Li Xiumei

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Family and the Qin Island Massacre

Born Li Yujiao, she came from an impoverished household in Li Family Village. Her younger brother, Li Liang, was seriously ill, and the family could not afford treatment. Within the two weeks preceding the massacre, her family received ninety thousand yuan, which paid for his medical care 40 41.

Li Yujiao and her husband, Lü Zhengxian, killed their landlord, his wife, and their eldest son. The landlord’s five-year-old daughter survived and disappeared; she was later identified as Du Yuwei, whom the couple had adopted 12 27.

The case was initially described as a dispute over unpaid rent. Later evidence led Chen Mo to conclude that the couple had been hired to kill for the sake of Li Liang’s treatment. Li Xiumei’s mother confirmed that an unnamed, cultured man from the city supplied the money and instructed her daughter to kill 12 40 41 48.

The hired killings were connected to the first Seven Deaths for a Life ritual. Du Yuwei later explained that the ritual had saved the employer’s seriously ill son. Chen Mo ultimately identified the employer as his father, Chen Guowen, and acknowledged that the victims had been killed to extend his own life 41 92 146.

Li Fuguang’s Abduction

Recovered memories later reveal Li Xiumei’s involvement in the abduction of Li Fuguang, the seventh victim of the first Seven Deaths for a Life ritual. While Lü Zhengxian assaulted Li Fuguang’s mother and carried the boy into a van, Li Xiumei drove the vehicle. The abducted boy subsequently spent three days with the young Du Yuwei, whom he knew as Xiao Jing 92 151.

Flight and Murder

After the massacre, the couple fled to Lanjiang City, where Li Yujiao changed her name to Li Xiumei. They bought a house registered under Chen Guowen’s name 12 40.

Li Xiumei was killed not long afterward. Her tongue was cut out, her mouth filled with cement, and her body concealed inside a wall in the master bedroom. During the spirit-summoning ritual, she identified Lü Zhengxian as her killer and denied that he had killed her because of the family massacre 12 23.

Xiao Qing’s spirit vision revealed that a girl of five or six witnessed the murder. Chen Mo connected this witness to the child in the couple’s family photograph, although Xiao Qing could not positively identify her from the blurred image 25.

Du Yuwei’s supernatural diary later showed Chen Mo a memory of Lü Zhengxian strangling Li Xiumei with a rope in the master bedroom. The employer stood in the living room with the terrified young Du Yuwei and covered the child’s eyes. The diary identified him as both the man who had hired the couple and Lü Zhengxian’s accomplice in Li Xiumei’s death. Chen Mo speculated that the employer might have been responsible for cutting out her tongue and filling her mouth with cement, but the memory did not show him performing those acts 66.

Lü Zhengxian later told Chen Guowen that his wife had returned to her hometown to rest during pregnancy. He paid Chen Guowen five thousand yuan to sell the house, which the couple had bought less than six months earlier 16.

In the later rooftop confrontation, Lü Zhengxian, using Du Ruhai’s identity, admitted that he had killed Li Yujiao and Du Yuwei when they threatened to expose him 148.

Effect on Her Family

Following her crimes, Li Xiumei’s family faced ostracism and bullying in their village. Her father hanged himself, leaving her mother and younger brother behind. Despite the payment for treatment, Li Liang remained intellectually disabled 42 44 46.

Her mother later reported that Li Xiumei had visited her in a dream. In that account, Li Xiumei named both Lü Zhengxian and the unnamed benefactor as participants in her murder 48.

Li Liang also knew that his sister had died and that her tongue had been cut out. Chen Mo and Song Xiaotian overheard him mourning her at their father’s grave, prompting Chen Mo to investigate how the family had learned details of a death that had only recently been discovered 45.

Cremation and Cooperation with the Investigators

After performing the autopsy on Li Xiumei’s remains, forensic examiner Lao Zhou began suffering nightmares. According to Brother Liu, Lao Zhou later saw Li Xiumei in his passenger seat, asking why he had cut into her body. The fright caused him to crash his car; although he initially survived, he died of sepsis less than two days later. Chen Mo considered it possible that she had frightened him without intending the fatal outcome 74.

Her remains were cremated, and an eminent monk from Qinglian Temple performed a rite before her ashes were placed in temporary storage. Chen Mo, Meng Yifan, and Song Xiaotian subsequently pressured Brother Liu into bringing out the ashes so they could seek her assistance 73 74.

Li Xiumei possessed Brother Liu when Chen Mo approached the urn. Chen Mo told her that they had located Lü Zhengxian under a new identity and needed her help with an operation that night. She agreed to cooperate but warned that they would all die horribly if they lied to her 74.

She accompanied the group to Blessed Joy Manor to recover the ashes of Du Yuwei’s child. During the operation, she overcame the cemetery’s protective talismans and later warned the group that Du Ruhai’s bodyguards were approaching. After escaping over the wall with help from the Motorcycle Influencer, the investigators retrieved Li Xiumei’s urn and fled 75 76 78.

Confrontations with Du Ruhai and Destruction

When Chen Mo and his companions were trapped in Du Ruhai’s club, Song Xiaotian arranged for Li Xiumei’s urn to be brought from their car under the pretense of returning Du Mingyang’s ashes. Chen Mo exposed Du Ruhai as Lü Zhengxian in front of her. Her manifestation plunged the corridor into terror and helped the group escape 87 89.

Chen Mo afterward took the urn home, regarding her presence as protection despite his fear of keeping ashes in his apartment. He asked whether she had killed Lü Zhengxian but received no response 90.

A later attempt to use her ashes against Du Ruhai failed. An old occult practitioner suppressed her using a straw doll, talisman, and pestle, after which the apparent Du Ruhai seized the urn and attached another talisman to it. Chen Mo later learned that this opponent was an impostor and removed the talismans from the one-eyed old man’s corpse and Li Xiumei’s ashes 111 114.

Before the final assault, Chen Mo recovered her urn from a flower bed in his residential complex, where he had buried it because he considered keeping it at home unlucky. He confessed to her that his father had hired her and Lü Zhengxian and that their victims had died to extend his life 146.

Li Xiumei and Du Yuwei then jointly possessed Chen Mo and fought their way through Du Ruhai’s club. Their advance was briefly halted by five men chanting and striking ritual wooden fish, until Song Xiaotian intervened 147.

On the rooftop, the Eighteen Venerables overwhelmed Chen Mo and the two possessing spirits. A blow from a Dharma Staff forced Li Xiumei out of his body, and another Venerable struck her with a Vajra Pestle. She called out Lü Zhengxian’s name before her soul was scattered. Du Ruhai scattered spirit money over her and claimed that she had brought her destruction upon herself; Chen Mo subsequently reflected that, despite her crimes in life and as a ghost, she had helped them 148 149.

Appearance

• Beauty: Chen Mo describes her as naturally beautiful even in a black-and-white photocopy of her identification photograph 26.
• Clothing at discovery: Her mummified corpse wore a black dress and red high heels 9.
• Family photograph: She wore the same outfit in an old photograph alongside Lü Zhengxian and a young girl. Chen Mo interpreted her stiff posture and unwillingness to touch the girl as signs of dislike 18 23.
• Manifestation through Xiao Qing: During possession, Xiao Qing’s face appeared to overlap with that of an unfamiliar woman, leaving neither face clearly distinguishable 22.
• Independent manifestations: Appears as a dark figure during the cemetery operation and as an ink-like, long-haired shadow when warning the investigators 75 78.
• Club manifestation: Her shadow displays a clearly visible, corpse-like woman’s face, with black cement continually spilling from her open mouth 87.

Personality

Li Xiumei participated in the murder of the family whose surviving daughter she later helped adopt. Chen Mo initially suspected that she had masterminded the massacre and intended to leave no survivors, but the later discovery of an outside employer forced him to reconsider that theory 12 23 41.

As a ghost, she could cooperate with questioning but became violent when provoked or misunderstood. She answered through nods and head movements, then grabbed Chen Mo by the neck and threw him after his questions agitated her 22 23.

Her mother remembered her as obedient and devoted to her parents. That account reflects her mother’s perspective, but the payment for Li Liang’s treatment and her reported farewell dream both show her attachment to her family 41 48.

Her hostility also extended to people who had not murdered her. She confronted Lao Zhou over the autopsy, frightening him while he was driving and setting in motion the accident that preceded his death. Chen Mo nevertheless questioned whether she had intended to kill him 74.

Her desire for revenge made cooperation possible. She helped Chen Mo’s group after being told that they had found Lü Zhengxian, though she explicitly threatened them if they deceived her. Her hatred remained so intense that she forced out Lü Zhengxian’s name during her club manifestation and called it again at the moment of her destruction 74 87 148.

Abilities & Skills

Spirit Possession

Li Xiumei possesses Xiao Qing during Fuji Divination, using the medium’s body to communicate and act 22 23.

• The invocation using Li Xiumei produces no response; using her original name, Li Yujiao, succeeds immediately 21.
• During the initial ritual, she communicates through nodding and head movements but cannot speak intelligibly, despite possessing a living medium 22 23.
• Through Xiao Qing, she throws Chen Mo and displays enough strength that he cannot hold the medium down after the protective formation is sabotaged 23 24.
• She later possesses Brother Liu without the earlier Fuji Divination setup and speaks through him, questioning the investigators about their intentions and warning them against deception 74.
• She can possess Chen Mo simultaneously with Du Yuwei. In this state, the spirits and their host understand one another without speaking, and the two spirits directly control his movements 147.
• Their joint possession grants Chen Mo extraordinary strength and reflexes, allowing him to tear through armed attackers. Chen Mo interprets this as their magnetic fields unlocking his body’s latent potential; the individual contribution of each spirit is not separated 147.

Supernatural Manifestations

Her summoning produces changes in the room and disturbing visual effects 21 23.

• Chen Mo and Meng Yifan’s shadows disappear after the successful invocation 21.
• Cement appears to pour from Xiao Qing’s mouth, reproducing the mutilation inflicted before Li Xiumei’s death. Chen Mo interprets the apparent cement as an illusion 23.
• A freezing wind arises inside the closed living room when Lü Zhengxian’s name agitates her 23.
• Xiao Qing’s shadow begins splitting as Li Xiumei appears ready to break out of the medium following the ritual’s disruption 24.
• During the cemetery invocation, a gust of wind accompanies the unusually rapid burning of three incense sticks before she appears as a dark figure 75.
• She uses a directional wind and a long-haired shadow to warn the investigators away from the cemetery gates before Du Ruhai’s bodyguards arrive 78.
• Her manifestation in Du Ruhai’s club coincides with darkness and unusable elevators. Amid the panic, a bodyguard develops a strange smile and stabs himself in the neck; the scene does not explicitly establish the precise mechanism behind his action 87.
• Although she initially cannot speak intelligibly through Xiao Qing, she later forces out Lü Zhengxian’s name in a hoarse voice during her independent manifestation 22 23 87.

Dream Communication and Restrictions

Li Xiumei’s mother reports receiving a dream in which her daughter explained her death, identified her killers, and urged her to take care of herself 48.

• Before her remains were uncovered, Li Xiumei could wander only inside the apartment 18.
• She was not the ghost knocking on doors and asking for Li Xiumei; that spirit was Du Yuwei 18 26 27.
• Seventh Master Zhao states that spirits ordinarily remain in the city where they died unless someone carries their ashes elsewhere 48.
• Chen Mo uses the principle that a spirit follows its remains or ashes when arranging to bring her into later operations 73.
• Brother Liu reports that Lao Zhou suffered nightmares after conducting her autopsy, before seeing her in his car 74.

Resistance and Vulnerabilities

• Protective talismans: Chen Mo concludes that Li Xiumei’s accumulated resentment allows her to overpower the cemetery’s ghost-suppressing talismans, leaving them blackened and ineffective. These protections had deterred Du Yuwei from entering 76.
• Targeted suppression: An occult practitioner suppresses her using a straw doll bearing a talisman and a pestle. Chen Mo infers that Du Ruhai knows her Eight Characters of Birth; a further talisman placed on the urn helps contain her 111.
• Wooden fish and chanting: Coordinated chanting and the striking of ritual wooden fish weaken both her and Du Yuwei while they possess Chen Mo, disrupting his balance and ability to fight 147.
• Eighteen Venerables: Their anti-spirit abilities overwhelm her despite her strength. A Dharma Staff expels her from her host, and a Vajra Pestle destroys her soul 148 149.

Relationships

• Lü Zhengxian / Du Ruhai — Husband, accomplice in the massacre, and killer. Li Xiumei identifies him during the ritual; her mother’s later account implicates him alongside the employer. Du Yuwei’s diary shows him strangling her, and he later admits killing her when she threatened to expose him. She repeatedly assists efforts against him but is destroyed by his protectors before obtaining revenge 16 23 48 66 74 148.
• Du Yuwei — Adopted daughter and sole survivor of the murdered family. Xiao Qing detects mutual resentment between their spirits; Chen Mo connects Li Xiumei’s murder to Lü Zhengxian’s feelings for Du Yuwei. Du Yuwei witnessed Li Xiumei’s murder, although the employer covered her eyes. Despite their earlier hostility, the two ghosts later jointly possess Chen Mo to fight Du Ruhai 21 27 33 66 147.
• Li Liang — Younger brother. Funding his treatment was the motive Chen Mo identified behind her acceptance of the hired killings. Li Liang later mourns her death at their father’s grave 40 41 45.
• Mother — Defends Li Xiumei and blames the police for her fate. Reports receiving her daughter’s farewell and accusation against her killers in a dream 48.
• Father — Died by suicide after the family suffered village ostracism following her crimes 44.
• Employer / First Case Offender — Supplied ninety thousand yuan for Li Liang’s treatment. Li Xiumei called him a benefactor; according to her mother’s dream account, he later helped kill her. Du Yuwei’s diary corroborates his involvement, and Chen Mo ultimately identifies him as Chen Guowen 48 66 146.
• Chen Guowen — Registered owner of the couple’s house and intermediary in its sale. Initially suspected by police; Xiao Qing’s description of the killer did not match him, leading Chen Mo to dismiss his involvement at that stage. Later revelations establish that he was the employer and accomplice rather than the strangler Xiao Qing described. Chen Mo also accuses him of sabotaging the summoning to prevent Li Xiumei from exposing him 12 16 25 108 146.
• Chen Mo and Meng Yifan — Investigate her concealed remains and summon her to identify her murderer. They later enlist her help against Lü Zhengxian. Chen Mo carries and stores her ashes, becomes her host during the final assault, and acknowledges her assistance after her destruction 19 22 23 74 90 147 149.
• Song Xiaotian — Helps secure her ashes and arranges for her urn to be brought into Du Ruhai’s club to save the group. Later interrupts the wooden-fish chanters who are suppressing her and Du Yuwei inside Chen Mo 73 74 87 89 147.
• Xiao Qing — Professional medium who hosts her spirit and glimpses memories of her murder 22 25.
• Brother Liu — Helps identify her remains and later obtains her ashes for the investigators. Li Xiumei temporarily possesses him to question the group 11 73 74.
• Lao Zhou — Forensic examiner who performs her autopsy. Her subsequent appearance in his car frightens him into a crash, after which he dies of sepsis 74.
• Li Fuguang — Abduction victim and seventh sacrifice in the first Seven Deaths for a Life. Li Xiumei drives the van used by Lü Zhengxian to kidnap him 92 151.
• Eighteen Venerables — Du Ruhai’s anti-spirit protectors. One expels her from Chen Mo with a Dharma Staff, and another destroys her with a Vajra Pestle 148.

Story Role / Major Arcs

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