break Luo Bin and Gu Yiren. At the Medicine Shop, Zhang Baijiao heard that villagers from nearby were being chased by evil spirits and opened the door to Luo Feng and Gu Ya.

• Luo Bin gave Gu Yiren the Small Banner and told her to stay by the Oil Lamp while he went to find Zhang Baijiao.
• Luo Bin passed three mortally wounded townspeople without trying to save them, knowing their injuries were too severe.
• Li Yunyi told Shangguan Xingyue that his added Talisman would make Luo Feng and Gu Ya's actions overwhelm Luo Bin with tangled emotions.
• Zhang Baijiao suspected Luo Bin and Mo Qian had been working together and hoped they might help him return to Cabinet Mountain Village to find his granddaughter.
• Luo Feng and Gu Ya claimed at the Medicine Shop door that they were nearby villagers fleeing evil spirits, and Zhang Baijiao hurried to let them in.

Luo Feng and Gu Ya, now controlled by an evil spirit, attacked Zhang Baijiao in his Medicine Shop, but he escaped behind a door protected by an Oil Lamp. Luo Bin arrived and saw his parents as evil spirits, then began sneaking toward the shop’s roof.

• Luo Feng and Gu Ya approached Zhang Baijiao’s Medicine Shop and claimed they were Luo Bin’s parents.
• Zhang Baijiao opened the door, realized the pair were evil spirits, and was badly wounded as they tried to seize him.
• Zhang Baijiao escaped into another room with the Oil Lamp and shut the door, keeping Luo Feng and Gu Ya outside.
• Luo Feng and Gu Ya knocked and tried to lure Zhang Baijiao out by threatening his granddaughter, but he treated his wounds and stayed hidden.
• Luo Bin saw his parents inside the Medicine Shop, circled around without drawing their attention, and began climbing toward the roof.

Luo Bin reached Zhang Baijiao through the roof and kept him from opening the door to his transformed parents, Luo Feng and Gu Ya. After they left, Luo Bin resolved to resist the Nightmare’s influence, save his parents, and find the person trapped on Cabinet Mountain.

• Luo Bin climbed through the Medicine Shop’s skylight and warned Zhang Baijiao not to believe his parents’ claims about Zhang Yunling.
• Luo Feng and Gu Ya urged Luo Bin to open the door and leave with them, insisting they were his parents and warning him about Zhang Baijiao.
• Luo Bin refused to come out, declaring that the figures were the Nightmare’s corpse poison occupying his parents’ bodies.
• Luo Feng and Gu Ya left the Medicine Shop, while Zhang Baijiao worried they might attack others and asked whether they could recover.
• Luo Bin resolved to avoid emotional assimilation, find the trapped person, and figure out how to make his parents drink blood from Gu Yiren’s fingertip to regain their lucidity.

After surviving an evil spirit’s attack, Luo Bin returned to the Two-Story House and learned that the injured townspeople could not be saved. Gu Yiren then led him into the Cedar Forest, where they found Execution Mountain, the place holding the person they hoped to rescue.

• Luo Bin and Zhang Baijiao returned to the Two-Story House, where Zhang Baijiao said the two wounded men could not be saved.
• Tang Ke suggested that the evil spirits were targeting Luo Bin, but Li Yuan silenced him and Yu Hao sent the townspeople away.
• Yu Hao and Li Yuan killed the two suffering men, while Gu Yiren told Luo Bin she knew where the trapped person was being held.
• Luo Bin and Gu Yiren ate before leaving town and following a route through the Cedar Forest.
• Gu Yiren identified the small, tower-shaped mountain as Execution Mountain and warned Luo Bin that demons guarded it and watched the area nearby.

Luo Bin and Gu Yiren crossed Execution Mountain’s demon-infested clearing and found an old man imprisoned in a chamber beneath it. The old man recognized the name Jiume and feared that Si’s arrival meant Cabinet Mountain Town no longer existed.

• Luo Bin carried Gu Yiren across the grass with the Small Banner, killing three Mountain Fen and frightening away the other demons.
• Luo Bin found a narrow opening behind Execution Mountain and entered it alone, leaving the Small Banner with Gu Yiren.
• Luo Bin discovered a starving old man chained inside a stone chamber and revived him with a portion of Zhang Baijiao’s medicine.
• The old man asked whether Jiume had sent Luo Bin, and Luo Bin said that Si had told them to seek his help against the Manager and to escape.
• The old man heard that Si had come out and asked whether Cabinet Mountain Town no longer existed.

Luo Bin freed Yuan Yinxin from his chains and learned that Yuan Yinxin was Qin Jiumo’s senior fellow disciple, trapped while searching Cabinet Mountain for him. As they returned toward Cabinet Mountain Town, Yuan Yinxin began explaining the mountain’s Emotion Flower scheme and how its people had captured him.

• Luo Bin cut through Yuan Yinxin’s chains and told him that he had removed the Emotion Flower’s roots, while Yuan Yinxin warned that the flower could bind him to Cabinet Mountain.
• Yuan Yinxin recognized Luo Bin’s Evil-Breaking Banner and questioned him about finding the Manager’s base, but Luo Bin claimed he had been lucky and concealed his ability to rewind memories.
• Luo Bin introduced himself and Gu Yiren to Yuan Yinxin, and the three left Execution Mountain for Cabinet Mountain Town.
• Yuan Yinxin carried the Evil-Breaking Banner as they walked, causing nearby demons to retreat, then returned the banner to Luo Bin at the U-shaped road.
• Yuan Yinxin explained that he had found Cabinet Mountain while searching for Qin Jiumo, discovered its Emotion Flower scheme, and learned that a controller ruled over its villages and towns.
• Yuan Yinxin said he had found Si while planning to break the mountain’s arrangement, but the people of Cabinet Mountain discovered him after he learned about the corpse poison that created evil spirits.

Yuan Yinxin explained how Qin Jiumo became connected to the Nightmare and why Cabinet Mountain’s rulers may have hidden his true fate. At the Fenced Courtyard, Li Yunyi’s talismans suddenly burned, suggesting his plan to control spirits and demons had been exposed or thwarted.

• Yuan Yinxin told Luo Bin that Qin Jiumo had been assimilated after dying beside the Nightmare, but had secretly retained a sliver of hope and could influence Cabinet Mountain.
• Luo Bin reasoned that the Lord of Cabinet Mountain and the Managers had made a fake body for Qin Jiumo to stop villagers from following his path, and Yuan Yinxin asked him to share what he knew.
• Li Yunyi and Shangguan Xingyue saw Luo Bin’s Three-Life Flower recovering and developing buds, and Li Yunyi planned to use stronger talismans and Thousand Flowers in Bloom to torment him further.
• Several talismans on Li Yunyi’s cloth dolls caught fire, burning holes through the dolls and leaving Li Yunyi horrified that his scheme had been broken.

Li Yunyi discovered that his defenses around Cabinet Mountain Town had been broken and set out to investigate, leaving Shangguan Xingyue to guard the Flower Garden. Meanwhile, Yuan Yinxin helped Luo Bin secure the town against evil spirits and began planning their next move as Zhang Baijiao met the unfamiliar visitor.

• Li Yunyi suspected a Cabinet Mountain disciple had sabotaged his setup, told Shangguan Xingyue to guard the Flower Garden, and went to investigate Cabinet Mountain Town.
• Luo Bin told Yuan Yinxin the truth about Gu Yiren and explained their situation, refusing to sacrifice her to break open Cabinet Mountain.
• Yuan Yinxin instructed Luo Bin to plant the Evil-Breaking Banner to protect the town and distribute lamp oil before dark.
• Yuan Yinxin warned that Li Yunyi was likely coming and rejected rash plans, insisting they plan carefully before acting.
• Luo Bin brought Yuan Yinxin to Zhang Baijiao's pharmacy, where Zhang Baijiao questioned who the unfamiliar man was.

Luo Bin rescued Yuan Yinxin and hurried to the Blacksmith Shop, where the demons in Cabinet Mountain Town had suddenly died. With the townspeople preparing to distribute oil lamps, Luo Bin warned that the Evil-Breaking Flag at the town entrance needed covert guards in case the Manager came.

• Luo Bin brought the badly injured Yuan Yinxin to Zhang Baijiao, then left with Gu Yiren to find Mo Qian while Yuan promised a way to keep Luo Bin’s parents in town.
• At the Blacksmith Shop, a dozen townspeople died as demons emerged from their bodies, and Shang Liuli suspected Luo Bin had planted a flag to suppress the town.
• Mo Qian told the Land Guards and townspeople to stay calm, while Shang Liuli urged a search for remaining demons and the distribution of oil lamps that night.
• Luo Bin reached the shop and told Mo Qian and Shang Liuli that the Evil-Breaking Flag was at the town entrance, then instructed them to have people guard it from hiding.

Luo Bin told Mo Qian and Shang Liuli about the second Si and discussed whether Yuan Yinxin could be trusted. After Gu Yiren explained that the exposed Evil-Breaking Banner was a psychological attack, Li Yunyi mistook it for a trap and refused to retrieve it.

• Mo Qian questioned Luo Bin about defeating the demon, and Luo Bin explained the second Si, Yuan Yinxin, and his connection to Qin Jiumo while concealing Gu Yiren's role.
• Shang Liuli concluded that Yuan Yinxin's information matched what they knew, though she and Mo Qian remained cautious about his survival and motives.
• Luo Bin and Gu Yiren agreed not to rely completely on Yuan Yinxin and returned to the Medicine Shop to ask him about the exposed Evil-Breaking Banner.
• Zhang Baijiao said Yuan Yinxin was asleep while recovering, but Gu Yiren relayed that the banner had been planted openly to make the administrator fear a hidden danger.
• Li Yunyi saw the banner at the town entrance, assumed someone was trying to lure him into a trap, and decided not to retrieve it.

Li Yunyi gave up confronting the hidden opponent and sent Shangguan Xingyue to seek help from her absent master. Meanwhile, Yuan Yinxin woke in the Medicine Shop and Mo Qian asked why the group could not act against their enemy.

• Li Yunyi returned to the Fenced Courtyard and told Shangguan Xingyue that an unknown opponent had interfered with his plans in Cabinet Mountain Town.
• Shangguan Xingyue left for the Cabinet Mountain Taoist Grounds to tell her master, but learned that he had been absent for a day or two.
• Shangguan Xingyue worried over her missing master and looked toward the statue of the Lord of Cabinet Mountain in the Main Hall.
• Mo Qian and Shang Liuli arrived at the Medicine Shop, where Mo Qian reported that lamp oil had been distributed and Pan Ji had captured three evil spirits.
• Yuan Yinxin emerged from his room, and Mo Qian asked why the administrators could not act freely to catch their enemy.

Yuan Yinxin explained his plan to lure the Manager into Cabinet Mountain Town and strike him, then revealed he intended to target the Lord of Cabinet Mountain. The chapter ended with Feng Luo and Gu Ya urgently warning Luo Bin that someone inside the Medicine Shop was dangerous, while their real selves were powerless to stop their possessed bodies.

• Yuan Yinxin told Mo Qian and the others that the Manager would likely blame his own people for the damage and enter town, where Yuan Yinxin planned to help them ambush him.
• Yuan Yinxin revealed that he and Qin Jiumo came from a Daoist sanctuary and understood how Cabinet Mountain's power relied on mountains and waters.
• Yuan Yinxin said they would gravely wound the Manager but let him escape, since their true target was the Lord of Cabinet Mountain.
• Feng Luo and Gu Ya arrived at the Medicine Shop and warned Luo Bin to leave because someone inside was not right.
• Feng Luo cited the number 3,785 and accused Luo Bin of being defiant, while Luo Bin recognized that Feng Luo's words were being forced out against his will.

Luo Bin and the others faced Luo Feng and Gu Ya’s attempts to provoke them, while Gu Yiren was deeply affected by their accusations about Zhang Li. After they stopped engaging with the spirits, Luo Bin sat beside Gu Yiren, unsettled by the distance she kept between them.

• Gu Ya accused Gu Yiren of abandoning Zhang Li for Xiao Shan, leaving Gu Yiren overwhelmed with guilt and grief.
• Mo Qian warned Luo Bin and Gu Yiren not to believe the spirits and struck the door when Gu Ya continued insulting them.
• Zhang Baijiao emerged and cautioned everyone that communicating with the spirits exposed them to their influence.
• Luo Bin pulled away from the door and checked on Gu Yiren, who insisted she was fine and wiped away her tears.
• Yuan Yinxin returned to his room, while Gu Yiren crouched behind the counter and Luo Bin silently sat nearby.
• Gu Yiren shifted away from Luo Bin, leaving him confused and anxious about their growing closeness.

After a sleepless night, Yuan Yinxin summoned Luo Bin to address his problem while the others turned to the town’s urgent needs. Mo Qian remained suspicious and went to inspect Palm Mountain for himself.

• After dawn, Yuan Yinxin told everyone to handle their tasks and called Luo Bin into his room to resolve Luo Bin’s problem.
• Shang Liuli urged Mo Qian to focus on preparing Lamp Oil and dealing with the Manager before acting on his suspicions.
• Mo Qian left town and cautiously made his way through the fir forest to Palm Mountain.
• Mo Qian found the hole in Palm Mountain and crawled inside to investigate Yuan Yinxin’s account firsthand.