Recaps

After Seventh Master explained why Chen Mo could not use magic and revealed his lonely fate, Chen Mo resolved to devote himself to the Dao. The next morning, Meng Yifan called to report that Sun Yang had killed himself, and Chen Mo and Seventh Master rushed to the villa.

• Seventh Master stored Ding Ruoning's bottle with the other trapped souls and explained that magic required a Daoist register and a steadfast heart for the Dao.
• Seventh Master told Chen Mo that his fate left him without parents or a wife, and urged him to pursue the Dao instead of human attachments.
• Seventh Master recited scripture for the souls in the bottles, and Chen Mo joined him.
• Chen Mo dreamed of a young man performing divination, then received Meng Yifan's call saying Sun Yang had killed himself at the villa.
• Chen Mo and Seventh Master hurried to the villa to investigate Sun Yang's death.

After Sun Yang killed himself, the narrator and his companions learned from his farewell letter that he had chosen to die because his wife and daughter were gone. The letter absolved them of blame, leaving the narrator grieving that he had never met Sun Yang.

• The narrator and Seventh Master arrived at Sun Yang's residential complex, where Gu An'an told them Sun Yang had sent farewell texts before taking his life.
• The police carried out Sun Yang's body and gave his belongings, suicide note, and asset documents to Gu An'an.
• Gu An'an handed the group Sun Yang's note, which explained his grief over his wife and daughter and his decision to join them after taking revenge.
• Sun Yang's letter said the narrator and his companions need not blame themselves and praised them for trying to help.
• The narrator regretted never meeting Sun Yang and mourned that he had already died.

After Sun Yang’s death, Meng Yifan profited from the auction of Tao Xiaoyu’s villa and shared some of the proceeds with his friends. Tao Xiaoyu’s mother and brother then demanded her luxury goods, and Song Xiaotian confronted them with a cleaver.

• Sun Yang’s final letter revealed his bitterness toward the poor, and Seventh Master performed a ritual to help Sun Yang and Sun Jiayu pass on while postponing Ding Ruoning’s reckoning.
• The group attended Sun Yang’s funeral, and Tao Xiaoyu’s villa later sold at auction for 3 million, leaving Meng Yifan with 1.61 million before other expenses.
• Meng Yifan gave 500,000 each to Song Xiaotian and the narrator for helping him, and the narrator recalled giving Brother Liu 300,000 to save him.
• Tao Xiaoyu’s mother and younger brother came to demand the luxury goods she had used, but Meng Yifan said he had sold them.
• The narrator argued with Tao Xiaoyu’s family, and her brother threatened him before Song Xiaotian returned from the kitchen holding a cleaver.

The narrator and Song Xiaotian searched an urban village for the Yin Soul of Rat, a boy drowned by Wang Guofu, and learned that a ghost had been stealing from the neighborhood. They suspected Rat was the thief and decided to stay at the Jiahao Hotel to catch him.

• Song Xiaotian threatened Tao Xiaoyu's mother and brother until they fled, then told Meng Yifan not to let them push him around.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian set out to find Rat, one of the seven victims whom Wang Guofu had lured to a river and drowned.
• In the urban village, they heard reports of a thief who had stolen from homes and the Jiahao Hotel for more than two months without being caught.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian concluded the thief was probably Rat's ghost because security cameras could not capture it.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian decided to spend the night at the Jiahao Hotel and wait for the ghost to appear.

The narrator and Song Xiaotian checked into a troubled guesthouse and went to the river where Rat had died, hoping to summon the boy’s ghost. The narrator accidentally summoned the ghost of a murdered young man, escaped its hold, and discovered Song Xiaotian had fled.

• The guesthouse owner warned the narrator and Song Xiaotian that an elusive thief had repeatedly robbed the building, but they took a room at the end of the hallway.
• After eating and walking through the urban village, Song Xiaotian urged the narrator to summon Rat’s soul beside the river.
• The narrator used a Yin-Gathering Talisman and divination, then saw the corpse of a young man rise from the water.
• The narrator recognized the corpse as a gang-fight victim who had been dumped in the river and found himself unable to move or speak.
• The narrator bit his tongue to break the ghost’s hold, then saw that Song Xiaotian had run away and yelled after him.

After Song Xiaotian and the narrator rescued Xiao Xuan from men trying to steal his bottles, they returned to the hotel and set a trap for the ghost boy. The ghost boy took the money and lured the narrator toward a window, while Song Xiaotian fled in terror.

• Song Xiaotian and the narrator chased off homeless men who were threatening Xiao Xuan and stealing his bottles.
• Xiao Xuan told them he lived with his blind, disfigured grandfather, who came to take him home.
• Back at the hotel, the narrator placed a Yin-Gathering Talisman and five hundred yuan by the bed to lure the ghost boy.
• The ghost boy appeared and reached for the money, startling the narrator and sending Song Xiaotian running from the room.
• The narrator chased the ghost boy, but a self-inflicted slap revealed he had been led to a barred window instead of the stairwell.

The narrator and Song Xiaotian learned that the vagrant they had encountered the previous night had drowned, then traced his death to the boy Xiao Xuan and his missing brother, Rat. The chapter left them suspecting that Rat had become a ghost and was taking revenge, while a local boy revealed that Xiao Xuan claimed to see Rat every night.

• The narrator and Song Xiaotian failed to catch the little ghost, then heard that a vagrant had drowned near the river.
• They recognized the dead vagrant as the man Song Xiaotian had struck with a stone the night before.
• The narrator remembered Xiao Xuan’s promise to tell his older brother about the bullying and decided to find the boy.
• A hungry teenage boy told them that Xiao Xuan’s brother was called Rat and had not been seen by others for over two months.
• The boy said Xiao Xuan claimed Rat visited every night and brought him money, though he suspected Xiao Xuan was talking to himself.

The narrator and Song Xiaotian learned how Xiao Xuan and Rat had become brothers and why Rat had cared for him, while Xiao Xuan still believed Rat visited every night. The blind old man called Xiao Xuan home for dinner, leaving the narrator and Song Xiaotian with the knowledge of Rat’s death that they had not yet shared with the child.

• The narrator and Song Xiaotian learned from a boy who collected bottles with Xiao Xuan that Rat had come to the urban village with Xiao Xuan a year earlier, though they were not biological brothers.
• The boy led the narrator and Song Xiaotian toward Xiao Xuan’s home, and the narrator gave him money for his struggling household.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian met Xiao Xuan, who explained that the blind old man had given him and Rat a home despite being no relation to them.
• Xiao Xuan told them his father had gone to prison, his mother had left, and his relatives had treated him badly before Rat took him away from their hometown.
• Xiao Xuan said he missed his mother but held back his tears, and the narrator realized Rat had stolen to provide for him.
• The blind old man called Xiao Xuan home for dinner before he could answer whether Rat visited him every night.

The narrator and Song Xiaotian discovered that Rat had stolen and endured hardship to care for Xiao Xuan, then followed the boy at night and found the brothers meeting. The chapter left them watching Rat protect Xiao Xuan’s hopes of going to school, while the narrator began to hesitate about getting involved.

• The narrator explained how Rat had suffered and stolen to care for Xiao Xuan, and he and Song Xiaotian decided to watch the boy’s home.
• The hotel owner recalled catching and slapping a ragged boy for stealing, leading the narrator and Song Xiaotian to suspect that the boy had been Rat.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian followed Xiao Xuan to an abandoned pavilion, where a Yin-Gathering Talisman revealed Rat giving him food and money.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian watched Rat accompany Xiao Xuan as he collected bottles and refused to let him learn to steal.
• Rat told Xiao Xuan he would go to school after New Year and said, “I'm a thief, but you're not,” while the narrator began to feel reluctant to interfere.

The narrator and Song Xiaotian protected Xiao Xuan from a group of teenage bullies while weighing whether helping Rat pass on would leave the boy without anyone to care for him. After overhearing the blind old man discuss Xiao Xuan’s future with Rat, the narrator returned to Xiao Xuan, who feared his brother was about to leave; they decided to consult the Seventh Master at daybreak.

• The narrator and Song Xiaotian hesitated to help Rat pass on because they worried about what would happen to Xiao Xuan without him.
• A group of teenage boys tried to rob Xiao Xuan, and Rat possessed one of them while Song Xiaotian and the narrator drove the bullies away.
• Rat sent Xiao Xuan to the narrator and Song Xiaotian, then ran when the narrator tried to speak with him.
• The narrator overheard the blind old man tell Rat that he worried about Xiao Xuan and suggested placing the boy with the police.
• Xiao Xuan told the narrator and Song Xiaotian that he feared Rat would leave him, and they decided to call the Seventh Master in the morning.

The narrator, Seventh Master, An Ning, and Director Chen visited the blind old man to arrange for Xiao Xuan to go to the Welfare Institute. The old man agreed after Director Chen promised to care for him, and he explained how Rat and Xiao Xuan had come to live with him eight months earlier.

• The narrator told Seventh Master about Rat and Xiao Xuan, and Seventh Master said he would bring a Welfare Institute director to discuss taking Xiao Xuan in.
• Seventh Master arrived with An Ning and Director Chen, and they went to Xiao Xuan's home.
• Director Chen explained that Xiao Xuan could live at the Welfare Institute and attend school without charge, and the blind old man agreed to let him go.
• The old man recounted how Rat had brought his sick little brother Xiao Xuan to him on Lunar New Year's Eve and how the three had lived together for eight months.

The narrator and Director Chen learned how the old blind man and Rat had cared for Xiao Xuan as their only family, and promised the old man that Xiao Xuan would receive a home and an education. That night, they went to the river to summon Rat and help his soul move on, while Seventh Master prepared to deal with any other ghosts they might call.

• The old man told the group that his father’s fire had blinded and disfigured him, and that he had lived alone for decades before befriending Rat and Xiao Xuan.
• The old man explained that Rat had been abandoned by his divorced parents, yet cared for Xiao Xuan and stole to save money for the boy’s schooling.
• Director Chen promised to take Xiao Xuan to the orphanage and support his education, and the old man agreed to persuade him to go.
• The group returned to the hotel, then left for the riverbank at Zi Hour to summon Rat’s soul.
• Seventh Master explained that Rat might face some punishment for killing someone, but his suffering and young age would lessen it, and said they should tell him Xiao Xuan’s future was secure.
• The narrator warned Seventh Master that the summoning could draw other ghosts, and Seventh Master said they would help those spirits pass on too.

Seventh Master summoned the wronged souls at the river, and the group sent four of them onward while trying to persuade Rat to reincarnate. After learning Xiao Xuan had a place at a Welfare Institute, Rat thanked them but asked to visit an amusement park with his little brother once before letting him go.

• Seventh Master summoned Cui Jue and revealed five wronged souls at the river, including Rat.
• The narrator, Song Xiaotian, and An Ning burned incense and paper money, sending the four other ghosts away.
• Seventh Master urged Rat to reincarnate, but Rat refused because he wanted to look after Xiao Xuan.
• The narrator showed Rat the Welfare Institute’s admission agreement and photos, reassuring him that Xiao Xuan would be cared for.
• Rat said he had no parents to return to and asked to take Xiao Xuan to an amusement park once before they parted.

Rat said goodbye to the blind old man and thanked him for the warmth he had given him before leaving with Seventh Master and the others. Seventh Master explained how helping others could create karmic ties, then urged everyone to focus on living this life well.

• Rat touched the blind old man, thanked him for taking him in, and bowed three times before saying goodbye.
• The blind old man wished Rat a better life in his next incarnation, and Rat stayed behind to visit the Amusement Park with Xiao Xuan the following night.
• The narrator told the old man that Rat had already left so he would not worry, then caught up with Seventh Master and the others.
• Seventh Master explained that helping people created karma and that interfering too much could bind lives together.
• Seventh Master described the relationship between explicit social rules and implicit karmic rules, then told everyone to look ahead and live this life well.

Xiao Xuan reluctantly left the blind old man to go to the Welfare Institute, then reunited with Rat at Tianxing Amusement Park for a final visit. The narrator realized Xiao Xuan already knew Rat was dead, though he had not said so.

• Director Chen persuaded Xiao Xuan to leave the blind old man and attend school so he could pursue his dream of becoming a firefighter.
• The blind old man escorted Xiao Xuan out of the alley, and both hid their tears until Xiao Xuan left in the car.
• The narrator and the others took Xiao Xuan shopping, then brought him to Tianxing Amusement Park to see Rat.
• Xiao Xuan ran to Rat, and Rat took his hand to show him around the amusement park.
• The narrator told Song Xiaotian, An Ning, and Seventh Master that Xiao Xuan likely knew Rat was dead because he had probably been nearby when they visited the old man the previous night.

Rat said his final farewell to Xiao Xuan and departed, leaving the boy to grieve with Mo and Seventh Master. At the station, Xiao Xuan left Rat’s money with Mo for Blind Old Man, while Mo donated to Director Chen’s Welfare Institute before Xiao Xuan left with him.

• At dawn, Rat reminded Xiao Xuan to study hard, avoid stealing, and keep looking ahead before Seventh Master sent Rat on his way.
• Mo comforted Xiao Xuan and took him back to pack after Rat departed.
• At the station, Seventh Master gave Xiao Xuan a Peace Talisman, and Xiao Xuan gave Mo chips and asked him to return five hundred yuan to Blind Old Man.
• Mo promised to take Xiao Xuan to visit Blind Old Man whenever he wanted and donated fifty thousand yuan to Director Chen’s Welfare Institute anonymously.
• Mo learned that An Ning and Song Xiaotian had also donated to the Welfare Institute, then watched Director Chen and Xiao Xuan board the bus.

After the Blind Old Man died, I and my friends discovered that he had once planned to drown himself and learned how Rat and Xiao Xuan had given him a reason to live. In a dream after his funeral, I recognized the young fortune-teller as Tang Zhui, the founder of Six Lines Mysteries.

• I, Song Xiaotian, and Meng Yifan visited the Blind Old Man and found that he had died at home, so we arranged his funeral.
• We found the Blind Old Man's final letter, which revealed that he had planned to drown himself before meeting Rat and Xiao Xuan, and that he later lost his will to live after Rat died and Xiao Xuan left.
• Seventh Master told me that the Blind Old Man had died naturally on the day his allotted lifespan ended, though he could not explain how fate and the old man's despair were connected.
• I and my friends found the Blind Old Man's savings and followed his instructions to set aside the money for Xiao Xuan, while keeping the news of the death from him.
• I dreamed of the young fortune-teller again, and he introduced himself as Tang Zhui, whom I recognized as the founder of Six Lines Mysteries.

In a dream, the narrator met his Patriarch, who explained the limits of divination and urged him to rely on human will and the Dao. The Patriarch accepted him as a disciple and warned that a calamity awaited him soon.

• The Patriarch identified the narrator's two souls in one lifetime and used his natal hexagram to explain why his first-half fate could be read but his future could not.
• The narrator asked about his ultimate fate, but the Patriarch refused and taught him that divination should guide action rather than govern a person's life.
• The narrator accepted the Patriarch's offer of the Rite of Transmission and explained that he wanted skills to protect himself and help others.
• The Patriarch required the narrator to swear five sect rules, then gave him a jade pendant as proof of transmission and a token.
• The Patriarch warned that the narrator would soon face a calamity and cast another hexagram to help him seek good fortune and avoid misfortune.

After receiving a warning of deadly danger from the Patriarch’s Wandering Soul Hexagram, the narrator tried to avoid traveling during the National Day holiday. When Seventh Master invited him to Lin City to investigate a construction site’s strange accidents, the narrator refused, then realized his involvement might be necessary to protect Seventh Master.

• The narrator woke with the jade pendant the Patriarch had given him in a dream and interpreted the final hexagram as a warning of dangerous travel and a calamity he would get involved in.
• He spent two days on edge and decided to stay home during the holiday rather than join Meng Yifan and Song Xiaotian on their planned trip.
• Seventh Master invited the narrator to Lin City to help investigate a resort construction site where two workers had died in bizarre accidents.
• The narrator turned Seventh Master down because of the hexagram, but reconsidered after recalling the Patriarch’s warning that he would have to survive the calamity to gain something.
• The narrator concluded that the trip to Lin City was the calamity and that Seventh Master might also be in danger if he went without the narrator.

After the Patriarch warned him of an ordeal tied to Lin City, the narrator joined Seventh Master on the trip despite the danger. Their divinations both showed extremely ominous signs, and Seventh Master decided he had to face the ordeal rather than avoid it.

• The narrator told Seventh Master about the Patriarch’s dream transmission and ominous hexagram, then urged him to refuse the Lin City job.
• Seventh Master explained his ties to Lin Jinhua and said his duty and conscience required him to honor his promise.
• At the narrator’s suggestion, Seventh Master tossed coins while the narrator cast a six-lines reading for him.
• The narrator found that Seventh Master’s world line was struck by both the monthly and daily branches, making the hexagram even more ominous than his own.
• The narrator compared their readings and found matching signs, convincing Seventh Master that they shared the same perilous fate.
• Seventh Master concluded that avoiding a major ordeal could bring a heavier price, so he would go to Lin City and face it.

After deciding to travel to Lin City with Seventh Master, the narrator studied the Hexagram Character Formula in Six Lines Mysteries and tried meditating to cultivate its power. He dreamed of burning Du Ruhai’s house, then woke to find Song Xiaotian had doused him after a hole was burned in his bed.

• The narrator told Meng Yifan and Song Xiaotian that he would go to Lin City with Seventh Master instead of joining their vacation, then packed Six Lines Mysteries.
• The narrator read that the Hexagram Character Formula used the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams to cast spells, including techniques for revealing, trapping, and subduing Yin Souls.
• The narrator tried to cultivate by visualizing a flame, briefly saw one the size of a soybean, and concluded that his power was weak.
• The narrator fell asleep and dreamed that he cast Zhen Character, Samadhi True Fire, and burned Du Ruhai’s house.
• Song Xiaotian poured water on the narrator to put out a fire, and the narrator woke to find a hole burned in his bed.

Chen Mo traveled with Seventh Master to Lin City, despite the danger foretold by their hexagrams. On the train, an unidentified food-cart attendant left them breakfast and a note that appeared to predict what would happen to them in Lin City, leaving Chen Mo shaken.

• Chen Mo discovered he had burned a hole through his bed in his sleep and hid the truth from Song Xiaotian and Meng Yifan.
• Chen Mo met Seventh Master at the station, and they discussed a hexagram predicting that four people would help them, including two women.
• Seventh Master warned that Meng Yifan and Song Xiaotian might come to Lin City because something could happen to them, but Chen Mo chose to go with him anyway.
• Chen Mo told Seventh Master that An Ning had returned to the Orphanage, then resumed reading during the train ride.
• A food-cart attendant left breakfast for Chen Mo and Seventh Master without stopping for other passengers.
• Chen Mo found a note addressed to him beneath the breakfast, read that it knew about their fate in Lin City, and trembled at the familiar handwriting.

Chen Mo and Seventh Master Zhao Qiankun met real estate developer Lin Jinhua, who asked them to investigate a construction site plagued by accidents and deaths. After hearing about the site's sinister history, Chen Mo realized the trouble might be worse than they expected.

• Chen Mo learned that Seventh Master's real name was Zhao Qiankun after they arrived at the station.
• Assistant He drove Chen Mo and Zhao Qiankun to Lin Jinhua's villa, where Lin explained that repeated accidents had disrupted construction and threatened costly shutdowns.
• Zhao Qiankun suspected a ghost was causing the accidents and explained how it could affect people, then learned that the site chef had recently lost his son.
• Lin Jinhua gave Zhao Qiankun and Chen Mo documents about the plot's history, and Chen Mo discovered that a major incident had occurred there during the Republican era.

The chapter recounts how the Seventh Concubine died in the Luo Residence and her daughter, Luo Xiuzhu, was mistreated after her death. A year later the household suffered a mysterious massacre, and Luo Xiuzhu vanished, leaving her fate unknown.

• A maid found the Seventh Concubine drowned in the well, and Luo Baichuan buried her without reporting the death to the authorities.
• After the Seventh Concubine died, Luo Xiuzhu suffered neglect and abuse in the Luo Residence while Luo Baichuan took two more wives.
• Strange events began in the Luo Residence a year after the Seventh Concubine's death, and eventually its gates remained closed for a month as a foul smell spread.
• Officials entered the Luo Residence and found all its residents dead: Luo Baichuan had killed the concubines before hanging himself, while the others had died of fright.
• The authorities found only thirty-nine bodies, and Luo Xiuzhu's body was missing; no one ever learned whether she was alive.

The narrator and Seventh Master read how the Luo Residence massacre led to more people disappearing, and how the occult practitioner Li Tushan proposed building a Thunder Ancestor Temple to suppress the spirits. The account leaves the spirits still undelivered, with their future dependent on the temple and the people’s worship.

• Boss Lin explained that no one knew whether nine-year-old Luo Xiuzhu survived the massacre at the Luo Residence.
• The narrator and Seventh Master read that men kept disappearing at night and were later found dead in the Seventh Concubine's room alongside out-of-town thieves.
• Li Tushan entered the Luo Residence alone at the Zi Hour and emerged safely the next morning.
• Li Tushan said he could neither eliminate nor deliver the vengeful spirits, but could stop them from harming people.
• Li Tushan proposed building a Thunder Ancestor Temple on the site and worshipping devoutly so the deity would suppress the spirits until they returned to the Underworld.