Recaps

Gu Zhe strengthened his paper techniques and considered using his business to gather information and help ghosts. At Cloudflower Nunnery, Abbess Xuanhui and Yun Qing revealed that Lay Devotee Li had been murdered by his youngest son, then disclosed that the old man intended to keep his cryptocurrency for himself.

• Gu Zhe spent his last Spirit Point improving the Basic Paper Effigy Technique and reflected on building a team and finding more ghosts to house.
• Abbess Xuanhui and Yun Qing returned from the Netherworld and told Lay Devotee Li’s family that he was sheltering with other ghosts in a hollow tree.
• Abbess Xuanhui revealed that Lay Devotee Li had been strangled by his youngest son during a dispute over cryptocurrency keys and a hard drive.
• The youngest son collapsed and confessed that he had meant to frighten his father into funding his failing company, not kill him.
• Yun Qing said Lay Devotee Li had arranged to keep his property for himself, leaving the family stunned and questioning what that meant in the Underworld.

Abbess Xuanhui relayed the dead Lay Buddhist Li’s instructions to his family, including his demand that they preserve his money and arrange housing through the Gu Group in the Netherworld. Meanwhile, Gu Zhe celebrated his return online and calmly read the ridicule and encouragement in the replies.

• Abbess Xuanhui explained that her visits had revealed no organized Netherworld civilization, then asked the officers about the dead’s ownership of their worldly assets.
• Abbess Xuanhui told the Li Family that Lay Buddhist Li wanted his money preserved, housing arranged through the Gu Group, and offerings made to him.
• The Li Family recognized Lay Buddhist Li’s blunt manner but questioned his instructions until Abbess Xuanhui explained that ghosts rumored the Gu Group operated a Ghostly Apartment and Grand Hotel in the Netherworld.
• Gu Zhe took a selfie, announced his return online, and read the mixed reactions to his post without losing his composure.

Gu Zhe decided to revive the Gu Family by starting a business and asked his father for trustworthy subordinates, but his father had none. Gu Zhe posted a bizarre assistant job listing promising benefits tied to the Netherworld, and the chapter ended with Liu Zhaodi offering to join him.

• Gu Zhe told his father he planned to restore the Gu Family's glory, but his father said he had no trustworthy subordinates left after the family's collapse.
• Gu Zhe decided to find help himself and posted an assistant opening for the new Gu Group, advertising afterlife coverage and future Netherworld jobs.
• Gu Zhe's family and friends mocked the listing and worried that he had lost his mind, while Yun Qing asked whether his family was truly connected to him.
• Gu Zhe welcomed Yun Qing's interest but called her his little sister, leaving her frustrated with his clueless response.
• Liu Zhaodi volunteered to start the business with Gu Zhe, and he teased her about her height.

Ming Xuan’s cousin Xiao Fei was possessed after playing at rice divination, and her family realized that the ghost was real despite their own history of pretending to be Rice Diviners. Ming Xuan set out to take visitors to the Gu Family, hoping they might know how to save Xiao Fei.

• A ghost calling itself Ancestor Du Xiao possessed Xiao Fei, demanded blood offerings, and threatened to devour her soul.
• Granny Wang admitted she had no real exorcism skills and fled after her chant failed to drive the ghost away.
• Xiao Fei’s parents tried incense offerings, but Du Xiao rejected them and then receded, leaving Xiao Fei frightened.
• Ming Xuan arrived, saw the decayed ropes and bed, and promised to find a way to save her cousin.
• Ming Xuan received a call from Director Qin asking her to guide friends to the Gu Family on Calm Heart Street, and she agreed.

Gu Zhe received the Qianzhou Li Family, who came to arrange housing for their late father in the Netherworld, and used his supernatural monopoly to set prices and explain that sales would wait until the Netherworld Army secured the area. The Li Family treated his claims as proof of the Gu Family’s immense power, while Ming Xuan and Liu Zhaodi watched in confusion.

• Liu Zhaodi’s mother scolded her for skipping school to pursue work with Gu Zhe and dragged her out of the shop.
• Ming Xuan and the Qianzhou Li Family arrived looking for Mr. Gu, and Liu Zhaodi’s mother warned them that Gu Zhe tricked young women.
• Gu Zhe came outside and invited the Li Family inside after they explained that their late father had sent them to purchase Netherworld property.
• Gu Zhe quoted monthly rents for apartments and a hotel, then said homes and villas were not yet for sale because the Netherworld was dangerous and the Gu Family’s Netherworld Army was still assembling.
• The Li Family accepted Gu Zhe’s explanation, praised him, and left entrusting their father to his care, while Ming Xuan and Liu Zhaodi remained bewildered.

Ming Xuan asked Gu Zhe to save her younger cousin from a supernatural threat, offering her savings and promising her family would pay more. Gu Zhe agreed to hear the details, while Fatty Zhang and Liu Zhaodi reacted to his growing success; the cousin’s crisis remained unexplained.

• Gu Zhe teased Ming Xuan after noticing she had stayed behind, and she asked him to help her younger cousin with a supernatural problem.
• Gu Zhe questioned why he should help, and Ming Xuan offered all her savings of twenty thousand yuan and said her family would pay more.
• Fatty Zhang overheard Ming Xuan mention Gu Zhe’s five-million-yuan deal and wondered why Gu Zhe attracted wealthy clients and beautiful women.
• Liu Zhaodi’s mother remarked on Gu Zhe’s success, while Liu Zhaodi decided to keep an eye on him and Ming Xuan.

Gu Zhe investigated Ming Xuan’s sister’s daily possessions and concluded that a ghost from a nearby Secret Realm was reaching her through a Spiritual Passage. He accompanied Ming Xuan to help the terrified girl, who sensed the ghost returning as they arrived.

• Ming Xuan told Gu Zhe that her younger sister was being possessed every day after performing Spirit Rice Divination.
• Gu Zhe consulted ghosts in the Netherworld and concluded that the ghost came from a nearby Secret Realm rather than the Netherworld.
• Gu Zhe agreed to help Ming Xuan, gave her paper figures, and told Liu Zhaodi to watch the shop.
• At Ming Xuan’s second uncle’s home, the family explained that Ming Xiao Fei had dreamed of a frightening ghost after the divination ritual.
• Ming Xiao Fei sensed the ghost drawing closer and cried out that it was coming again.

Gu Zhe used the family’s desperate wish to find Du Xiao and the burning Mysterious Paper Figures to trace the ghost into the Void. He discovered Du Xiao’s town-sized Secret Realm, which was expanding as its inhabitants worshiped it.

• Gu Zhe reassured Xiao Fei and promised her family he would kill Du Xiao rather than merely drive it away.
• Gu Zhe told Xiao Fei’s parents to turn their fear and offerings into a determined search for Du Xiao, repeating the ghost’s name as they burned incense.
• Gu Zhe ordered Ming Xuan to burn the Mysterious Paper Figures and followed the incense-borne thought through their strange state.
• Gu Zhe saw a faint passage linking Xiao Fei to the Void and traced the other half of the thought into Du Xiao’s Secret Realm.
• Gu Zhe observed Du Xiao’s followers worshiping it and realized their devotion was helping the Secret Realm grow.

Gu Zhe sent Mysterious Paper Figures into Du Xiao’s town-sized world to attack the ghost, who drew strength from his domain and fought back. Gu Zhe told Ming Xuan and her family that Du Xiao would not retreat willingly, leaving them to face a difficult battle.

• Gu Zhe revealed that he had found Du Xiao and summoned dozens of Mysterious Paper Figures around the ghost in his world.
• The Paper Figures wounded Du Xiao with repeated attacks, but he tore several apart and used black mist to freeze and destroy others.
• Du Xiao claimed mastery of his world, drew energy from it, grew stronger, and empowered the Hunched Little Ghosts rushing toward the hill.
• Gu Zhe acknowledged that Du Xiao was stronger than expected while the ghost threatened to kill his servants and then devour Gu Zhe.
• Ming Xuan and her family worried that Gu Zhe could not defeat Du Xiao, but Gu Zhe said they had to kill him because he would not withdraw willingly.

Gu Zhe prepared more Paper Figures so his Deathbound Elite Warriors could keep fighting Du Xiao in the ghost’s secret realm. As Du Xiao tore through the first wave, Gu Zhe prepared to send in reinforcements and test the limits of the ghost and its world.

• Gu Zhe reassured Ming Xiao Fei and the Ming Family that he would defeat Du Xiao, though the battle would cost him dearly.
• Gu Zhe asked the Ming Family for paper-cutting supplies and explained that his Netherworld warriors needed Paper Figures to possess.
• Gu Zhe watched his Paper Figure subordinates wound Du Xiao and kill lesser ghosts as the enraged Du Xiao tore through them.
• Gu Zhe cut more Paper Figures while the Ming Family watched in awe, and Ming Xuan wondered whether he was risking himself for her.
• Liu Zhaodi arrived with the Paper Figures from the shop, and Gu Zhe prepared to send reinforcements against Du Xiao.

Gu Zhe’s paper figures overwhelmed Du Xiao and his ghost forces, killing them despite Du Xiao’s pleas to surrender. Gu Zhe became master of the Du Xiao Secret Realm and gained the rank of Secret Realm Lord, Eighth Sequence.

• Du Xiao fought off the relentless paper figures, but their numbers grew as they kept injuring him and killing his lesser ghosts.
• Du Xiao tried to bargain, threaten, and flee, while Gu Zhe watched from inside a Mysterious Paper Figure and refused to spare him.
• The paper figures beheaded Du Xiao and exterminated the remaining lesser ghosts.
• A mysterious whisper declared Gu Zhe the master of the Du Xiao Secret Realm, and dark energy and information flowed into the paper figure he possessed.
• Gu Zhe checked the Mysterious Paper Figure’s attributes and saw its new rank: Secret Realm Lord, Eighth Sequence.

Gu Zhe learned that his Paper Figure had become the Eighth Sequence Lord of the Du Xiao Secret Realm and discovered that the world contained seventy-two secret realms and thirty-six grotto heavens. After withdrawing his consciousness from the secret realm, he began considering how to develop it.

• Gu Zhe examined the Paper Figure's new traits and skills, which it had gained after the secret realm recognized it as its lord.
• Gu Zhe received information identifying Du Xiao as a Seventh Sequence ghost and a newly born secret realm lord as Ninth Sequence, while he considered why his own class remained Mortal.
• Gu Zhe learned that the realm was called the Du Xiao Secret Realm and that Du Xiao had taken his name from it.
• Gu Zhe discovered that seventy-two secret realms and thirty-six grotto heavens would form, with secret realms breeding ghosts and grotto heavens able to support ordinary life.
• Gu Zhe withdrew his consciousness from the Paper Figure, left it to guard the realm, and returned to the real world as the ghosts' corpses dissipated.

Gu Zhe rescued Ming Xiao Fei from the ghost and reassured her family that another possession was unlikely, though her spiritual sensitivity could still connect her to ghosts. As her family suggested making her his disciple or goddaughter, Liu Zhaodi suddenly objected to the imagined match.

• Gu Zhe told the Ming Family that he had slain the ghost, and Ming Xiao Fei confirmed she could no longer feel its presence.
• Gu Zhe refused payment at first because killing the ghost had earned him a secret realm, then accepted ten thousand so the family would feel the matter was settled.
• Gu Zhe explained that Ming Xiao Fei's spirit-medium talent could connect her to ghosts, but said the possession had been an unusual coincidence and advised avoiding haunted places and staying home during the Ghost Festival.
• Ming Xiao Fei's parents and Ming Xuan suggested Gu Zhe take her as a disciple or goddaughter, while Ming Xiao Fei said she wanted to be his little sister.
• Liu Zhaodi imagined Gu Zhe with an attractive young goddaughter and shouted, "I object to this marriage!"

Gu Zhe explained that the painting in the Ming Family study anchored the ghostly Secret Realm and proposed that Ming Xiao Fei use it to contact his harmless Paper Figure warriors for protection. Xiao Fei eagerly agreed, and Gu Zhe guided her to begin sensing them.

• Gu Zhe identified the spring outing painting as an anchor point for the Secret Realm where the ghosts had lived, and assured the Ming Family that the ghosts were destroyed.
• Gu Zhe proposed that Xiao Fei use the painting to establish a Spiritual Passage to his warriors, explaining why their possession would not cause the usual harms.
• Xiao Fei's parents hesitated over the risks, but Gu Zhe reassured them that the warriors meant no harm and would not interfere with her mind or body.
• Xiao Fei said she trusted Gu Zhe and wanted to try, driven by her desire for power as well as her wish to stop her family from worrying.
• Gu Zhe told Xiao Fei to concentrate on the anchor point and sense the warriors, while she insisted she would succeed.

Ming Xiao Fei used her family’s rice-divination ritual to successfully channel the eerie Paper Figure and gain a measure of control over its power. After pretending to be possessed to scare her family, she revealed her new supernatural abilities by moving at astonishing speed.

• Gu Zhe guided Ming Xiao Fei to recreate the rice-divination ritual that had helped her enter a trance before.
• Ming Xiao Fei chanted over a bowl of rice, scattered rice around the room, and entered a strange, vacant state.
• Ming Xiao Fei acted as if she were possessed, frightening her parents and cousin until Gu Zhe told her to stop.
• Ming Xiao Fei admitted she had been acting, while her family scolded her for frightening them.
• Ming Xiao Fei realized she had truly channeled the Paper Figure from the Du Xiao Secret Realm and gained a measure of authority over it.
• Ming Xiao Fei called herself Super Fei and moved so quickly that her family could barely follow her around the room.

Ming Xiao Fei fused with Gu Zhe’s Paper Figure and showed off her newfound supernatural abilities, while Gu Zhe concealed how much control he had over the fusion. After she embarrassed herself with grandiose declarations and damaged her father’s tea table, Gu Zhe withdrew the power, and her family brought her back down to earth.

• Ming Xiao Fei used the Paper Figure’s power to dart around the room, startling her family and confusing Liu Zhaodi.
• Gu Zhe explained inwardly that he had allowed the Paper Figure to fuse with Ming Xiao Fei and could end the fusion or control her through it.
• Ming Xiao Fei exalted Gu Zhe, declared herself his loyal subordinate, and proposed conquering the world and flattening her school.
• Ming Xiao Fei sliced a corner off her father’s red sandalwood tea table, prompting him to scold her.
• Gu Zhe withdrew the Paper Figure’s power, and Ming Xiao Fei wilted as her parents and sister gave her a harsh lesson in reality.

Gu Zhe read reports of strange events spreading around the world while Liu Zhaodi begged to learn supernatural abilities. Meanwhile, the Jinyiwei recruited Ming Xuan to serve as an assistant to Gu Zhe and investigate him for the government.

• Liu Zhaodi envied Ming Xiao Fei's abilities, and Gu Zhe suggested she learn the Spirit-Summoning Séance from her.
• Gu Zhe read online reports of supernatural incidents around the world and wondered why the government was no longer suppressing them.
• Ming Xuan met Zhu Qiang and his Jinyiwei colleagues, who offered her a government assignment.
• Zhu Qiang asked Ming Xuan to become Gu Zhe's assistant and report on what was happening with him.

Ming Xuan learned that the Jinyiwei wanted her to make contact with Gu Zhe because of rumors about the Gu Family’s mysterious Underworld business. She agreed to act as a bridge, then blushed after the Jinyiwei revealed that Gu Zhe’s recruitment post and a young girl’s Moments had prompted their interest in her.

• Zhu Qiang explained that the government had created the Third Kind Contact Administration and the Jinyiwei to respond to supernatural changes and maintain stability.
• Zhu Qiang said the Jinyiwei wanted Ming Xuan to contact Gu Zhe because of rumors that the Gu Family operated businesses in the Underworld.
• Director Qin wondered whether the Gu Family’s Underworld assets were subject to bankruptcy, labor, corporate, and tax laws, and Zhu Qiang said the government had no foothold there.
• Zhu Qiang showed Ming Xuan Gu Zhe’s assistant recruitment post beside a young girl’s Moments posts about his interest in a well-endowed woman.
• Ming Xuan agreed to help the Jinyiwei, then wondered whether Gu Zhe had really sneaked peeks at her and protested that she was not an old woman.

Ming Xuan applied to become Gu Zhe’s assistant, explaining that she was willing to work for him and had been sent by the Jinyiwei to pass along occasional messages. Gu Zhe hired her, and the chapter ended with him asking what the Jinyiwei was and whether the Eastern Depot and Western Depot had appeared too.

• Ming Xuan told Gu Zhe she wanted to be his assistant and insisted that nobody was forcing her to apply.
• Ming Xuan admitted that the Jinyiwei had asked her to pass along messages and said they considered Gu Zhe acceptable as long as he was not an antisocial extremist.
• Gu Zhe joked that he was refined, kindhearted, and always thought thrice before acting, while privately describing his approach to dealing with threats.
• Gu Zhe decided Ming Xuan was capable and hired her, joking that he valued her inner qualities and substance.
• Gu Zhe asked Ming Xuan what the Jinyiwei was and whether the Eastern Depot and Western Depot had appeared.

Gu Zhe brought Ming Xuan to Yuzhou University for his thesis defense, where his composed presence and secretary’s striking appearance drew attention. As they left campus, the sky suddenly darkened and displayed impossible visions, leaving everyone alarmed.

• Ming Xuan explained that Dragon Country had established the Jinyiwei and the Third Kind Contact Administration to respond to the world’s changes.
• Gu Zhe told Ming Xuan to prepare for work as his secretary and handle the new Gu Group’s administrative duties.
• Gu Zhe decided to complete his thesis defense after his academic adviser sent him the schedule.
• Gu Zhe arrived at Yuzhou University with Ming Xuan, whose appearance drew the attention of students and professors.
• After the defense, Gu Zhe and Ming Xuan discussed his thesis and prepared to begin their real business.
• The sky darkened over campus as visions of multiple suns and moons, upside-down land, and other realms appeared.

Gu Zhe and Ming Xuan witnessed an eerie worldwide transformation of the sky and learned that firearms had stopped working, while supernatural professions and abilities surfaced in online reports. As Ming Xuan tried to verify the news, a mind-shaking collision sounded from somewhere beyond physical reality, leaving them uncertain about what was happening.

• People across the world saw a dark crimson sky filled with ten suns, three moons, stars, and visions of strange realms.
• Gu Zhe sensed that his Paper Figures had grown stronger and easier to control, then discovered online that the same sky appeared worldwide.
• Gu Zhe read reports that firearms and advanced equipment had failed, while people revealed supernatural professions and changing rules.
• Gu Zhe told Ming Xuan that firearms had stopped working, and she was stunned because she believed their effectiveness had only decreased.
• A tremendous collision-like sound erupted in their minds, and Ming Xuan prepared to use her still-working phone to confirm the news.

After firearms stopped working, Gu Zhe considered the government’s warning and reaffirmed his principles while Ming Xuan worried about the Gu Family’s intentions. He then turned his attention to the Netherworld, where violent changes revealed that its realms were expanding and ancient powers were stirring.

• Ming Xuan told Gu Zhe that firearms no longer worked and relayed a Jinyiwei message about changing rules and the government’s preparations.
• Gu Zhe dismissed the warnings as no threat to his principles, while Ming Xuan worried that the Gu Family might act against the government.
• Gu Zhe reassured Ming Xuan that the Gu Family would develop within the rules, then divided his consciousness and entered the Netherworld.
• Gu Zhe saw the Du Xiao World expand beneath three phantom red moons, grow richer in yin energy, and strengthen his lord paper figure subordinate.
• Gu Zhe witnessed violent tremors in the Netherworld, intensifying yin winds, rising yin energy, newly formed mountains and abysses, and signs of terrifying beings stirring.
• A vast mirage appeared across the Netherworld sky, showing the human world, cosmic realms, sacred mountains, strange halls, dark seas, and shadowy gods and demons.

Gu Zhe considered the Netherworld’s growing dangers, reviewed his plans to gain strength and investigate Spirit Nature in the real world, and resolved to demonstrate his abilities to the government. The chapter ended when Ming Xuan told him that Xiao Fei’s school had vanished into a mist-covered zone where people could enter but not leave.

• Gu Zhe observed that changes in the Netherworld were making the land more dangerous and resolved to strengthen his businesses, paper-cutting skills, and cultivation.
• Gu Zhe reviewed his Spirit Points and considered whether he could find Spirit Nature and trade opportunities in the real world.
• Gu Zhe decided to demonstrate his supernatural abilities and seek information from the Jinyiwei and the Third Bureau.
• Ming Xuan told Gu Zhe that contact with Xiao Fei’s school had been lost after mist surrounded the area, trapping people inside and blocking electronic signals.
• Gu Zhe concluded that the school had likely become a zone where two realms overlapped.

Gu Zhe saw through his paper figure that the merged territory around Ming Xiao Fei’s school had become a slaughter ground where a pig demon hunted humans, and learned that the creatures had a king and sought spiritual treasures. He realized the strange world might let his eerie paper figures enter, then arrived with Ming Xuan at the fog-covered block and began acting through his power beside Ming Xiao Fei.

• Gu Zhe learned through his paper figure that Ming Xiao Fei was safe for now, though others in the merged territory had been killed.
• Gu Zhe surveyed the wreckage where a modern city block had collided with forests, hills, and primitive settlements, finding bodies and hearing cries for help.
• Gu Zhe watched Pig Seven eat humans and heard him describe the king, the creatures’ leaders, spiritual treasures, and the rules preventing powerful beings from entering.
• Gu Zhe realized the spirit-filled territory could support supernatural beings and might allow his paper figures to cross into the Du Xiao World.
• Gu Zhe and Ming Xuan reached the fog-shrouded block, where SWAT officers and other officials waited outside.
• Gu Zhe stirred his consciousness beside Ming Xiao Fei in the spirit realm, prompting startled cries.

After Ming Xiao Fei killed a Pig Demon with power from a divine general, she and her classmates faced the monster slaughtering people outside the school. A scroll opened a dark vortex, and Ming Xiao Fei announced that Brother Gu had come to save them as his guardian divine generals emerged.

• The sky changed, the ground split open, and Pig Demons began attacking people around the school.
• A Pig Demon entered Ming Xiao Fei's classroom and tried to seize a student, but she summoned a divine general and decapitated it with one strike.
• Ming Xiao Fei's classmates praised her and begged for protection as a towering Pig Demon continued killing people outside.
• The teacher asked Ming Xiao Fei whether she could rescue the students, but she feared she could not defeat the larger monster.
• A scroll floated from Ming Xiao Fei's desk, and the divine general sent energy into it, opening a dark vortex.
• Ming Xiao Fei told the class that Brother Gu had come to save them as his guardian divine generals emerged from the vortex.