Chapter Summaries

Lin Yin secretly defied Lin Jinhua’s order to poison Chen Mo and the others, but Chen Mo realized she had deliberately helped them uncover Lin Jinhua’s secret. To lure Lin Jinhua and Du Yunting to the villa, Chen Mo decided they still had to make it look as though they had been poisoned.

• Lin Jinhua called Lin Yin, apparently ordering her to poison the group, and Lin Yin took a bottle of poison into the kitchen.
• After hesitating for several minutes, Lin Yin threw the poison out the window and continued cooking in tears.
• Chen Mo recalled Lin Yin asking about extending someone’s life, and Meng Yifan suggested she had raised the topic deliberately.
• Chen Mo realized Lin Yin had guided him to find the list in Lin Jinhua’s study, exposing Lin Jinhua’s secret.
• Chen Mo told Seventh Master that Lin Jinhua and Du Yunting would not come unless the group appeared poisoned, and proposed they follow Lin Jinhua’s plan despite Lin Yin’s defiance.

Lin Yin’s failed poisoning attempt exposed Lin Jinhua’s plan to kill Chen Mo and the others for his dying son. The group revealed they had only pretended to be poisoned and confronted Lin Jinhua, while Lin Yin was left trembling in shock.

• At dinner, Lin Yin struggled to confess, then watched as Seventh Master and the others appeared to collapse after eating.
• Lin Yin called Lin Jinhua in tears, saying that everyone was dead, and Lin Jinhua arrived with Assistant He and bodyguards.
• Lin Jinhua told Lin Yin that the plan had been for their family and urged her not to blame herself, but she insisted she had not poisoned anyone.
• Song Xiaotian sprang up and attacked Assistant He, and the others revealed they had faked being poisoned.
• Seventh Master blocked Lin Jinhua’s escape and struck him, while Chen Mo told Lin Yin to stay out of the confrontation.
• Lin Jinhua admitted he had acted because his son was dying, and Seventh Master condemned him for trying to kill them.

The narrator and Song Xiaotian confronted Lin Jinhua over his attempt to sacrifice seven people to extend his son's life. Song Xiaotian forced Lin Jinhua to reveal that Du Yunting was in Lin City with eight people, then demanded the full plan.

• Lin Jinhua defended his plan to trade seven lives for his son, insisting his good deeds justified it.
• The narrator challenged Lin Jinhua's reasoning, and Song Xiaotian asked whether Du Yunting had taught him Seven Deaths for a Life.
• Song Xiaotian smashed Assistant He's head into a glass coffee table to intimidate Lin Jinhua.
• Song Xiaotian kicked Lin Jinhua and stepped on his hand until Lin Jinhua admitted Du Yunting was in Lin City.
• Lin Jinhua revealed Du Yunting was staying at a hotel near his company with eight people, and Song Xiaotian demanded the entire plan.

Lin Jinhua confessed how Du Yunting recruited him into a plan to kill Seventh Master in exchange for extending Lin Xiaohua’s life. He revealed that Du Yunting had fabricated a misleading account of the Luo Residence and framed Jiang Dahai, while how Du Yunting learned the true history remained an inference.

• Song Xiaotian intimidated Lin Jinhua until he explained that an online contact had taught him the Seven Deaths for a Life ritual and connected him with Du Yunting.
• Du Yunting convinced Lin Jinhua to help kill Seventh Master, promising to perform the life-extending ritual on Lin Xiaohua on October 20.
• Lin Jinhua revealed that Du Yunting had told him about the Luo Residence and Thunder Ancestor Temple, then created the mixture of truth and lies shown to Seventh Master and the narrator.
• Seventh Master suggested that Xu Changming had shared the Luo Residence incident with their organization, allowing Du Yunting to learn its history.
• Lin Jinhua explained that Du Yunting had planted objects at the construction site and arranged to frame Jiang Dahai by having Lin bring him down and impersonate his associates.

After Lin Jinhua confessed that Du Yunting had orchestrated the attacks and attempted poisoning, Song Xiaotian forced him to lure Du Yunting to the villa. Du Yunting revealed he had returned to Lanjiang City, so Seventh Master decided to take the group to the construction site with Lin Jinhua.

• Lin Jinhua confessed that Du Yunting had ordered the attacks on An Ning and the others and planned to have Lin Yin poison them.
• Song Xiaotian made Lin Jinhua call Du Yunting and pretend the poisoning had killed their targets.
• Du Yunting said he was already back in Lanjiang City and had sent his people to the construction site to help Lin Jinhua.
• Lin Jinhua stalled Du Yunting's offer to send someone to the villa by saying he needed to visit his son in the hospital.
• Seventh Master decided to go to the construction site immediately and bring Lin Jinhua along.

Chen Mo and the others took Lin Jinhua to the construction site to confront the danger connected to Du Yunting, while Lin Yin insisted on coming to stay with her father. After luring one of Du Yunting’s men outside and knocking him unconscious, the group entered the site, leaving Lin Yin at the gate as Seventh Master reminded Lin Jinhua that he would answer for his deception.

• Chen Mo told Lin Yin they would not hurt Lin Jinhua, but Lin Yin chose to accompany them because she could not abandon her father.
• On the drive, Chen Mo explained that Du Yunting was also Lü Zhengxian and described how seven deaths for a life had saved him at the cost of seven innocent people.
• At the construction site, Lin Jinhua called one of Du Yunting’s men outside, and Song Xiaotian knocked the man unconscious at the gate.
• Chen Mo stopped Lin Yin from entering, gave An Ning the broadsword, and followed the others toward the original site of the Luo Residence.
• Seventh Master told Lin Jinhua that his deception had nearly gotten them killed and declared that he would repay every grudge.

The group discovered Du Yunting had set an ambush at the unfinished hotel, where Xiuzhu warned them that people were hiding upstairs. An invisible attacker using the Disheveled Hair Sect’s Divine Invisibility Technique struck them, leaving the group trapped together and unable to see their enemy.

• Lin Jinhua called out at the hotel, but Seventh Master realized Du Yunting’s men were lying in wait for them.
• Xiuzhu appeared, and the group learned from her that people were hiding upstairs.
• An Ning was struck by an unseen man, and Seventh Master was knocked backward by an invisible attacker.
• Seventh Master identified the Divine Invisibility Technique and explained that it came from the Disheveled Hair Sect.
• The invisible attacker grabbed and kicked the narrator, while Song Xiaotian swung at empty air.
• The group stood back-to-back, unable to see the attacker and afraid he could kill them before they reached the upper floors.

The narrator’s group used the Yin-Gathering Talismans to escape an invisible attacker by entering the Ghost Wall, where the Luo Residence appeared as it had a century earlier. They killed the attacker and chased Du Yunting’s remaining men, but a bell summoned the spirits of the dead as they cornered three fugitives.

• Xiuzhu detected the invisible man for Song Xiaotian, who struck him once but could not land another blow before he dodged.
• The Seventh Master activated two Yin-Gathering Talismans, transporting the group into the Ghost Wall and revealing the invisible attacker.
• Song Xiaotian broke the attacker’s arm and beat him, and the narrator stabbed him in the neck, killing him within the Ghost Wall.
• The narrator identified the place as the Luo Residence and said Du Yunting’s people were there too; the Seventh Master led the group in pursuit of the six remaining enemies.
• The group chased three fugitives into a room, and a bell rang as frost spread across the doors and ground; the Seventh Master warned that the spirits of the dead were coming out.

Seventh Master and the others fought the three ghost-controlling sorcerers as the Luo Residence’s departed souls attacked them. The narrator escaped with An Ning, who wielded his broadsword, but Master Luo pursued them and the chapter ended with him trapped in an Eight Formation Diagram.

• Seventh Master used the Soul-Calming Spell to suppress the souls, but the three sorcerers countered and a terrifying shadow appeared above them.
• The group fled as the souls charged, scattering throughout the Luo Residence.
• Second Concubine grabbed and threw the narrator, but An Ning arrived and cut her away with the broadsword.
• An Ning and the narrator ran toward the main hall, where Master Luo struck them and knocked the sword from An Ning’s hand.
• The narrator used Kun character, Fan Yin to repel Master Luo, then used Kun character, Eight Formation Diagram to trap him while he and An Ning escaped.

The narrator and An Ning searched the Luo Residence for Meng Yifan while evading Du Yunting’s men and the spirits. They found Meng Yifan and Lin Jinhua, then went to investigate a sealed well that burst open, leaving the narrator ready to approach it.

• The narrator hid in a wardrobe while An Ning lured one of Du Yunting’s men into an ambush, and he killed the man.
• The narrator and An Ning left their hiding place and found another of Du Yunting’s men dead, cut in half.
• The narrator and An Ning found Meng Yifan and Lin Jinhua, who told them about a chained, talisman-sealed well that seemed to contain something trying to escape.
• The narrator recognized the well as the one connected to Seventh Concubine and Xiuzhu, then followed Meng Yifan to inspect it.
• The well’s chains tightened, its talisman blew away, and its sealed mouth burst apart as smoke rose from inside.
• The narrator gripped his saber and prepared to approach the well, believing anything inside had escaped a hundred years earlier.

Chen Mo realized the well was empty and used a Black Talisman and Thunder Magic to break Xiuzhu’s Ghost Wall. The monster was revealed to be a Virtual Monster formed from Xiuzhu’s resentment and the vengeful spirit inside the Qiongqi statue, leaving the group to face a creature they could not easily kill without harming Xiuzhu.

• Chen Mo looked into the empty well, realized he knew the powerful ghost’s identity, and said they needed to find Seventh Master and Song Xiaotian first.
• Chen Mo found Seventh Master and Song Xiaotian with Xiuzhu and the gathered departed souls, then took Seventh Master’s Black Talisman and placed it on Xiuzhu’s forehead.
• Chen Mo connected himself to Seventh Master with red thread and urged him to use Thunder Magic to break Xiuzhu’s Ghost Wall.
• Seventh Master and Chen Mo cast Thunder Magic, returning everyone to the unfinished hotel, where the monster appeared with the Black Talisman on its forehead.
• Chen Mo identified the monster as a Virtual Monster created by Xiuzhu’s resentment and the vengeful spirit inside the Qiongqi statue.

The narrator explained how Xiuzhu’s soul was suppressed in the well, then released by the Vengeful Spirit inside the Qiongqi statue. He concluded that Xiuzhu and the Vengeful Spirit together had been the monster behind the disaster at the Luo Residence.

• The narrator deduced that Second Concubine had Xiuzhu’s soul suppressed in the well after blaming her for the Vengeful Spirit’s havoc at the Luo Residence.
• The narrator recalled that Xiuzhu had acted like a harmless, intelligent girl, while the Great Ghost controlled the other ghosts and Master Luo lacked intelligence.
• The narrator explained that Xiuzhu’s resentment toward Master Luo had led her to take revenge on men she associated with bad husbands and fathers.
• The narrator said there were two Xiuzhus: the kind girl they had met and a resentful personality that acted as the Great Ghost.
• The narrator reasoned that the Vengeful Spirit had released Xiuzhu from the well, perhaps because it saw her suffering as similar to its own.
• The narrator concluded that the monster Ninth Concubine had seen was Xiuzhu together with the Vengeful Spirit.

Chen Mo explained that the monster was formed from Xiuzhu and a Vengeful Spirit, whose suffering had shaped her appearance and hatred. Rather than let Seventh Master destroy her, Chen Mo risked ghostification and promised not to abandon either spirit, and the monster transformed into a young woman who took his hand.

• Chen Mo explained that Xiuzhu's innocence had kept her from hurting Ninth Concubine and that the monster's appearance reflected the malice she had suffered.
• Seventh Master said the destroyed Thunder Ancestor Temple could no longer suppress the monster and raised his hand to activate a black talisman.
• Chen Mo stopped Seventh Master and walked toward the monster, insisting he should stand with her before anyone tried to destroy her.
• The monster's black energy engulfed Chen Mo, causing him to ghostify as he told her he understood her suffering and would go with her if she was willing.
• Xiuzhu emerged from half the monster, and Chen Mo took her hand before reaching out to the remaining spirit.
• The monster transformed into a young woman in Republican-era clothing, and Chen Mo led her and Xiuzhu toward the hotel stairs as Seventh Master and the others followed, worried.

Chen Mo tried to prove his understanding of the Dao by stepping off the rooftop, but Xiuzhu and the Vengeful Spirit chose reincarnation and saved him. After they vanished and Seventh Master declared that Chen Mo had passed the Patriarch’s test, the group searched for Lin Jinhua and found his corpse.

• Chen Mo explained his view of the Dao and led Xiuzhu and the Vengeful Spirit to the rooftop, urging them to release their obsessions and enter reincarnation.
• Chen Mo stepped backward from the rooftop, but Xiuzhu and the Vengeful Spirit vanished and pushed him back to safety.
• Xiuzhu and the Vengeful Spirit appeared as fading images, waved goodbye, and disappeared as the construction site returned to normal.
• Seventh Master said Chen Mo had likely passed the Patriarch’s test, while Chen Mo trembled with belated fear and asked his friends to support him.
• Seventh Master noticed Lin Jinhua was missing, and the group searched downstairs and found his corpse.

Chen Mo and the others found Lin Jinhua dead outside the hotel, apparently pushed from a height by one of Du Yunting’s surviving men. Lin Yin blamed them for her father’s death and ordered them away, while Seventh Master believed she would not turn them in because she cared for Chen Mo.

• Chen Mo and the others found Lin Jinhua’s body and determined that he had likely been pushed from the building.
• The group searched the hotel, confirmed that six of Du Yunting’s men were dead, and concluded that one of the two remaining men might have killed Lin Jinhua.
• Chen Mo called Lin Yin and told her that her father had died.
• Lin Yin arrived, grieved over Lin Jinhua’s body, attacked Chen Mo, and accused the group of causing her father’s death.
• Seventh Master led the group away after Lin Yin ordered them to leave, then said he believed she would not use the deaths against them because she liked Chen Mo.

After Lin Jinhua died, the narrator and his companions tried to make sense of the Lin Family’s swift response and suspected Du Yunting’s men had killed him. Du Yunting’s men then showed them a video and claimed Lin Yin had pushed her father from the building.

• Lin Yin carried Lin Jinhua’s body away, and the narrator’s group returned to the villa for their belongings before moving to a hotel.
• Meng Yifan left, while Song Xiaotian investigated the Lin Family and learned that Lin Jinhua’s death had been announced as a sudden illness.
• Seventh Master questioned how quickly the Lin Family had issued an obituary and suppressed online discussion, noting that the family had only consisted of Lin Jinhua and his two children.
• The narrator spotted two of Du Yunting’s surviving men at the hotel restaurant, and they approached the group instead of fleeing.
• The men denied killing Lin Jinhua and showed a video of Lin Yin beside his body, claiming that she had pushed him from the building.

The narrator and his companions learned that Lin Yin had likely pushed Lin Jinhua to his death and secretly sabotaged Lin Xiaohua’s medicine to secure the Lin Family’s assets. Du Yunting’s men warned them that Lin Yin now controlled Lin City, leaving them stunned by how thoroughly she had deceived everyone.

• The narrator concluded that Lin Yin had pushed Lin Jinhua from the building before anyone else discovered his body and suspected the murder had been planned.
• The tall, thin man explained that Du Yunting sent him to establish their innocence and revealed suspicious evidence that Lin Xiaohua’s medicine had been switched.
• Seventh Master reasoned that Lin Yin had likely sabotaged her brother’s treatment and was publicly acting devoted to him to win support while she inherited the family assets.
• The tall, thin man and his companion warned the group to flee Lin City, then insulted them for being fooled by Lin Yin before running off.
• The narrator realized Lin Yin had manipulated him into thinking she wanted to save Lin Xiaohua, and that his advice had helped her excuse her actions.

After learning that Lin Yin had secretly arranged her father Lin Jinhua’s death to inherit the family fortune, the group prepared to return to Lanjiang City. When they visited Veteran to return his Broadsword, he learned what they did and told them to keep it.

• The narrator realized Lin Yin had switched Lin Xiaohua’s medicine and had used Lin Jinhua and Du Yunting’s scheme to conceal her own plan to inherit the Lin fortune.
• The group concluded that Lin Yin had likely pushed Lin Jinhua to his death at the construction site, and Song Xiaotian and Seventh Master remarked on how thoroughly she had fooled them.
• The narrator booked flights back to Lanjiang City for the next afternoon and decided to return the Broadsword to Veteran that night.
• Veteran asked the group what they did, and the narrator explained that they sold haunted houses and dealt with ghosts.
• Veteran said he believed in ghosts and gave the Broadsword to the group instead of taking it back.

The narrator and Song Xiaotian accepted a veteran’s broadsword before leaving Lin City, where the narrator saw Lin Yin at Lin Jinhua’s funeral but did not approach her. On the flight home, he finally told Seventh Master about a mysterious note warning that something would happen to him and giving instructions about the Great Ghost.

• A veteran gave the narrator and Song Xiaotian his broadsword, and Song Xiaotian lamented that his family had prevented him from joining the military.
• The narrator explained that Song Xiaotian’s father and grandfather had wanted to protect him, and Song Xiaotian accepted that everyone had their own path.
• The narrator went to Lin Jinhua’s funeral hoping to speak with Lin Yin, but after seeing her arrive with bodyguards, he left without approaching her.
• On the plane, the narrator told Seventh Master about the note a masked stranger had given him on the train.
• The narrator relayed the note’s four points: something would happen to Seventh Master, he should save his abilities for the end, he should not kill the Great Ghost, and he should not tell Seventh Master about the note.

The narrator explained how the mysterious note’s warnings had guided him and Seventh Master through the Luo Residence crisis, then revealed that the note was written in his own handwriting. After returning from Lin City, he learned that Pan Xiaorou’s industry event would also be attended by Du Yunting.

• The narrator explained that following the note’s advice about saving his knowledge and not killing the Great Ghost had helped him and Seventh Master survive the Luo Residence crisis.
• The narrator told Seventh Master that the note’s handwriting was identical to his own, leaving them unable to identify its author.
• Seventh Master suggested that the narrator’s future self might have traveled back in time, but they decided not to investigate further.
• Meng Yifan called the narrator after he got off the plane and told him about an industry networking event hosted by Pan Xiaorou’s company.
• The narrator realized Du Yunting would attend the event as a major guest.