Chapter Summaries

Mr. Tan asked Seventh Master to investigate the Tan family massacre and the hauntings at Splendid Embroidery Manor, while the narrator recovered and left Seventh Master's home. The narrator then learned the identity and background of the man who had held them captive, but Brother Liu warned that reporting him to the police would be dangerous.

• Mr. Tan recounted the Tan family massacre, and Seventh Master agreed to investigate Tan Wannian's death and the strange dream.
• Seventh Master described the manor's history of hauntings, disappearances, and dumped bodies, then spent a week investigating it.
• After the stitches in the narrator's leg were removed, the narrator left Seventh Master's home, while the tabby cat watched them go.
• The narrator met Brother Liu, who identified Qingyuan as Yuan Shouping and revealed his prison record, dead son, and unexplained wealth.
• Brother Liu warned the narrator not to report Yuan Shouping, saying he had no evidence and that Brother Liu's superior had ordered him to stop investigating.

Chen Mo visited Du Yunting to reclaim his saber, rejected Du’s gifts and attempts at reconciliation, and learned that Qingyuan and a powerful organization had targeted him. He left determined to fight back by eliminating the organization’s members in Lanjiang City, especially Qingyuan.

• Song Xiaotian drove Chen Mo to Du Yunting’s residence but stayed behind because Chen feared he would act rashly.
• Du Yunting welcomed Chen Mo and presented him with a custom wooden box for his saber, saying Chen’s birthday was approaching.
• Chen rejected Du Yunting’s gestures, took back his saber, and refused to forgive him for the deaths of Du Yuwei and Fang Man.
• Du Yunting gave Chen a diamond ring for An Ning and warned that Qingyuan had targeted Chen because of his Two Souls in One Lifetime.
• Chen told Song Xiaotian that the organization sought to establish itself in Lanjiang City and declared that he would fight back, especially against Qingyuan.

The narrator helped An Ning close a sale to Ms. Su by persuading her to buy an apartment where a single mother had died. After teaching An Ning classical Chinese, he agreed to accompany Seventh Master to the Tan family's mountain estate that night.

• The narrator returned to work and went with An Ning to show Ms. Su an affordable apartment where a single mother had died.
• The narrator comforted Ms. Su by comparing her struggles to the dead mother's, and she paid the deposit.
• The narrator reassured An Ning that she would receive the commission, but she worried that she could not close deals without his help.
• The narrator taught An Ning classical Chinese at her residential complex after they finished showing the apartment.
• Seventh Master called and asked the narrator to revisit the Tan family's mountain estate, so the narrator went home to get the Broadsword.

Seventh Master and the narrator investigated the Tan family estate, where explorers had vanished and the magnetic field behaved strangely. They suspected that whatever killed Tan Wannian had altered the field, and Seventh Master proposed using it to recreate the massacre.

• Seventh Master told the narrator that people had vanished after entering the villa, while the rape-murder victims had been killed outside the estate.
• The narrator and Seventh Master reached the estate and saw the abandoned grounds and swings moving without anyone on them.
• The narrator's candle repeatedly went out, and Seventh Master explained that an unstable magnetic field could cause physical disturbances.
• Seventh Master suspected that the thing that killed Tan Wannian had changed the estate's magnetic field.
• At the villa's entrance, Seventh Master proposed using the magnetic field effect to recreate the scenes from the massacre.

Seventh Master activated a formation in the Tan family villa to recreate the scene of the massacre, while Chen Mo used the Soul-Illuminating Mirror to help. The ruined villa transformed into a bright, ghostly mansion, where they found a family of seven seated in the dining room.

• Chen Mo and Seventh Master explored the abandoned Tan family villa and found ritual objects Seventh Master had prepared.
• Seventh Master explained that a disturbed magnetic field might have recorded the massacre and asked Chen Mo to use the Soul-Illuminating Mirror after he activated the formation.
• Seventh Master performed a ritual that ignited the lamps and banners, activating the formation and making the estate’s magnetic field visible.
• Chen Mo cast the Soul-Illuminating Mirror, and the magnetic field made him and Seventh Master lose their balance before the villa’s past appeared around them.
• Chen Mo and Seventh Master followed voices from the living room to the dining room, where they saw a family of seven seated.

I and Seventh Master witnessed Tan Wannian’s family’s last meal and the massacre that followed, discovering signs that he was being controlled rather than acting by his own will. After killing his family, Tan Wannian carried their bodies to the basement and lay down on a platform.

• I and Seventh Master watched Tan Wannian dine with his family and noticed his eldest son’s unusual expression and Tan Wannian’s left-handedness.
• Tan Wannian’s wife, parents, and younger children collapsed after drinking, while Tan Wannian and his eldest son remained conscious.
• Tan Wannian returned from the kitchen holding a cleaver in his right hand and killed his wife, parents, younger son, daughter, and eldest son.
• I and Seventh Master concluded Tan Wannian’s actions were not his own will as he carried the bodies into the basement.
• Tan Wannian lay down on a platform in the basement and did not move again.

The narrator and the Seventh Master examined the replay of the Tan Family Massacre Case and concluded that Tan Wannian’s eldest son may have poisoned the family and controlled Tan Wannian. As they searched the basement, Tan Wannian died without explanation and was dragged through the stone platform by a hidden hand.

• The narrator and the Seventh Master watched Tan Wannian kill his family and realized the scene was only a replay they could not touch.
• The narrator reasoned that Tan Wannian had written his letter earlier, while his eldest son had poisoned the family and controlled him during the massacre.
• The narrator and the Seventh Master searched Tan Wannian’s basement but could not inspect its furnace, books, letter, or notebooks closely.
• The narrator found Tan Wannian dead, and the Seventh Master suspected a supernatural presence had altered the magnetic field and killed him.
• A hand reached from beneath the platform, seized Tan Wannian, and dragged him into the stone as the narrator remembered Mr. Tan’s dream.

Chen Mo and Seventh Master witnessed a real black hole appear in the basement and fled when they heard things climbing inside it. They escaped the estate, but the source of the hole and the creatures remained unknown.

• Chen Mo and Seventh Master saw a dark hand seize Tan Wannian and make him disappear during the reenactment.
• A black hole appeared on the platform and expanded until it covered most of the basement.
• A hand reached from the black hole and grabbed Seventh Master, but Chen Mo struck it with the Broadsword and kicked Seventh Master clear as the hole swallowed the floor beneath him.
• Chen Mo and Seventh Master examined the seemingly bottomless hole, then heard multiple things climbing up inside it.
• Chen Mo ran from the basement, and Seventh Master raced past him before they both escaped the estate.
• In the car, Seventh Master told Chen Mo to drive, but Chen Mo realized he was sitting in the passenger seat.

After fleeing the terrifying Manor, Chen Mo considered quitting his job and devoting himself to Dao cultivation, but Seventh Master urged him not to isolate himself. On Chen Mo’s birthday, Meng Yifan and their friends surprised him with the Cayenne he had always wanted.

• Seventh Master drove Chen Mo away from the Manor in terror, and Chen Mo said he needed time before returning to retrieve his backpack.
• Seventh Master searched for information about the black hole but found nothing, while Chen Mo asked whether he should quit his job and focus on Dao cultivation.
• Seventh Master advised Chen Mo not to cut himself off from his friends and told him to let things take their natural course.
• Meng Yifan called Chen Mo and told him to come to the Storefront, while Song Xiaotian and An Ning’s phones were switched off, making Chen Mo fear something terrible had happened.
• Meng Yifan revealed that the silver Cayenne was a birthday present for Chen Mo, and An Ning, Song Xiaotian, and the others came out to celebrate.
• Chen Mo tried to return the expensive car, but Meng Yifan explained that he wanted to repay Chen Mo for helping him avoid prison.

Chen Mo celebrated his birthday with friends after Meng Yifan gifted him a Cayenne, then unexpectedly encountered Yuan Shouping, also called Qingyuan, the man who had kidnapped him. Song Xiaotian and Seventh Master intervened and forced Qingyuan to apologize before he left.

• Meng Yifan gave Chen Mo a Cayenne for his birthday, and Chen Mo accepted the gift emotionally.
• Chen Mo booked a private room at Haidilao and bought liquor and cigarettes for his birthday dinner.
• Chen Mo saw Yuan Shouping, or Qingyuan, leave another room and hurried into his own room to avoid him.
• Qingyuan entered with his companions, taunted Chen Mo about his escape, and restrained him when Chen Mo attacked with an ashtray.
• Song Xiaotian and Seventh Master arrived, and Song Xiaotian slapped Qingyuan and his companions before forcing Qingyuan to wish Chen Mo a happy birthday.
• Song Xiaotian kicked Qingyuan and ordered him to leave, and Qingyuan asked Song Xiaotian for his name as he departed.

After Qingyuan humiliated him, Song Xiaotian and the others gave the narrator a lively, embarrassing birthday celebration. About ten days later, the Seventh Master took him to meet Mr. Tan and learned that Mr. Tan had hired Master Jin Wujie as well, prompting the Seventh Master to object.

• Song Xiaotian taunted Qingyuan, and the Seventh Master slapped him before Qingyuan left with his men.
• Song Xiaotian arranged for the narrator’s birthday meal to become a public celebration, and the other diners joined in singing.
• The narrator spent the next week working as usual and called the Seventh Master each day for news about the Tan family’s problem.
• The Seventh Master asked the narrator to meet him at a restaurant, where they overheard Mr. Tan telling Master Jin Wujie he had hired him to help.
• Master Jin Wujie respectfully greeted the Seventh Master, but the Seventh Master challenged Mr. Tan for hiring another practitioner before giving him time to solve the problem.

Jin Wujie joined the investigation into the Tan Family Massacre Case and accompanied the narrator and the Seventh Master to the Tan family's mountain estate. After Jin Wujie proposed investigating the basement, the group headed toward the place where the unexplained black hole had appeared.

• After dinner, Jin Wujie apologized to the Seventh Master, who left without accepting his apology.
• The narrator arranged for Jin Wujie to pick him up that night and packed climbing gear in case the black hole appeared.
• On the drive to the estate, Jin Wujie sensed yin energy near the mountain, and the narrator told him about the black hole.
• At the estate, the narrator explained the black hole to Jin Wujie, who agreed that it posed a danger greater than ghosts.
• Inside the villa, Jin Wujie theorized that Tan Wannian's eldest son had first been affected by an unknown force, which then caused Tan Wannian to massacre the family.
• Jin Wujie linked the unknown force to the black hole and suggested that they go straight to the basement.

The narrator, Jin Wujie, and the Seventh Master found a photograph of a bizarre painting that Jin identified as the legendary Sin Domain Map, which could open a passage to the sin domain. As the black hole appeared again, the Seventh Master fell into it, leaving his companions behind.

• The narrator searched the cluttered basement and found a photograph of a strange painting showing a blood-red river, reaching hands, and a female ghost in red.
• Jin Wujie explained the legend of the Sin Domain Map, which could open a passage to the sin domain, and identified the photograph as a possible example.
• The narrator connected the map to the black hole and concluded that Tan Wannian might be trapped in the sin domain.
• A black hole began spreading through the basement, and Jin Wujie and the narrator ran for the steps.
• The Seventh Master clung to a climbing piton, but it came loose before the narrator could reach him with a rope, and he fell into the black hole.

After Seventh Master fell into the black hole, Chen Mo escaped with Jin Wujie, who promised to investigate the Sin Domain Map. The next morning, Chen Mo found evidence that Jin Wujie had sabotaged the climbing pitons and suspected he was working for Qingyuan, while Seventh Master remained missing.

• Seventh Master fell into the black hole, and Chen Mo and Jin Wujie heard creatures climbing up from below.
• Jin Wujie pulled Chen Mo out of the villa and drove him away, saying they needed to learn more about the Sin Domain Map and the black holes before they could rescue Seventh Master.
• The next morning, Song Xiaotian took Chen Mo back to the Tan family's mountain estate, where they found the black hole gone.
• Chen Mo and Song Xiaotian discovered that Jin Wujie had deliberately left the climbing pitons poorly secured.
• Chen Mo told Song Xiaotian that Jin Wujie was likely one of Qingyuan's men and asked him to investigate.
• Chen Mo and Song Xiaotian agreed to conceal Seventh Master's disappearance from Meng Yifan and the others.

After learning that Jin Wujie was secretly meeting with Qingyuan, the narrator explained his theory that the Sin Domain Map could make people disappear and that Tan Wannian’s plan for immortality involved the black hole replacing his family. He left Song Xiaotian with the promise that he would go to the mountain estate and make everyone from the organization in the city disappear.

• The narrator and Song Xiaotian asked Uncle Song to investigate Jin Wujie, and Uncle Song agreed to hire someone for two thousand yuan.
• Uncle Song reported that Jin Wujie was out of town searching for information about the Sin Domain Map, while Jin Wujie reassured the narrator that he was also contacting friends to help rescue Seventh Master.
• Song Xiaotian showed the narrator a surveillance photo of Jin Wujie talking with Qingyuan, and the narrator concluded that Jin Wujie would eventually lure him back to the mountain estate.
• The narrator told Song Xiaotian that the Sin Domain Map could make people disappear and theorized that Tan Wannian had believed the black hole could grant immortality by swallowing and replacing his family.
• The narrator told Song Xiaotian that he would go to the mountain estate if Jin Wujie invited him and would make everyone from the organization in the city disappear.

Chen Mo abandoned the plan to confront Qingyuan after learning An Ning had been kidnapped and went to rescue her. He reached the building where she was held, but a powerful man defeated him and the bodyguard, then used a Yellow Talisman to force Ding Ruoning out of Chen Mo.

• Du Yunting told Chen Mo that Qingyuan's men had abducted An Ning, and Chen Mo refused to continue with the night's plan until he rescued her.
• Chen Mo called Song Xiaotian, explained what had happened, and went to An Ning's location with Du Yunting's bodyguard.
• Chen Mo used his Illusion Technique to incapacitate the guard outside the building, while the bodyguard knocked out two men inside.
• Chen Mo found An Ning unconscious and tied to a chair on the second floor, where a man kicked Chen Mo aside and defeated the bodyguard.
• The man used a Yellow Talisman and shouted "Break," forcing Ding Ruoning to flee Chen Mo's body.

The narrator fought off the man guarding An Ning, rescued her, and drove toward the mountain despite his injuries. Qingyuan suspected a trap but continued searching for the Sin Domain Map, then dragged the narrator into the mountain villa.

• The narrator stabbed his attacker with two knives, and the bodyguard knocked the man unconscious with a stool.
• The narrator freed An Ning, refused the bodyguard's car, and had him drive them in Meng Yifan's car toward the mountain.
• At the mountain's foot, the narrator left An Ning locked in the car and called Jin Wujie for a ride uphill.
• The driver called Jin Wujie about the narrator's injuries, and Qingyuan confronted him halfway up the mountain.
• Qingyuan accused the narrator of working with Du Yunting and ordered his men to take him into the mountain villa to search for the Sin Domain Map.

Qingyuan’s men located and retrieved the Sin Domain Map, which Mr. Qian warned could create a black hole when unfolded. Du Yunting then arrived with more than fifty men, and Qingyuan prepared for a confrontation that ended with Du Yunting ordering his men to kill everyone except Chen Mo.

• Mr. Qian used a Compass to find two possible locations for the Sin Domain Map, and Qingyuan sent his men to dig at both sites.
• Qingyuan told Chen Mo that he had infiltrated Lü Zhengxian’s company and intended to eliminate him, then offered Chen Mo a chance to kill Lü Zhengxian.
• Qingyuan’s men unearthed the Sin Domain Map in a long wooden box, and Mr. Qian explained that unfolding it could trigger a black hole.
• Qingyuan secured the folded map in a specially made wooden box as Du Yunting arrived at the villa with more than fifty men.
• Du Yunting offered a million to whoever killed Qingyuan and ordered his men to kill everyone else except Chen Mo.

The narrator turned Du Yunting and Qingyuan’s deadly fight around by bluffing that armed men had them targeted, then revealed Seventh Master’s group had used cheap laser pointers. The captured Qingyuan and Jin Wujie were left to face the person whose role had made the trap possible.

• Du Yunting’s men fought Qingyuan’s elite, while Mr. Qian protected the narrator from an attacker.
• The narrator used red dots to make both sides believe they were targeted by crossbows, ordered everyone to crouch, and had Du Yunting’s men tie Qingyuan’s group up.
• The narrator taunted Qingyuan and Jin Wujie, explaining that he had suspected Jin Wujie from their first meeting at the restaurant.
• Seventh Master and Song Xiaotian arrived with more than twenty people holding laser pointers, revealing how the narrator had fooled Qingyuan’s men into surrendering.
• The narrator brought Zhang Bo to Jin Wujie, who recognized him as Mr. Tan.

Chen Mo explained how he used staged clues and illusions to expose Jin Wujie and Qingyuan, while Seventh Master secretly recovered the real Sin Domain Map. The chapter ended with Seventh Master displaying the authentic map after the group had dug up a forgery.

• Jin Wujie realized Zhang Bo had impersonated Mr. Tan, and Chen Mo revealed that Seventh Master had hired him.
• Chen Mo explained how he lured Qingyuan with the Tan Family Villa and used a ghost's illusion and psychological suggestions to make Jin Wujie believe Seventh Master was there.
• Chen Mo said the photograph and black hole at the villa were part of the ruse, and that the pitons helped confirm Jin Wujie's identity.
• Chen Mo revealed that Mr. Qian had pretended to understand the Sin Domain Map so Jin Wujie and Qingyuan could be led to a fake.
• Chen Mo explained that the real Sin Domain Map existed and that Seventh Master had already found it.
• Seventh Master opened a long box to show Qingyuan the real Sin Domain Map and mocked him for being fooled by the forgery.