Chapter Summaries

Luo Bin received knives from Luo Feng and reasoned that Cabinet Mountain was hunting people who could affect it. After waking from a nap, he drank medicine Zhang Yunling brought, just as Gu Ya began to reveal Luo Feng’s warning to her.

• Gu Ya prepared food for Luo Bin’s trip into the mountains, while Luo Feng fitted him with knife sheaths and said he would teach him the family’s knife skills after the trip.
• Luo Bin noticed that only eight of the nine knives were in the sheaths, but Luo Feng told him he would learn why later.
• Luo Bin reread Xu Kaiguo’s message and concluded that people able to affect the mountain were hunted and taken, possibly transformed into evil spirits.
• After napping, Luo Bin found Zhang Yunling visiting with calming medicine and drank a bowl she poured for him.
• Gu Ya began telling Zhang Yunling what Luo Feng had warned her about, and Luo Bin choked on his medicine.

Gu Ya told Zhang Yunling about Luo Bin’s discovery and the suspicious villagers, while Luo Bin grew closer to Zhang Yunling as he walked her home and chopped wood. After he left, Zhang Yunling revealed that she was working with a cloth doll to identify the person pretending to be an evil spirit, and considered Luo Bin a better candidate for their plan.

• Gu Ya explained to Zhang Yunling that the dead man beneath Luo Bin’s window had appeared unusual and named four solitary residents as suspects, while clearing He Gui of suspicion.
• Zhang Yunling praised Luo Bin, then left after warning Gu Ya to be careful on her trip the next day.
• Luo Bin walked Zhang Yunling home, chopped wood in her courtyard, and left as evening fell.
• Alone, Zhang Yunling considered asking the Village Chief to act against Luo Bin but decided that timing and suspicion made it too risky.
• Zhang Yunling asked her cloth doll to identify the villager who was posing as an evil spirit and killing people.

Luo Bin and his parents prepared to scout beyond Cabinet Mountain Village despite the tension over Gu Ya revealing information to Zhang Yunling. The family set out along the village’s established route, and Luo Feng led them onto a narrow trail toward the mountains.

• Luo Bin accepted blame for telling Zhang Yunling about the family, but Luo Feng warned him and Gu Ya against letting personal feelings endanger them.
• Luo Feng privately hinted that women and children in Cabinet Mountain Village were especially vulnerable to evil spirits and reminded Luo Bin to follow the family’s rules.
• Luo Bin drank Lamp Oil and slept safely through the night, then hid his remaining supply before leaving home.
• Zhong Zhicheng instructed Luo Feng to travel at least half a kilometer ahead and escorted the family to the village archway, where Luo Feng took over as their guide.
• Luo Feng warned that the road’s bend would lead back to the village, then took Luo Bin and Gu Ya onto a narrow trail and cleared brambles with a billhook.

Luo Bin, Luo Feng, and Gu Ya traveled beyond the village to explore the mountain’s stopping points and took shelter in a filthy house as night fell. Evil spirits gathered outside and claimed that one of them was already inside, leaving Luo Bin under their mocking gaze.

• Luo Bin, Luo Feng, and Gu Ya walked from the village to the first stopping point, where Luo Feng said they would continue toward the last before dark.
• The family passed the third stopping point, and Luo Feng warned Luo Bin not to approach anyone they saw on the mountain before nightfall.
• As darkness and fierce winds closed in, Luo Feng led them to a small house, where Luo Bin secretly swallowed Lamp Oil after the Oil Lamp hurt his eyes and throat.
• Luo Feng explained that the house was safe from the evil spirits as long as they kept the door shut, while Luo Bin saw shadowy figures gathering outside.
• An old-woman evil spirit claimed that one of them was inside, and the spirits stared at Luo Bin as he tried to reassure his parents.

Luo Bin and Luo Feng left Gu Ya in a mountain shelter and continued scouting toward Cabinet Mountain’s summit, while Luo Bin struggled with the Evil Spirits’ claims that he was one of them. Their route revealed a hanging corpse and ended with a voice calling for help that sounded like Gu Ya, which Luo Feng warned was not his mother.

• The Evil Spirits tried to convince Luo Bin that his missing left pinky nail proved he was one of them, but Luo Feng and Gu Ya comforted him and refused to believe them.
• After the family slept in the shelter, Luo Feng and Luo Bin set out at dawn to scout toward the summit while Gu Ya stayed behind and barred the door.
• Luo Feng told Luo Bin about the village’s failed attempts to explore beyond the third stopping point and explained that he had established the fourth stopping point two years earlier.
• Luo Bin and Luo Feng found a dried corpse hanging from a tree, and Luo Feng explained that the man had been hanged after dying rather than killed by an Evil Spirit.
• Luo Bin heard a distant cry for help that sounded like Gu Ya and started back, but Luo Feng grabbed him and said the voice was not his mother.

Luo Bin and Luo Feng discovered that the mountain path near the summit trapped them in a loop, and Luo Bin compared it to the strange boundary around Cabinet Mountain Village. After finding a dried corpse that confirmed their location, Luo Bin searched for a second anchor point and began questioning whether villagers had left anything along the looping path.

• Luo Feng warned Luo Bin not to approach the cries for help, and the two continued climbing until they found a freshly carved arrow showing they had looped back.
• Luo Feng and Luo Bin retraced their route, but repeatedly returned to the same marked tree, revealing they were trapped in a maze-like loop near the summit.
• Luo Bin stopped Luo Feng and used his memories to map the path, concluding that the loop worked like the boundary around Cabinet Mountain Village.
• Luo Bin spotted a dried corpse near the loop and reasoned that it confirmed their location, but he and Luo Feng still needed a second anchor point outside the loop.
• Luo Bin asked whether villagers might have farmed or set traps along the looping path outside Cabinet Mountain Village.

Luo Feng and Luo Bin escaped the looping village and returned to Gu Ya’s shelter just before dark, where a password kept her from opening the door to impostors. After Luo Feng described their discoveries, Luo Bin began trembling and staring at the door, though the others saw only a distant approaching evil spirit.

• Luo Bin used a branch to probe the ground, and he and Luo Feng found a hanged villager beneath the tree where their path had looped.
• Luo Bin reasoned that the deserted village connected to Cabinet Mountain Village and wondered whether its inhabitants had escaped, while Luo Feng warned that they might all have died.
• Gu Ya refused to open the shelter door to voices impersonating Luo Feng and Luo Bin until Luo Feng gave their password, 3731.
• Luo Feng and Luo Bin reached the shelter before dark, and Gu Ya explained that daytime impostors had been eavesdropping on them.
• Luo Feng told Gu Ya that he and Luo Bin planned to search for traces of the vanished villagers instead of returning to Cabinet Mountain Village the next day.
• Luo Bin suddenly became sweaty and agitated, warning Gu Ya not to approach as he stared at the door; Luo Feng and Gu Ya saw only a distant evil spirit approaching.

Luo Bin concealed his recovery while Evil Spirits tried to tempt him, as events in Guishan Village revealed plans to imprison Gu Yiren and Zhang Yunling’s attempt to recruit a hidden killer. At the fourth Resting Place, Luo Feng decided the family would return the next morning, while Luo Bin realized his father had been watching sheep he could not see.

• Luo Bin hid the Lamp Oil packet after secretly drinking it, and Luo Feng and Gu Ya ignored the Evil Spirits’ whispers urging him to kill them.
• Gu Yiren searched desperately for someone in her locked room, while He Gui and Zhong Zhicheng agreed to send her to the Mountain God Temple without an Oil Lamp.
• Zhang Yunling confronted a man who had stripped flesh from a corpse and offered him a way to leave the village if he killed someone blocking their escape.
• After the family ate at the fourth Resting Place, Luo Feng announced they would explore for one more day and then return to warn the village chief about the dangerous route.
• Luo Bin reviewed what he had seen and realized Luo Feng had been watching sheep that were invisible to him.

Luo Bin and his parents discovered an underground shelter containing villagers who had died of illness, then encountered a trapped old man and a hostile crowd while trying to leave. The chapter ended with Luo Bin and Gu Ya pushing through the crowd as Luo Feng disappeared.

• Luo Feng led Gu Ya and Luo Bin through concealed traps to an underground chamber beneath a clearing.
• Luo Bin found eight skeletons in the chamber, and Luo Feng concluded that they had died of illness rather than from evil spirits.
• The family left the chamber, deciding to return to the Resting Place and report their discovery to the Village Chief.
• On the way back, they found an old man caught in a wire trap, but Luo Feng and Gu Ya warned Luo Bin not to acknowledge him.
• A crowd emerged from the shrubs, accused Luo Bin of abandoning the old man, and blocked his way.
• Luo Bin and Gu Ya walked past the crowd, but Luo Feng had vanished and the people surrounded them, staring and muttering.

Luo Feng, Gu Ya, and Luo Bin escaped Qiang Village, but the sheep-like beings followed them after Luo Feng carried away their hides and a sheep's head. Luo Bin and Luo Feng tried to confront one at the second resting place, where it disguised itself as Gu Ya and charged at Luo Bin.

• Luo Feng used a loud shout and a costume of hides and a sheep's head to get Luo Bin and Gu Ya through the crowd of strange villagers.
• The family passed a marked tree and learned they had entered the territory of Qiang Village, where human-looking beings were actually sheep-like creatures.
• A sheep that had been standing upright followed the family out of Qiang Village, and Luo Bin realized the hides and sheep's head had drawn it after them.
• Luo Feng removed the hides and placed them over the sheep's horns, while Luo Bin argued that they needed to kill the creature before it could alert the others.
• Luo Feng and Luo Bin circled the kneeling sheep at the second resting place, but it appeared to take Gu Ya's form and then charged at Luo Bin.

Luo Bin survived a sheep’s charge but was injured, and his family treated him inside the Wooden House at the Resting Place while an evil spirit tried to turn them against Luo Feng. Later, Luo Bin hallucinated that the dead sheep was a man and peeled back its skull, ending the chapter in a disturbed, trance-like state.

• Luo Bin stabbed the charging sheep, but its horn pierced his arm and knocked him into a tree before Luo Feng and Gu Ya carried him into the Wooden House at the Resting Place.
• An evil spirit pushed at the door and spoke through its crack, stirring Gu Ya’s anger toward Luo Feng before Luo Feng stabbed at its eye with a knife.
• Luo Feng and Gu Ya treated Luo Bin’s wound, and Luo Feng said he would teach him how to use a knife after they returned home.
• After the family ate and went to sleep, Luo Bin wondered about Cabinet Mountain’s dangers and the deaths in Qiang Village.
• Luo Bin hallucinated that the dead sheep was a man in a horned skull cap, peeled back its scalp, and was startled when Luo Feng and Gu Ya woke him.
• Luo Bin stared into the exposed brain and felt an unsettling sense of relief.

Luo Bin realized that the mountain, rather than Cabinet Mountain Village, might be the key to escaping, while Zhong Zhicheng threatened a Village Tour unless Gu Yiren was returned. Chen Xianxian questioned Zhang Li about Gu Yiren’s disappearance, but he blamed Luo Shan and insisted he had told no one else.

• Luo Bin remembered that he had pried open the sheep’s skull himself, suppressed his craving with Lamp Oil, and later wondered whether the mountain was the real obstacle to escape.
• Zhong Zhicheng announced that the villagers must hand over Gu Yiren before nightfall or face a search and a Village Tour, prompting the crowd to chant for a Village Tour.
• Chen Xianxian returned home and confronted Zhang Li, accusing him of telling others about Gu Yiren and warning that the young men's squad would search the village.
• Zhang Li claimed Luo Shan must have rescued Gu Yiren and urged Chen Xianxian to kill him, but Chen Xianxian rejected his accusation.
• Zhang Li insisted he had told no one else about Gu Yiren and was left wondering where she had gone.

Luo Feng, Gu Ya, and Luo Bin returned to Cabinet Mountain Village with a Two-Legged Sheep and warned Zhong Zhicheng about the dangers beyond the fourth stop. Luo Bin then received treatment from Zhang Yunling, while Gu Yiren remained missing but alive.

• Luo Feng, Gu Ya, and Luo Bin returned to the village, where Old Kong told them Gu Yiren had vanished after being tied up at the Mountain God Temple for execution.
• Luo Feng took Luo Bin and Old Kong to Zhong Zhicheng and reported what they had learned about Qiang Village, the dangerous route, and the Two-Legged Sheep.
• Luo Bin admitted that a Two-Legged Sheep had briefly appeared as his mother, and Zhong Zhicheng ordered him and Luo Feng to keep the scouting information secret.
• Zhang Yunling examined Luo Bin's injured arm, cleaned the wound, removed damaged flesh, and stitched it closed.

Luo Bin discovered that someone had been hiding beneath his bed and may have witnessed him handling his Lamp Oil. He followed a concealed opening into an underground room, where he found the frightened Zhang Yunling.

• Luo Bin reflected on his growing feelings for Zhang Yunling and resolved to escape Cabinet Mountain while reviewing his dwindling Lamp Oil and suspicions about Gu Yiren and Zhang Li.
• Luo Bin joined Luo Feng, Gu Ya, and Zhang Yunling for dinner, and Gu Ya suggested he help Zhang Yunling gather herbs after his injury healed.
• Luo Bin used his ability to replay the moment he entered his room and spotted hands withdrawing beneath the bed.
• Luo Bin found a concealed floor opening beneath the bed and climbed down a rope ladder into an underground room with a candle burning inside.
• Luo Bin reached the bottom of the shaft and recognized the frightened woman sitting there as Zhang Yunling.

Luo Bin hid Gu Yiren in his family’s Underground Room while his father, Luo Feng, urged him to find a way out of the village. Gu Yiren revealed that escaping meant following the evil spirits, leaving Luo Bin to question the method as a village search loomed.

• Luo Feng found Luo Bin emerging from the Underground Room, asked how they could escape the village, and said they should avoid getting involved in village affairs.
• Luo Bin returned to the Underground Room and brought Gu Yiren food and water.
• Gu Yiren told Luo Bin that the only way out was to follow the evil spirits, and admitted that Zhu Qianqian and Zhang Li had heard her advice.
• Gu Yiren warned Luo Bin not to investigate the being that had guided her, and became terrified when he suggested telling Luo Feng she was there.
• Luo Bin considered how to hide Gu Yiren from the search planned for the next day, then watched the evil spirits gather outside his window and questioned whether following them could work.

Luo Bin hid Gu Yiren in her empty house while the village searched for her, and Luo Feng discovered signs that You Jiang was concealing a killer’s lair. The chapter ended with Luo Feng leaving You Jiang’s courtyard certain he had found the person killing villagers while masquerading as an evil entity.

• Luo Bin sent Gu Yiren back to her empty house before dawn and told her to hide in the bamboo grove if anyone approached.
• Luo Feng joined the village search, while Old Kong searched Luo Bin’s home and failed to inspect its Underground Room.
• Jiang Shan searched Chen Xianxian’s home but let her guide him past her sleeping sister and away without checking the Underground Room.
• Chen Xianxian washed off the mole she had painted on her face, revealed her older sister’s real mole, and vowed to give Jiang Shan a proper deliverance if he visited.
• Luo Feng searched You Jiang’s home and noticed the scrubbed well, frequently used whetstone, and faint smell of blood beneath the smoke.
• Luo Feng concluded that You Jiang was the killer disguised as an evil entity and suspected he had a hidden Underground Room.

Luo Bin visited Gu Yiren in hiding and considered whether the missing Zhang Li had been killed by the murderer targeting people who lived alone. After Chen Xianxian tried to lure him inside, Luo Bin recognized the matching gold earring and returned home to compare it with Zhu Qianqian’s earring.

• Luo Bin met Gu Yiren in the Bamboo Grove Courtyard, where she said she believed Zhang Li would not have abandoned her and asked Luo Bin to help find him.
• Luo Bin suspected the killer who had murdered Tang Ji and Wu You might have taken Zhang Li, and promised Gu Yiren he would look for him.
• Gu Yiren warned Luo Bin not to seek information about the thing guiding her, while he left her lamp oil and returned home.
• Chen Xianxian invited Luo Bin inside, claiming she knew where one of the outsiders was, but he noticed a floral gold earring on her right ear and fled.
• Chen Xianxian revealed that she wanted to use Gu Yiren to learn how to leave the village with her evil-spirit sister.
• Luo Bin took a matching floral gold earring from his desk and wondered why Zhu Qianqian’s earring was on Chen Xianxian’s ear.

Luo Bin suspected Chen Xianxian was hiding something connected to Zhang Li, but held back his suspicions without evidence. At dinner, Luo Feng revealed that You Jiang was the suspected murderer of Tang Ji and Wu You, leaving the family to decide whether to report him to the Village Chief.

• Luo Bin used Rewind to study Chen Xianxian's behavior and concluded she had deliberately undermined Zhang Li, possibly because Zhang Li was hidden in her house.
• Luo Bin chose not to tell Luo Feng about the earring or his suspicions because he lacked solid evidence and feared alerting Chen Xianxian.
• After dark, Luo Feng warned Gu Ya not to tell Zhang Yunling and revealed that he suspected You Jiang of killing Tang Ji and Wu You.
• Luo Feng explained that You Jiang's house had suspicious signs and warned Luo Bin and Gu Ya to stay away from him.
• Luo Bin burned You Jiang's portrait, and Gu Ya argued that they should tell the Village Chief so You Jiang could be brought to justice.

Luo Bin told Luo Feng and Gu Ya that he suspected the Chen Xianxian sisters were connected to Zhang Li’s disappearance, but learned that they were twins with different personalities and realized he could not tell them apart. Meanwhile, a towering figure in a Python Robe searched the village and the courtyard where Gu Yiren was hiding, then stood motionless at a room door as if waiting.

• Luo Bin explained why he and Luo Feng had not reported You Jiang to the Village Chief, and Luo Feng reassured Gu Ya that they would watch for evidence.
• Luo Bin revealed that he had found Zhu Qianqian’s gold earring and described his suspicions about Chen Xianxian and Zhang Li’s disappearance.
• Gu Ya and Luo Feng told Luo Bin that Chen Xianxian was one of twin sisters with different personalities, and Luo Bin realized he had mistaken them for one person.
• Luo Feng proposed visiting the sisters with Luo Bin the next morning to hear their information and investigate together.
• A towering sinister figure in a Python Robe carrying a Jade Scepter searched the courtyard near the bamboo grove while Gu Yiren hid in an Underground Room beneath it.
• The figure returned to a room door, peered inside, and remained there motionless for a long time.

Luo Bin and Luo Feng visited the Chen sisters after Luo Bin suspected they were somehow the same person. Luo Feng uncovered a captive Zhang Li in the house as Chen Xianxian fled, while another person remained hidden behind a second door.

• Luo Bin and Luo Feng ate breakfast, and Luo Feng explained why he suspected Jiang Shan had been involved with Chen Xianxian.
• Luo Feng questioned Chen Xianxian about an outsider, and she claimed Zhang Li had gone up the mountain with Gu Yiren.
• Under Luo Feng's pressure, Chen Xianxian said her sister was in the basement and pointed them toward a hidden entrance.
• Luo Feng heard thudding and whimpers behind another door, but found the room empty when he kicked it open.
• Chen Xianxian ran from the house, and Luo Feng told Luo Bin to guard the other door while he searched a wardrobe.
• Luo Feng found Zhang Li bound and gagged inside the wardrobe, and Luo Bin recognized him.