Chapter Summaries

Luo Bin waited at the City God Temple until Zheng Mi arrived and accepted his account of the former On-Duty City God’s wrongdoing. Zheng Mi explained the Death-Prison Yama Ghost’s threat and began organizing help to stop it, leaving Luo Bin facing a dangerous effort to prevent the ghost from disrupting life and death in Beiwei City.

• Luo Bin ignored the Night Watch’s accusations and waited at the temple until dawn, when the Day Patrol and Zheng Mi arrived.
• Luo Bin explained that Qian Tongbao had tried to steal his Fate-Suppressing Objects and that Fourth Master Gray had caused the opera troupe’s deaths by listening to the performance.
• Zheng Mi defended Luo Bin, said the souls of the dead could still be saved, and led him into the Main Hall.
• Zheng Mi explained that the Death-Prison Yama Ghost targeted the wicked but also killed those in its way and could cause soulless stillbirths and disrupt reincarnation.
• Zheng Mi said the ghost’s fragments had been suppressed and that he had called nearby On-Duty City Gods for help, while warning that the Grand Night Watch might become involved.

Luo Bin waited at the City God Temple for five On-Duty City Gods to arrive, then joined them in a search for the escaped Death-Prison Yama Ghost. The group reached an upscale residential complex, where Zheng Mi’s Netherworld Bell shattered, signaling a nearby danger.

• Zheng Mi explained how the On-Duty City Gods would bring fate-suppressing ritual artifacts and join forces to capture the Death-Prison Yama Ghost.
• Luo Bin used Rewind at the temple entrance while Fourth Master Gray kept watch and accepted food from Zheng Mi.
• Five On-Duty City Gods—Zhao Xuanshu, Sun Xi, Song Sang, Li Mingzhi, and Hu Lang—arrived, and Song Sang stayed behind to guard the sealed bronze boxes.
• Luo Bin joined Zheng Mi and the other On-Duty City Gods, received Qian Tongbao’s protective talisman, and left the temple with them after the Day Patrol statue formed.
• The group drove to an upscale residential complex, where Zheng Mi hung a Netherworld Bell to detect evil ghosts.
• The Netherworld Bell swung violently and shattered, alarming all five On-Duty City Gods.

Zhao Xuanshu and the On-Duty City Gods searched for the Death-Prison Yama Ghost, but their bells repeatedly broke without revealing it. After Luo Bin concealed their presence with a talisman, Zhao Xuanshu concluded that a ghost was possessing someone among them and demanded a confession.

• Zhao Xuanshu led the group to a villa, where the Day Patrol found no Death-Prison Yama Ghost despite the Netherworld Bell breaking nearby.
• Luo Bin judged the middle-aged homeowner to be deceitful and stopped Gray Fourth Master from attacking him while the City God Temple searched the villa.
• Luo Bin drew a talisman that concealed the group's presence, and Zheng Mi confirmed that it masked their yin energy.
• At another address, the Netherworld Bell shattered and the Day Patrol again found no ghost.
• Zhao Xuanshu tested another Netherworld Bell, saw it break, and declared that the Death-Prison Yama Ghost or an even fiercer ghost was possessing someone in the group.
• Luo Bin worried that the bell might have detected the Bright God hidden on him as Zhao Xuanshu demanded that whoever was keeping a ghost confess.

Luo Bin concealed that the Netherworld Bell had reacted to the deity within him, while Zhao Xuanshu began to suspect him and planned to use the Death-Prison Yama Ghost to draw him out. Luo Bin realized the City God Temple would soon turn its suspicion toward him and decided he had to act quickly.

• Zhao Xuanshu tested the On-Duty City Gods with the Day Patrol, and none of them triggered a reaction as they left the car.
• The group blamed the broken Netherworld Bell on the Death-Prison Yama Ghost, while Luo Bin knew the deity within him had destroyed it.
• Zhao Xuanshu sent Luo Bin away, then tested Li Mingzhi's Netherworld Bell and found that it remained still.
• Zhao Xuanshu concluded that the Death-Prison Yama Ghost had targeted Luo Bin and ordered the others to follow his taxi and wait for an attack.
• Luo Bin feared the City God Temple would suspect him once it tested the bell and resolved to draw the Day Patrol's or Night Watch's attention elsewhere.

Luo Bin returned to Old Street, calmed himself, and decided to face the City God Temple without relying on his ritual artifacts. After sharing dinner with Zhang Ze’s family and reassuring his young disciple, he learned that the On-Duty City Gods had arrived but were waiting outside Old Street.

• Luo Bin returned to his shop and chose to rely on Yin-Yang Arts and conversation, keeping his Fate-Suppressing Objects and ritual artifacts behind.
• Zhang Ze came to fetch Luo Bin for dinner, and Luo Bin accepted his invitation to the Zhang family home.
• Over dinner, Luo Bin considered Zhang Ze’s potential and told him he would eventually entrust the shop to him, reassuring him that he would return to visit.
• Luo Bin left the Zhang home after nine in the rain and returned to the Primordial Calculation shop.
• Fourth Master Gray warned Luo Bin that the On-Duty City Gods were waiting outside Old Street and had not entered.

Zheng Mi warned Luo Bin that the Death-Prison Yama Ghost was watching him and urged him to leave Beiwei City, while denouncing the City God Temple’s rigid rules. Zheng Mi’s words pushed Luo Bin to question Heaven and the rules governing humanity, and the chapter ended as thunder and lightning struck around him.

• Zheng Mi arrived with a talisman, told Luo Bin that the Death-Prison Yama Ghost had been watching him, and warned that it was waiting for a chance to attack.
• Zheng Mi criticized the City God Temple’s worldview, offered Luo Bin a second talisman, and said he would resign to remain human.
• Luo Bin questioned whether Heaven’s will was merely another rule and defended his actions against Xu Dadong, his wife, and Jiang Xiao.
• Zheng Mi warned Luo Bin not to curse Heaven, but Luo Bin declared that he was not afraid of life’s trials.
• Thunder and lightning struck in succession as Fourth Master Gray cried out, and Luo Bin saw gray ash falling through the blinding light.

Zheng Mi watched Luo Bin survive heavenly lightning after cursing Heaven, while Luo Bin insisted he would not flee and explained that the Death-Prison Yama Ghost had not targeted him. Zheng Mi saw the powerful ghosts gathered behind Luo Bin, but the River Lady and Mingfei suddenly rushed forward as something attacked from behind Luo Bin.

• Zheng Mi saw lightning strike three trees around Luo Bin, who remained unharmed, and urged him to leave North Wei and apologize to Heaven.
• Luo Bin refused to leave and told Zheng Mi that the Death-Prison Yama Ghost had never targeted him.
• Luo Bin had Zheng Mi turn around, revealing two powerful female ghosts and more than a dozen drowned female ghosts in the room.
• As Zheng Mi turned back and noticed something behind Luo Bin, the River Lady and Mingfei rushed toward him.

Luo Bin pursued Death-Prison Yama Ghost after it captured River Lady and Bright Consort, rejecting Zheng Mi’s warnings and the City God Temple’s plan to let the ghost escape. He chased the ghost into the woods and reached a roaring river beneath a massive stone tower.

• Death-Prison Yama Ghost enveloped River Lady and Bright Consort in mist and carried them away, while Luo Bin’s talismans failed to stop it.
• Luo Bin ordered the ordinary River Ladies to pursue the ghost, gathered his backpacks, and ran after it as Zheng Mi followed and warned him to turn back.
• Zhao Xuanshu and the other On-Duty City Gods realized Death-Prison Yama Ghost had lured Luo Bin and Zheng Mi away, then set off in pursuit.
• Zheng Mi explained that the City God Temple had hoped to use Luo Bin as bait, but Luo Bin refused to abandon the captured ghosts and said he wanted them for lamp oil.
• Luo Bin chased the mist for hours and reached a violent river near a towering stone structure, with Death-Prison Yama Ghost still ahead.

Luo Bin reached the Female Crypt tower and entered its top floor, where he found the Death-Prison Yama Ghost among dozens of swaddled infant corpses. Using Primordial Calculation to occupy the tower’s formation eye and reinforce its seal, he attacked the ghost with Six Yin Mountain’s artifacts, leaving the corpses struggling as the battle began.

• Luo Bin followed the riverbank to the tower and saw the inscription “Eternal Ban on Drowning Girls” on a broken stone slab.
• Luo Bin inspected the nine-story tower, recognized that the Death-Prison Yama Ghost was inside, and prepared himself with the Compass, the black-gold toad, and medicine person blood.
• Luo Bin climbed to the top story and found dozens of swaddled bundles before the entrance sealed and the Death-Prison Yama Ghost appeared.
• Luo Bin realized he was standing at the tower’s formation eye and used himself, the Compass, and the black-gold toad to reinforce the tower’s suppression of the infant corpses.
• Fourth Master Gray escaped through the opening while Luo Bin struck the Calling Bell with the Bronze Club, making the ghost and infant corpses shudder.
• Luo Bin struck the bell again, tearing open every swaddle and leaving the infant corpses struggling on the floor.

Fourth Master Gray fled the tower and brought Zheng Mi, Zhao Xuanshu, and the Night Watch conflicting reports about Tang Yu's fight with the Death-Prison Yama Ghost. Inside, Luo Bin's artifacts failed to seriously harm the ghost, so he laid out the Human-Skin Garment and proposed they stop fighting.

• Fourth Master Gray escaped the tower's shock waves and raced away to fetch reinforcements.
• Zheng Mi urged Zhao Xuanshu and the others to help Tang Yu, but Zhao Xuanshu insisted they wait outside the tower.
• Fourth Master Gray reached Zheng Mi and signaled that Tang Yu needed help, prompting Zheng Mi to argue again for an attack.
• Luo Bin struck the bell a fourth time, but it only badly damaged the Infant Corpses and left the Death-Prison Yama Ghost largely unharmed.
• Luo Bin fired seven Soul-Gathering Beads at the ghost, but every shot missed as it warned that help could arrive within seven days.
• Luo Bin spread out the Human-Skin Garment and told the Death-Prison Yama Ghost that the City God Temple was an enemy to them both.

Luo Bin tried to win the Death-Prison Yama Ghost’s trust, but when it attacked, he repeatedly split its mist form and kept it from escaping. Zheng Mi arrived and sealed the ghost temporarily with an Appointment Edict, while Luo Bin faced a growing swarm of Infant Corpses.

• Luo Bin reasoned that Primordial Calculation let him read human nature and tried to persuade the Death-Prison Yama Ghost by offering it evil people to pursue.
• The Death-Prison Yama Ghost dissolved into mist and overwhelmed Luo Bin, but Luo Bin used the Thunderstruck Blood Peach Sword, the black-gold toad, and the Compass to split and suppress it.
• Infant Corpses crawled toward Luo Bin from the tower’s lower floors, and he restrained them with the Calling Bell and Bronze Club rather than cutting them down.
• The Death-Prison Yama Ghost re-formed and tried to flee, but Zheng Mi arrived and stuck an Appointment Edict to its forehead, immobilizing it temporarily.
• Zheng Mi said one City God writ was not enough to seal the ghost and went to summon help, while Fourth Master Gray stayed on his shoulder.

Luo Bin used Six Yin Mountain's Copper Bell to stop Zhao Xuanshu and the other On-Duty City Gods from seizing his possessions, but the six-soul Night Watch arrived and scrutinized him. It accepted that he had captured the Death-Prison Yama Ghost as a service, yet said it still wanted to sniff him.

• Zhao Xuanshu and the other On-Duty City Gods suppressed the Death-Prison Yama Ghost, then demanded Luo Bin surrender the Human-Skin Garment, the Fate-Suppressing Compass, and the Blood Turtle.
• Zheng Mi objected to Zhao Xuanshu's demands, and Luo Bin struck all five men down with Six Yin Mountain's Copper Bell when Zhao Xuanshu ordered them to hook his soul.
• Zheng Mi urged Luo Bin not to fear the Night Watch, but the Black-Gold Toad alerted Luo Bin to the six-soul Night Watch coiled above them.
• Luo Bin swore that he guided ghosts to the afterlife and had captured the ghosts in the Human-Skin Garment to deal with them.
• The Night Watch ruled that Luo Bin's capture of the Death-Prison Yama Ghost counted as merit and said Qian Tongbao's death was just.
• The Night Watch said the Day Patrol had detected no ghostly scent on Luo Bin, but announced that it still wanted to sniff him.

Luo Bin used the Blackblood Vine to defend himself from the Night Watch, but the clash caused the Plague Ghost to manifest and led the Night Watch and the On-Duty City Gods to attack him. As Zheng Mi’s soul was captured and the Tower filled with deadly forces and ghost mist, the black Golden Toad escaped its restraint.

• Luo Bin revealed that an unseen ghost had been plotted into him, then used the Blackblood Vine merged with his shadow to bite the Night Watch.
• The Night Watch split into sixteen ghosts and overwhelmed the shadow before transforming into a sickly figure that Zhao Xuanshu identified as the Plague Ghost and the Netherworld Office.
• Luo Bin struck the Plague Ghost with his blood peachwood sword, and the figure claimed Luo Bin had killed the Netherworld Office before the Night Watch reappeared and seized him.
• Zhao Xuanshu ordered the City God Bureau officials to hook Luo Bin’s soul, while Fourth Master Gray knocked their ritual artifacts aside and Zheng Mi pleaded for them to stop.
• Zhao Xuanshu hooked Zheng Mi’s soul, and Sun Xima’s attempt to restrain the black Golden Toad sent it leaping free as gray-green mist poured from the Human-Skin Garment.

The Death-Prison Yama Ghost broke free in the Righteous Pagoda, trapping Luo Bin and the others in greenish-gray mist. Luo Bin experienced a strange village life that appeared to be an illusion, while the Death-Prison Yama Ghost gained the advantage and approached him.

• The black-gold toad pinned Sun Xi, the Death-Prison Yama Ghost escaped suppression, and Zhao Xuanshu, Li Mingzhi, and Hu Lang tried to flee the pagoda.
• A shadow released from Tang Yu attacked Zhao Xuanshu, while the Night Watch changed form and sent sixteen little ghosts against the Death-Prison Yama Ghost.
• Luo Bin awoke in a village with his grandfather He Gongde and recalled how He Gongde regained the villagers' trust by treating a child believed to be haunted.
• Luo Bin noticed strange recitations, an unusually long shadow, and moss covering the ground as he followed He Gongde.
• Back in the Righteous Pagoda, Luo Bin, Zhao Xuanshu, Li Mingzhi, Hu Lang, and Zheng Mi stood motionless in the mist as the Death-Prison Yama Ghost approached Luo Bin.
• The black shadow wrapped around the Death-Prison Yama Ghost's legs, while the black-gold toad cowered and Fourth Master Gray concluded that Little Luo was likely doomed.

Luo Bin relived a routine day in the village, then recovered memories of a man using organs and sheep in a gruesome ritual that caused him intense pain. As he wandered toward the toilet in the dark, the Death-Prison Yama Ghost appeared in his room and watched him.

• He Gongde treated a child in the village with Old Donkey's hoof and black pills while Luo Bin followed familiar motions.
• Luo Bin returned home, ate with He Gongde, and went to bed for an afternoon nap.
• Luo Bin remembered a man placing his organs on the heads of kneeling sheep and cutting pieces from them, then jolted awake in terror.
• Luo Bin left his room at night intending to find food but felt compelled to walk toward the toilet.
• The Death-Prison Yama Ghost appeared beside Luo Bin's bed, said Luo Bin had nearly gotten away, and watched him cross the Courtyard.

Luo Bin repeatedly awoke inside the Death-Prison Yama Ghost’s prison, recognizing and breaking its nightmare scenarios faster each time. The chapter ended with the ghost realizing that Luo Bin had emerged from its prison and opening his eyes.

• Luo Bin remembered that He Gongde had once controlled him like a shadow puppet, then recognized the scene as a nightmare created by the Death-Prison Yama Ghost.
• The Death-Prison Yama Ghost used perception on Luo Bin and muttered, “Yin-yang.”
• Luo Bin woke in a childhood memory, recognized signs of imprisonment on He Gongde, and was engulfed by ghostly mist.
• Luo Bin woke again, identified his top-heavy, unsteady feeling as Death-Walk Physiognomy, and was swallowed by the mist.
• Luo Bin recognized the Death-Prison Yama Ghost’s prison and escaped it, startling the ghost as he opened his eyes.

Luo Bin survived the Death-Prison Yama Ghost’s memory trap and escaped the Tower after the ghost withdrew. He returned to Primordial Calculation’s shop, burdened by the City God Temple’s responsibility for the ghost’s escape, where Zhang Ze finally appeared at the door.

• Luo Bin recognized the Death-Prison Yama Ghost’s ability as a loop of oppressive memories and fought back with his sword and talismans while Fourth Master Gray and the Black-Gold Toad rejoined him.
• The Death-Prison Yama Ghost absorbed the Night Watch’s Plague Ghost form, but withdrew when the Black-Gold Toad and Compass restored the Tower’s suppression.
• Luo Bin gathered the scattered Soul-Absorbing Pearls, left the Tower, and took a taxi to Old Street instead of going to the City God Temple.
• Luo Bin concluded that the City God Temple bore responsibility for the Death-Prison Yama Ghost’s escape and feared what the ghost would become after reclaiming its remaining body.
• Luo Bin returned to Primordial Calculation’s shop and sat silently in the dark with the Black-Gold Toad and Fourth Master Gray until Zhang Ze opened the door and called to him.

Luo Bin wrestled with his helplessness over the escaped Death-Prison Yama Ghost and the growing distance between understanding and emerging from darkness. After Zhang Ze and Zhang Hang offered their perspectives on doing what they could and trusting others to act, Luo Bin recognized how much he had changed and admitted he had been wrong.

• Zhang Ze comforted Luo Bin by recalling how people had stepped forward to help and telling him that others could act when he could not.
• Luo Bin left for dinner with Zhang Ze and told Zhang Hang that the Death-Prison Yama Ghost had escaped but was unlikely to return.
• Luo Bin asked Zhang Hang what Heaven should do, and Zhang Hang said ordinary people could only carry on and hope someone would help when trouble arose.
• Luo Bin taught Zhang Ze feng shui, then returned to the Primordial Calculation shop in the rain and reconsidered his growing concern for innocent lives.
• Luo Bin acknowledged that he was no longer indifferent to others' suffering and said, "I was wrong," as the wind surged.

Luo Bin rejected Heaven’s rules and declared that he would act according to his human heart, determined to bring light to a world he saw as cruel and dark. Several days later, Xu Lu still waited in the city, wondering whether Luo Bin would achieve Emergence from Darkness and return to them.

• Luo Bin acknowledged that the City God Temple and Night Watch had followed their doctrines, but rejected their rules and Heaven’s will.
• Luo Bin declared that humans had hearts and that he would do what he believed was right, despite Heaven’s anger and the storm.
• Luo Bin returned to his room as the wind and rain battered the city but could not touch the shop door.
• Xu Lu stayed in the hotel while Bai Xian digested Ming Fei’s soul, hoping Luo Bin would achieve Emergence from Darkness and reunite with them.
• Xu Lu speculated that Luo Bin’s difficult path to Emergence from Darkness might require another breakthrough in his arts, and worried he could spend years pursuing it.

Luo Bin organized Old District residents to help bury and honor the drowned infants, then entered the Righteous Pagoda to retrieve more of their bodies. After hearing crying from the other side of the pagoda, he sensed someone watching him and turned toward them.

• Luo Bin set aside the Death-Prison Yama Ghost and began gathering Old District residents by offering divinations in exchange for taking responsibility for drowned infants.
• After nearly a hundred people assembled, Luo Bin led them to the river with Zhang Ze, where six Corpse Retrievers began retrieving Infant Corpses.
• Luo Bin explained that volunteers would name an infant, find it a burial place, and offer it incense, while those who declined could pay him with a bowl of rice.
• Luo Bin climbed the Righteous Pagoda, confirmed the ninth floor held only swaddled Infant Corpses, and tied the bodies together for removal.
• Luo Bin heard crying from the other side of the pagoda, sensed someone watching him, and turned to confront them.