Recaps

Chen Mo and Meng Yifan searched Brother Liu’s case files and identified the girl who had knocked at the door as Du Yuwei, a university student who died in a car accident three months earlier. They discovered that Du Yuwei was the adopted daughter of prominent businessman Du Ruhai.

• Chen Mo and Meng Yifan found a broken piece of dark-red-painted wood near the doorway and suspected it had come from the attacker’s stamp.
• Chen Mo called Brother Liu, who said he had found ID photos of Li Xiumei and Lü Zhengxian and would bring them at lunch.
• Brother Liu gave Chen Mo and Meng Yifan photos and files about young women who had died in accidents, and discussed the difficulty of catching Lü Zhengxian.
• Chen Mo found the girl who had knocked at the door in the case files and identified her as Du Yuwei, a twenty-one-year-old finance student who had died in a car accident.
• Chen Mo and Meng Yifan learned that Du Yuwei had been adopted by Du Ruhai, a prominent Lanjiang City real-estate businessman.

The narrator and Meng Yifan learned that the door-knocking ghost was Du Yuwei, Du Ruhai’s adopted daughter, and discovered the scandalous circumstances of her death. After hearing that Du Yuwei had died only three months earlier, Seventh Master warned that she should not be powerful enough to frighten people unless someone was raising her as a ghost.

• The narrator and Meng Yifan identified the door-knocking girl as Du Yuwei, the sole survivor of the family massacre who had been adopted by Lü Zhengxian and Li Xiumei before becoming Du Ruhai’s adopted daughter.
• Brother Liu revealed that Du Yuwei had bullied a girl over a love triangle, chased her into traffic, and died in the resulting accident, after which Du Ruhai suppressed the story.
• The narrator asked Brother Liu where Du Yuwei was buried, but he refused to help and hurried away.
• The narrator and Meng Yifan decided to consult Seventh Master, who told them he had left the hospital and that Xiao Qing had also been discharged.
• Seventh Master said Du Yuwei’s recent unnatural death should have left her only a Wandering Ghost, and suggested that someone might be raising her as a ghost.

The Seventh Master explained the cycle of souls, how resentment and ghost-raising could turn Du Yuwei into a vicious ghost, and why finding her ashes was urgent. He discovered that no one had handled her body after her death, then warned that her family might be attempting resurrection through a corpse.

• The Seventh Master described the three souls and explained how resentment and soul nurturing could create vicious ghosts.
• The narrator realized Du Yuwei was too recently dead to become a vicious ghost naturally, so someone might be raising her using her ashes.
• The Seventh Master said he would help Du Yuwei pass on if they could locate her ashes, and he asked his contacts to investigate.
• At dinner, the Seventh Master reported that no funeral home or crematorium in Lanjiang City had received Du Yuwei's body or handled the Du family's funeral arrangements.
• The Seventh Master warned that the likely next practice was resurrection through a corpse.

Chen Mo learned that Du Yuwei might be planning soul possession through the Seven Deaths Life-Exchange Art and suspected her body was hidden in Du Ruhai’s home. He convinced Meng Yifan and the Seventh Master to join him on a nighttime visit to the villa, where he prepared to explain how they would get inside.

• The Seventh Master explained soul possession and the Seven Deaths Life-Exchange Art, which required sacrificing seven lives and preserving the target body.
• The Seventh Master warned that those who used the evil art suffered severe karmic consequences, and Meng Yifan joked that Chen Mo might already have been possessed.
• Chen Mo concluded that Du Yuwei’s body was probably hidden at home and decided to investigate while Du Ruhai was away.
• The Seventh Master refused to help at first, but Chen Mo and Meng Yifan eventually persuaded him to come along.
• At midnight, the three stood outside the villa neighborhood, and Chen Mo told Meng Yifan he had planned how they would get inside.

The narrator, Meng Yifan, and the Seventh Master used a staged fight to distract the guards and sneaked into Du Ruhai’s villa to look for Du Yuwei’s body. They found red candles in a bathroom and wondered whether someone in the Du family was preparing for a wedding.

• The narrator paid a group of young punks to start a fight outside the villa complex and distract the guards.
• The narrator, Meng Yifan, and the Seventh Master climbed over the back wall and made their way to Villa 24.
• The three masked themselves, climbed into the villa through a bathroom window, and planned to search the upper floors for Du Yuwei’s body.
• The narrator saw what looked like red eyes in the bathroom mirror, but the Seventh Master realized they were candles.
• The three noticed the candles were red and wondered why someone would light wedding candles in the home of the recently deceased Du Yuwei.

The narrator and Meng Yifan entered Du Ruhai’s villa looking for Du Yuwei’s body, but a wedding painting nearly trapped them inside its supernatural scene. The Seventh Master rescued them and revealed that the painting was cursed, leaving them wary of the danger within the villa.

• The narrator and Meng Yifan found wedding decorations and a painting of Du Ruhai marrying a veiled bride in the villa’s living room.
• The narrator and Meng Yifan became entranced by the painting and found themselves among lifelike wedding guests inside its scene.
• The Seventh Master covered their eyes, called their heavenly souls back, and struck the narrator awake.
• The Seventh Master explained that the corpse-oil painting was cursed and would have trapped them as figures in the painting if they had kept looking.

The narrator, Meng Yifan, and the Seventh Master searched Du Ruhai's villa for Du Yuwei and found a locked room arranged like the wedding in the Evil Painting. Inside, they discovered Du Yuwei's corpse dressed as the bride.

• The Seventh Master concluded that only Du Ruhai appeared to live in the villa and warned the narrator and Meng Yifan that Du Ruhai seemed sinister.
• The group searched the second floor but found neither anyone living there nor Du Yuwei's body.
• The narrator grew uneasy about how familiar the Seventh Master seemed with the villa as they reached the third floor.
• The Seventh Master picked the lock on the third floor's only locked room, and the group entered together.
• They found a wedding scene filled with paper figures and an empty groom's chair, matching the Evil Painting.
• The Seventh Master lifted the bride's veil, revealing that the dead bride was Du Yuwei, the girl who had knocked on doors.

After finding Du Yuwei’s corpse dressed as Du Ruhai’s bride, the narrator concluded that Lü Zhengxian had possessed the real Du Ruhai and married Du Yuwei after her death. Seventh Master warned that Lü Zhengxian would likely use the Seven Deaths Life-Swapping Art again to bring her back, putting the narrator and Meng Yifan in danger.

• The narrator, Meng Yifan, and Seventh Master discovered that Du Yuwei’s three-month-old corpse was dressed as Du Ruhai’s bride.
• The narrator reasoned that Lü Zhengxian and Du Ruhai were the same person, since both had obsessive feelings for Du Yuwei and Lü Zhengxian had likely killed Li Xiumei to remove her from the way.
• The narrator and Meng Yifan realized that Lü Zhengxian had used body possession to take over the real Du Ruhai and inherit the Weihai Group.
• Seventh Master connected the possession to the Seven Deaths Life-Swapping Art and suspected Lü Zhengxian had killed seven people to complete it.
• Seventh Master warned that Lü Zhengxian would use the dark art again to revive Du Yuwei, and the narrator feared that he and Meng Yifan would be among the sacrifices.

The narrator, Meng Yifan, and the Seventh Master found evidence that Du Ruhai had begun another seven-death life exchange, but the Seventh Master could no longer send Du Yuwei’s spirit on. They searched for Du Yuwei’s birth details, and the chapter ended when the narrator saw her corpse open its eyes.

• The Seventh Master found two urns beneath the bridal bed and suspected they held the remains of two victims in the new seven-death life exchange.
• Meng Yifan wanted to take the urns to the police, but the narrator and the Seventh Master warned that reporting them would expose the group to danger.
• The Seventh Master said he could no longer send Du Yuwei’s spirit on and needed her birth date to try another way.
• Meng Yifan suggested Du Ruhai might have taken Du Yuwei’s household registration booklet during the massacre, so the three searched the room for it.
• The narrator saw Du Yuwei’s corpse open its eyes and stare at him.

The narrator, Meng Yifan, and the Seventh Master found Du Yuwei’s birth details in a Marriage Contract and planned to help her pass on. Before they could take her body, an armed man hiding in the attic attacked them, and they fled the villa only to find security guards waiting outside.

• Du Yuwei’s corpse opened its eyes when Meng Yifan approached, and the Seventh Master explained that her ghost was likely nearby.
• The narrator found a Marriage Contract listing Du Yuwei’s and Du Ruhai’s birth dates and times, giving the group a way to help Du Yuwei pass on.
• A man hiding in the attic attacked the group with a cleaver, but Meng Yifan and the Seventh Master fought him off.
• The attacker triggered the villa’s alarm and escaped, so the Seventh Master ordered the others to take the two urns and flee without Du Yuwei’s body.
• The narrator, Meng Yifan, and the Seventh Master climbed over the villa’s perimeter wall and found more than a dozen security guards waiting with stun batons.

After guards caught them at Du Ruhai’s villa, the narrator escaped with the ashes while Seventh Master and Meng Yifan were arrested. Hiding at an inn, he suspected someone had anticipated their visit and tried to contact Brother Liu for help, but Brother Liu’s phone was off.

• Seventh Master surrendered to the guards, and Meng Yifan drew their attention before being shocked and captured.
• The narrator fled with two urns of ashes, and a masked man pointed him toward a motorcycle with a key in the ignition.
• The narrator escaped the guards on the motorcycle and hid at an inn on the outskirts.
• The narrator wondered how Du Ruhai and the masked man had known about their visit, and considered whether Seventh Master had leaked their plan.
• The narrator called Brother Liu repeatedly to ask for help rescuing Seventh Master and Meng Yifan, but Brother Liu did not answer and his phone was switched off.

Chen Mo spent the night fearing for Meng Yifan and the Seventh Master, then faced Du Yuwei haunting his guesthouse room and demanding the Ash Urns. After learning Fang Man had returned and that one of her relatives was a cop, he decided to seek her help getting his friends released.

• Chen Mo failed to reach Brother Liu and stayed at a guesthouse, keeping the two Ash Urns in his backpack.
• Du Yuwei appeared outside Chen Mo's door disguised as Meng Yifan and demanded that he return what was hers.
• Chen Mo realized Du Yuwei wanted the Ash Urns and decided to keep them as leverage against Du Ruhai.
• Du Yuwei knocked and repeated her demand until dawn but could not enter Chen Mo's room.
• Chen Mo called Xie Peng, warned him about possible police questions, and learned that Fang Man had returned and was looking for him.
• Chen Mo remembered that Fang Man had a relative who was a cop and decided to go see her for help.

The narrator asked Fang Man to arrange a meeting with her sworn older brother, hoping he could help free Meng Yifan, and went home to retrieve money. After briefly suspecting his father might be the man who had disrupted the Fuji Divination ritual, he met Fang Man and learned her brother had been kicked off the police force.

• The narrator called Fang Man and asked her to arrange a meeting with her sworn older brother about Meng Yifan's arrest.
• The narrator returned home for his bank card and found a copy of the Six Lines Divine Mechanism in his father's drawer.
• The narrator suspected his father might be the injured man who had disrupted the Fuji Divination ritual, but saw that his father walked without a limp.
• The narrator met Fang Man at a restaurant, where she greeted him affectionately and asked what had happened to Meng Yifan.
• Song Xiaotian arrived, and the narrator learned that he had recently been kicked off the police force.

Chen Mo asked Song Xiaotian to help free Meng Yifan and the Seventh Master, who had been arrested after entering Du Ruhai’s home. Song Xiaotian’s contact promised to try within two or three days, while Chen Mo asked him to find evidence linking Du Ruhai to Lü Zhengxian so they could defend themselves against Du Ruhai’s influence.

• Chen Mo learned that Song Xiaotian had been fired, but Song Xiaotian said he could call powerful family connections to help free Meng Yifan and the Seventh Master.
• Chen Mo explained what had happened at Du Ruhai’s home and showed Song Xiaotian and Fang Man the urn, frightening them into believing his account.
• Song Xiaotian called a contact, who said they would try to get Meng Yifan and the Seventh Master out within two or three days.
• Chen Mo sent Fang Man back to the shop and refused to let Song Xiaotian accept his ten thousand yuan.
• Chen Mo asked Song Xiaotian to find the files on the family massacre and information about Lü Zhengxian so he could prove Du Ruhai’s identity.

The narrator and Song Xiaotian reviewed the investigation into Du Yuwei’s family massacre and found possible links to an unsolved series of seven suffocation murders in Lanjiang City. A payment to Li Xiumei’s family suggested the killers had been hired, and the narrator concluded the employer was likely the person who sabotaged their soul-summoning.

• Song Xiaotian sent the narrator detailed documents identifying Li Xiumei and Lü Zhengxian as the killers of Du Yuwei’s family.
• The narrator learned that the family had been smothered with white cloth despite a knife being left at the scene, and that Du Yuwei’s mother had been sexually assaulted before her death.
• Song Xiaotian told the narrator about seven unsolved suffocation murders in Lanjiang City from fifteen years earlier, which might have involved a sacrifice like the Seven Deaths Life-Exchange Art.
• The narrator suspected Lü Zhengxian had carried out both sets of murders and wondered which one had been intended to let him possess Du Ruhai.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian discovered that Li Xiumei’s impoverished family had received ninety thousand yuan shortly before the massacre.
• Song Xiaotian suggested the money was a hiring payment, leading the narrator to suspect that the person who hired Li Xiumei and Lü Zhengxian had also sabotaged their soul-summoning.

After reviewing the case files, the narrator and Song Xiaotian traveled to Li Xiumei’s hometown on Qin Island to look for clues about the person who hired her and Lü Zhengxian. They reached Li Family Village after dark and found what appeared to be an old man trapped beneath a fallen door at an abandoned building.

• The narrator reconsidered the evidence and suspected the man who sabotaged their spirit summoning might have been the mastermind who taught Lü Zhengxian the seven deaths for one life ritual.
• The narrator told Song Xiaotian he wanted to visit Li Xiumei and Lü Zhengxian’s hometowns, and Song Xiaotian agreed to accompany him despite warning that Lü Zhengxian might still watch his family.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian bought tickets to Qin Island, traveled by plane and bus, and decided to visit Li Family Village first.
• After arriving in Li Family Village at night, the narrator and Song Xiaotian spotted an old man pinned beneath a fallen door outside an abandoned building.

Song Xiaotian and the narrator met a strange old man who directed them to Li Yujiao’s family home and told them about her brother, Li Liang. As they headed there, they saw a person standing beside a well and a grave.

• Song Xiaotian and the narrator found an old man pinned beneath a door panel, freed him, and learned he was wary of outsiders.
• The narrator asked about Li Xiumei, then corrected himself and asked about Li Yujiao; the old man said she had committed a crime and had not returned in over a decade.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian claimed to be police investigating the old case, and the old man directed them to Li Yujiao’s family home at the village’s eastern end.
• The old man said Li Yujiao’s father had died, while her mother and brother Li Liang survived; Li Liang had been left with meningitis after belated treatment.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian set off toward the family home, discussed the many graves and abandoned houses, and spotted someone standing beside a well and a grave.

The narrator and Song Xiaotian saw Li Liang pour powder into a village well before they went to Li Xiumei’s house to ask about Li Yujiao. Her sick mother reacted angrily to their questions and ordered Li Liang to drive them away with a cleaver.

• The narrator recognized the dirt-covered man at the well as Li Liang, and he dumped a packet of powder into the water before running home.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian checked the well, found its water murky, and decided to warn the villagers in the morning.
• They reached Li Xiumei’s dilapidated house and persuaded Li Liang to wake his sick mother by offering him bread.
• The narrator told Li Yujiao’s mother they were investigating the old case, and she accused the police of driving her husband to his death.
• Li Yujiao’s mother ordered Li Liang to chase the visitors away, and he grabbed a kitchen cleaver and swung it at them.

After Li Liang attacked them, the narrator and Song Xiaotian decided to question his mother again the next day, then stayed at the village chief’s house. In the middle of the night, the narrator found Li Xiumei’s younger brother waiting outside the toilet with a cleaver.

• Li Liang swung a cleaver at the narrator and Song Xiaotian, forcing them to flee before they could question his mother.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian wondered how Li Xiumei’s mother knew her daughter was dead and decided to return the next day.
• The pair passed a funeral vigil, greeted the old man they had helped, and asked the village chief for a place to stay.
• Song Xiaotian showed the village chief his police ID and arranged to question Li Yujiao’s family about a case from fifteen years earlier.
• At three in the morning, the narrator went to the toilet and saw Li Xiumei’s younger brother standing outside with a cleaver.

Chen Mo and Song Xiaotian chased Li Liang into the mountains, where he led them to a mass burial ground and mourned his dead sister. Li Liang’s words revealed that Li Xiumei had been killed with her tongue cut out, leaving Chen Mo wondering how the old woman knew and whether multiple people were involved.

• Li Liang appeared outside Chen Mo and Song Xiaotian’s bathroom with a knife, then ran as they chased him into the mountains.
• Chen Mo suspected Li Liang was deliberately leading them away from the village, and the two lost track of him in the woods.
• Chen Mo and Song Xiaotian found a mass burial ground and heard Li Liang crying beside a grave.
• Li Liang told his dead father that his sister Li Xiumei had died and that someone had cut out her tongue.
• Chen Mo wondered how the old woman on Qin Island knew the details of Li Xiumei’s death and whether more than one person had killed her.

At the potter’s field, Li Liang was possessed by his dead father, who accused Song Xiaotian and the narrator of bullying his son and attacked them. They escaped after the narrator used his own blood to break the choking spirit’s grip on Song Xiaotian, and reached the village chief’s doorstep.

• Li Liang cried to his father’s grave about how the villagers bullied him and his mother.
• Li Liang’s father possessed him and confronted Song Xiaotian and the narrator, accusing them of mistreating his son.
• Song Xiaotian disarmed Li Liang and knocked him into a grave mound before fleeing with the narrator.
• A spirit handprint appeared on Song Xiaotian’s neck and began choking him as they ran down the mountain.
• The narrator cut Song Xiaotian’s palm and pressed his blood against the handprint, making it disappear.
• Song Xiaotian and the narrator reached the village chief’s doorstep, where the narrator explained that Seventh Master had taught him blood could ward off spirits.

The narrator and Song Xiaotian learned that Li Family Village had a history of deaths, infertility, and abandoned homes while trying to investigate Li Liang’s father. After recognizing a man they had met the previous night in a funeral portrait, they returned to Li Liang’s house, where the narrator paid Li Liang’s mother and pressured her to answer questions.

• The village chief claimed Li Liang’s father hanged himself after villagers condemned his daughter, though the narrator and Song Xiaotian suspected he was hiding the truth.
• The village chief said many villagers had died of illness and that young people left after struggling to conceive in the village.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian recognized the old man they had helped the previous night in a funeral portrait and realized he had died.
• The village chief confronted Li Liang’s mother and threatened her, so the narrator pulled him away and spoke to her privately.
• The narrator gave Li Liang’s mother a thousand yuan and warned her to answer questions, hinting that he knew she had ordered her son to poison the village.

The narrator questioned Li Liang’s mother about the money behind Li Xiumei’s murder and learned that Li Xiumei had appeared in a dream to name Lü Zhengxian and the mysterious man as her killers. The narrator and Song Xiaotian left for Lü Family Gully, still unsure why the principal culprit had offered help.

• The narrator explained that Li Liang’s mother had likely directed him to poison the village wells, though they had no concrete proof.
• The old woman said an unnamed cultured man from the city had provided ninety thousand yuan for Li Liang’s treatment, and recalled that Li Xiumei had described him as a benefactor.
• The old woman blamed the police for Li Xiumei’s death and could not remember the man’s name, possibly because she was suffering from senile dementia.
• The old woman said Li Xiumei had visited her in a dream and revealed that Lü Zhengxian and the unnamed man had killed her and concealed her body inside a wall.
• The narrator gave the old woman money, warned her to stop Li Liang from poisoning the wells, and left with Song Xiaotian for Lü Family Gully.

The narrator and Song Xiaotian traveled from Li Family Village to Lü Family Gully, where they found a prosperous village supported by Lü Zhengxian’s family. They interviewed one of Lü Zhengxian’s childhood friends, who might know identifying details about him.

• Song Xiaotian explained why he would not report Li Liang and his mother, then recalled a case in which a murdered man's parents and young grandson drowned themselves after enduring the village's condemnation.
• The narrator asked Song Xiaotian why he had been fired, but Song Xiaotian told him to guess instead of answering.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian arrived in prosperous Lü Family Gully and suspected a private benefactor had funded its development.
• A local man said a wealthy businessman had built houses and a road for the village, and the narrator recognized that the businessman was likely Lü Zhengxian.
• Song Xiaotian pretended to film while the narrator paid the man to talk, and learned that he had been Lü Zhengxian’s close friend fifteen years earlier.
• The narrator asked the man whether Lü Zhengxian had any distinctive traits or habits that could help identify him.

Chen Mo and Song Xiaotian investigated Du Ruhai’s ties to Lü Zhengxian in Lü Family Gully but left without a way to expose him. Back in Lanjiang City, they learned that Seventh Master had implicated Chen Mo in the theft from Du Ruhai’s house, putting Chen Mo at risk of arrest.

• Chen Mo learned from an old villager that Lü Zhengxian was left-handed and that Du Ruhai regularly visited the village and stayed with Lü Jun’s family.
• The old man identified the wealthy entrepreneur as Du Ruhai, and Song Xiaotian told Chen Mo that proving Du Ruhai was Lü Zhengxian would not be enough to bring him down.
• Chen Mo and Song Xiaotian left Lü Family Gully without questioning Lü Jun, then returned to Lanjiang City.
• Song Xiaotian told Chen Mo that Seventh Master had been released and had accused Chen Mo of planning the theft from Du Ruhai’s house.
• Song Xiaotian warned Chen Mo that the police were looking for him and that Meng Yifan might not be released.