Chapter Summaries

The group investigated the account Limitless Heaven and Earth, whose posts were targeting Sun Yang’s family, and concluded that Wang Guofu was behind it. After Song Xiaotian traced the account to a rented apartment, they realized Sun Yang might attack Wang Guofu first.

• Meng Yifan asked Seventh Master and the narrator to use divination to identify Limitless Heaven and Earth, but they explained that their skills could not reveal an exact identity or location.
• An Ning showed the group a heated comment exchange, and the narrator suspected the local commenter was Sun Yang because he spoke like an innocent victim’s family member.
• Seventh Master noted that the username suggested knowledge of divination, and the narrator connected the account’s resentment of the rich and knowledge of Ding Ruoning to Wang Guofu.
• The narrator identified Wang Guofu as Limitless Heaven and Earth because he had helped Du Yunting’s Seven Deaths Life-Exchange Art and had targeted Ding Ruoning online.
• Song Xiaotian traced the account’s IP address to a rented apartment in Phoenix Residential Complex, and the group recognized that the tenant’s age and circumstances matched Wang Guofu.
• Song Xiaotian and Seventh Master angrily threatened Wang Guofu, while the narrator warned that Sun Yang might trace him and make him his first target.

The narrator and the others confronted Wang Guofu over his online harassment of Ding Ruoning’s family and secretly planted a talisman to block his abilities. Wang Guofu broke down and blamed his poverty for his crimes, while the narrator condemned him.

• Song Xiaotian and the narrator proposed letting Ding Ruoning’s family attack Wang Guofu, and the Seventh Master agreed they could wait nearby to intervene.
• An Ning warned that Wang Guofu’s abilities could protect him, so the group asked the Seventh Master for a talisman that would disable them.
• The Seventh Master denied having such a talisman, but one fell from his sleeve, and the narrator picked it up.
• The narrator, Song Xiaotian, An Ning, and Meng Yifan went to Wang Guofu’s home and confronted him about using the online handle Limitless Heaven and Earth.
• Wang Guofu denied the accusations despite the evidence on his phone, then cried and blamed his poverty and resentment of the rich for his actions.
• The narrator secretly tucked the talisman into the couch and told Wang Guofu that poverty did not excuse his cruelty.

Wang Guofu was forced to divine his own death and predicted that a nonhuman being would kill him that night. The group waited at his residential complex for Ding Ruoning, and the chapter ended when their geomantic compass began to move.

• Wang Guofu admitted that he had used Plum Blossom Numerology to learn of the murders, and An Ning smashed his computer and phone.
• Song Xiaotian forced Wang Guofu to divine his own fortune, and Wang Guofu predicted that he would die that night at the hands of something nonhuman.
• The narrator explained that Wang Guofu’s predicted death was tied to fate and that the talisman Seventh Master had left would ensure it.
• The narrator, Song Xiaotian, An Ning, and Seventh Master kept watch at Wang Guofu’s residential complex after dark.
• The geomantic compass began to sway, and the narrator realized Ding Ruoning had arrived.

Seventh Master and the others entered Wang Guofu’s apartment and found him possessed, dead, and chopping off his own hand. After they subdued him, Ding Ruoning possessed Song Xiaotian and, driven into a frenzy, turned on everyone trying to stop her.

• Seventh Master led An Ning, Song Xiaotian, and the narrator up to Wang Guofu’s apartment, where the compass indicated Ding Ruoning had gone.
• They found Wang Guofu chopping off his own hand, and he attacked Seventh Master with a cleaver.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian pinned Wang Guofu down, but Song Xiaotian suddenly punched Seventh Master after Ding Ruoning possessed him.
• An Ning immobilized Song Xiaotian with a talisman, and Seventh Master confronted Ding Ruoning about her revenge and her living husband.
• Ding Ruoning became more frenzied, made the apartment’s lights and glass shatter, and declared that anyone who opposed her revenge was an enemy.

Seventh Master captured Ding Ruoning after she attacked Song Xiaotian, but he said she could not be sent to the Underworld yet because she had killed four people. Chen Mo and the others acknowledged that their pursuit of revenge had made things worse, and Chen Mo went with Seventh Master for the night.

• Seventh Master summoned Cui Jue and trapped Ding Ruoning in a mineral water bottle with a talisman.
• Seventh Master woke Song Xiaotian and told the group to clean up the scene and report Wang Guofu's death to Brother Liu.
• Seventh Master placed a talisman on Wang Guofu's door to help his soul move on.
• Seventh Master explained that Ding Ruoning would face punishment for the four lives she had taken and advised the group to enshrine her and recite the Sutra for Resolving Grudges.
• Chen Mo, An Ning, and Song Xiaotian admitted they had been wrong to encourage revenge, and Chen Mo decided to stay at Seventh Master's house.

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.