Chapter Summaries

After Zhang Chengfeng’s death, I worried that Wu Huaqing would keep threatening An Ning and searched for another way to separate Li Fuguang from my body. Seventh Master revealed that the tabby cat was possessed by Li Fuguang’s mother, Tang Wanhe, and Li Fuguang finally emerged when he saw her.

• I told Seventh Master that Zhang Chengfeng was dead and admitted I feared I could not give An Ning a safe home.
• Seventh Master said he knew a method that had a seventy to eighty percent chance of making Li Fuguang leave my body, but needed time to think it through.
• After seven days of calls, Seventh Master summoned me to his house and explained that a ghost possessed the tabby cat.
• Seventh Master showed me Tang Wanhe, Li Fuguang’s mother, whose grief over her missing son had kept her from reincarnating.
• Seeing Tang Wanhe made Li Fuguang emerge from my body, and he knelt to embrace her, crying, “Mom.”

Li Fuguang reunited with his mother before entering Chen Mo’s consciousness to speak with him about their guilt and past lives. He revealed that a Daoist Temple Superintendent had betrayed Gongsun Jing, and that the informer’s final lifetime was Zhao Qiankun.

• Tang Wanhe comforted Li Fuguang before Seventh Master urged her to move on, and she vanished after reuniting with her son.
• Seventh Master told Li Fuguang to explain his past-life grudge to Chen Mo, and Li Fuguang entered Chen Mo’s body.
• Li Fuguang and Chen Mo spoke in a prison-like space about their guilt and the Evil Buddha’s memories.
• Li Fuguang explained that Monk Daojue had left unofficial accounts to prove he had not betrayed Gongsun Jing.
• Li Fuguang revealed that Gongsun Jing’s Temple Superintendent had defected to a Buddhist temple and informed on the Daoist temple.
• Li Fuguang said Monk Daojue pursued the informer across more than a dozen lifetimes, and his final lifetime was Zhao Qiankun.

I learned that the Seventh Master had been the superintendent who betrayed Gongsun Jing and caused the deaths of more than a hundred Daoists. Li Fuguang explained Gongsun Jing’s bond with the Ghost King and how Daojue built the organization that became devoted to the Evil Buddha.

• I realized the Seventh Master had persecuted Gongsun Jing by betraying his fellow Daoists and spreading false claims about him and the Ghost King.
• Li Fuguang explained that Gongsun Jing and the Ghost King shared similar tragic childhoods and spent a year together as he tried to reform her.
• Li Fuguang said Gongsun Jing later gave up his chance to become an immortal to help the Ghost King, then watched over her in the Underworld for more than a thousand years.
• Li Fuguang said Daojue began recruiting disciples around AD 600 to find Gongsun Jing’s reincarnation, believing Gongsun Jing had died resentful.
• Li Fuguang explained that Daojue expanded the organization and created the Evil Buddha’s image in his own likeness to keep its members loyal.

Li Fuguang explained how Wu Huaqing killed Daojue and how Daojue later took Li Fuguang’s place at birth. He also revealed that Daojue had left the temple after killing his bullies, and that Gongsun Jing’s kindness had once kept him from becoming a demon.

• Li Fuguang explained that Daojue secretly replaced leaders who grew corrupt, then lent out his own power when Zhao Qiankun’s fighters weakened the organization.
• Wu Huaqing exploited Daojue’s weakened state, killed him, sealed his Heavenly Soul and Earth Soul, and took his Human Soul.
• Li Fuguang said his maternal grandfather released Daojue, who later devoured the soul of the child Li Fuguang’s mother was carrying and was born in the child’s place.
• Li Fuguang revealed that Daojue had not been driven from the temple by Buddhists; he fled after killing those who bullied him.
• Li Fuguang said Gongsun Jing was the only person who had treated Daojue without discrimination and had convinced him he could earn his way back to immortality through good deeds.

Li Fuguang explained how Daojue, Gongsun Jing, and the Ghost King’s fates continued through their reincarnations, and why he had remained hidden inside the narrator. After their souls communicated, the narrator learned one of them would have to leave the body or be destroyed, while Wu Huaqing would keep hunting them; Li Fuguang gave the narrator at most half a month to find a way to kill him.

• Li Fuguang explained that Daojue lost his direction after Gongsun Jing died and had searched for him ever since.
• Li Fuguang traced how the Ghost King’s reincarnation as Wen Jing and Ya Jing, the narrator, and Zhao Qiankun continued the fates of Gongsun Jing and the informer.
• Li Fuguang said he had stayed asleep in the narrator’s body because Wu Huaqing was hunting him for Daojue’s abilities and could track him through his human soul.
• Li Fuguang explained that two souls could not remain in one body once they communicated, so one would have to leave or be scattered into oblivion.
• Li Fuguang revealed that Wu Huaqing sought him because using seven deaths for a life twice would impose the drawbacks of fourteen fate patterns on one person.
• Li Fuguang told the narrator he could remain in the body for at most half a month and urged him to find a way to kill Wu Huaqing.

Chen Mo learned that he and Li Fuguang had one month before their souls had to separate, while Wu Huaqing was already preparing to capture him. Chen Mo resolved to fight for a future with An Ning, and later told Seventh Master about the latter’s identity in a past life.

• Li Fuguang warned Chen Mo that Wu Huaqing would come for him before the month was up, and Chen Mo said he would kill Wu Huaqing rather than be captured.
• Chen Mo explained that he wanted to keep his promise to An Ning and said he would end his own life if Wu Huaqing defeated him.
• After waking near dawn, Chen Mo saw Seventh Master asleep by the door and reflected on how much Seventh Master had helped him.
• When Xiuzhu began crying, Seventh Master brought her downstairs and fed her before asking Chen Mo what he and Li Fuguang had discussed.
• Chen Mo told Seventh Master that he had been the informer who caused the deaths of over a hundred Daoist priests more than a dozen lives ago, and Seventh Master struggled before accepting that the past-life crime was not his to bear now.
• Seventh Master asked whether Li Fuguang had left Chen Mo’s body, and Chen Mo lied that Li Fuguang still needed time to process his mother’s death.

The narrator and Song Xiaotian learned that Du Yunting had been abducted, with blood and a note left at the scene. Suspecting Wu Huaqing might be using the kidnapping to intimidate him, the narrator went to Du Yunting’s villa to investigate.

• The narrator waited for Wu Huaqing to make a move, but after half a month Wang Jun and Du Rushan came to the shop to report Du Yunting’s abduction.
• Wang Jun said two kidnappers had taken Du Yunting from his villa, left blood along the route to the main gate, and disabled the residential complex’s surveillance cameras.
• Du Rushan insisted that the kidnapping was real and said they had reported it to the police.
• Wang Jun showed the narrator a note found at the villa bearing the name Xie Guangming and an address in Qingshi Town.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian went with Wang Jun and Du Rushan to Du Yunting’s residential complex, where they saw police and blood drops leading toward the main gate.
• At Du Yunting’s home, the narrator recognized the police officer at the door as Brother Liu.

Du Yunting was apparently kidnapped after a violent struggle, and the narrator agreed to help find him for a reward from Du Rushan. The kidnappers’ note led the narrator, Song Xiaotian, and Wang Jun to Huangyan Village, where they learned their next clue was a man named Xie Guangming, who had already died.

• Brother Liu showed the narrator and Song Xiaotian bloodstains and deliberately planted footprints at Du Yunting’s home, convincing them that Du Yunting had been kidnapped and might be near death.
• Brother Liu begged the narrator to find Du Yunting, while Du Rushan paid him a hundred thousand yuan upfront and promised more for Du Yunting’s return.
• The narrator, Song Xiaotian, and Wang Jun followed the kidnappers’ note to Huangyan Village in search of Xie Guangming.
• A villager told them that Xie Guangming had died of a heart attack three nights earlier and that his family was holding funeral rites.
• The narrator said the dead man was likely part of the kidnappers’ trail and led the others to check the Xie family’s home.

The narrator, Wang Jun, and Song Xiaotian attended Xie Guangming’s funeral to learn why they had been sent there. A note revealed that Xie Guangming had stolen gold from the organization thirty years earlier and had been executed, leaving them to wonder whether the organization planned to target his family.

• Wang Jun faked intense grief at Xie Guangming’s funeral, giving the group a reason to stay.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian learned that Xie Guangming had risen from poverty in his thirties, claiming he had worked for a wealthy boss.
• Song Xiaotian suspected Xie Guangming’s sudden wealth and death were connected and predicted that something would happen before the cremation.
• A masked person paid a young villager to slip the narrator a note, then escaped when Song Xiaotian chased him.
• The note said Xie Guangming had stolen the organization’s gold bars thirty years earlier and had been executed three days ago.
• Song Xiaotian wondered whether the organization had sent them because it intended to take revenge on Xie Guangming’s family.

At Xie Guangming’s wake, the narrator and Song Xiaotian learned that his four nieces were quadruplets born on the Ghost Festival, the same day as Lü Zhengxian, and feared they might be targets of another Seven Deaths for a Life plot. They watched the funeral procession begin at dawn and ended up offering a ride to Xie Guangming’s disabled son, Xie Wei.

• Three more nieces arrived at Xie Guangming’s wake, and the narrator learned that all four quadruplets had been born on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian suspected that Du Yunting might be staging another Seven Deaths for a Life, though they could not rule out the organization.
• The narrator warned Song Xiaotian that the quadruplets might be attacked during the funeral procession, so they stayed at the wake until dawn.
• At five in the morning, the ritual master allowed the quadruplets to join the procession, and the narrator, Song Xiaotian, and Wang Jun followed in Song Xiaotian’s car.
• Song Xiaotian invited Xie Wei, who had been left by the roadside, to ride with them.

During a funeral procession in thick fog, the narrator cast a deathly Six Clashes hexagram and warned Song Xiaotian to change lanes before a semitruck slammed into the cars. Twenty-one people died, including Xie Wei’s family, while Xie Wei and the narrator’s group survived; the truck driver claimed he had seen only fog.

• The narrator cast a hexagram that showed two ominous Six Clashes hexagrams and sensed a deadly traffic accident was imminent.
• The narrator warned Song Xiaotian about a semitruck, and Song Xiaotian pulled their car out of the procession and slowed down.
• The semitruck struck the funeral procession, causing a chain collision that overturned the hearse and wrecked multiple cars.
• The narrator and Xie Wei called for help and began rescuing people, but twenty-one people died, including Xie Wei’s mother, the four sisters, and both ritual masters.
• Traffic police questioned the narrator’s group and the semitruck driver, who said he had seen only thick fog and no vehicles.

After a deadly crash, Chen Mo and the others suspected the incident was part of a setup and sought Seventh Master's help finding Du Yunting. His divination pointed them to a psychiatric hospital, and An Ning arrived to help them get inside by pretending to be a patient.

• Song Xiaotian accused Wang Jun of helping Du Yunting arrange the crash, but Wang Jun denied it and said he had also been in the car.
• Chen Mo decided they should visit Seventh Master for clues about Du Yunting.
• Seventh Master divined that a place about twenty kilometers east held men and women, including elderly people, but no young ones.
• Song Xiaotian identified a nearby psychiatric hospital as the likely match and explained that it admitted only adult patients.
• Chen Mo called An Ning to help them enter the hospital by pretending to be mentally ill, and she quickly adopted a vacant, disheveled appearance.

I, Song Xiaotian, Wang Jun, and An Ning investigated the psychiatric hospital after following Seventh Master’s address and found its severe cases ward in chaos. After using the Hexagram Character Formula to evade patients on the fourth floor, I was kicked by a man who said he wanted to beat up his dad.

• I escorted An Ning into the psychiatric hospital by pretending she was my mentally ill wife, and she slapped the security guard to get us inside.
• I noticed the Compass needle spinning counterclockwise near the severe cases ward and suspected the people who kidnapped Du Yunting were there.
• An Ning stole a guard’s access card, and the group entered the ward, where they found the patients released and the guards acting strangely.
• The patients on the third floor attacked the group, who fought their way through an iron door and found the fourth-floor patients gathering above them.
• I used the Hexagram Character Formula to bewilder the fourth-floor patients and led the group toward an elevator while repeating that I was their dad.
• A man suddenly kicked me and said his dad was exactly who he wanted to beat up.

After finding Liu Dong and his lover murdered in the psychiatric hospital, the group captured the man responsible for their deaths and the Qingshi Town crash. The captive revealed that Du Yunting had been dying when he last saw him and offered to lead them to him.

• The group reached the seventh floor, where the narrator drove off a ghost infant and found Liu Dong and a young woman strangled.
• An Ning and Song Xiaotian pursued a masked man down the climbing rope while the narrator and Wang Jun took the elevator.
• The narrator found a note explaining that Liu Dong had been killed for taking the organization’s money without carrying out its assignments.
• An Ning caught the fleeing man, and Song Xiaotian and Wang Jun questioned him about Du Yunting’s abduction and the Qingshi Town crash that killed or injured twenty-one people.
• The captive admitted the organization had ordered the crash and said Du Yunting had been dying when he left him, then offered to take the group to him.

Chen Mo realized the attackers were using mass murder to pressure him and persuaded their captured man that Seven Deaths for a Life was a lie. The man then revealed that Du Yunting had been killed, resurrected, and was about to be executed in front of Chen Mo.

• Chen Mo recognized that the attackers had targeted him and agreed to follow the captured man to an abandoned opera house where Du Yunting was supposedly held.
• Chen Mo told An Ning to follow on her motorcycle and wait nearby so she could pursue any accomplice who fled.
• On the drive, Chen Mo challenged the captive’s belief that the organization would resurrect him after death, and the captive began to falter.
• The captive revealed that Du Yunting had already been killed and resurrected through Seven Deaths for a Life.
• The captive said the organization planned to execute the resurrected Du Yunting in front of Chen Mo.

Chen Mo and Song Xiaotian confronted the men who had resurrected Du Yunting and staged the deadly crash, then found Du Yunting helpless in the abandoned opera house. Chen Mo challenged the surviving accomplice about why he had suddenly made such a public move, and the man fell silent.

• Chen Mo learned that the men had resurrected Du Yunting by staging the crash that killed four sisters and three other people, following orders from their superiors.
• Chen Mo, Song Xiaotian, and Wang Jun tied up their captive accomplice and brought him to the abandoned opera house.
• The group found Du Yunting's corpse in the seats and the resurrected Du Yunting onstage, where he begged Wang Jun to save him.
• A crossbowman emerged from behind the curtain and killed the captive accomplice for betraying their group.
• Du Yunting admitted he believed his suffering was retribution for the terrible things he had done.
• Chen Mo challenged the crossbowman about why his group had previously avoided making a scene, and the man fell silent.

The narrator confronted the crossbowman who had captured Du Yunting, and Lü Zhengxian died after asking that the truth be told to Du Rushan. The narrator killed the crossbowman through an illusion, and after police questioning, Song Xiaotian asked whether the narrator was hiding something from him.

• The crossbowman said Du Yunting would die unless the narrator could save him from a bolt, and the narrator confronted Du Yunting about his crimes and asked whether to tell Du Rushan the truth.
• Du Yunting asked the narrator to tell Du Rushan he was sorry, but the crossbowman shot him in the neck, and Lü Zhengxian died after the narrator watched beside him.
• The crossbowman fled, and An Ning struck him with a brick while Wang Jun and the others caught and beat him.
• The narrator used a fourth-layer illusion to make the crossbowman slit his own throat, then called Brother Liu and reported what had happened.
• Du Rushan collapsed in grief when he saw Du Yunting's body, and the police questioned the narrator and his companions until the next day.
• Wang Jun left after they were released, and Song Xiaotian asked the narrator whether he was hiding something.

After Du Yunting’s death, Chen reflected on the danger Wu Huaqing posed and tried to protect the people around him from being dragged into the conflict. Two days later, Guan Yue, who had posed as Zhang Qihong, met Chen and began a candid conversation that Chen suspected would be an ultimatum.

• Chen told Song Xiaotian that Wu Huaqing would likely target him next, while concealing his fear that resisting would endanger his friends and family.
• Chen visited Du Yunting’s funeral and reflected on their enmity, Du’s belated remorse, and the prospect of his own approaching doom.
• Two days later, Guan Yue called Chen and invited him to meet at a café.
• Guan Yue introduced himself as the Divine Officer and said he wanted an open, honest conversation.
• Chen asked Guan Yue whether he had come to deliver an ultimatum.

Guan Yue gave the narrator an ultimatum to travel to City A and meet the organization’s leader, warning that resisting would endanger his friends. The narrator agreed to go after three days, leaving his next move uncertain.

• Guan Yue told the narrator that the leader wanted him to go to City A without informing his friends or conspiring with Li Fuguang.
• Guan Yue explained how powerful people could use money and influence to control legal outcomes, then claimed the organization had even greater authority.
• Guan Yue described how the organization could frame the narrator and threaten Zhao Laoqi, Song Xiaotian’s family, and the narrator’s other allies.
• The narrator recognized that resisting would put his friends at risk and agreed to meet the leader after taking care of a few things.
• Guan Yue accepted the narrator’s request for three days and warned him not to try any tricks.

With only three days left before he had to face the consequences of going to City A, Xiao Chen put his affairs in order by supporting Fang Man’s parents and Xiao Xuan. He left with two days remaining, planning to arrange his assets and visit family graves the next day, then spend the day after with An Ning.

• Xiao Chen transferred 200,000 yuan to Fang Man’s parents and told them he was going abroad, asking them to use the money and take care of themselves.
• Xiao Chen repaired and replaced appliances at Fang Man’s parents’ home, then left after they saw him off tearfully.
• Xiao Chen visited the Welfare Institute, donated 100,000 yuan with 50,000 earmarked for Xiao Xuan, and asked Director Chen to continue caring for him.
• Xiao Chen encouraged Xiao Xuan to study hard and pursue his dream of becoming a firefighter, and promised to visit again despite being busy.
• Xiao Chen planned to write his suicide note, arrange his assets, and visit his father’s, grandfather’s, and Fang Man’s graves the next day, then spend the following day with An Ning.