Recaps

The narrator followed a mysterious old man’s directions up the mountain, enduring unnatural heat and cold while searching for the object that belonged to Li Fuguang. After reaching the old man again at the end of another path, the narrator asked whether he still had farther to go.

• The narrator told the old man that the object belonged to him, then asked how to find it.
• The old man directed the narrator up a mountain path, and the narrator left An Ning and Yi Yang behind.
• After enduring increasing heat for two hours, the narrator found the same old man waiting ahead and learned he had taken a shortcut.
• The old man sent the narrator along another path, where the temperature plunged; the narrator recognized the unnatural cold as an illusion and mentally persuaded himself it was warm.
• After walking for an hour and eating a flatbread, the narrator found the old man again and asked how much farther he needed to go.

The narrator found Fang Mingjie's buried box and uncovered the Evil Buddha statue inside, then experienced visions that revealed the Evil Buddha, Monk Daojue, the leader, and Li Fuguang were the same person. He hurried down the mountain with the box and met An Ning and Yi Yang, who said the fisherman had just left.

• An old man gave the narrator another set of directions, and the narrator followed the path until he found a bald, three-eyed man beneath a tree.
• The three-eyed man ran off and vanished, leading the narrator to dig up Fang Mingjie's box, which contained documents and the Evil Buddha statue.
• The narrator discovered cinnabar on the statue's Third Eye and realized Li Fuguang's grandfather had used it to paint the Evil Buddha to life.
• Monk Daojue, Gongsun Jing, the red-robed Ghost King, and a blood-covered old man appeared to the narrator, who saw memories linking the Evil Buddha, Daojue, the leader, and Li Fuguang as the same person.
• The narrator carried the box down the mountain and learned from An Ning and Yi Yang that the fisherman had left a few minutes earlier.

The narrator returned to his grandmother after finding the box and notebook with help from a mysterious old fisherman, whom he suspected was a local deity. Seeing that his grandmother had kept the yard full of flowers while waiting sixteen years for Li Fuguang, he finally revealed himself as her grandson, though she remained unsure.

• The narrator suspected the old fisherman was the mountain god or earth god and bowed to thank him for guiding them to the box.
• The narrator gave Yi Yang the box and notebook to take to Seventh Master and stayed behind to keep his grandmother company.
• His grandmother showed him the flower-filled yard she had maintained because Li Fuguang loved flowers and might someday return.
• The narrator heard his grandmother worry that she would die before Li Fuguang came home and knelt before her.
• The narrator told his grandmother, "I'm Li Fuguang. I'm home," then recalled private memories to prove his identity.

Chen Mo revealed to the Old Lady that he carried Li Fuguang’s memories, and she welcomed him back, asking him to stay with her. The Old Lady died peacefully the next morning, leaving Chen Mo to grieve and reflect on how Li Fuguang’s upbringing had shaped the person he became.

• Chen Mo convinced the Old Lady that he knew things only Li Fuguang could have known, and she wept over his long absence.
• Chen Mo promised to care for the Old Lady and asked her to keep his identity from Uncle Gui and the others; she agreed to go with him to the city.
• The Old Lady spent the night with Chen Mo nearby, then died peacefully in her sleep the next morning.
• An Ning stayed in the village with Chen Mo while relatives and villagers kept vigil for the Old Lady.
• Chen Mo reflected that the village and Li Fuguang’s family had given him humanity, even though he had awakened his memories as the Evil Buddha.

After burying the old lady, Xiao Chen learned more about Li Fuguang’s origins and the Evil Buddha’s history from Seventh Master. Seventh Master realized the Evil Buddha had targeted him even before he knew the organization existed, leaving him to wonder why.

• Xiao Chen buried the old lady, offered incense to the deity on the mountain, and took her memorial portrait with him when he left Pear Blossom Village with An Ning.
• Seventh Master comforted Xiao Chen and confirmed that Gongsun Jing and Monk Daojue’s story was true.
• Xiao Chen and Seventh Master concluded that Wu Huaqing had sealed the Evil Buddha’s soul in a statue, which was later released and reborn through Li Fuguang’s mother.
• Seventh Master reasoned that Li Fuguang’s upbringing and early death had shaped him to reject the Evil Buddha’s identity and memories.
• Seventh Master recalled that the organization had targeted him before he knew it existed and suspected the Evil Buddha had held a personal grudge against him.

Seventh Master and Chen Mo realized the Evil Buddha’s grudge likely came from one of Seventh Master’s past lives, and Seventh Master decided to let go for Xiuzhu’s sake. Chen Mo returned to Meng Yifan’s home planning to move out, but Meng Yifan persuaded him to stay.

• Seventh Master explained that before age twenty he had kept a low profile and could not understand why the Evil Buddha had targeted him.
• Chen Mo reflected on whether people should suffer for past lives’ actions, and Seventh Master described retribution as the natural cycle of cause and effect.
• Seventh Master realized he had likely offended the Evil Buddha in a past life, and he chose to let go of the old grudge for Xiuzhu’s sake.
• Chen Mo returned to Meng Yifan’s place and began packing to move out because he did not want to live in his family home.
• Meng Yifan returned, insisted Chen Mo stay, and put his packed belongings back in place.

The narrator and his coworkers watched Du Yunting preach about karma at a university, despite knowing he was Lü Zhengxian, a killer responsible for their loved ones’ deaths. Pan’s Father then came asking for help because Pan Lijuan’s family had fallen ill after she underpaid a Feng Shui master, and the chapter ended with him appealing to Xiao Chen.

• The narrator, Song Xiaotian, and Yi Yang watched Du Yunting urge students to do good and warned that his speech was hypocritical because he had caused many deaths.
• The narrator told Yi Yang that Du Yunting was responsible for his former girlfriend’s death and Song Xiaotian’s sworn younger sister’s death.
• Pan’s Father visited the shop and explained that Pan Lijuan had agreed to pay a Feng Shui master sixty-six thousand but gave him only sixty-six hundred.
• Pan’s Father said Pan Lijuan and her niece Jingyu had become bedridden, while her husband was also unwell, after the Feng Shui master changed their home and office.
• Song Xiaotian blamed Pan Lijuan for bringing trouble on herself, but Pan’s Father asked Xiao Chen for help because she was his sister.

Wang Xiaoxian explained that the Pan family’s torment likely came from a Lu Ban School curse, so Wang Xiaoxian asked Tao Jianhua to pay for peace and safety. After taking the money, Wang Xiaoxian set out with Seventh Master to meet the feng shui master, who turned out to be Seventh Master’s old romantic rival; Seventh Master also revealed that the Evil Buddha was likely searching for Gongsun Jing’s reincarnation.

• Wang Xiaoxian and Song Xiaotian visited the Pan family and found Pan Lijuan, her daughter, and Tao Jianhua suffering after a feng shui master’s curse.
• Wang Xiaoxian warned Tao Jianhua that the curse might have been cast by a Lu Ban School successor and advised him to compensate the feng shui master rather than risk breaking the spell.
• Tao Jianhua transferred two hundred thousand to Wang Xiaoxian, who planned to use part of it to appease the feng shui master and split the rest with Song Xiaotian and Yi Yang.
• Wang Xiaoxian called Seventh Master, who agreed to accompany him to meet Wang Xiaoxian, the Lu Ban lineage successor and Seventh Master’s former romantic rival.
• Seventh Master told Wang Xiaoxian that the Evil Buddha, Monk Daojue, was probably trying to find Gongsun Jing’s reincarnation.

The narrator and Seventh Master reasoned that Gongsun Jing might have become an immortal instead of reincarnating, complicating the Evil Buddha’s search for him. They visited Wang Xiaoxian to seek his help, but found him still furious over a woman who had deceived him.

• Seventh Master explained that orthodox Daoists who received the Rite of Transmission could be judged by the Three Great Emperor-Officials and become immortals instead of entering reincarnation.
• The narrator questioned why the Evil Buddha, Monk Daojue, would seek Gongsun Jing if he knew Gongsun might not have reincarnated.
• Seventh Master said Wang Xiaoxian’s intelligence connections could help them find Gongsun Jing and perhaps free Li Fuguang from the narrator’s body.
• The narrator and Seventh Master drove to Wang Xiaoxian’s village and found him sitting outside his house.
• Wang Xiaoxian told Seventh Master he wanted to kill the woman who had tricked him, saying her family’s actions had made his lost hand feel wasted.

Zhao Qiankun and Seventh Master persuaded Wang Xiaoxian to reveal where they could learn about a person’s past and present lives, then tricked him into thinking he was joining them. They planned to visit Hanging Peak Ancient Temple next Monday and seek out the monk Huixin.

• Zhao Qiankun paid Wang Xiaoxian 130,000 yuan in compensation for the woman who had hired them both.
• Seventh Master told Wang Xiaoxian that the organization had returned, but Wang refused to come out of retirement until Seventh Master begged him.
• Wang Xiaoxian consulted his notebook and directed Seventh Master and Zhao Qiankun to Huixin at Hanging Peak Ancient Temple in Fengdu City.
• Wang Xiaoxian said they should offer incense and wait ten minutes in the Mahavira Hall; if Huixin did not appear, they should leave.
• Seventh Master tricked Wang Xiaoxian into going inside to pack, then fled with Zhao Qiankun and Xiuzhu.
• Seventh Master and Zhao Qiankun decided to visit the temple next Monday without casting a divination first.

The narrator, An Ning, and Seventh Master climbed to Hanging Peak Ancient Temple to seek Huixin’s help understanding Gongsun Jing’s fate. They discovered Huixin was the young novice they had mistaken for an ordinary monk, and he revealed that Gongsun Jing had been reincarnated as a human.

• The narrator drove An Ning, Seventh Master, and Xiuzhu to Fengdu City to visit Huixin at Hanging Peak Ancient Temple.
• The group climbed for more than two hours, carrying Xiuzhu in turns, and reached the ancient temple at the summit.
• A young novice told Seventh Master that the other monks had gone down the mountain, so the group waited for nearly three hours.
• Seventh Master led the narrator and An Ning into the hall for ten minutes, as Wang Xiaoxian had instructed.
• As they were leaving, the narrator and Seventh Master realized the young novice was Huixin and asked him about Gongsun Jing and Monk Daojue.
• Huixin said Gongsun Jing had been reincarnated as a human.

Master Huixin revealed that Gongsun Jing gave up immortality to chant scriptures for the Ghost King for over a thousand years, then reincarnated and joined her in bearing her karmic retribution. He told the narrator and An Ning to descend the ninety-nine steps, where they would find the answer to where the pair were in this life.

• Master Huixin explained that Gongsun Jing gave up his chance to become an immortal and stayed in the Underworld to recite scriptures for the Ghost King.
• The narrator concluded that Gongsun Jing and the Ghost King had loved each other, while the Seventh Master reflected on the tragedies of their era.
• Master Huixin said Judge Cui released the Ghost King early because of Gongsun Jing's vigil, and both were later reincarnated.
• Master Huixin revealed that Gongsun Jing entered the Ghost King's karmic retribution in her next life rather than protecting her from it.
• Master Huixin told the narrator and An Ning to descend the ninety-nine steps to learn where Gongsun Jing and the Ghost King were in this life.

After realizing Huixin had been in front of them all along, the narrator and An Ning recognize that they are Gongsun Jing and the reincarnated Ghost King. Huixin explains that their past and future lives are bound by fate, leaving the narrator with answers but also new questions.

• The narrator and An Ning wait at the ninety-ninth step but fail to find Gongsun Jing and the Ghost King.
• The narrator realizes Huixin was the young novice all along and deduces that Gongsun Jing and the Ghost King are present too.
• The narrator and An Ning recognize each other as Gongsun Jing and the Ghost King, and the narrator realizes Daojue is inside him.
• The narrator recalls An Ning’s troubled childhood and wonders whether Du Yuwei shared the Ghost King’s reincarnation.
• Back at the temple, Huixin says fate explains their connection and notes Xiuzhu’s extraordinary link across a hundred years.
• The narrator thanks Huixin, still unsettled by the answers and mysteries surrounding their lives.

After learning about their past lives, Chen Mo struggled with his feelings for An Ning and feared that loving her would bring her death. His friends urged him to live for the present, but he remained convinced he had nothing to offer her and could only keep his feelings hidden.

• On the drive down the mountain, Seventh Master told Chen Mo to focus on living as Chen Mo in this life rather than dwelling on his past as Gongsun Jing.
• Chen Mo invited Song Xiaotian and Yi Yang for drinks and told them what he had learned at Hanging Peak Ancient Temple.
• Song Xiaotian and Yi Yang said Chen Mo and An Ning liked each other and encouraged him to confess his feelings.
• Drunk, Chen Mo admitted that he loved An Ning but feared his fate would curse her to death, as he believed it had his father, grandfather, and Fang Man.

After learning that he and An Ning were reincarnations of Gongsun Jing and the Ghost King, the narrator feared his curse would kill her and resisted confessing his feelings. Song Xiaotian tricked him into believing An Ning had resigned, and his panicked reaction convinced him he had to confess and find a way to restore his fate pattern.

• Song Xiaotian and Yi Yang urged the narrator to confess to An Ning, but he refused because he feared his curse would cause her death.
• The narrator got drunk without calling An Ning, then learned from Song Xiaotian the next morning that she had supposedly resigned and left.
• The narrator rushed to the shop in his boxer shorts and broke down when Song Xiaotian said An Ning might have gone to another city.
• Xie Peng revealed that An Ning had only gone out to hand out flyers, and Song Xiaotian admitted he had lied to provoke the narrator.
• After realizing he could not bear An Ning leaving or marrying someone else, the narrator decided to confess and seek a way to restore his fate pattern.

After Song Xiaotian’s prank made him realize how much An Ning mattered to him, the narrator found letters he had written to himself and remembered what happened with his mother. He confessed to An Ning, who agreed to be with him, and he told her he needed time to resolve his family’s fate and take responsibility.

• The narrator decided to confess his feelings to An Ning and found two letters he had written to himself in his formal clothes.
• Reading the letters made the narrator remember what had happened with his mother.
• The narrator went to An Ning’s home and explained how Song Xiaotian’s prank had made him realize his feelings.
• The narrator told An Ning, “I like you,” and An Ning accepted his confession.
• The narrator warned An Ning that his fate could endanger her and asked for time to resolve the situation, while An Ning said she was not afraid.

After confessing his feelings to An Ning, the narrator asked Seventh Master how to separate Li Fuguang from his body. Their hypnosis attempt failed, and Seventh Master revealed that a wanted fugitive might know a forbidden Soul-Peeling Art.

• The narrator confessed his feelings to An Ning, promised to recover and propose to her, and left after she hugged him.
• The narrator shared the news with Song Xiaotian, Meng Yifan, and his senior brother, then overslept after Meng Yifan questioned him late into the night.
• The narrator visited Seventh Master and asked for another way to remove Li Fuguang from his body.
• Seventh Master tried to hypnotize the narrator and use Maoshan's Soul-Separation Art, but Li Fuguang destroyed the talisman and the attempt failed.
• Seventh Master told the narrator about the forbidden Soul-Peeling Art and said its practitioner had massacred a household more than twenty years earlier and remained at large.

The narrator asked Seventh Master about changing his flawed Fate Pattern, and Seventh Master explained that it likely belonged to Li Fuguang, whose soul had affected the narrator. Seventh Master warned that Li Fuguang’s continued presence might be protecting the narrator from an unknown threat, then the narrator begged him to obtain a protective talisman for An Ning.

• The narrator asked Seventh Master to help find Zhang Chengfeng, who knew the Soul-Peeling Art, and admitted he wanted to restore his Fate Pattern.
• Seventh Master teased the narrator about confessing his feelings to An Ning and said their feelings were mutual.
• Seventh Master explained that the narrator’s severe Fate Pattern flaws probably came from Li Fuguang’s soul and weak ties to the Six Kin.
• Seventh Master warned that Li Fuguang might be staying inside the narrator for an important reason, and that his emergence could expose the narrator to an unknown threat, possibly from Wu Huaqing.
• Seventh Master suggested the narrator and An Ning flee into seclusion if danger became unavoidable and offered to seek a protective talisman for her.
• The narrator clung to Seventh Master’s leg and begged him to obtain the talisman, while Seventh Master called him vicious.

The narrator learned that Zhang Chengfeng, the fugitive who knew the Soul-Peeling Art, had been spotted near his abandoned hometown of Tang Village, where a veteran police officer later lost his Human Soul. Seventh Master warned that Zhang Chengfeng might belong to the organization, so the narrator waited for an expert and his disciple to scout the village before going there himself.

• Seventh Master gave the narrator a Daoist protective talisman, which he put around An Ning's neck.
• Seventh Master told the narrator that Zhang Chengfeng had been identified in Ping County before fleeing into the countryside near Tang Village.
• The narrator learned that Tang Village had been abandoned after a mudslide and that a veteran officer who staked it out returned with his Human Soul missing.
• Seventh Master said an expert and his disciple had gone to Tang Village to investigate, and the narrator wanted to follow them.
• Seventh Master warned that Zhang Chengfeng might have belonged to the organization and advised the narrator to wait for news from the expert and his disciple.

At an industry conference, Chen Mo told Du Yunting that he and An Ning loved each other, then confronted Du Yunting about his past. The next morning, Chen Mo learned that an expert and his apprentice had vanished in Tang Village, so he gathered Yi Yang and An Ning to investigate, while Song Xiaotian stayed behind.

• Chen Mo approached Du Yunting at the industry conference and teased him about his newfound public-speaking fame.
• Chen Mo told Du Yunting that An Ning loved him and said he planned to avenge Fang Man, leaving Du Yunting distraught.
• Chen Mo learned from Seventh Master that the expert and his apprentice had been missing in Tang Village for three days, suggesting Zhang Chengfeng was still there.
• Chen Mo invited Yi Yang to investigate Tang Village, warned him of the danger, and Yi Yang agreed to go.
• An Ning joined the expedition, while Song Xiaotian refused to go and insisted he needed to stay at work.

Chen Mo traveled to Lin City with Yi Yang and met Little Yang, who took them to see the traumatized old officer Shen. Chen Mo used an illusion to enter Shen’s memory and discovered fourteen memorial tablets beyond those belonging to Zhang Chengfeng and his family, raising questions about who had died.

• Chen Mo booked flights to Lin City for himself, Yi Yang, and An Ning, and Yi Yang became nervous when the plane took off.
• Little Yang met them at the airport and explained that his master believed Shen had lost a soul after seeing something terrifying.
• Little Yang drove them to the hospital, where Master Sun warned that Shen was mentally impaired and could not answer questions.
• Chen Mo entered Shen’s ward alone, said Zhang Chengfeng’s name, and triggered a vision of a deserted village building.
• Chen Mo followed Shen’s flashlight to an altar holding more than twenty memorial tablets, including fourteen names he could not identify.

Xiao Chen witnessed a horrifying scene in Old Shen’s illusion and realized the spirit tablets did not match the known death toll from Zhang Chengfeng’s murders. After getting a list of Tang Village’s former residents, Xiao Chen and Master Sun set out for neighboring Happiness Village.

• Old Shen fled from a family covered in mud, then froze at the sight of twenty-one eerie villagers gathered beneath red lanterns in the courtyard.
• A badly mutilated dog licked Old Shen’s hand, making him scream and snapping Xiao Chen back to the hospital room.
• Xiao Chen put Old Shen to sleep, and Master Sun confirmed Zhang Chengfeng had killed six people, not more.
• Xiao Chen reconsidered the remaining spirit tablets and asked Master Sun to obtain names and ages of Tang Village’s former residents.
• Xiao Chen and Master Sun borrowed a car and headed toward Happiness Village instead of Tang Village.

The narrator recounted how Zhang Chengfeng’s wife and father died after a village thug abused them, and how Zhang Quan and the villagers failed to help him get justice. The narrator concluded that Zhang Chengfeng may have stayed nearby to take further revenge, while Yi Yang explained how village cliques enabled people to bully the weak.

• The narrator told An Ning and Yi Yang about the strange memories he had seen in Old Shen, and Yi Yang questioned why Zhang Chengfeng had killed more than six people.
• The narrator described how a thug raped Liu Guifen, causing her miscarriage and suicide, then beat Zhang Chengfeng’s father, who died three days later.
• Zhang Quan and villagers pressured Zhang Chengfeng not to report the thug, and the thug’s family refused his demand for compensation.
• Zhang Chengfeng reported the matter but found no evidence or witnesses, while the thug’s family continued to intimidate his mother.
• Zhang Chengfeng attacked the thug’s home with a cleaver and killed the thug’s family, a visiting neighbor, and the dog before evading the police.
• Yi Yang explained that villagers could form cliques through family ties and bully people who lacked the strength or courage to resist.

The narrator and An Ning traveled to Happiness Village and questioned village chief Zhang Qihong about Tang Village, then went there at midnight to investigate. They encountered a strange old man in an abandoned house, but he was not Zhang Chengfeng.

• The narrator and An Ning arrived in Happiness Village and stayed with village chief Zhang Qihong, who explained that many Tang Village residents had moved there after a mudslide.
• The narrator lied to Zhang Qihong about their reason for visiting and later told Yi Yang he suspected the chief might know something about Zhang Chengfeng.
• The narrator decided to visit Tang Village at night, and An Ning joined him after guessing he would sneak out.
• The narrator and An Ning searched the abandoned village for its ancestral hall but found no sign of it.
• A rocking chair moved by itself in an empty house, and an old man appeared; the narrator recognized that he was not Zhang Chengfeng and apologized before leaving.

While searching Tang Village for the ancestral hall, An Ning explained why Zhang Chengfeng had enslaved the dead to perform for his family. The performance appeared again, revealing that Zhang Chengfeng was now dead, and Yi Yang emerged from the undergrowth after blasting him with a talisman.

• The narrator and An Ning rested while searching for the ancestral hall, and An Ning suggested Zhang Chengfeng had enslaved the village’s Yin Souls to entertain his dead family.
• Red lanterns appeared above them, and twenty-five black-clad Yin Souls gathered to perform, with Zhang Chengfeng’s family watching.
• The narrator saw that Zhang Chengfeng looked old and dead, unlike the young, apparently living man Old Shen had encountered.
• The narrator pulled An Ning into the performance and charged toward Zhang Chengfeng, causing the Yin Souls to vanish as Zhang Chengfeng drifted toward the undergrowth.
• A talisman shot from the undergrowth and blasted Zhang Chengfeng back, revealing Yi Yang hiding there.