Recaps

Su Yi learned that a chicken carried his nephew’s soul, and the narrator exposed Lu Yihao’s crimes to Wang Xiaoxiao, who demanded a divorce. After the group left, the narrator discovered he had badly undercharged for the job and earned nothing from it.

• A chicken carrying Su Yi’s nephew’s soul clung to him, and Su Yi held it while grieving for his sister, Su Lan.
• The narrator told Wang Xiaoxiao that Lu Yihao had fathered Infant Spirits and killed someone, and Seventh Master showed her a video confirming his confession.
• Wang Xiaoxiao cursed Lu Yihao, demanded a divorce, and transferred fifty thousand yuan to the narrator, who gave it to the two Masters.
• The narrator asked Seventh Master about the fee, learned that the case should have cost several hundred thousand yuan, and regretted giving away the money.

After helping Su Yi report Lu Yihao, the narrator learned why Seventh Master was preserving secret techniques and teachings. The next day, he taught An Ning classical Chinese until Song Xiaotian announced a lucrative job at a real estate tycoon’s development.

• The narrator comforted Wang Xiaoxiao, who agreed to ask Wang Jianguo not to retaliate against them.
• The narrator and his companions accompanied Su Yi to the Police Bureau, where he reported Lu Yihao after Su Lan’s body was found.
• At Seventh Master’s home, the narrator watched him study An Ning’s secret footage and heard his reasons for preserving the Mystic Sect’s traditional knowledge.
• The exhausted narrator slept at the shop, then woke to find An Ning reading classical Chinese and explained passages to her.
• Song Xiaotian arrived after a call from Pan Xiaorou and said a real estate tycoon needed help at a development, inviting them to take the job.

The narrator and Song Xiaotian took a private job from property tycoon Mr. Xu to find a missing university student who disappeared inside his residential complex. After casting a hexagram, the narrator learned she was still alive and asked whether the buildings had basements.

• Song Xiaotian explained that a university student had entered a building in Mr. Xu’s complex and never appeared on surveillance leaving it, despite a police search finding no trace of her.
• The narrator, Song Xiaotian, and their companion left the shop under the pretense of handing out flyers and went to meet Mr. Xu.
• The narrator questioned Mr. Xu about the disappearance and learned that the girl’s family had been protesting outside the complex, hurting apartment sales.
• The narrator cast a hexagram and concluded that the missing girl was still alive.
• The narrator asked Mr. Xu whether the apartment buildings had basements.

Chen Mo and his companions investigated how Liang Yi vanished from the thirteenth floor, where police found no trace of her. Brother Liu revealed that Liang Yi and An Yutong, a wealthy resident of that floor, attended the same university, while Liang Yi’s poor family had come to the complex seeking money.

• Boss Xu explained that cameras showed Liang Yi leaving the elevator on the thirteenth floor but never leaving by the elevator or stairwell.
• Brother Liu arrived and confirmed that police had thoroughly searched both apartments on the thirteenth floor without finding Liang Yi.
• Chen Mo concluded that someone on the thirteenth floor likely had a connection to Liang Yi and asked how the police had investigated the residents.
• Brother Liu showed photos identifying Liang Yi and An Yutong, who lived on the thirteenth floor and attended the same university.
• An Ning inferred that Liang Yi was poor, and Brother Liu said her family had come to the complex to extort money before she had been found.

The narrator, Song Xiaotian, and Brother Liu discussed why the police could not connect An Yutong to Liang Yi’s disappearance despite Liang Yi’s visit to An Yutong’s apartment. As they headed to investigate at the university, two hearses passed them, and the narrator took them as an omen of death for their group.

• The narrator compared Liang Yi’s insecurity and poverty with An Yutong’s confidence and wealth, then questioned Brother Liu about Liang Yi getting off on An Yutong’s floor.
• Song Xiaotian argued that An Yutong must have known Liang Yi, but Brother Liu explained that searches, surveillance, and university inquiries had uncovered no evidence linking her to the disappearance.
• Brother Liu told the group that An Yutong was attending classes and would return home after studying in the university library, so the narrator and his companions set off to investigate at the university.
• A hearse passed the group near Liang Yi’s apartment building, and another passed them when they arrived at the university.
• The narrator recalled Seventh Master’s omen-reading advice and concluded that the two hearses signaled death for them.

The narrator, Song Xiaotian, and An Ning visited Liang Yi and An Yutong’s university and investigated the campus beauty contest while trying to understand Liang Yi’s disappearance. The narrator remained convinced that Liang Yi was alive, despite being unable to explain where she had gone.

• The narrator worried that seeing a hearse twice was an ill omen, but Song Xiaotian dismissed his superstition.
• At the university, the narrator and his companions found that Liang Yi was leading An Yutong by more than eighty votes in the campus beauty contest.
• Song Xiaotian and two male students said An Yutong had greater bearing, while An Ning voted for Liang Yi because she thought Liang Yi looked prettier and more innocent.
• The narrator learned that the two male students had voted for An Yutong, and one suspected Liang Yi’s votes had been inflated.
• An Ning suggested An Yutong might have killed Liang Yi out of jealousy, but the narrator questioned why Liang Yi had sought An Yutong out and insisted his divination showed Liang Yi was alive.

The narrator and Song Xiaotian investigated why students voted for Liang Yi and sought to understand her connection to An Yutong, whose home was the last place Liang Yi was seen. An Yutong denied knowing Liang Yi or suspecting her of damaging her car, leaving the reason Liang Yi went to her building unresolved.

• The narrator explained that shy boys from modest families favored Liang Yi because they saw her as someone like themselves, while wealthier boys favored An Yutong.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian learned from Liang Yi's classmates that she was introverted, frugal, helpful, and well regarded.
• The narrator found An Yutong studying in the university library and introduced herself as Liang Yi's cousin.
• An Yutong said she had never interacted with Liang Yi outside class and did not know why Liang Yi had appeared at her residential complex.
• An Yutong revealed that someone had blamed Liang Yi for scratching her car out of jealousy, but she did not believe the accusation and had not reported it.
• An Yutong dismissed the campus vote as entertainment and praised Liang Yi's beauty, grades, and prospects.

The narrator questioned An Yutong and found no clear sign that she knew anything about Liang Yi’s disappearance, leaving the group baffled about where Liang Yi had gone. After helping Granny He search for her missing dog, the narrator found it dead and was struck by the similarity to Liang Yi’s disappearance.

• The narrator told Song Xiaotian and An Ning that An Yutong had seemed sincere, though An Ning warned that Lin Yin’s acting showed appearances could deceive.
• The narrator and his companions gave An Yutong a ride home and questioned her, but she revealed nothing suspicious.
• Song Xiaotian recalled a similar case in which a mother and daughter vanished from an apartment building, and suggested Liang Yi’s disappearance might be supernatural.
• The narrator went out with Granny He to search for her missing dog, and they found it beaten to death.

After Granny He's dog died and Meng Yifan reported a child missing after a funeral, the narrator revisited the mystery of Liang Yi's disappearance. When he tried to rewatch the building's surveillance footage, he found the USB drive empty and discovered Brother Liu had taken it out of the building.

• The narrator worried that Granny He's dog's death and Liang Yi's disappearance might be connected to a haunted house, then called Meng Yifan about his return.
• Meng Yifan told the narrator that a seven- or eight-year-old child had gone missing after a funeral, so he had to help search.
• The narrator went to Brother Liu's workplace to rewatch the footage of the building where Liang Yi disappeared, but the USB drive was empty.
• Brother Liu and the narrator checked the Evidence Room register and found that no one had checked out the USB drive.
• Brother Liu showed the narrator office surveillance footage, which revealed that he had left the building with the drive after watching it.
• The narrator confronted Brother Liu about taking evidence out of the building and asked whether he had met An Yutong.

The narrator confronted Brother Liu with footage showing him taking the USB drive, but Brother Liu insisted he could not remember leaving work. Seventh Master suspected an occult form of hypnosis had hidden Brother Liu’s memories, and the narrator took him to Seventh Master’s place to try to recover them.

• The narrator showed Brother Liu surveillance footage of him taking the USB drive and leaving work, but Brother Liu denied remembering any of it.
• The narrator questioned Brother Liu about meeting someone, and Brother Liu swore he had not lied or taken money.
• The narrator called Seventh Master, who explained that an occult practitioner could use the Mind Seizing Technique to trigger actions and hide memories.
• The narrator suspected the phone call had activated Brother Liu’s hypnosis and that the missing footage concealed clues to Liang Yi’s disappearance.
• Seventh Master agreed to try to recover Brother Liu’s memories, and the narrator and Brother Liu drove to his place.

Seventh Master used a staged scare and a talisman to put Brother Liu into a trance, then tried to recover his missing memories. Brother Liu recalled an old man he called “Grandfather,” and Seventh Master realized someone had hidden the memory behind a barrier that replaced the hypnotist’s face with Brother Liu’s greatest fear.

• Chen rode with Brother Liu to Seventh Master's house, where Seventh Master deliberately startled Brother Liu with a broken teacup and Ding Ruoning's ghost.
• Seventh Master burned a talisman to put Brother Liu into a stable trance and explained how fear had made him susceptible to the technique.
• Seventh Master guided Brother Liu through a reconstruction of the night he left work, while Ding Ruoning formed the alley from his memories.
• Brother Liu recalled an old, hunched man and cried out “Grandfather,” prompting Seventh Master to end the reconstruction.
• Seventh Master concluded that the hypnotist had hidden the memory behind a barrier that made Brother Liu see the person he feared most instead.

Seventh Master and the narrator tried to break the barrier in Liu Jianye’s memories by helping him face his fear of his grandfather’s ghost. In a recreated childhood memory, Liu Jianye cried out to his grandfather as the ghost vanished, leaving the barrier’s fate unresolved.

• Seventh Master said he could not break the memory barrier that changed the hypnotizer’s face into Liu Jianye’s greatest fear.
• The narrator suggested that helping Liu Jianye overcome his fear of his grandfather might lift the barrier, and Seventh Master questioned Liu Jianye about it.
• Liu Jianye said his grandfather had died but appeared to him as a ghost and wanted to take him away.
• Ding Ruoning used Ghost Wall to recreate the childhood scene of Liu Jianye encountering his grandfather’s ghost at a fresh grave.
• Seventh Master guided young Liu Jianye from fear toward grief and told him his grandfather still loved and missed him.
• Young Liu Jianye called out to his grandfather, who smiled lovingly and disappeared.

Seventh Master helped Brother Liu recover his memories, revealing An Yutong had lied about being home when Liang Yi arrived and that a masked man carried a heavy travel bag out of the building. The chapter left them suspecting Liang Yi was inside the bag and might still be alive.

• Seventh Master removed Brother Liu's childhood fear of ghosts, clearing the barrier in his memories and helping him recall the face of the man who hypnotized him.
• Seventh Master and the narrator studied the man's features and concluded he was a powerful, wealthy criminal tied to the martial underworld.
• Seventh Master guided Brother Liu to remember the surveillance footage, which showed Liang Yi entering An Yutong's building and a door opening and closing on the thirteenth floor.
• Brother Liu realized An Yutong had lied about being home when Liang Yi arrived.
• The footage showed a masked man carrying a heavy travel bag from the thirteenth floor at midnight, and Seventh Master noted that the man shared the hypnotist's build and half-metal ears.
• The narrator suspected Liang Yi had been inside the bag and believed she might still be alive.

Brother Liu recovered his memories and identified the man who abducted Liang Yi as the same man who had hypnotized him. After checking on a missing child and discussing the omens with the Seventh Master, the narrator set out to investigate Liang Yi.

• Brother Liu remembered that An Yutong had conspired with a man to kidnap Liang Yi, and he recognized that man as the one who had summoned him and erased his USB drive.
• Brother Liu planned to have a sketch artist draw the suspect, while the narrator urged him to investigate An Yutong's car.
• The Seventh Master told the narrator that seeing hearses was a bad omen but the missing child was likely safe and could be found by the grave.
• The narrator called Meng Yifan and learned that the child had been found by the grave after a deceased relative led him there.
• The narrator borrowed the Seventh Master's car and went to investigate Liang Yi, wondering why Liang Yi had approached An Yutong.

The narrator confronted Liang Yi’s parents at the residential complex and concluded that their son-favoring household had shaped Liang Yi’s people-pleasing nature. After Brother Liu reported that An Yutong had lied about damage to her car, the narrator went to wait for her at the school gates.

• The narrator questioned Liang Yi’s parents as they demanded money from the complex owner, and they tried to attack him when he accused them of neglecting their daughter and favoring their son.
• The narrator drove away and reasoned that Liang Yi had grown up neglected and may have sought money from An Yutong to escape her family.
• Brother Liu told the narrator that An Yutong’s car had no damage, despite her claim that it had been scratched, and that she had left it at the dealership without plans to collect it soon.
• The narrator went to the school gates that night to wait for An Yutong.

The narrator drove An Yutong home while seeking information about Liang Yi, then dreamed that An Yutong taunted him that Liang Yi would never be found. After waking, he questioned Meng Yifan about a fortune-telling remark that seemed to connect with his dream.

• The narrator told An Yutong about Liang Yi's difficult life and asked her to share any leads; An Yutong agreed to ask around at school.
• The narrator watched An Yutong stand outside her residential complex for several minutes before going inside.
• The narrator dreamed that Liang Yi led him to An Yutong's complex, where An Yutong revealed she knew he was searching for Liang Yi and said nobody would ever find her.
• The narrator woke in a cold sweat and heard Meng Yifan say that obsession with money could lead people to extremes.
• The narrator urgently asked Meng Yifan to repeat what he had said about going to extremes.

Chen investigated Liang Yi’s disappearance and confronted the woman posing as An Yutong, revealing that she was actually Liang Yi. The chapter ended with Liang Yi frozen as Chen challenged her to admit the truth.

• Brother Liu told Chen that Liang Yi had chronic anemia, had sold her blood several times, and that An Yutong had unsuccessfully applied to change her major to law.
• Boss Xu told Chen that online rumors and attacks on his family had exhausted his patience, and Chen promised to deliver an answer that night.
• Chen picked up An Yutong at the university and drove her out of the city to test his theories.
• When Chen pretended to strike her, the woman instinctively shielded her head, leading him to accuse her of being Liang Yi, who had been beaten by her family.
• Chen explained that the woman had claimed An Yutong’s car needed repairs because she could not drive and was afraid people would discover the truth.

Liang Yi revealed that she had used soul possession to take over An Yutong’s body and had killed her, driven by years of poverty and resentment. She defended her actions as a fight against an unfair world, leaving the narrator speechless in the cold wind.

• The narrator concluded that Liang Yi was likely the perpetrator and confronted her with the theory that she had possessed An Yutong’s body with help from a hypnotist.
• Liang Yi admitted she would take the narrator to An Yutong and led him to a secluded spot outside the city.
• Liang Yi revealed that An Yutong’s soul had been destroyed and her own body disposed of, leaving her as the only An Yutong.
• The narrator accused Liang Yi of killing an innocent person, but she showed no guilt and said poverty was the only crime deserving forgiveness.
• Liang Yi described the abuse, deprivation, and financial hardship she had endured, insisting that she had fought for fairness and lamenting that her fate seemed impossible to change.
• The narrator listened to Liang Yi’s anguished account and found himself unable to respond.

Liang Yi explained that she had taken over An Yutong’s life to escape poverty and gain power, while insisting the law could not punish her. After embracing the narrator, she injected him with a powerful anesthetic as the man who had hypnotized Brother Liu and several others approached, and the narrator lost consciousness with his call to An Ning still connected.

• The narrator asked Liang Yi whether she had possessed An Yutong to escape her poor family, and Liang Yi said she wanted to use An Yutong’s resources to rise in society.
• Liang Yi said she sought power rather than wealth and insisted that no existing law could convict her.
• The narrator told Liang Yi that An Yutong had been the victim and asked who had helped her take the body, but Liang Yi refused to name him.
• Liang Yi hugged the narrator and said he was the only person who had cared whether she lived or died.
• Liang Yi injected the narrator with a potent anesthetic as the man who had hypnotized Brother Liu and several others emerged from the darkness.
• The narrator collapsed and realized that he was the one destined to disappear and die as his phone showed an hour-long call with An Ning.

The captive narrator confronted the man who had helped Liang Yi and revealed that the organization had secretly monitored and hypnotized people revived through Seven Deaths for a Life. The man tried to hypnotize the narrator with an Evil Buddha pendant, but the attempt failed, leaving the captors baffled.

• The narrator deduced that the man’s group had worked with Liang Yi to capture them and destroy An Yutong’s soul.
• The man said Lü Zhengxian had become Du Yunting after his schemes got him and several members of the organization killed.
• The man revealed that the organization monitored people revived through Seven Deaths for a Life and had hypnotized the narrator throughout their life.
• The man admitted he had crippled the thug who once ambushed the narrator and Meng Yifan when they were eighteen.
• The man tried to hypnotize the narrator with an Evil Buddha pendant, but the narrator resisted and told him to call them Dad for an explanation.

The narrator endured imprisonment and torture by Qingyuan, who tried to hypnotize him to uncover a secret within him. When Qingyuan stabbed him, the narrator’s other soul, Li Fuguang, emerged and destroyed the hypnotic pendant before vanishing, leaving the narrator wounded and still captive.

• The narrator resisted Qingyuan’s hypnosis and taunted him, so Qingyuan left him bound in darkness without food or water.
• After roughly two days, Qingyuan returned and stabbed the narrator in the thigh while demanding he submit.
• The narrator’s other soul, Li Fuguang, emerged, and Qingyuan tried to hypnotize him with a pendant.
• The pendant exploded, and Li Fuguang warned Qingyuan before disappearing without freeing the narrator.
• Qingyuan ordered the narrator given nutrient solution and treated enough to keep him alive, then left him captive.

Chen Mo endured days of torture in captivity, then used incantations taught by a hallucinated Patriarch to ease his pain. Just as he feared no one would find him, An Ning emerged from a hidden room and killed one of his captors.

• Chen Mo suffered untreated pain while his captors kept him alive with nutrient IVs.
• Third Brother gave Chen Mo a little water, taunted him with congee, and left after Chen Mo cursed him.
• Chen Mo dreamed of the Patriarch, memorized his incantations, and discovered they eased his physical pain.
• Chen Mo remained captive for two more days and grew weaker while thinking of the people he cared about.
• An Ning came out of the hidden room, killed a captor with a saber, and swayed as she tried to recover.

An Ning rescued the narrator from captivity after following directions from a mysterious dream, and they escaped the room into the countryside. When the narrator collapsed from exhaustion and blood loss, An Ning carried him on her back as they tried to get away.

• An Ning cut the narrator’s ropes and explained how she had hidden in a crate on a truck after a young man appeared in her dream and told her where to go.
• The narrator assessed the guards and surroundings, and he and An Ning left the room while the others were likely eating.
• An Ning helped the narrator outside and guided him around the building toward a small path.
• The narrator collapsed from exhaustion and a bleeding wound, then urged An Ning to find a signal and contact Seventh Master and Song Xiaotian.
• An Ning refused to leave him behind and hoisted him onto her back.

The narrator and An Ning escaped their pursuers with help from Du Yunting’s crossbowmen, then reached a hospital, where the narrator later woke up. Seventh Master and Xie Peng told him An Ning was safe and that Song Xiaotian had been detained after going to Liang Yi’s school.

• An Ning carried the injured narrator as she fled, then stood to fight three pursuers when they caught up.
• The narrator shielded An Ning from the men’s beating until Du Yunting’s bodyguard and two other crossbowmen killed the pursuers.
• The crossbowmen carried the narrator and An Ning to a motorcycle, left them with a key, and took the Broadsword.
• An Ning tied herself to the narrator on the motorcycle and got him to the hospital, where he collapsed and underwent surgery.
• The narrator woke in a hospital ward with Seventh Master and Xie Peng, who confirmed An Ning was safe and said Song Xiaotian had been detained after going to Liang Yi’s school.

After waking from an eleven-day ordeal, the narrator learned that Song Xiaotian had been detained and that Liang Yi’s biological parents’ home had been burned down in an arson attack. As he recovered in the hospital with An Ning by his side, he discovered that Du Yunting’s men had rescued them, and Seventh Master believed they had been waiting to save him.

• Seventh Master told the narrator that Song Xiaotian had been detained for attacking Liang Yi at school and that Liang Yi’s biological parents’ home had been destroyed by arson.
• The narrator saw how much weight he had lost after his captivity, and Xie Peng fed him congee while recounting how Seventh Master and An Ning had watched over him.
• The narrator woke to find An Ning beside him, and she checked his fever, heated congee, and stayed with him overnight.
• The narrator told Seventh Master that Du Yunting’s men had killed their captors, carried him and An Ning to the road, and given them a motorcycle.
• Seventh Master concluded that Du Yunting’s men had likely been waiting nearby to rescue the narrator.