Chapter Summaries

The narrator and his colleagues expanded their haunted-house business and sold a house haunted by Huang Haiquan, a murdered husband whose resentful ghost possessed Meng Yifan. They restrained Meng Yifan and waited for Zhao Laoqi while the narrator tried to learn what Huang Haiquan wanted.

• Du Yuwei and An Ning stayed away from the narrator, while Meng Yifan sold several haunted houses and kept the agency busy advertising and working with a small staff.
• The agency sold a haunted house to a young man preparing to marry, earning 200,000 yuan on the deal.
• The narrator explained that Huang Haiquan had been poisoned by his wife and her lover after learning that none of their three children were his.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian summoned Huang Haiquan, who possessed Meng Yifan and fought them until they tied him up and used Zhao Laoqi's talisman to restrain him.
• Song Xiaotian asked when Zhao Laoqi would arrive, and the narrator tried to persuade Huang Haiquan to explain his remaining wish.

After Huang Haiquan possessed Meng Yifan, he explained that he wanted descendants to honor him and bring him offerings, so the narrator promised to arrange for one of his nephews to be adopted as his son. The narrator removed the talisman and Huang Haiquan left Meng Yifan’s body, but Meng Yifan did not wake up, and his eyes looked lifeless.

• Huang Haiquan possessed Meng Yifan and asked the narrator for a cigarette.
• Huang Haiquan said he could not reincarnate after his violent death and feared having no descendants to honor him.
• The narrator offered to arrange for Huang Haiquan’s elder brother’s son to be adopted as his son and promised he would receive offerings.
• Huang Haiquan agreed, and the narrator removed the talisman so he could leave Meng Yifan’s body.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian waited for Meng Yifan to wake, but he remained unresponsive and his pupils did not focus.

After a vicious yin soul forced one of Meng Yifan’s souls from his body, Zhao Laoqi used the Meishan Ritual Arts Sect’s soul-summoning spell to bring it back. Zhao Laoqi explained that learning ritual arts required more than memorizing techniques, leaving the narrator tempted to study the book his grandfather had passed down.

• Zhao Laoqi warned that Meng Yifan’s human soul had been forced from his body, then joked that they should prepare a funeral before confirming they could summon it back.
• Zhao Laoqi positioned Meng Yifan with talismans and a picture frame, then performed a soul-summoning ritual while Song Xiaotian and the narrator watched.
• Meng Yifan drew on the ash-covered frame while unconscious, then woke when the incense broke and said that being near people had made him burn.
• Zhao Laoqi explained that Meng Yifan’s wandering human soul had been scorched by the living people’s yang energy.
• Zhao Laoqi described the Meishan Ritual Arts Sect and explained that learning its rites required spiritual aptitude, proper apprenticeship, and the Patriarch’s approval.
• The narrator considered reading the book his grandfather had passed down in hopes of gaining the ability to cast spells.

The narrator and Zhao Laoqi arranged Huang Haiquan’s adoption of Xiaowen through a Death Writ, allowing Huang Haiquan’s Yin Soul to leave the apartment. Afterward, the apartment’s yin energy grew stronger, and Du Yuwei appeared in her Red Wedding Dress.

• The narrator and Zhao Laoqi persuaded Huang Jianhua to let his younger son Xiaowen be adopted by Huang Haiquan, while Huang Jianhua’s elder son rejected the ritual as superstition.
• Zhao Laoqi wrote and burned a Death Writ, and Xiaowen called Huang Haiquan Dad and mourned him sincerely.
• Huang Jianhua spoke to Huang Haiquan’s memorial portrait, and the candle flames returned to normal as Huang Haiquan departed.
• Zhao Laoqi comforted the grieving Xiaowen with a Peace Talisman, then placed Talismans around the apartment and hung a mirror to disperse the remaining yin energy.
• The apartment grew colder and its yin energy intensified, and Zhao Laoqi identified a shadow in the corner as Du Yuwei in the Red Wedding Dress.

Du Yuwei begged Zhao Laoqi to save her captured twin sister, An Ning, from Du Ruhai and the powerful Evil Buddha. Zhao Laoqi refused, so the narrator decided to rescue An Ning alone, leaving Song Xiaotian and Meng Yifan behind.

• Du Yuwei appeared before the group and knelt, pleading for help because Du Ruhai had taken An Ning.
• Du Yuwei explained that she could not defeat the Evil Buddha protecting Du Ruhai, and Zhao Laoqi described the entity as a powerful evil being.
• Zhao Laoqi refused to help, condemning Du Yuwei for harming people and warning that he would not bear the karma of rescuing her sister.
• Du Yuwei repeatedly begged Zhao Laoqi and offered her own life in exchange for An Ning's rescue.
• The narrator decided to save An Ning despite Zhao Laoqi's refusal, and Zhao Laoqi left while Song Xiaotian and Meng Yifan stayed behind.

The narrator chose to help Du Yuwei rescue An Ning and confront Du Ruhai, despite believing the group might die. With Li Xiumei’s help, he and Du Yuwei drove to Du Ruhai’s club and launched their attack.

• After Zhao Laoqi refused to help, the narrator told Du Yuwei he would take responsibility for his family’s part in her suffering and go with her to rescue An Ning.
• The narrator proposed asking Li Xiumei to help them fight Du Ruhai, and Du Yuwei agreed.
• The narrator dug up Li Xiumei’s urn and asked her to join them; her ghost appeared and nodded.
• The narrator reasoned that Du Ruhai had abducted An Ning to lure Du Yuwei into a trap, then drove toward the club with Du Yuwei and Li Xiumei.
• Du Yuwei and Li Xiumei possessed the narrator, who drove straight into the club’s main entrance.

Possessed by Du Yuwei and Li Xiumei, the narrator stormed Du Ruhai’s club and fought through his thugs, but ritual wooden fish left him helpless until Song Xiaotian intervened. The narrator reached the garden and found Du Ruhai waiting on a rooftop, beckoning him closer.

• The narrator drove into the club lobby, then attacked Du Ruhai’s thugs while Du Yuwei and Li Xiumei controlled his body.
• Five men used wooden fish and chanting to weaken the narrator and the two Yin Souls possessing him.
• Song Xiaotian arrived and knocked down the chanters, then fought off the surrounding thugs so the narrator could continue.
• A frightened thug told the narrator that Du Ruhai was on the rooftop, and Du Yuwei forced the narrator to kill him before they left.
• The narrator entered the garden and saw Du Ruhai on a rooftop, beckoning him to come up.

Chen Mo confronted Du Ruhai on the rooftop, where Du Ruhai revealed his control over An Ning and ordered the Eighteen Venerables to attack. The Venerables overwhelmed Chen Mo and the spirits possessing him, and Li Xiumei was killed as she called out Lü Zhengxian’s name.

• Chen Mo found Du Ruhai with An Ning tied up and eighteen tattooed bald men standing behind him.
• Du Ruhai admitted that he had arranged Du Yuwei’s car accident and killed Li Yujiao and Du Yuwei when they threatened to expose him.
• Du Ruhai ordered the Eighteen Venerables to attack Chen Mo, and their strange abilities drove him back.
• An arhat struck Chen Mo with a Dharma Staff, forcing Li Xiumei out of his body as another Venerable attacked her with a Vajra Pestle.
• Li Xiumei called out Lü Zhengxian’s name before the Vajra Pestle killed her and scattered her soul.
• Du Ruhai scattered spirit money over Li Xiumei and declared that she had brought her death upon herself.

Chen Mo faced death after Li Xiumei was defeated, but Zhao Laoqi arrived and fought off the Eighteen Venerables. Zhao Laoqi interrupted their summoning of the Evil Buddha, but Du Ruhai began casting the spell himself as Zhao Laoqi weakened.

• Du Ruhai ordered the Eighteen Venerables to kill Chen Mo, and Chen Mo told Du Yuwei to find a chance to kill An Ning.
• Zhao Laoqi arrived, used a talisman to blind the Eighteen Venerables’ third eyes, and struck down the arhat who attacked him.
• Zhao Laoqi fought the Eighteen Venerables and declared that he had killed their predecessors and would kill every member of their organization he encountered.
• When several of the men began summoning the Evil Buddha, Zhao Laoqi invoked the Nine Heavens Thunder Ancestor and used a Thunder Talisman to interrupt them.
• Zhao Laoqi weakened, and the Evil Buddha’s head appeared again as Du Ruhai began casting the spell.

As Du Ruhai summoned the Evil Buddha, its power drove Zhao Laoqi and Song Xiaotian into a deadly fight and turned Du Ruhai against Fu Guang. After Du Yuwei was struck by the Vajra Pestle, her final words awakened Fu Guang’s memories of her as his little sister.

• Du Ruhai revealed his Evil Buddha tattoo and summoned the open-eyed Evil Buddha, which overwhelmed Fu Guang and left Zhao Laoqi trembling and weeping for Shen Qingran.
• Song Xiaotian arrived badly wounded, and the Evil Buddha’s influence drove him and Zhao Laoqi to fight each other.
• Du Ruhai attacked Fu Guang, but Du Yuwei possessed him and tried to control him before he expelled her and struck her with the Vajra Pestle.
• Fu Guang stabbed Du Ruhai in the heart and watched Du Yuwei begin to fade away.
• Du Yuwei called Fu Guang her brother, awakening memories that led him to recognize her as his little sister.

Chen Mo recovered Li Fuguang’s memories and realized that he had been abducted and killed as a child to extend Chen Mo’s life. After Du Yuwei vanished and Du Ruhai attacked, Chen Mo killed him and freed An Ning before collapsing.

• Chen Mo remembered being abducted as Li Fuguang, comforted by Xiao Jing for three days, and murdered so Chen Mo could live.
• Chen Mo recognized Du Yuwei as Xiao Jing and watched her vanish after she urged him to appreciate the world.
• Du Ruhai stabbed Chen Mo in the shoulder, but Chen Mo realized the fading Evil Buddha was sustaining him.
• Chen Mo attacked Du Ruhai with his teeth and bit him to death.
• Chen Mo freed An Ning from her ropes, then lost consciousness.

After waking in the hospital, Li Fuguang remembered Du Yuwei’s revelation that he was not Chen Mo but had somehow come to live in Chen Mo’s body. He learned that Zhao Laoqi was critically injured, then discovered that provoking the unconscious Seventh Master could make him respond.

• Li Fuguang woke in the hospital after being unconscious for a day and realized his true identity was Li Fuguang, not Chen Mo.
• Meng Yifan told Li Fuguang that An Ning had left the hospital after he came out of surgery and had not been seriously hurt.
• Song Xiaotian explained that Seventh Master had beaten him badly before collapsing, and Meng Yifan said Zhao Laoqi was on a ventilator in the next room.
• Li Fuguang, Meng Yifan, and Song Xiaotian visited Zhao Laoqi, who did not respond until Song Xiaotian feared aloud that he might die and seek revenge.
• Li Fuguang told Song Xiaotian to provoke Zhao Laoqi, and Zhao Laoqi raised his middle finger after Song Xiaotian called him too old to win.

After leaving the hospital, Li Fuguang told Meng Yifan and Song Xiaotian that he was not Chen Mo, and Zhao Laoqi used their fate charts to explain how both souls had survived in one body. The chapter ended with Li Fuguang stunned by the revelation that he was both Chen Mo and Li Fuguang.

• After twenty days in the hospital, Li Fuguang, Song Xiaotian, Meng Yifan, and Zhao Laoqi were discharged and met at a hot pot restaurant.
• Li Fuguang told Meng Yifan and Song Xiaotian that he was Li Fuguang, whose life Lü Zhengxian had taken to extend Chen Mo's.
• Zhao Laoqi explained that both Chen Mo and Li Fuguang had fate charts showing childhood deaths, but both destinies continued after age eleven.
• Zhao Laoqi said Chen Guowen and Chen He had transferred Li Fuguang's soul into Chen Mo's body, where Chen Mo's soul had remained alongside it.
• Li Fuguang realized that both Chen Mo's and Li Fuguang's souls lived within him.

Chen Mo learned that he also carried Li Fuguang’s soul and discovered that Li Fuguang’s father, Li Yanzhou, had died after spending years searching for him. Zhao Laoqi revealed that Li Yanzhou’s ghost had continued searching for his son, and promised to arrange a meeting before Li Yanzhou moved on.

• Chen Mo realized that Li Fuguang’s memories and feelings were part of him, and understood that the ashes he had found belonged to Li Yanzhou.
• Zhao Laoqi explained that Li Fuguang’s mother had lost her sanity after her son was taken, later regained her senses, and then died by suicide.
• Zhao Laoqi said Li Yanzhou searched for his missing son until a construction-site accident killed him, after which the site owner secretly buried him to avoid paying compensation.
• Zhao Laoqi recounted that Li Yanzhou’s ghost kept looking for his son and refused to reincarnate, so Zhao Laoqi helped him search.
• Chen Mo begged to see Li Yanzhou, and Zhao Laoqi said he would arrange a meeting in a few days because it might be their last chance to see each other.

After reading Six Lines Mysteries, Li Fuguang found himself calmer and better able to sleep, then went to Seventh Master's home to see off his father, Li Yanzhou. He sat with his father for a final meal as Li Yanzhou asked whether Xiaoguang still remembered him.

• Unable to sleep, Li Fuguang read the opening of his grandfather's Six Lines Mysteries and learned about its account of the universe, the trigrams, and divination.
• Li Fuguang unexpectedly fell asleep while reading and woke feeling refreshed, leading him to regard the book as miraculous.
• Seventh Master called and told Li Fuguang that his father, Li Yanzhou, would be leaving in the next few days.
• Li Fuguang went to Seventh Master's home, where Seventh Master urged him to see his father and help him let go in peace.
• Li Fuguang joined Li Yanzhou for a final meal, and Li Yanzhou joyfully asked whether Xiaoguang still remembered him.

Li Fuguang shared a final meal with his father, Li Yanzhou, and said goodbye as his father departed for the afterlife. His father’s words and Seventh Master’s encouragement gave him hope to live well, and he returned inside to learn from Seventh Master.

• Li Fuguang recalled childhood memories with Li Yanzhou as they shared a meal and apologized to each other for their pain and separation.
• Seventh Master burned spirit money for Li Yanzhou and told him his past-life debts were settled and he could go in peace.
• Li Yanzhou urged Li Fuguang to stay strong, value his life, and go forth and be wounded with honor before bravely healing himself.
• Li Yanzhou departed, and Li Fuguang kowtowed to him as Seventh Master burned the Death Writ and sent him toward the underworld.
• Seventh Master reminded Li Fuguang that many people cared about him, including Song Xiaotian, and Li Fuguang promised to live well.
• Seventh Master brought Li Fuguang inside to wash dishes and learn about yin and yang, the five elements, and the Eight Trigrams.

The narrator spent two weeks studying with Seventh Master while worrying about An Ning, Du Yuwei’s child, and whether Du Ruhai was truly dead. After dinner with Song Xiaotian, he discovered Meng Yifan’s girlfriend, Tao Xiaoyu, on a date with another man, leaving Meng Yifan being cheated on.

• The narrator learned from Seventh Master and worried about finding An Ning and Du Yuwei’s child.
• Seventh Master reassured the narrator that Du Ruhai had died, while the narrator wondered why Du Yunting had taken control of Weihai Group.
• Meng Yifan and Song Xiaotian watched over the narrator, and Song Xiaotian moved into his rented place.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian went to dinner with the young man who had bought Huang Haiquan’s house.
• The narrator spotted Tao Xiaoyu on a date with another man and realized Meng Yifan was being cheated on.

After catching Tao Xiaoyu cheating on Meng Yifan, Chen used her name to cast a Six-Line Hexagram and predicted that she would die seven days later. Song Xiaotian feared Meng Yifan might kill her, but Chen could not determine how she would die.

• Chen and Song Xiaotian saw Tao Xiaoyu cheating and discussed how much money Meng Yifan had spent on her.
• Song Xiaotian stopped Chen from calling Meng Yifan, warning that he might attack Tao Xiaoyu and her lover if he caught them in the act.
• At Song Xiaotian’s suggestion, Chen cast a hexagram using Tao Xiaoyu’s name and interpreted the result as her death.
• Chen repeated his calculations and concluded that Tao Xiaoyu would die on the Yiyou day during the hour of Zi, seven days later.
• Song Xiaotian wondered whether Meng Yifan would hack Tao Xiaoyu to death.

Chen Mo interpreted the hexagram as predicting that Meng Yifan would kill Tao Xiaoyu and go to prison, then joined Song Xiaotian in confronting her about cheating. Song Xiaotian threatened to beat Tao Xiaoyu after she blamed her affair on Meng Yifan's neglect.

• Chen Mo explained that the hexagram showed Tao Xiaoyu suppressed to death and Meng Yifan entering the Day Tomb, which he interpreted as a killing followed by prison.
• Song Xiaotian suggested calling Tao Xiaoyu outside and making her break up with Meng Yifan, and Chen Mo agreed.
• Chen Mo called Tao Xiaoyu and demanded that she come outside the restaurant, where she had been dining with another man.
• Song Xiaotian confronted Tao Xiaoyu about the roses and physical affection, and she admitted she was wrong and begged them not to tell Meng Yifan.
• Tao Xiaoyu blamed Meng Yifan's absence and work for her affair, prompting Song Xiaotian to threaten to beat her to death.

The narrator and Song Xiaotian caught Tao Xiaoyu cheating but kept it from Meng Yifan, hoping she would break up with him. Instead, Tao Xiaoyu arrived at Meng Yifan’s shop with an expensive gift and accused the narrator of harassing her, leaving Meng Yifan stunned.

• The narrator stopped Song Xiaotian from hitting Tao Xiaoyu and warned her to break up with Meng Yifan or they would expose her affair.
• The narrator and Song Xiaotian expected Tao Xiaoyu to have ended her relationship with Meng Yifan, but he arrived at the shop cheerful and excited about business.
• Meng Yifan said he had invited Su Qian back to study and planned to take Tao Xiaoyu to Chongqing before proposing to her.
• Tao Xiaoyu came to the shop and gave Meng Yifan an Armani belt worth two thousand yuan, making him overjoyed.
• Tao Xiaoyu accused the narrator of sending her harassing messages and trying to sleep with her, shocking Meng Yifan.