Chapter Summaries

Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng discovered Bai Xiaoxiao’s severed head alive in a jar, and she revealed how they could find a book with the village’s secrets and save her. After retrieving the book from the Spirit Medium’s hidden compartment, they were caught and fled as she chased them.

• Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng found Bai Xiaoxiao’s head in a jar and learned that the Spirit Medium had severed it while keeping her alive.
• Bai Xiaoxiao told Ning Qiushui to retrieve a book from a hidden compartment beneath the Spirit Medium’s bed and warned him not to confront the Spirit Medium.
• Bai Xiaoxiao said Ning Qiushui could save her by finding her body at the Back Mountain Temple before sunset, identifying it by a dagger-shaped birthmark.
• Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng found the mechanism beneath the bed and took the yellowed book from the hidden compartment.
• The Spirit Medium arrived at the courtyard gate and caught Ning Qiushui holding the book, so Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng ran for the western archway as she pursued them.

Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng fled the Spirit Medium after she caught them in her residence, but Ning Qiushui used the important book to keep her chasing them. They led her toward Fangcun Pond, where Liu Chengfeng saw something behind them that froze his smile.

• Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng ran for the Spirit Medium's Residence gate as the Spirit Medium pursued them at unnatural speed.
• Liu Chengfeng picked the gate's lock, and Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng escaped before the Spirit Medium could catch them.
• The Spirit Medium chased them with a Bone Blade, refusing to give up the book Ning Qiushui carried.
• Ning Qiushui slowed their pace to make the Spirit Medium think she could catch them, and Liu Chengfeng realized they were heading toward Fangcun Pond.
• As they neared Fangcun Pond, Liu Chengfeng looked back at the Spirit Medium and froze in alarm.

Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng led the Spirit Medium to Fangcun Pond, where black algae and the human-skin ghost trapped her. The Spirit Medium nearly broke free, but Liu Chengfeng’s stone gave the ghost woman time to bind her again.

• The Spirit Medium chased Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng on all fours and knocked Liu Chengfeng down, but Ning Qiushui threw the book toward Fangcun Pond to lure her onto the raised platform.
• The Spirit Medium caught the book and returned to human form, only to realize she had stepped onto the platform above Fangcun Pond.
• Black algae restrained the Spirit Medium as the human-skin ghost rose from the pond and cut the fingers holding her Bone Blade.
• The human-skin ghost called for Brother Xiu while handling the Bone Blade, but the Spirit Medium recited scriptures and burned away the hair binding her.
• Liu Chengfeng threw a stone that lodged in the Spirit Medium’s throat, interrupting her escape long enough for the ghost woman’s hair to bind her again.

Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng received the book and the Skin-Shedding Female Ghost’s eyes, then learned the Ruan Clan had turned the villagers against Guang Xiu’s family during a famine. The chapter left off as Ruan Kaihuang accused Guang Xiu’s family of eating meat while the villagers starved.

• The Skin-Shedding Female Ghost returned the book to Ning Qiushui and gave him and Liu Chengfeng her eyes before disappearing.
• Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng watched the ghost’s remains decay and reflected that the village’s people, not its ghosts, had tried to kill them.
• Ning Qiushui read the book and handed it to Liu Chengfeng, who grew furious at the Ruan Clan’s deeds.
• The book revealed that Guang Xiu’s family had distributed grain during a famine until their supplies ran low and they had to stop.
• After the villagers turned against Guang Xiu’s family, Ruan Kaihuang told them he had seen the family eating meat.

The chapter revealed how Ruan Kaihuang deceived Rain-Praying Village into murdering Guang Xiu, then abused and killed Zhu Nanyu and helped bring vengeful spirits upon the village. When a young monk named Fahui arrived, he offered a dangerous ritual to suppress the spirits, but it required that his head remain attached to his body.

• Ruan Kaihuang spread a false rumor about Guang Xiu, and the villagers killed Guang Xiu before rain ended the drought that night.
• Ruan Kaihuang became village chief, burned Guangchuan to death, and abducted Zhu Nanyu, whom he tortured and killed.
• Ruan Kaihuang had Zhu Nanyu's body skinned, after which the butcher who helped him died and vengeful spirits began killing villagers.
• Ruan Kaihuang sent a villager to seek help, and the young monk Fahui warned that the villagers must leave or die.
• Fahui explained that a ritual could suppress the spirits, but it required cutting off and reattaching his head without separating it from his body.

Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng learned how Rain-Praying Village’s leaders had removed the monk’s head and used tourists as sacrifices to keep the village peaceful. They resolved to rescue Sister Bai and find the monk’s head, believing he was the only one who could suppress the accumulated resentment.

• The account revealed that Ruan Xin removed the monk’s head, causing deaths to resume, and later married a woman who restored peace to the village.
• After the woman died in childbirth, her daughter became the Spirit Medium and eventually succeeded Ruan Xin as village chief.
• The Spirit Medium exploited villagers and arranged for tourists to serve as sacrifices, temporarily preventing deaths in the village.
• Liu Chengfeng cursed the villagers and kicked apart the Spirit Medium’s remains before he and Ning Qiushui left with the book.
• Ning Qiushui warned that the village’s growing resentment had produced the Red-Clothed Female Ghost and said they needed to rescue Sister Bai and recover the monk’s head.

After learning that the Spirit Medium was dead, Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng warned the others that the village’s dead still posed a threat and shared a book describing a safe route up Back Mountain. They set out to retrieve Bai Xiaoxiao’s body, but the mountain stairs transformed into a blood-soaked path crowded with corpses.

• Ning Qiushui told the group that Bai Xiaoxiao was in terrible shape and the Spirit Medium had been killed.
• Ning Qiushui warned that the dead villagers remained dangerous, and he proposed that the others search for the monk’s missing head while he and Liu Chengfeng sought Bai Xiaoxiao’s body.
• An unnamed man objected to risking their lives for Bai Xiaoxiao, and the bespectacled man’s group left to search for the head.
• Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng prepared their gear and headed to Back Mountain to retrieve Bai Xiaoxiao’s body before dark.
• When Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng stepped onto the mountain stairs, blood began flowing down them and corpses appeared across the steps.

Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng climbed the blood-soaked Back Mountain and found Bai Xiaoxiao’s body in the Temple, while Ning Qiushui suspected the Spirit Medium was trying to create a new body. As they prepared to leave, a grinning corpse with a head appeared, the Temple doors slammed shut, and the two men became trapped in darkness.

• Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng climbed past headless corpses and found black fluid covering their healed neck wounds, leading Ning Qiushui to suspect the Spirit Medium was using a dark art to obtain a new body.
• Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng reached the Temple, where they found more headless bodies hanging from the ceiling.
• Ning Qiushui identified Bai Xiaoxiao’s body by her clothes and dagger-shaped birthmark, then helped Liu Chengfeng bind and carry it.
• Ning Qiushui spotted a mangled corpse with a head and a grotesque grin, realized what had been troubling him, and shouted for Liu Chengfeng to run.
• The Temple doors slammed shut, plunging Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng into darkness as they froze and heard footsteps behind them.

Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng escaped the Temple with Bai Xiaoxiao’s body, using the bronze mirror and a female ghost to hold Guang Xiu back. As they fled down the mountain, Guang Xiu pursued them and shifted his attention to the three men they encountered in the woods, leaving the injured man behind.

• Ning Qiushui awakened the bronze mirror as Guang Xiu attacked him, and the female ghost’s sobbing gave him and Liu Chengfeng a chance to escape the Temple.
• Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng fled downhill carrying Bai Xiaoxiao’s body, while the female ghost vanished and the bronze mirror shattered.
• Ning Qiushui saw Guang Xiu pursue them down the steps and took Bai Xiaoxiao’s body from Liu Chengfeng so he could run faster.
• Ning Qiushui warned the man with glasses and his two companions to run when they met in the woods.
• Guang Xiu turned toward the three men, and the injured man at the back fell behind as the others fled.

Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng returned Bai Xiaoxiao's body to the Spirit Medium's residence and reunited it with her head just before sunset. Bai Xiaoxiao recovered, but only five people remained, with two days left to restore the monk's head before Guang Xiu and the other spirits turned against them.

• Lü Ting was abandoned by the fleeing group, then lost his head to the pursuing monster.
• Ning Qiushui carried Bai Xiaoxiao's body to the Spirit Medium's residence while Liu Chengfeng opened the door and picked the lock to the storage room.
• Bai Xiaoxiao told Ning Qiushui to break the jar and reattach her head to her body.
• Ning Qiushui and Liu Chengfeng reunited Bai Xiaoxiao's head and body, and she revived just before sunset.
• Bai Xiaoxiao learned that only five people were likely left and that they had two days to restore the monk's head before Guang Xiu became a vengeful ghost.