Chapter Summaries

Qin Manjiang and the troupe descended into a well, where a ghost clung to his back and repeatedly said it was thirsty. He answered as if it were an ordinary person, but the ghost then said it was hungry.

• Zhao Qigong warned the costumed troupe members that they were no longer themselves once they looked the part, then led them into the well.
• Qin Manjiang warned Yang and Nie Yunzhen that Mei Sijun’s original consciousness was unstable and told them not to speak to him on their own.
• Lin Yanqing called Qin Manjiang to descend with her, and the troupe lowered them into the well on ropes.
• An icy ghost appeared on Qin Manjiang’s back and said it was thirsty, causing his mouth and lips to dry out with each repetition.
• Qin Manjiang promised to find the ghost water at the bottom of the well, and the ghost stopped saying it was thirsty and said it was hungry instead.

Qin Manjiang reached the bottom of the well with the Vengeful Ghost on his back, then followed Lin Yanqing into the underground passage after the ghost vanished. Yang descended last, suspecting the troupe’s conformity was tied to the killings and worrying that the other players might belong to the ghost’s faction.

• Qin Manjiang reached the well’s bottom, where two paper greeters appeared and invited him along a path through the darkness.
• Qin Manjiang asked the paper figures for food or drink, and the Vengeful Ghost left his back as Lin Yanqing suddenly appeared beside him.
• Lin Yanqing led Qin Manjiang through the underground passage and asked whether he understood opera, pointing out that he was playing Xiao Qi.
• Yang stayed behind as the troupe members hurried into the well, then reasoned that collective conformity might explain the actor’s revenge.
• Yang descended into the well and considered whether the other players belonged to the Well-Jumping Actor faction and what the Southern Branch Troupe’s clearance conditions might be.

Lin Yanqing exposed Qin Manjiang’s poor imitation of Xiao Qi and pressed him to explain who he was and who occupied her body. Qin Manjiang claimed they were Taoists borrowing bodies to resolve the haunting, and Lin Yanqing asked him to help fulfill the Vengeful Ghost’s wish and free her soul.

• Lin Yanqing identified Qin Manjiang’s flaws as an imitation of Xiao Qi and asked who he was and who was inside her body.
• Qin Manjiang wondered whether the ghost story was a dream and considered whether Lin Yanqing might be connected to the Vengeful Ghost.
• Qin Manjiang told Lin Yanqing that his senior brother was inside her and claimed they had borrowed the troupe members’ bodies to make unnatural things disappear.
• Lin Yanqing rejected the idea that Heaven followed the Tao, arguing that the Vengeful Ghost’s suffering and its perpetrators’ survival were unjust.
• Lin Yanqing asked Qin Manjiang to help the Vengeful Ghost get her wish and free her soul.

At the bottom of the well, Lin Yanqing told Qin Manjiang the tragic story of Li Yunxiu, a yin-yang person who joined the Southern Branch Troupe to pay for his adoptive monk’s treatment. Mei Sijun returned to consciousness and recognized the well’s surroundings as a replica of the Opera House, while Qin Manjiang learned that male dan performers could lose themselves in their roles.

• Lin Yanqing led Qin Manjiang to a pavilion at the bottom of the well and explained that Li Yunxiu had been abandoned at birth because he was a yin-yang person.
• Lin Yanqing said a monk raised Li Yunxiu, who later joined the Southern Branch Troupe after Troupe Leader Zhao Qigong offered money to buy him.
• Lin Yanqing challenged Qin Manjiang to free someone from suffering, then froze as Mei Sijun returned to consciousness in her body.
• Qin Manjiang told Mei Sijun that the other troupe members were missing, and Mei Sijun recognized the well’s space as a copy of the Opera House at the Mei Family Old Residence.
• Mei Sijun explained that male dan performers could lose track of whether they were acting or living as women.

Chen Zhiyuan and the others arrived at the Mei family’s Southern Branch Troupe and heard eerie singing that seemed to connect the present to the past. Meanwhile, Qin Manjiang and Mei Sijun encountered a bleeding opera performer singing “Searching Mount Yin” on the path below the well.

• The old woman at the residence confirmed that the Mei family had arranged for Chen Zhiyuan and the others to stay, while Xu Yi said he had seen four people floating high on the river and guessed they might be in another timeline.
• Shen Hai and Dense Forest proposed that the group had been divided between the present and a hundred years in the past, and that they needed to establish contact with the other side.
• Yan Xiao heard strange singing from the opera house, and the group recognized it as “Searching Mount Yin” before fresh drops of blood appeared along the gravel path.
• Qin Manjiang and Mei Sijun stepped onto a gravel path below the well, where a bleeding young opera performer appeared and involuntarily sang “Searching Mount Yin.”

Mei Sijun and Qin Manjiang discovered that the gravel path concealed performers through a theatrical illusion, while the other players searched for a way through it. Shen Hai, Xu Yi, and Yan Xiao each entered by different routes, and Dense Forest proposed that taking on a role might reveal how to proceed.

• Mei Sijun explained that the hidden performers and changing scenery came from the theatrical technique Changing Scenery with Each Step, and he and Qin Manjiang realized the missing troupe members were concealed along the path.
• Qin Manjiang felt an unseen presence tap his arm, while Xu Yi and Zhong Xueran discussed the strange effect and the players noticed bloodstains covering the gravel path.
• Shen Hai entered the path, disappeared, and warned the others that they should stay silent because sound could draw the ghost's attention.
• Xu Yi stepped onto a different route and vanished immediately, then Yan Xiao entered the path and disappeared after two steps.
• Dense Forest suggested that the players should take on roles to enter the troupe's opera house and asked the remaining players to examine the bloodstains.

Qin Manjiang, Mei Sijun, and the others identified opera-role markings on the stones and chose roles suited to their personalities to enter the Opera House. With all eleven roles apparently assigned across the two groups, Dense Forest realized the real performance was about to begin.

• Mei Sijun explained that the marked stones represented opera roles, and Qin Manjiang chose chou while Mei chose sheng.
• Zhong Xueran and her companions found seven stones marked for dan roles, and Dense Forest identified the ghost as a qingyi.
• Dense Forest matched roles to the group, including qingyi for Chen Zhiyuan, huadan for Xinxin, and laodan for himself.
• Dense Forest reasoned that the two groups’ roles complemented each other and that the ghost story had assigned them according to their temperaments.
• After the others entered the stone path, Dense Forest stepped onto the laodan stone and concluded that the real show was about to begin.

Qin Manjiang explored the well-bottom Opera House and encountered Zhao Qigong, who asked him to help find a Jade Cicada belonging to the dead person who had jumped into the well. The chapter left Qin Manjiang suspecting Zhao Qigong knew far more about the ghost story than he should.

• Qin Manjiang and Mei Sijun discovered that they occupied separate spaces but could hear one another, and they agreed to stay cautious about voices in the darkness.
• Qin Manjiang followed the gravel path to the Opera House and hid when he heard someone approaching.
• Zhao Qigong appeared in Qin Manjiang’s space and mistook him for Xiao Qi before questioning his identity.
• Qin Manjiang pretended to be frightened, convincing Zhao Qigong to pull him up and tell him to follow instructions.
• Zhao Qigong said he wanted Qin Manjiang to help find his Jade Cicada, which the person who jumped into the well had held in their mouth.

Separated across different roles and time periods in the Southern Branch Troupe Opera House, Yang and Zhong Xueran discovered they could hear each other and interact with objects in different ways. As they tried to understand the connection, a featureless ghost in red opera robes appeared onstage and came down toward Yang.

• Zhong Xueran entered the Opera House in the modern era and heard a chair creak in an apparently empty space.
• Yang found Mei Sijun’s stone marker, followed the gravel path in the painted-face role, and heard a chair creak inside the Opera House.
• Qin Manjiang, Xinxin, and Chen Zhiyuan also heard the sound in their separate spaces, and Qin Manjiang suspected that the spaces were connected.
• Zhong Xueran touched a chair that Yang could see but could not touch, and she and Yang realized they could hear each other across different times and spaces.
• Yang sensed danger and prepared to leave, but a featureless Vengeful Ghost in red opera robes appeared on the stage and came down toward him.

Yang survived the Red-Robed Vengeful Ghost by realizing it could not touch him, while Zhong Xueran escaped its attack with the Three Pure Ones Bell. After speaking with Nie Yunzhen, Yang questioned whether the players had truly traveled through time and possessed other bodies.

• Yang deduced that the Red-Robed Vengeful Ghost could not harm him but could attack Zhong Xueran in the modern era, and he warned her to use the Three Pure Ones Bell.
• Zhong Xueran rang the bell and vanished just before the ghost snapped at her, while the ghost's claws passed through Yang before it dissolved into blood and disappeared.
• Yang concluded that players in the past and present had to cooperate because they could see and touch different things across the overlapping spaces.
• Yang spoke with Nie Yunzhen and realized Zhong Xueran had heard his original voice, despite his current body having a different voice.
• Yang began to suspect that the players had not actually traveled through time and entered other people's bodies.

After using the Three Pure Ones Bell, Zhong Xueran teleported to the Back Courtyard and met Xu Yi, who explained that the bell revealed a map of the ghost story. They discussed the past and the well before Xu Yi showed her an upright coffin and asked whose it was.

• Zhong Xueran used the Three Pure Ones Bell, glimpsed a map of [Yellow Springs Opera], and teleported to the Back Courtyard.
• Zhong Xueran found Xu Yi rummaging through a room and told him she had been chased by a ghost into a time a hundred years in the past.
• Xu Yi said the well was still at [Southern Branch Troupe] and suspected Doctor and Player might have gone down it.
• Xu Yi said they needed to learn how the ghost killed and why it had become a ghost.
• Xu Yi revealed that the object in the corner was an upright coffin and asked Zhong Xueran whose it was.

Zhong Xueran and Xu Yi investigated the coffin linked to Zhao Qigong and realized the troupe leader might not be an ordinary living person. Meanwhile, Qin Manjiang was taken backstage by Zhao Qigong and asked to retrieve a Jade Cicada guarded by the Vengeful Ghost.

• Zhong Xueran told Xu Yi she recognized Yang by his voice, and Xu Yi questioned how Yang's soul could have reached the past while keeping his original voice.
• Xu Yi showed Zhong Xueran an elegy inside a coffin addressed to Brother Qigong, and she recognized its handwriting from the Southern Branch Troupe's plaque.
• Xu Yi suggested Zhao Qigong may have faked his death or may never have been a normal living person, and Zhong Xueran decided to warn Yang and the others.
• Zhao Qigong led Qin Manjiang backstage after the Vengeful Ghost shrieked, then explained that a Jade Cicada was hidden there while the ghost was away.
• Qin Manjiang spotted the faintly glowing Jade Cicada but feigned fear and asked Zhao Qigong why he would not retrieve it himself.

Qin Manjiang escaped Zhao Qigong and discovered that the five Jade Cicadas might be sealing a soul. When he and Xu Yi touched one through their linked space-times, they realized they could cooperate to collect all five.

• Qin Manjiang punched Zhao Qigong and fled to the Back Courtyard rather than retrieve the Jade Cicada for him.
• Qin Manjiang reasoned that the Jade Cicadas might be suppressing a soul and questioned whether the underground Southern Branch Troupe was an illusion.
• Qin Manjiang found an upright coffin and saw a red-glowing Jade Cicada inside as Xu Yi searched the corresponding coffin in the modern-day Southern Branch Troupe.
• Qin Manjiang and Xu Yi touched the Jade Cicada at the same time and heard each other across the two space-times.
• Qin Manjiang told Xu Yi about the five Jade Cicadas, and the two agreed to try to collect them all.

Xu Yi and Qin Manjiang discovered that holding the Jade Cicada together let them interact across time, then fled when a Red-Robed Vengeful Ghost appeared in Qin Manjiang’s era. Qin Manjiang devised a plan based on the Jade Cicada’s shifting visibility and tangibility, and they prepared to try it.

• Xu Yi and Qin Manjiang tested the Jade Cicada and found that touching it switched whether it was visible or tangible in each era.
• Xu Yi and Qin Manjiang held the Jade Cicada together, allowing them to carry it and feel each other’s movements across time.
• Xu Yi and Qin Manjiang headed toward the west wing to search for another Jade Cicada.
• A Red-Robed Vengeful Ghost emerged from the floor in Qin Manjiang’s era, and he pulled Xu Yi into a run.
• Xu Yi told Qin Manjiang how Zhong Xueran had escaped a ghost using Instant Teleportation, and Qin Manjiang proposed using the Jade Cicada’s shifting properties to evade the ghost.

Qin Manjiang and Xu Yi used the Jade Cicada to evade a Vengeful Ghost as they ran toward the west wing, while Mei Sijun encountered ghosts in the east wing and was chased by one wearing Lin Yanqing’s appearance. The chapter left Mei Sijun stunned to find he could see both Qin Manjiang and Xu Yi at once.

• Qin Manjiang and Xu Yi repeatedly let go of and caught the Jade Cicada to switch its state and avoid the Vengeful Ghost while heading toward the west wing.
• Mei Sijun entered the [Southern Branch Troupe] and saw a woman who called him Xiaoqing before disappearing beside a glowing Jade Cicada.
• Mei Sijun failed to touch the Jade Cicada, then encountered a faceless Vengeful Ghost that transformed into Lin Yanqing.
• Mei Sijun fled through a window, but the Vengeful Ghost pursued him until the soft ground made him fall.
• Qin Manjiang and Xu Yi arrived while tossing and catching the Jade Cicada, realized they were in the east wing, and spotted Mei Sijun as Lin Yanqing.
• Mei Sijun saw Qin Manjiang and Xu Yi and wondered why he could see them both.

Qin Manjiang and Xu Yi used two Jade Cicadas to evade the Red-Robed Vengeful Ghosts as ancient and modern spaces began to merge. Xu Yi found Xinxin, whose permanent item hid them inside her photograph, but one ghost seemed to notice the photograph before it left.

• Mei Sijun threw his Jade Cicada to Qin Manjiang, then ran backstage to search for another and meet them at the opera stage.
• Qin Manjiang and Xu Yi tossed the two Jade Cicadas between them while the ghosts pursued them, and Xu Yi said they needed Xinxin's permanent item.
• Xu Yi spotted Xinxin and led Qin Manjiang into a prop room, where Xinxin used [Her Photograph] to draw all three into its space.
• A ghost stepped on the photograph and seemed to sense them inside, but it left without discovering them.
• Xinxin returned Qin Manjiang and Xu Yi to the prop room and demanded an explanation, while Qin Manjiang glimpsed two hanging corpses inside her photograph.

Qin Manjiang, Xu Yi, and Xinxin learned that the Jade Cicadas could connect overlapping spaces and that every Player had to survive for the Yellow Springs Opera to be completed. Qin Manjiang realized that Mei Sijun may have been a ghost visible across both spaces.

• Xu Yi had Xinxin touch two Jade Cicadas, allowing her, Xu Yi, and Qin Manjiang to see one another in a shared patch of space.
• Yu Chenglin arrived with another Jade Cicada, explaining that Shen Hai and Yan Xiao had given it to him and told him to gather everyone.
• Yu Chenglin said Shen Hai and Yan Xiao had gone down the Back Courtyard well to find the ghost carrying a Jade Cicada.
• Yu Chenglin relayed Shen Hai's warning that the Players had to collect all five Jade Cicadas and summon the true guest without anyone dying, or they could not complete the Yellow Springs Opera.
• Qin Manjiang recalled that he and Xu Yi had both seen Mei Sijun even when they could not see each other, and concluded that Mei Sijun might have been a ghost.

Xu Yi and Qin Manjiang suspected Yu Chenglin was acting urgently, while Shen Hai and Yan Xiao discovered his betrayal at the well. After Yan Xiao treated Shen Hai’s wound, the two prepared to explore the modern-day well bottom together.

• Qin Manjiang identified Lin Yanqing as a ghost, and Xu Yi and Qin Manjiang agreed to bait the hurried Yu Chenglin.
• Shen Hai explained that the Jade Cicadas could summon the real audience for [Yellow Springs Opera] and might help clear the game.
• Yu Chenglin stabbed Shen Hai and shoved him and Yan Xiao into the well to take the Jade Cicadas for himself.
• Yan Xiao treated Shen Hai’s wound despite Shen Hai’s angry protests, then set off to explore the well bottom among the paper figures.
• Shen Hai got up and insisted on accompanying Yan Xiao.

Yan Xiao and Shen Hai explored the well and realized the phantoms resembled Yang, Nie Yunzhen, Qin Manjiang, and Mei Sijun, while the paper figures represented an entire opera troupe. They suspected the group had not traveled back in time but encountered an illusion tied to Zhao Qigong, and the chapter ended as Shen Hai heard water ahead.

• Yan Xiao and Shen Hai followed flickering phantoms through the dark well and saw figures resembling Yang, Nie Yunzhen, Qin Manjiang, and Mei Sijun.
• Shen Hai suggested that the phantoms might mean the four had never traveled into the past, and that no other living people might have been there.
• Yan Xiao and Shen Hai examined nearly fifty paper figures and identified them as the different members and workers of an opera troupe.
• Shen Hai noticed that there was no paper figure of the troupe leader and wondered why Zhao Qigong had brought a living performer into his ghost troupe.
• Yan Xiao proposed that the performer had discovered the troupe was made of paper figures or had faced something worse than death, and noted that she had died with Zhao Qigong’s Jade Cicada in her mouth.
• Shen Hai asked Yan Xiao to listen to the sound of water coming from the darkness ahead.

Yan Xiao and Shen Hai followed the sound of water into an underground tomb and found a monster’s open coffin. When Yan Xiao looked inside, he discovered it was filled with emaciated but living people begging to be killed.

• Yan Xiao and Shen Hai entered a narrow passage carved with patterns that Shen Hai identified as the story of a five-headed man-eating monster sealed by a Taoist priest.
• Shen Hai explained that the nearby river and wells had been used to suppress the monster, and Yan Xiao found an open stone coffin in a burial chamber beneath the watercourse.
• A withered hand grabbed Shen Hai from inside the coffin, but Yan Xiao severed it with his scalpel and helped Shen Hai escape.
• Yan Xiao and Shen Hai heard faint pleas and discovered that whatever was inside the coffin could not seem to harm them.
• Yan Xiao shone his flashlight through the coffin’s crack and saw countless living, deathly emaciated people piled inside, all begging to be killed.