Seventh Master

Biodata

Background / History

Seventh Master learned occult lore from an unnamed master, including accounts of the Seven Deaths Life-Exchange Art. He says he has never personally encountered that art before the current investigation, but his master described historical cases in which its users suffered disastrous karmic consequences 29.

He previously helped Brother Liu’s old unit handle several supernatural incidents. Liu recommends him to Chen Mo and Meng Yifan because of that record, while warning that he is hot-tempered and responds better to politeness than pressure 14.

He also spent a couple of years learning lockpicking when he was young. His proficiency later surprises Chen Mo and Meng Yifan, but the passages do not establish a former criminal occupation 32.

Childhood and Training

Zhao Qiankun was the seventh child of a poor family. Unable to support another child, his parents gave him to a wandering Daoist, who raised him and became his master. He practiced the Dao from childhood 271 287.

Before he turned twenty, he already possessed considerable knowledge and could assist his master with many tasks. His master nevertheless insisted that he remain inconspicuous and usually withheld public recognition of his contributions, hoping to prevent youthful confidence from becoming arrogance 556.

Family Tragedy and Opposition to the Organization

Seventh Master married a woman he loved and had a young son. When he was in his twenties, villains murdered his wife and child. Both were beheaded, and their heads were never found. According to Guo Ying’s widow, his hair turned white overnight, and his appearance changed so drastically that he became almost unrecognizable. His master subsequently died as well 428 478.

He later explains that the organization began targeting him when he was twenty, before he even knew it existed. Its repeated traps and attempts on his life drove him to retaliate. He eventually led a coalition of martial-world and occult practitioners against it 376 555 556.

The coalition numbered a little over a hundred, while the organization had more than ten thousand followers. Although Seventh Master’s side eventually gained the advantage and drove its enemies out of China, it suffered severe losses. He later learns that the organization’s leader had already been killed and that internal instability helped explain its increasingly rapid collapse 479 540.

His closest companions formed a brotherhood of seven men who risked their lives for one another. Guo Ying once carried him over two mountains while they were being pursued. Shi Yong rescued him from imprisonment at the cost of an arm and nearly died from his injuries. Seventh Master himself served a prison sentence in Guo Ying’s place when Guo’s family could not afford to lose its provider 478 479.

Later Life and Wealth

After his master died, Seventh Master moved from the Northeast to Lanjiang City. In his younger years, he traveled widely and bought properties wherever he went, using money earned when real estate was much cheaper. Rising property values eventually made him wealthy 429.

His holdings include properties in first- and second-tier cities, two storefronts in Lanjiang City, and substantial savings. He treats these as worldly possessions rather than achievements worth displaying. When preparing to adopt Xiuzhu, he intends his remaining wealth to provide for her future 429.

By the time Yi Yang visits him, he is semi-retired and spends much of his time caring for Xiuzhu 522.

Appearance

Seventh Master is an elderly man whose size and agility surprise Chen Mo 30 35.

• Build: Tall and imposing 35.
• Mobility: Climbs walls nimbly despite his age 30.
• Physical bearing: Moves quickly enough to intervene against an armed attacker and exchange trained fighting moves with him 35.
• Youthful appearance: A portrait at Guo Ying’s home depicts him as a handsome, resolute young man with bright eyes, leading a horse carrying his master. Guo’s widow says he was famous for his good looks within their circle 478.
• Effects of grief: His wife and child’s murder reportedly turned his hair white overnight and caused a lasting deterioration in his appearance 478.
• Effects of cultivation and injury: Before the construction-site ordeal, his Daoist practice made him look more than ten years younger than his actual age. Using the Spirit-Invoking Art while already injured leaves him visibly older, with additional wrinkles and the appearance of a man in his sixties or seventies 269 271.
• Combat manifestation: During the escape from the trafficking village, beast markings appear on his face and his eyes turn red before he charges the armed villagers 418.

Personality

Seventh Master is blunt, foul-mouthed, and quick to anger. After an earlier parking dispute with Meng Yifan, he initially refuses to help the two men, then calls them back and says he was joking. His humor can be difficult to distinguish from genuine hostility 17.

Despite his abrasive manner, he patiently explains unfamiliar supernatural concepts and remains composed while Chen Mo and Meng Yifan panic during Li Xiumei’s summoning. He initially declines payment until their case is settled 19 22 28.

He distinguishes occult knowledge from its misuse, arguing that techniques themselves are not inherently good or evil. He strongly rejects the suggestion that ordinary practitioners are like those who perform murderous life-exchange rituals 28 29.

He is also protective of his reputation and wary of legal danger. He repeatedly objects to breaking into Du Ruhai’s home and even pretends his concussion has worsened to avoid proceeding. His later confession implicating Chen Mo sharply undermines the trust Chen Mo had placed in him 29 30 50.

Moral Principles and Teaching

Seventh Master regards supernatural ability as a responsibility rather than a basis for superiority. He tells Chen Mo that magical practice requires reverence for life and death and a steadfast commitment to the Dao. Talent without that foundation can lead a practitioner astray 226.

His insistence on protecting life brings him into conflict with Chen Mo over Ding Ruoning’s revenge. When Chen Mo conceals the identity of her next intended victim, Seventh Master becomes furious and later rebukes him after the boy dies. He nevertheless calls Chen Mo back to help prevent another killing 214 215.

He similarly rejects Lin Jinhua’s claim that charitable deeds justify sacrificing other people. In Seventh Master’s view, helping others does not confer ownership of their lives or permission to kill unrelated innocents 303.

His principles do not make him incapable of reconsideration. He later apologizes to Chen Mo for having forced him to kill Du Yuwei, acknowledging that Chen Mo was innocent and had been made to bear consequences without anyone considering his wishes or feelings 499.

Loyalty, Grief, and Acceptance

Seventh Master’s old companions remember him as benevolent, loyal, and personally charismatic. His willingness to take Guo Ying’s place in prison is one reason their families remain deeply grateful to him 478.

Despite his philosophical attitude toward aging and death, the destruction of his sworn brothers’ souls devastates him. He explains that he avoided visiting them because he feared bringing the organization’s retaliation to their homes, even while retracing the routes they had once traveled together 477 479 488.

He counsels Chen Mo to cherish present relationships and accept their eventual passing. He also accepts the visible aging caused by his injuries as part of the natural course of life rather than something worth obsessing over 186 271.

When he learns that the Evil Buddha’s hatred may originate in a past life, he eventually chooses to let go of the grudge for Xiuzhu’s sake. Although troubled by the later revelation that an earlier incarnation committed a terrible betrayal, he distinguishes that person’s conduct from his own life while accepting the broader operation of karma 556 564 586.

Adaptability and Mischief

Seventh Master supports Meng Yifan’s haunted-property business proposal, arguing that their work must adapt to changing times. He also readily praises Chen Mo when a cheap laser-pointer trick succeeds where elaborate preparations might not have 134 404.

His appetite for learning other schools’ techniques is notorious. When Meishan practitioners accuse him of copying their Spirit-Invoking Art, he shamelessly argues that performing it in front of him invited the imitation. His reputation eventually produces the saying, “Guard against fire, guard against thieves, and guard against Zhao Laoqi” 349 350 716.

This habit persists into the final chapters, when Chen Mo discovers three concealed pinhole cameras on him before a village visit. Seventh Master insists that he merely wants to record rural scenery and document his life 745.

Abilities & Skills

Spiritual Perception and Diagnosis

Seventh Master can recognize supernatural danger before receiving a full account of events 18.

• Detects that Chen Mo and Meng Yifan have encountered multiple spirits, including one dead for at least a decade 18.
• Explains that Li Xiumei’s confinement inside the apartment rules her out as the door-knocking ghost 18.
• Recognizes that Du Yuwei’s power is abnormal for someone dead only three months, suggesting deliberate ghost-raising 27.
• Says he would have sensed Du Yuwei had her ghost been inside the villa; distinguishes her corpse’s opening eyes from transformation into a walking corpse 35.
• Diagnoses the waterlogged flower beds at Ding Ruoning’s villa as an effect of excessive yin energy and interprets blackened soil as evidence of deeply resentful spirits beneath the building 210.
• Identifies Northern Mao’s Soul-Separation Art from the Seven-Star Lamps sustaining a wandering soul, explaining that the soul cannot return if the lamps go out first 269.
• Examines Lu Yihao remotely and identifies a condition resembling a parasitic twin caused by eight infant spirits attempting rebirth through him. He recognizes the danger of treatment and recommends specialists from the Meishan Ritual Arts Sect 345.
• Identifies a snake’s shed skin as belonging to an Immortal Family member from the Northeast and explains the prohibition against such spirits leaving that region 522.

Fuji Divination and Protective Rituals

He directs the summoning of Li Xiumei through Xiao Qing and establishes precautions for questioning her 19 21 22.

• Constructs a protective formation using eight ritual flags, red cord, and sixty-four candles 21.
• Uses the Three Purities Bell to keep participants clear-headed and prevent spiritual beguilement 21.
• Establishes cough signals: one means the ghost has arrived; two mean it is out of control and the men must flee 22.
• Identifies the failed invocation’s naming problem; the group succeeds after calling Li Xiumei by her original name, Li Yujiao 21.
• Warns that a summoned spirit must be sent back by the same method to prevent backlash against the medium 24.
• Plans seven days of rites, but states that Chen Mo and Meng Yifan must still find Li Xiumei’s murderer within that period 24 25.

The formation is vulnerable to physical sabotage. An intruder knocks him unconscious and overturns its flags and candles, leaving Xiao Qing’s possession uncontrolled 23 24.

He later agrees to recruit Xiao Qing again when the group decides to summon Tao Xiaoyu’s Yin Soul for information about her murder 166.

Warding and Soul Recall

His protective knowledge extends beyond formal divination 25 31 46.

• Carries a talisman that Chen Mo uses to make the possessed Xiao Qing lose consciousness 24.
• Frees Chen Mo and Meng Yifan from a corpse-oil painting by covering their eyes, calling their heavenly souls back, and physically jolting them awake 31.
• Identifies a Yin-Gathering Talisman from a photograph, explaining that it conceals yang energy with yin energy and temporarily weakens its user 25.
• Teaches Chen Mo a blood-based warding method later used to remove a choking spirit handprint from Song Xiaotian’s neck 46.
• Secures Pan Xiaorou’s villa with talismans on its doors, bagua mirrors at its windows, and a final rite at the entrance. He advises burying Xiang Kai’s remains because their unburied state keeps drawing his spirit home 178.
• Leads the Tranquilizing Mind Spirit Mantra to calm the supernatural disturbance during Ding Ruoning’s summoning 210.
• Uses the Five Thunders Seal to subdue yin souls, although Ding Ruoning’s extreme resentment enables her to resist both the seal and a forehead talisman 225.
• Maintains the Soul-Calming Spell while holding the Dao Finger gesture to prevent the gathered souls of the Luo Residence from attacking 311.

Spirit-Passing Rites and Occult Lore

Seventh Master understands soul nurturing, ghost-raising, possession, and the Seven Deaths Life-Exchange Art. Knowledge of the dark art is not evidence that he practices it 28 29.

• Initially offers to help Du Yuwei pass on if her ashes can be located 28.
• Cannot use that approach once the new seven-death life exchange has begun and two victims have already died 34.
• Proposes an alternative requiring Du Yuwei’s birth details, removal of her body, and cremation; the group is interrupted before carrying it out 34 35.
• Explains that the life-exchange art sacrifices seven lives to reduce rejection between a possessing soul and its new body 29.
• Uses contacts in occult circles to investigate funeral homes and crematoria 28.
• Keeps captured souls in bottles beneath an altar dedicated to the Three Pure Ones. When he adds Ding Ruoning’s bottle, the collection already contains at least twenty others; he recites scripture for them 226.
• Maintains a windowless room protected by a ghost-keeping talisman, separating its supernatural occupants from the household 378.
• Recognizes an Evil Formation made with Evil Buddha statues, cinnabar, red thread, and talismans, but admits no demonstrated way to rescue Senior Ma from its lethal response to yang energy 509.

Divination, Physiognomy, and Scholarship

Seventh Master teaches Chen Mo yin and yang, the five elements, and the Earlier Heaven and Later Heaven Eight Trigrams. Over roughly two weeks of evening lessons, Chen Mo also discovers his knowledge of astronomy, geography, geology, philosophy, literature, medicine, destiny reading, physiognomy, and spiritual cultivation 156 157.

• Uses Yin Pan Qimen to assess Meng Yifan’s predicament. He identifies a Dragon-Trapped Formation, but explains that his involvement compromises the reading and leaves its outcome uncertain 166.
• Independently predicts Ding Ruoning’s next attempted killing with Yin Pan Qimen 215.
• Reads facial features to infer the temperament, ambition, suspicion, and status of the man revealed in Brother Liu’s recovered memories 363.
• Emphasizes sincere confidence in divination while distinguishing its revelation of heavenly secrets from fortune-telling based on specific personal data 364.
• Participates in a hexagram reading that locates Wang Si’s missing wife nearby, leading to the discovery of her corpse in Chen Mo’s wardrobe 414.
• Revises his earlier explanation of Chen Mo’s flawed fate pattern, proposing that Li Fuguang’s fate has been imposed on him because two souls occupy one lifetime 568.
• Casts a Yin Pan Qimen chart for Chen Mo’s next two months after his return from Qingyang Temple and declares that he will die 734.

Spirit Invocation and Thunder Magic

Chen Mo describes Seventh Master as proficient in numerous spells, including summoning Qiongqi, summoning Cui Jue, and Daoist Thunder Magic. His exact overall power is not quantified 238.

His Spirit-Invoking Art is identified by Meishan practitioners as one of their sect’s techniques, which he learned by watching them perform it. They require him to wear a blindfold during Lu Yihao’s treatment to prevent further copying 349 350.

• Recites Cui Jue’s Precatory Hymn while forming Dharma Mudras to invoke the Underworld official 238.
• Uses Thunder Magic to attempt to break the Luo Residence’s Ghost Wall by overwhelming and intimidating its yin souls 258 259.
• Repels a charging group of spirits with the Spirit-Invoking Art, causing some to vanish and throwing the rest out of the room 269.
• Cooperates with Chen Mo through a red-thread connection, borrowing his yang energy to strengthen Thunder Magic. Seventh Master’s magic activates Chen Mo’s Thunder Spell, which in turn amplifies his own, allowing them to break Xiuzhu’s Ghost Wall 311 320.

Thunder Magic is a costly supreme art that depletes the caster’s essence, energy, and spirit. A prepared trap reflects Seventh Master’s own attack back at him, leaving him unconscious with electrical injuries. Further invocation while weakened causes visible aging and temporarily prevents him from using magic 258 259 269.

He later explains that the backlash depleted his kidney essence and writes a prescription for recovery. Even after recovering sufficiently to act, another use of Thunder Magic leaves him exhausted 271 311.

Mind Seizing, Memory Reconstruction, and Soul Separation

Seventh Master uses a staged shock, Ding Ruoning’s ghost, and a burned talisman to place Brother Liu in a trance more stable than ordinary hypnosis. He guides Liu through memories of leaving work while Ding Ruoning reconstructs the alley from those memories 361.

He identifies a barrier that substitutes the subject’s greatest fear for the hypnotist’s face. After further work, Brother Liu recalls the actual man, allowing Seventh Master to examine his appearance 361 363.

He later attempts to combine hypnosis with Maoshan’s Soul-Separation Art to peel Li Fuguang out of Chen Mo. He warns that Li Fuguang’s age, strength, and unwillingness may defeat the attempt. The ritual fails when Li Fuguang blows up his talisman 567.

A different approach succeeds in bringing Li Fuguang out voluntarily: Seventh Master reveals that the tabby cat is possessed by Li Fuguang’s mother, Tang Wanhe, whose grief over her missing son prevented reincarnation. Recognizing her causes Li Fuguang to emerge from Chen Mo’s body 581.

When Chen Mo proposes exchanging souls with Wu Huaqing, Seventh Master devises a method based on a forbidden Daoist art. The method becomes part of their planning to let Chen Mo survive the confrontation 607.

Scene Reconstruction

During the Tan family investigation, Seventh Master conducts a ritual that recreates the massacre scene. He casts two commanding banners upright without support, scatters rice, and uses a hand gesture and command to ignite the rice, nine ever-burning lamps, and two silk banners 385.

The reconstruction reveals phenomena beyond his understanding: a dark hand takes Tan Wannian, and a real, expanding black hole appears in the basement. Neither Seventh Master nor Chen Mo can explain its source at that stage 388.

Martial Arts and Lockpicking

His practical skills become important during the villa infiltration 30 32 35.

• Climbs perimeter walls and guides the others through a bathroom window 30.
• Opens a locked room with a piece of wire in less than a minute 32.
• Throws a chair to interrupt a cleaver attack on Meng Yifan, then grapples with the attacker without conceding an advantage 35.
• Chooses surrender rather than fighting more than a dozen guards armed with stun batons 36.
• Leads the escape from the trafficking village and overpowers several younger men when their numbers are manageable 418.
• After beast markings appear on his face, delivers a punch that caves in a man’s shoulder, seizes a woodcutting blade, and cuts off another attacker’s arm 418.

His combination of martial skill and Daoist ability reflects lifelong training rather than rapid advancement. Chen Mo explicitly contrasts that accumulated experience with his own inability to develop multiple disciplines at once 521.

Power Progression

The story does not assign Seventh Master a numbered cultivation realm. These milestones record revealed capabilities, limitations, and later applications rather than confirmed promotions in rank.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Ritual backpack — Carries the equipment used to establish the summoning formation 21.
• Eight ritual flags, red cord, and sixty-four candles — Form the protective arrangement for Fuji Divination 21.
• Three Purities Bell — Bronze bell used to resist spiritual beguilement 21.
• Talisman — Kept in his trouser pocket; used by Chen Mo during Xiao Qing’s uncontrolled possession 24.
• Piece of wire — Used to pick the lock on Du Ruhai’s third-floor room 32.
• Warding talismans and bagua mirrors — Installed at Pan Xiaorou’s villa to keep Xiang Kai’s spirit out 178.
• Soul-containing bottles — Holds Ding Ruoning and at least twenty other captured souls in a box beneath his altar 226.
• Yellow Talismans — Used offensively against the ghost watching him and Chen Mo at the unfinished hotel 256.
• Black Talisman — Taken by Chen Mo and placed on Xiuzhu’s forehead before their combined Thunder Magic breaks the Ghost Wall 311.
• Car — Lent to Chen Mo without hesitation when he needs transportation for an investigation 364.
• Commanding banners, silk banners, rice, and nine ever-burning lamps — Used in the Tan massacre scene-reconstruction ritual 385.
• Woodcutting blade — Seized from a villager during the escape and used against an armed attacker 418.
• Compass and hair sample — Uses a compass bearing Senior Ma’s hair to follow him into the mountains 508.
• Three pinhole cameras — Concealed on his person before the final village visit; Chen Mo discovers and removes them 745.

Relationships

• Chen Mo — Occult adviser and rescuer. Chen Mo develops deep respect for his experience, then learns that Seventh Master named him to police as the instigator of the villa break-in 19 25 31 50. Their relationship later becomes that of an informal teacher and deeply trusted elder: Seventh Master teaches him, shelters him, helps investigate his fate, and works with him on a plan against Wu Huaqing. Chen Mo repeatedly credits him with preserving his life and helping him enter cultivation 156 157 186 378 601 607. Seventh Master also apologizes for disregarding Chen Mo’s feelings when forcing him to kill Du Yuwei 499.
• Meng Yifan — Their first encounter involves a parking dispute. Seventh Master later helps him investigate the hauntings, saves him from an armed attacker, and is arrested alongside him 17 35 36. He subsequently supports Meng Yifan’s haunted-property business and uses divination to assess another predicament involving him 134 166.
• Brother Liu / Liu Jianye — An existing acquaintance whose former unit benefited from Seventh Master’s supernatural assistance; Liu introduces him to the protagonists 14. Seventh Master later uses Mind Seizing and memory reconstruction to investigate Liu’s concealed memories 361 363.
• Xiao Qing — Professional medium he recruits for Li Xiumei’s summoning. He negotiates her fee and supervises the ritual in which she serves as the vessel 20 21. He agrees to hire her again for Tao Xiaoyu’s summoning 166.
• Unnamed master — Teacher who told him about historical life-exchange cases and their karmic consequences 29. Also his foster parent, who raised him from childhood and taught him to remain humble and inconspicuous. Seventh Master moves to Lanjiang City after his death 287 429 556.
• Deceased wife and son — Murdered when Seventh Master was young. Their deaths profoundly alter his appearance and leave him living alone for decades 428 478.
• Du Ruhai / Lü Zhengxian / Du Yunting — Target of the villa investigation. Chen Mo initially suspects Seventh Master may know Du Ruhai because of his apparent familiarity with the building, but that explanation is not confirmed during the break-in 32 36. They later become established enemies; Chen Mo regards Seventh Master as indispensable to bringing Du Ruhai down and suspects that the reborn Du Yunting is trying to eliminate him first 299.
• Song Xiaotian — Frequent investigative companion. Seventh Master helps protect Pan Xiaorou’s villa after Song drives out Xiang Kai, praises Song’s character and ability to his grandfather, and later considers him strong enough that Wu Huaqing cannot easily threaten him 178 322 601.
• Old Master Song — Song Xiaotian’s grandfather, who recognizes Zhao Qiankun as the seventh son foretold by his father, Song Qingshan. He advises Seventh Master about the Luo Residence and arranges access to a battlefield-used military blade. Seventh Master later visits and thanks him 287 288 322.
• An Ning — Investigative companion and Chen Mo’s partner. Seventh Master hopes to persuade her toward good after her involvement with Du Yuwei, and later welcomes her and Chen Mo into his home 185 734.
• Ding Ruoning — Initially a hostile spirit he attempts to restrain and eventually contains in a bottle. She later assists him with staged scares and memory reconstruction 225 226 361.
• Luo Xiuzhu — Ghost encountered during the Luo Residence investigation. He questions her gently about her death and later protects her and restrains the gathered departed souls 256 311.
• Xiuzhu, the child in his care — Chen Mo encourages Seventh Master to adopt her after the village tragedy. He agrees, noting that her mother shared his surname, and prepares to provide for her with his property and savings. He later spends his semi-retirement raising her 428 429 522 586.
• Xingxing — A child whose future he fears for during the organization’s retaliation. He says she is staying with a trusted friend and asks Chen Mo to adopt and raise her if he dies; he describes his will as leaving his estate to Chen Mo and Xiuzhu for her care 479.
• Guo Ying, Shi Yong, Jiang Laosan, and his sworn brothers — Lifelong companions bound by shared danger and mutual sacrifice. Their deaths and the destruction of their souls leave him grief-stricken 477 478 479 488.
• Lin Jinhua — Wealthy developer and established acquaintance who asks for help with a troubled construction site. Seventh Master initially admires his public charitable work but later condemns his attempt to justify taking lives to save his son 248 303.
• Zhong Jiugang and Yi Yang — Seventh Master previously saved Yi Yang’s master, Zhong Jiugang. Recognizing Zhao Qiankun’s name, Yi Yang kneels before him in gratitude and respect 522.
• Wang Xiaoxian — Former romantic rival who unsuccessfully pursued Seventh Master’s wife. Seventh Master suggests he could resolve the Pan family’s problem with a telephone call to him 558.
• Wu Huaqing — An opponent whose respectable identity initially deceives Seventh Master. He recalls once discussing ideas with the man, admiring some of his views, and predicting that he would become a leading figure before learning that he led the organization 545.
• The Evil Buddha / Li Fuguang — Source of the organization’s old persecution of him and a spirit inhabiting Chen Mo. Seventh Master initially cannot explain the grudge, later learns it concerns a much earlier incarnation, and helps Chen Mo seek a means of separation 555 556 567 581 586.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Li Xiumei’s Summoning

Seventh Master becomes the protagonists’ principal supernatural adviser after Liu’s recommendation. He distinguishes the two haunting spirits, connects the girl in an old photograph to the family massacre’s missing child, and proposes questioning Li Xiumei directly 14 18 19.

He recruits Xiao Qing and leads the summoning, but an intruder attacks him and destroys the formation. After recovering in hospital with a concussion, he challenges Chen Mo’s assumption that the attacker was Lü Zhengxian. His prediction that a concealment talisman remains beneath the bed proves correct 20 23 24 25.

Du Yuwei and the Villa Break-In

Du Yuwei’s recent death leads him to suspect ghost-raising. When his contacts find no record of her body entering a local funeral home or crematorium, he warns that someone may be preparing a resurrection through soul possession 27 28 29.

Reluctantly accompanying Chen Mo and Meng Yifan into Du Ruhai’s villa, he rescues them from the cursed painting, opens the locked bridal room, and discovers two urns beneath the bed. He initially connects the old massacre to Lü Zhengxian’s suspected possession of Du Ruhai, though later case files lead Chen Mo to revise parts of that reconstruction 31 32 33 34 41.

After an armed attacker triggers the alarm, Seventh Master orders the others to take the urns and abandon the attempt to remove Du Yuwei’s corpse. Those urns later give Chen Mo potential leverage over Du Ruhai because they are needed for the new life-exchange ritual 35 37.

Arrest and Implication of Chen Mo

Seventh Master surrenders when security guards surround the group. Meng Yifan distracts them, allowing Chen Mo to escape with the urns 36.

Chen Mo subsequently seeks help securing both men’s release. Song Xiaotian later reports that Seventh Master was already released the following morning and confessed that the break-in was Chen Mo’s idea. His statement makes Meng Yifan’s release harder to arrange and causes police to pursue Chen Mo; his motive for giving that statement is not established 39 50.

Haunted Properties and Chen Mo’s Education

When Meng Yifan proposes buying and handling haunted properties for profit, he reveals that he has already consulted Seventh Master. Seventh Master arrives and endorses the plan, answering Chen Mo’s objections by arguing that their methods must adapt to the times 134.

He subsequently becomes Chen Mo’s regular teacher. Evening lessons help Chen Mo understand the inherited book that had previously baffled him, while their conversations also address attachment, reincarnation, and the meaning of cultivation 156 157 185 186.

During the Tao Xiaoyu investigation, he reads Meng Yifan’s uncertain predicament and agrees to recruit Xiao Qing for another spirit summoning. After Xiang Kai is driven out of Chen Mo, he wards Pan Xiaorou’s villa and recommends burial of the remains. Pan thanks him with a gold bar 166 178.

Ding Ruoning’s Revenge

At Ding Ruoning’s villa, Seventh Master identifies overwhelming yin energy and leads precautions for a bathroom summoning. During the disturbance, Song Xiaotian unexpectedly drives a knife through his neck 210.

Seventh Master survives and continues trying to stop Ding Ruoning’s revenge. His conflict with Chen Mo intensifies when Chen Mo lies about the next intended victim because he sympathizes with her grievance. Seventh Master condemns the resulting loss of life but still invites Chen Mo to help prevent the next killing 214 215.

Ding Ruoning proves powerful enough to resist his Five Thunders Seal and talisman. He eventually brings her home in a bottle, stores her with other captured souls, and recites scripture. He also explains why Chen Mo’s lack of a Daoist register and insufficient commitment prevent him from freely using magic 225 226.

Lin City and the Luo Residence

Despite ominous divinations concerning the journey, Chen Mo accompanies Seventh Master to Lin City, where developer Lin Jinhua requests help with repeated accidents and deaths at a construction site. During this trip, Chen Mo learns that Seventh Master’s real name is Zhao Qiankun 245 248.

The investigation leads into the Luo Residence’s supernatural history and a Ghost Wall. Seventh Master attempts to force an escape with Thunder Magic, but his attack rebounds and badly injures him. He later uses the Spirit-Invoking Art while still weakened to protect Chen Mo, visibly ages, and loses the ability to use magic temporarily 256 258 259 269.

Hospital doctors find unusual electrical injuries and cannot explain his weakness. Upon waking, he diagnoses depleted kidney essence and prescribes medicine. Song Xiaotian’s grandfather later confirms that his injuries came from Thunder Magic and recognizes him as the seventh son mentioned in Song Qingshan’s old prediction about the Luo Residence 271 287.

The prediction does not mean his presence alone guarantees success. Old Master Song instead helps the group find a battlefield-used blade suitable for confronting the entrenched spirits. Chen Mo also suspects the construction-site trap was intended to remove Seventh Master as their strongest supernatural defender 288 299.

Seventh Master confronts Lin Jinhua over his willingness to sacrifice others, pursues Du Yunting’s associates, and protects Xiuzhu among the gathered souls. He then cooperates with Chen Mo in a mutually amplified use of Thunder Magic that breaks the Ghost Wall and returns them to the unfinished hotel 303 308 311 320.

Lu Yihao and Brother Liu’s Memories

When Chen Mo discovers infant spirits inhabiting Lu Yihao, Seventh Master recognizes the seriousness of the condition and calls for Meishan specialists. Their arrival exposes his history of copying other sects’ techniques; they insist that he be blindfolded during treatment 345 349 350.

He later helps Brother Liu recover memories concealed by an opposing hypnotist. Ding Ruoning assists by recreating the remembered environment, while Seventh Master stabilizes Liu’s trance, identifies the fear-based barrier, and analyzes the man eventually revealed 361 363.

The Tan Family Massacre

A client’s account of dreams involving his dead biological father draws Seventh Master and Chen Mo into the Tan family massacre. Seventh Master recreates the scene ritually, but a dark hand and expanding black hole turn the investigation into a direct threat to their lives 379 385 388.

When a hand grabs Seventh Master at the hole’s edge, Chen Mo strikes it with the Broadsword and kicks him clear just before the floor disappears. Both flee the estate without understanding what is climbing inside the hole 388.

They later return with Jin Wujie, whom Seventh Master treats coldly despite his attempts at reconciliation. During the eventual counter-trap, Seventh Master appears alive with Song Xiaotian and more than twenty older allies, surprising opponents who believed he had fallen into the black hole. He later praises Chen Mo’s use of inexpensive laser pointers to make the enemy surrender without a fight 392 399 404.

Trafficking Village and Xiuzhu’s Adoption

Seventh Master and Chen Mo suspect a village of trafficking women and use divination to locate Wang Si’s missing wife. They discover her pregnant corpse curled inside Chen Mo’s wardrobe 414.

When the group attempts to escape, Seventh Master leads them toward the mountains and fights through armed villagers. His beast-marked combat manifestation allows him to inflict severe injuries, but the villagers’ numbers and weapons remain dangerous 418.

Afterward, Chen Mo encourages him to adopt Xiuzhu. Seventh Master’s substantial property holdings make financial provision straightforward, and the police verify his assets and supply documentation for the adoption application. They hire a caregiver before returning to Lanjiang City 428 429.

Before leaving, they meet Mr. Cui, a Chuma practitioner possessed by a Willow Immortal. He warns them that the mountain incident will remain confidential and reports that nearly a third of the villagers died before police arrived 429 430.

The Organization’s Retaliation and His Will

The organization begins killing Seventh Master’s old companions while conducting another Seven Deaths for a Life operation. Guo Ying dies after giving an address, and Seventh Master conceals the destruction of his soul from the grieving family to avoid deepening their suffering 477 478.

Guo’s widow reveals Seventh Master’s former appearance, the murder of his family, and his imprisonment in Guo’s place. News of Shi Yong’s death then forces him to leave the mourning hall and prioritize finding the killer. He vows to fight the organization as long as he is alive 478 479.

After examining Chen Mo’s photographs of Hua Wenfeng’s records, he asks for older notebooks that may reveal previous victims. Fearing that he may die, he also discloses a will intended to provide for Xingxing and asks Chen Mo to raise her if necessary. Chen Mo angrily rejects his pessimism, prompting Seventh Master to clarify that making a will is not the same as delivering final words 479 480.

Jiang Laosan’s ghost later comes to say goodbye before a curse destroys his soul. Seventh Master collapses under the accumulated grief and initially cannot think how to proceed 488.

The conflict also reaches Chen Mo’s family. Seventh Master’s suspicions concerning Chen Mo’s mother prove correct when she identifies herself as an organization member and blames Zhao Qiankun for killing her father. Seventh Master subsequently urges Chen Mo not to participate in or witness her death, acknowledging the lifelong emotional damage that could cause 492 494 499.

The Evil Buddha, Past Lives, and Li Fuguang

Seventh Master helps identify the escaped Snake Spirit and discusses the organization’s changing leadership. He realizes that the old leader’s death and internal conflict contributed to the coalition’s historical victory. He also admits that Wu Huaqing’s respectable persona once deceived him 522 540 545.

Further investigation convinces him that Monk Daojue became the Evil Buddha and founded the organization. Looking back, he realizes that its earliest attacks had singled him out before he became its opponent. Since he had been obscure and carefully supervised before twenty, he and Chen Mo conclude that the grudge may originate in an earlier incarnation 555 556.

He eventually proposes that the Evil Buddha created the organization to search for Gongsun Jing’s reincarnation. His attempt to extract Li Fuguang through hypnosis and Soul-Separation Art fails, but he later brings mother and son together by revealing Tang Wanhe’s presence in the tabby cat 558 567 581.

Chen Mo then tells him that more than a dozen lives earlier he had been an informer responsible for the deaths of over a hundred Daoist priests. Seventh Master is deeply unsettled but ultimately accepts that he is not that man in his present life and that the karmic burden has reached its end 586.

Planning Against Wu Huaqing

After Du Yunting’s death, Seventh Master warns that Wu Huaqing will concentrate on Chen Mo and suggests that Chen Mo and An Ning hide for several years. He notices that Chen Mo is concealing something during their meal 601.

Rather than leave Chen Mo to face Wu Huaqing alone, he helps devise a plan intended to secure his survival and kill their opponent. When Chen Mo asks about swapping souls, Seventh Master supplies a method drawn from a forbidden Daoist art 607.

Return to Lanjiang City and Final Appearance

During Chen Mo’s later travels, his grandmaster describes Seventh Master as a legendary figure whose reputation extends throughout their circle. Despite joking about his technique-copying, he doubts that any living practitioner in that community is more formidable 716.

After returning to Lanjiang City, Chen Mo reunites with Seventh Master and Xiuzhu and stays at his home with An Ning. Hearing how the Mohist heirs at Qingyang Temple died, Seventh Master expresses admiration for their willingness to sacrifice themselves for ordinary people. At Chen Mo’s request, he then casts a Yin Pan Qimen chart for the next two months and predicts his death 734.

Seventh Master remains alive in the final chapters. Before a village visit, Uncle Song requests that he hand something over, and Chen Mo searches him to find three hidden pinhole cameras. Seventh Master maintains that he only intended to record scenery and daily life 745.