Chapter Summaries

You Jiang hid in Qiang Village after losing his forearm and vowed revenge on Luo Shan. Meanwhile, Zhang Yunling urged Peng Zhan and the other Outsiders to prepare to kill the village chief, while Luo Bin’s group prepared to leave Feng Ji’s courtyard.

• You Jiang used the saber secured to his left arm to cut meat and scratched Luo Shan’s name into the ground as he swore to devour him.
• Zhang Yunling told Peng Zhan that the Outsiders needed to kill the village chief and planned to inspect a courtyard where they could shelter safely.
• Zhang Yunling pressured Peng Zhan to act as captain while the other Outsiders looked to him for guidance.
• At half past four, Luo Bin woke Luo Feng, Gu Ya, and Zhang Li and told Zhang Li to bring Gu Yiren upstairs.
• Luo Feng comforted Gu Ya as they prepared to leave, and Zhang Li emerged with Gu Yiren, holding her hand.

Luo Bin led the group out of the village by following three evil spirits through the mountain mist, but Zhang Li fell behind and emerged holding hands with Chen Xianxian. The group was left facing the mystery of how Chen Xianxian had appeared with him.

• Zhang Li volunteered to test whether the evil spirits would attack, but Luo Bin insisted they leave together.
• Luo Bin and Zhang Li followed three evil spirits out of the courtyard while Luo Feng, Gu Ya, and Gu Yiren followed behind.
• The group followed the spirits through the mountain mist and emerged on the other side, but Zhang Li was missing.
• Luo Feng stopped Luo Bin and Gu Yiren from returning to the mist, insisting Zhang Li had been right behind them.
• Zhang Li emerged from the mist with Chen Xianxian, their fingers interlocked.

Luo Bin realized that the group’s anger and hostility had stirred the evil spirits around them. After Gu Yiren urged everyone to stay calm, the spirits settled, and the mist vanished, leaving the group to consider whether their emotions controlled the spirits’ movements.

• Chen Xianxian accused Zhang Li of abandoning her and mocked Luo Feng, prompting Luo Feng to threaten her with his knives.
• Luo Bin noticed the evil spirits turning toward the group and grabbed Luo Feng’s arm, warning that their behavior was affecting them.
• Luo Feng put away his knives as Gu Yiren urged everyone to stay calm, though she was devastated by Chen Xianxian’s accusations about Zhang Li.
• Chen Xianxian calmed down, the evil spirits closed their eyes, and the mist disappeared.
• Luo Bin noticed his own violent urge had faded and wondered whether negative emotions had stirred the evil spirits.

Gu Yiren led Luo Feng, Gu Ya, and the others down the mountain toward the village exit while they tried to keep their emotions calm. The chapter ended in a hospital, where the brain-dead Luo Bin trembled and cried out that he wanted to leave the village.

• Gu Yiren pointed out a path out of the village and led the group downhill, refusing Zhang Li's offer of support.
• Chen Xianxian clung to Zhang Li and urged him not to let his anger stir the evil spirits, while Luo Bin told them to talk after they escaped.
• As the group continued downhill, Zhang Li recognized the area near the tomb excavated by their Archaeological Team, and Gu Yiren murmured that everyone had to leave the village together.
• In a hospital, Luo Bin's father agreed with the long-faced man that it was time to take Luo Bin off life support.
• Luo Bin suddenly trembled and cried out about evil spirits and leaving the village, terrifying the long-faced man.

The group reached a campsite they recognized as belonging to the Archaeological Team, and Zhang Li believed they had escaped the looping road into Cabinet Mountain Village. As darkness fell, Gu Yiren collapsed after reacting to an unseen presence, leaving Luo Bin worried that they had not truly escaped.

• Gu Yiren broke down crying when the group reached the tents and off-road vehicles, and Zhang Li recognized the area as the Archaeological Team's campsite.
• Zhang Li urged everyone to drive away from Cabinet Mountain Village, while Gu Ya asked to wait until dawn because she feared what appeared after sunset.
• Luo Bin wondered where the Archaeological Team members were and whether they had died, while Gu Yiren insisted they had to go farther.
• Gu Yiren screamed at something unseen and began convulsing, and Zhang Li helped protect her from injury as Chen Xianxian called for her to be held down.
• Luo Bin questioned whether they had really left the village if Gu Yiren could still hear her unseen Guide, while Feng Luo decided to check the tents and stay there for the night.

Gu Ya kept Chen Xianxian separate from the others while the group sheltered in tents beyond Cabinet Mountain Village. As Luo Bin watched the Oil Lamp, he realized leaving the village had not solved the danger of being an Evil Spirit or his need for blood.

• Gu Ya directed Chen Xianxian to a separate tent and gave her food, water, Lamp Oil, and an Oil Lamp.
• Luo Bin and Gu Ya settled into a tent with Luo Feng, while Zhang Li cared for the unconscious Gu Yiren after her seizure.
• Zhang Li said Gu Yiren had epilepsy and planned to take her to a hospital after they left the area.
• Luo Feng lit an Oil Lamp, and Luo Bin felt intense pain and an urge to extinguish it.
• Luo Bin realized that outside Cabinet Mountain Village he was still an Evil Spirit, with no answer for his need for blood or what he would do when his Lamp Oil ran out.

Luo Feng kept watch while the others slept and encountered Qin Jiumo’s evil spirit outside the tent. Qin Jiumo gave him two conflicting instructions about Gu Yiren before vanishing, leaving Luo Feng to face an unclear threat on Cabinet Mountain.

• Luo Bin swallowed lamp oil unnoticed, then fell asleep after staying awake for three days and two nights.
• Luo Feng stayed on guard as Gu Ya, Zhang Li, and the others slept in the tent.
• Qin Jiumo appeared at the window and claimed Cabinet Mountain had a living heart that had to be killed to escape, pointing to Gu Yiren as the heart.
• Luo Feng refused to trust Qin Jiumo, who withdrew after their silent standoff.
• Qin Jiumo returned and told Luo Feng to take Gu Yiren north to a tomb passage and retrieve an old turtle trapped beneath a yellow stone, warning that people who affected the mountain would be hunted.
• Qin Jiumo vanished after declaring that someone was coming and that Gu Yiren had not listened.

Luo Bin recognized Gu Yiren’s seizure as a warning that a Hunter was coming and that she had been marked. He calmed her, while Luo Feng realized Qin Jiumo’s cryptic words might have been clues.

• Luo Feng questioned Qin Jiumo’s warnings but tried to resist being misled by an evil spirit.
• Gu Yiren woke and convulsed, warning that she had been marked and would be hunted.
• Zhang Li tried to calm Gu Yiren, but Luo Bin concluded her words had to be trusted and that the Hunter was coming.
• Luo Feng restrained Zhang Li while Luo Bin held Gu Yiren and soothed her until her convulsions subsided.
• Luo Feng connected Luo Bin’s mention of the Hunter to Qin Jiumo’s final warnings and suspected they had been clues.

Luo Bin realized the bloody Slay Character on Gu Yiren's palm could be rubbed away, while Luo Feng extinguished their Oil Lamp and opened the tent flap to test the danger outside. When Evil Spirits approached, Chen Xianxian shouted at them to come kill her, leaving the group in immediate peril.

• Luo Bin soothed Gu Yiren and discovered that rubbing her palm removed the bloody Slay Character.
• Luo Feng opened the tent flap, blew out the Oil Lamp, and signaled everyone to stay silent.
• Chen Xianxian watched from her tent as figures emerged from beneath the trees and moved toward Luo Feng's tent.
• Luo Feng ordered someone to light the lamp, but it remained dark as the Evil Spirits drew close.
• Chen Xianxian opened her tent and shouted at the Evil Spirits to come kill her.

Luo Bin realized that the evil spirit called Xu Kaiguo was actually Qin Jiumo, the Guide, and urged Luo Feng to reveal what Qin Jiumo had told him. Luo Feng insisted the information was all lies, leaving the group uncertain as they pressed him for the truth.

• Luo Feng shut the tent flap when evil spirits gathered outside, and Chen Xianxian's scream drew them away long enough for Gu Ya to light the lamp.
• Luo Feng identified the familiar-looking evil spirit near Chen Xianxian's tent as Qin Jiumo, shocking Luo Bin.
• Luo Bin concluded that Qin Jiumo was his Guide and recalled that Qin Jiumo mixed truths with lies, while his notes were more reliable.
• Luo Bin revealed that the Hunter had killed people who could influence the Mountain and explained that he had avoided further searching in Qiang Village to prevent provoking the Hunter.
• Luo Bin and Gu Yiren urged Luo Feng to share what Qin Jiumo had told him, but Luo Feng dismissed it all as lies and fell silent.

Luo Feng repeated Qin Jiumo’s contradictory instructions, and Luo Bin inferred that the group should trust the warning to flee north rather than kill Gu Yiren. As the Hunter approached, Luo Bin ordered everyone to lie down and pretend to sleep, while Zhang Li unknowingly shut the tent flap with the Hunter standing just outside.

• Luo Feng told the group that Qin Jiumo had said to kill Gu Yiren, then revealed the instructions to carry her north and find a yellow stone with an old tortoise beneath it.
• Luo Bin and Luo Feng questioned which parts of Qin Jiumo’s words were true, while Zhang Li protected Gu Yiren and Gu Ya helped her wipe her face.
• Gu Yiren noticed the Oil Lamp flickering and warned that the Hunter was coming, prompting Luo Bin to tell everyone to lie down, close their eyes, and avoid looking at him.
• Gu Yiren hid in Luo Bin’s arms, and Luo Bin lay still with his eyes closed as Zhang Li watched them.
• Zhang Li closed the tent flap against the wind without seeing the Hunter’s deathly face or enormous shadow outside.

Zhang Li and the others endured the python-robed Hunter’s night visit while Chen Xianxian tried to draw the threat toward herself. At the flower bed, the old man realized Qin Jiume had disrupted Mountain Cabinet’s nightmare and ordered two people expelled as he prepared talismans bearing the group’s faces.

• Zhang Li checked the tent flap and window, then turned away and forced himself to sleep while the Hunter watched from outside.
• The python-robed Hunter examined the people in the tents, then left and headed north.
• The woman told her master that the six Emotion Flowers were wilting and the five people’s fear was fading.
• The old man explained that the Hunter and nightmare had assimilated, and that the people he brought into Mountain Cabinet were still being drawn toward the nightmare.
• One flower began to bleed, causing nearby flowers to wither, and the old man deduced that Qin Jiume had acted from outside the mountain.
• The old man ordered two people expelled from Mountain Cabinet Village, then drew Luo Shan, Gu Yiren, Luo Feng, Gu Ya, Zhang Li, and Chen Xianxian on talismans.

Luo Bin woke beside Gu Yiren and learned that her guide was a Si, which confirmed that everyone had to enter the Tomb to escape the Village. He found a note giving him a deadly task to complete alone, leaving him with a new demand before the group’s journey into the Tomb.

• Luo Bin and Gu Yiren woke in the tent while Zhang Li and the others prepared a meal outside.
• Gu Yiren told Luo Bin that her guide called itself a Si and said everyone had to enter the Tomb to leave the Village.
• Gu Yiren explained that the landslide had happened because they had touched something they should not have, and promised to clear things up with Zhang Li.
• Luo Bin found a note ordering him to kill a woman inside the Tomb and complete the task alone, or forfeit his life.

Luo Bin interpreted the note as ordering him to kill Gu Yiren to break Cabinet Mountain and dispel his nightmare poison, but he questioned whether the village’s people deserved saving. The chapter left him facing the possibility that sparing Gu Yiren would mean remaining an evil spirit, while Chen Xianxian urged everyone to leave as soon as they finished eating.

• Luo Bin concluded that Qin Jiumo and Si had guided him toward killing Gu Yiren inside the Tomb so Cabinet Mountain could be broken open.
• Luo Bin questioned whether he should sacrifice Gu Yiren to save Cabinet Mountain Village, whose residents he viewed as largely cruel or complicit.
• Luo Bin inferred that killing Gu Yiren might be the only way to dispel the nightmare poison and become normal, even after escaping the mountain.
• Luo Feng called Luo Bin back to eat, and Luo Bin hid the note in his sleeve.
• Gu Yiren thanked Chen Xianxian for not drawing the evil spirits’ attention, and Chen Xianxian pleaded with Luo Feng and Luo Bin to leave after eating.

Luo Bin rejected the route toward the tomb and chose to try leaving Cabinet Mountain directly, despite the dangers and his father's doubts. As the group drove away from the village, Luo Bin spotted a new message on the vehicle's roof: everyone had to leave together.

• Gu Yiren comforted Chen Xianxian, who confessed that she had killed Zhu Qianqian and captured Zhang Li to keep her sister fed.
• Luo Bin argued that the group should not accept Cabinet Mountain's rules or kill anyone, and insisted they try leaving directly.
• Zhang Li started an off-road vehicle, and Luo Feng, Gu Ya, Chen Xianxian, and Gu Yiren joined Luo Bin for the drive.
• Luo Bin stood through the sunroof to watch their route and noticed writing on the roof that said everyone had to leave the village together.

Luo Bin realized that an unseen force was trying to keep the group from leaving Cabinet Mountain, but he urged everyone to ignore its apparitions and continue driving. Zhang Li resisted a child’s threats and singing, and the group kept moving toward the mountain’s exit.

• Luo Bin saw new writing appear on the car roof ordering everyone to leave the village together, while Luo Feng could not see it.
• Luo Bin told the group that Cabinet Mountain was trying to keep them there and urged Zhang Li to keep driving despite the apparent child in the road.
• Zhang Li saw a child sitting outside the car window and heard it sing, but he ignored it after Gu Yiren encouraged him to trust Luo Bin.
• The child climbed onto the windshield and scrawled that Luo Shan was an evil spirit, but Zhang Li washed away the apparition and kept driving.
• Zhang Li hummed a children's song to ward off fear as the group continued along the road.

Chen Xianxian heard a child warn that Luo Shan was an evil spirit and that the group could escape by heading north with Gu Yiren, but Luo Bin concluded Si had trapped them and searched for another way out. The group returned to their camp, and Chen Xianxian tried to get Gu Yiren away from the others.

• A child appeared beside Chen Xianxian and warned her that an evil spirit had taken over Luo Shan, urging her to head north with Gu Yiren.
• Zhang Li and Luo Bin realized the car had climbed back to the same camp after driving in a loop.
• Luo Bin told the others that Si had trapped them and insisted he could find an anchor point to escape.
• Chen Xianxian pretended to have stomach pain and asked Gu Yiren for toilet paper.

Chen Xianxian threatened Gu Yiren with a dagger and tried to take her north, insisting Luo Shan was an Evil Spirit and that they could escape the mountains together. When Luo Feng sensed something was wrong and demanded that someone come out, a strange, humanlike face appeared from behind a tree.

• Gu Yiren followed Chen Xianxian away from the car while Zhang Li, Luo Bin, and the others stayed behind.
• Chen Xianxian grabbed Gu Yiren and held a dagger to her neck, accusing her of knowing Luo Shan was an Evil Spirit.
• Chen Xianxian said Luo Shan had changed into a terrifyingly intelligent person, accused Zhang Li and Gan Mo of mistreating her, and forced Gu Yiren north.
• Luo Feng grew suspicious when the women stayed away too long and walked after them, with Zhang Li realizing something was wrong.
• Luo Feng shouted for someone to come out, and a strange yellowish-white face emerged from behind a tree.

Luo Bin and Luo Feng fought a human-faced beast that attacked their truck, but Luo Bin killed it by crushing its head with his bare hands. Luo Bin survived the attack, though his sudden urge to taste the blood and brain matter left Luo Feng staring at him in horror.

• Luo Feng spotted a huge, human-faced beast and ordered Zhang Li and Gu Ya into the truck.
• Luo Bin joined Luo Feng against the beast, and the two struck at it with their blades, which could not pierce its tough hide.
• The beast knocked Luo Feng aside, seized Luo Bin by the shoulder, and dragged him away while shaking him violently.
• Luo Bin clawed the upper half of the beast's head to mush, killing it and freeing himself.
• Luo Bin felt an urge to lick the blood and brain matter from his hands, but Luo Feng arrived and stared at him in horror.

After Luo Bin killed the creature that had carried him off, Luo Feng concealed what his son had done and urged everyone to leave the dangerous area. Luo Bin realized Gu Yiren and Chen Xianxian were missing and insisted on going after them, while Luo Feng tried to stop him.

• Luo Feng covered the creature’s corpse with blood and dirt to hide that Luo Bin had torn open its head, and Gu Ya treated Luo Bin’s wounds.
• Zhang Li returned without Gu Yiren or Chen Xianxian, and Luo Feng stopped him from searching alone, warning that the area had become dangerous.
• Zhang Li pleaded with Luo Feng to help find his cousin, but Luo Feng refused and told him he could go by himself if he wished.
• Luo Bin concluded that one of the missing women had gone willingly while the other had been forced, then told Luo Feng and Zhang Li to follow him.
• Luo Feng blocked Luo Bin and urged him to consider his family’s safety, saying that searching would only cost them another life.