Chapter Summaries

After awakening in the body of Xu Zhihan, a frail heir of the Xu Family, a former judge of the dead recognized the sins surrounding his stepmother, Zhou Man. He stopped a dead woman from strangling her, but ended by accusing Zhou Man of murder.

• Xu Zhihan woke in the hospital after the original Xu Zhihan had died and heard Xu Chengyuan, Zhou Man, and Xu Mingji discussing his condition and engagement.
• Xu Zhihan saw sin lines on Zhou Man and Xu Mingji, then recognized a dead woman who pleaded for help and had strangulation marks and a missing fingertip.
• Xu Zhihan asked Zhou Man about a woman surnamed He who died at the Xu Family's old residence twelve years earlier, making Zhou Man visibly panic.
• The dead woman attacked Zhou Man, but Xu Zhihan ordered her to step back, causing her to release Zhou Man, who collapsed to her knees.
• As Xu Chengyuan and Xu Mingji called for help, Xu Zhihan told Zhou Man, "You've killed people."

Xu Zhihan used his supernatural power to expose Zhou Man’s connection to He Guilan’s death and forced her to confess before He Guilan’s ghost. After the family left, Xu Zhihan promised to investigate He Guilan’s fate, then sensed a powerful stranger approaching who was close to death.

• Xu Zhihan confronted Zhou Man with what he knew about He Guilan and her daughter, He Xiaoyun, while Xu Chengyuan and Xu Mingji tried to defend her.
• Xu Zhihan restrained He Guilan’s ghost, then pressured Zhou Man until she admitted that she had He Guilan taken away after He Guilan threatened her.
• He Guilan revealed herself to Zhou Man, who fell to her knees in terror, while Xu Zhihan warned Xu Chengyuan that his turn to repay his debts had not come yet.
• Xu Chengyuan took Zhou Man and Xu Mingji out of the hospital room, and Xu Zhihan promised He Guilan that he would investigate what happened to her.
• After the doctor examined Xu Zhihan and left, Xu Zhihan sensed a powerful presence approaching and recognized that the person was close to death.

Lu Wenchuan visited Xu Zhihan after the Special Investigation Bureau detected a strange energy at the hospital and discovered that Xu Zhihan could see the entity damaging his lifeline. Xu Zhihan restrained it briefly, and Lu Wenchuan left determined to return, convinced the Xu Family had provoked something dangerous.

• Lu Wenchuan learned that Xu Zhihan's stepmother had collapsed at the hospital and that Xu Zhihan had accused her of killing someone.
• Lu Wenchuan entered Xu Zhihan's ward and asked him how long he had to live; Xu Zhihan said he had three years, or six months if unlucky.
• Xu Zhihan saw a shadow gnawing at Lu Wenchuan's broken lifeline and briefly pinned it in place with his power.
• Xu Zhihan said he could kill the entity, but warned that doing so would kill Lu Wenchuan too.
• Lu Wenchuan left without learning who Xu Zhihan was and concluded that the Xu Family had picked the wrong thing to mess with.

Xu Zhihan rejected Xu Chengyuan and Xu Mingji’s attempt to transfer his engagement to Xu Mingji, insisting the Gu Family address him directly. When Xu Mingji staged a sudden illness, Xu Zhihan exposed traces of powdered medicine on his cuff and nails and accused him of pretending to be sick for years.

• Xu Chengyuan and Xu Mingji visited Xu Zhihan in the hospital and tried to persuade him to give up his engagement to Gu Huai.
• Xu Zhihan dismissed Xu Mingji’s excuses and demanded that Gu Huai or the Gu Family speak to him directly about ending the engagement.
• Xu Chengyuan told Xu Zhihan he was nothing without the family, and Xu Zhihan questioned whether the family was worth belonging to.
• Xu Mingji clutched his chest and appeared to suffer an attack, prompting Xu Chengyuan to call a doctor.
• Xu Zhihan pointed out powdered medicine on Xu Mingji’s cuff and under his nails, then accused him of pretending to be sick for years.

Xu Zhihan exposed Xu Mingji for faking a heart episode and trying to interfere with his medication to secure the Gu Family engagement. After Xu Mingji admitted he feared losing the engagement, Xu Zhihan declared that the old Xu Zhihan was dead.

• Xu Zhihan pointed out the powder on Xu Mingji's cuff and asked the doctor to test his cuff and fingernails.
• The doctor collected samples, while Xu Zhihan accused Xu Mingji of tampering with his medication and demanded the name of the medicine he had taken.
• Xu Zhihan explained that Xu Mingji had used a drug to imitate a heart episode, and the rapid test confirmed traces of the drug in the samples.
• Xu Mingji admitted he had acted out of fear that the Gu Family would no longer want him after Xu Zhihan woke up.
• Xu Zhihan told Xu Mingji that the old Xu Zhihan was dead and warned him to stop using his old tricks.

Xu Zhihan confronted Xu Chengyuan over Xu Mingji’s deception and demanded that Gu Huai personally end their engagement. As the Xu family plotted to take him home, Xu Zhihan agreed only if Xu Mingji came to ask on his knees.

• Xu Chengyuan sent Xu Mingji away, and Xu Zhihan mocked Xu Mingji’s feigned tears before challenging his father to learn how to beg.
• Xu Zhihan told Xu Chengyuan he wanted Gu Huai to break off the engagement in person and warned that his revenge on the Xu family had only begun.
• Xu Zhihan coughed up blood after Xu Chengyuan left, then promised He Guilan’s spectral form he would not forget his pledge.
• Zhou Man learned Xu Mingji’s fake illness had been exposed and decided the family should bring Xu Zhihan home, while the corridor lights flickered around them.
• Lu Wenchuan texted Xu Zhihan that he would visit, but Xu Zhihan told him not to bother.
• Xu Chengyuan’s assistant brought a plan to discharge Xu Zhihan, who agreed to return home only if Xu Mingji came to ask him on his knees.

Xu Zhihan signed Gu Huai’s agreement to dissolve their engagement and revealed that he knew about Gu Huai’s involvement in a three-year-old car accident. Lu Wenchuan arrived as Gu Huai tried to confront him, and Xu Zhihan warned Gu Huai that misfortune would find him within three days.

• Gu Huai visited Xu Zhihan with an agreement to dissolve their engagement, claiming Xu Zhihan’s poor health made him unsuitable as a partner for the Gu family.
• Xu Zhihan rejected Gu Huai’s claim that he still liked him, signed the agreement, and told Gu Huai and Xu Chengyuan’s assistant to leave.
• Xu Zhihan saw a bloody sin line on Gu Huai and asked whether he had hit someone in a car accident three years earlier without helping them.
• Gu Huai tried to grab Xu Zhihan, but Lu Wenchuan entered the hospital room and challenged him.
• Xu Zhihan warned Gu Huai that misfortune would find him within three days, and Gu Huai left with his secretary.
• Lu Wenchuan stayed with Xu Zhihan and wondered how much he could see about the Gu family’s car accident.

Xu Zhihan warned Gu Huai that retribution would find him within three days, while Lu Wenchuan decided to investigate the woman left comatose after Gu Huai’s hit-and-run. That night, the wreckage from the crash resurfaced, and Gu Huai saw the woman’s ghostly face at his window.

• Gu Huai ordered his secretary to keep Xu Zhihan’s hospital-room accusations secret and asked someone to investigate Xu Zhihan and the old South City Overpass crash.
• Lu Wenchuan told Xu Zhihan that the Special Investigation Bureau had failed to investigate the crash, and Xu Zhihan revealed that a surviving woman remained in a vegetative state; Lu Wenchuan offered to look into her case.
• Lu Wenchuan told Xu Zhihan that his stepbrother and stepmother were meeting downstairs, and Xu Zhihan predicted misfortune would come for the Xu Family.
• Xu Zhihan reflected that the Xu and Gu Families’ reputations would soon crack and that Gu Huai would face retribution within three days.
• Gu Huai learned that the wreckage from the South City Overpass crash had been found at a construction site and that the victim’s family was going to the police.
• Gu Huai saw a bloodied woman’s face reflected in his dark study window, but it vanished when the lights came back on.

Gu Huai faced mounting exposure over his role in a fatal crash after the victim woke and accused him, while Lu Wenchuan blocked him from reaching Xu Zhihan. As evidence surfaced and Gu Huai fled back to his family, Xu Zhihan learned the reckoning had begun and expected more trouble ahead.

• A video revealed the wrecked car from the three-year-old crash at the Gu Family’s southside construction site, prompting online scrutiny of the Gu Family.
• Gu Huai recalled abandoning the injured passenger after the crash and blamed Xu Zhihan for the renewed attention.
• Lu Wenchuan stopped Gu Huai from going upstairs to confront Xu Zhihan and warned him about the southside investigation.
• Gu Huai learned the passenger had awakened and identified him, while interviews and a recording about silenced victims’ families began circulating online.
• Gu Huai left the hospital without seeing Xu Zhihan, and Lu Wenchuan messaged Xu that he had gone.
• Xu Zhihan muted Lu Wenchuan’s replies and reflected that Gu Huai’s crimes were beginning to backfire as more trouble loomed.

Xu Zhihan returned to the Xu Residence after Xu Mingji knelt and begged him to come home. There, he heard a child crying for help from the locked basement, and Lu Wenchuan warned him not to go down.

• Xu Mingji knelt and asked Xu Zhihan to return home, and Xu Zhihan agreed so he could investigate what the Xu Family was hiding.
• Lu Wenchuan warned Xu Zhihan by message that the Xu Residence had not been clean, but Xu Zhihan went back with Xu Mingji.
• Xu Zhihan entered the Xu Residence and noticed Zhou Man's alarm when he looked toward the basement door.
• Xu Zhihan heard a child crying from the basement and calling him 'Big brother' to save them, though no one else reacted.
• Xu Zhihan told Lu Wenchuan about the child, and Lu Wenchuan warned him not to go downstairs.

Xu Zhihan rejected the Xu family's mind-suppressing medicine and joined Lu Wenchuan to investigate the anomaly beneath the Xu Residence. When Xu Zhihan opened the basement door, a child inside called him big brother.

• Xu Zhihan recognized that the medicine Xu Mingji brought would weaken his mind and forced Xu Mingji to take it, making him flee.
• Lu Wenchuan climbed through Xu Zhihan's window, identified the medicine as a mind-weakening substance, and detected a strong anomaly beneath the Xu Residence.
• Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan went downstairs to investigate the basement after the crying grew clearer.
• Xu Zhihan silently unlocked the basement door, and the crying stopped as a child called him big brother.

Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan discovered imprisoned children’s souls beneath the Xu residence, where Xu Zhihan forced the spirits to kneel and destroyed a black-robed guardian. The surviving child identified himself as Xu An, leaving Xu Zhihan to investigate the Xu Family’s crimes.

• Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan found a child’s soul sealed in a jar in the basement, and the spirit knelt in fear when it saw Xu Zhihan.
• Lu Wenchuan severed the threads silencing the child, while Xu Zhihan restored its features and learned that more people were buried underground.
• A black-robed spirit imitating Xu Chengyuan emerged from a fissure and attacked Xu Zhihan, but Xu Zhihan commanded it to kneel and destroyed it.
• The spirit named Xu Chengyuan and Zhou Man as those who raised it before it tried to attack Xu Zhihan and was reduced to ash.
• The surviving child told Xu Zhihan his name was Xu An, and Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan realized he bore the Xu surname.

Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan uncovered evidence that the Xu Family had used Xu An in a resentment-nurturing formation and planned to use Xu Zhihan as a vessel. As Lu Wenchuan confronted the family as a Special Investigation Bureau agent, Xu Zhihan promised Xu An that the people responsible would be locked up.

• Xu An told Lu Wenchuan that someone had trapped him in a jar and made him cry to feed the formation.
• Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan found a photograph of Xu Zhihan, Xu An, Xu Chengyuan, Zhou Man, and an unfamiliar woman, then discovered a hidden iron box behind the wall.
• The box contained medical records, Xu An's Peace Amulet, and a note describing Xu An as suitable to safeguard the home and Xu Zhihan as suitable to use as a vessel.
• As Zhou Man and Xu Chengyuan approached the basement, Lu Wenchuan gathered the evidence and revealed that he was with the Special Investigation Bureau.
• Lu Wenchuan went upstairs to investigate the basement, while Xu Zhihan reassured Xu An that the people responsible would be locked up.

Lu Wenchuan exposed the Xu Family’s basement altar and the sealed soul of Xu An, forcing Xu Chengyuan to face an investigation. Xu Zhihan refused to defend his family and left with Lu Wenchuan, while Xu Chengyuan decided he could no longer let him stay in the house.

• Lu Wenchuan confronted Xu Chengyuan and Zhou Man about the evil spirit and the formation hidden in the basement.
• Xu Zhihan came upstairs with Xu An’s protection charm, and Lu Wenchuan presented photographs and an iron box as evidence.
• Zhou Man admitted that Xu An had died, while Xu An remembered being locked up and told not to cry.
• Lu Wenchuan called for a team to seal off the basement for the Special Investigation Bureau’s investigation.
• Xu Zhihan rejected Zhou Man’s plea to help the family and left upstairs with Lu Wenchuan.
• Xu Chengyuan told Zhou Man that Xu Zhihan could no longer stay in the house.

Xu Zhihan took medicine from Lu Wenchuan, who admitted he feared him but had not put him on the threat list. When Xu Chengyuan arranged to send Xu Zhihan to a private care facility, Xu Zhihan hinted that the place might conceal debts owed to the dead.

• Xu Zhihan refused to let Lu Wenchuan into his room, while Lu Wenchuan told him the basement was sealed and Xu An would need three days to a week to be freed safely.
• Xu Zhihan opened the door to take medicine from Lu Wenchuan and swallowed it, easing the ache in his chest.
• Lu Wenchuan said Xu Zhihan did not seem human and admitted he was afraid, but had not placed him on the threat list because he had saved Xu An and spared Zhou Man.
• Xu Chengyuan arranged for a private care facility to take Xu Zhihan away, and Xu Zhihan said such places were easy places to hide debts owed to the dead.

Xu Zhihan exposed the crimes at Jiang Ren’s private sanatorium and stopped the Xu family from sending him away. Jiang Ren was arrested, while Xu Zhihan warned Xu Chengyuan that he would not get another chance.

• Xu Chengyuan tried to send Xu Zhihan to Jiang Ren’s private sanatorium, but Xu Zhihan questioned how many people had died there.
• Xu Zhihan revealed that Jiang Ren had imprisoned and mistreated patients, including a woman who died in a locked room.
• Ghosts appeared behind Xu Zhihan, and they forced Jiang Ren to his knees as Lu Wenchuan caught an orderly carrying a syringe.
• Jiang Ren confessed that families had approved his actions, and the Special Investigation Bureau recorded his confession and moved to arrest him.
• Xu Zhihan told Xu Chengyuan to find someone cleaner if he tried to send him away again, adding that there probably would not be another time.

After the Special Investigation Bureau arrested Jiang Ren and secured the Xu Residence, Xu Zhihan demanded answers from his family while hiding how badly his body was failing. He realized the Xu family planned to use public opinion against him, leaving him ready to expose them before they could strike.

• The Special Investigation Bureau took Jiang Ren and two orderlies away, confiscated their evidence, and began questioning the Xu family.
• Xu Zhihan confronted Xu Chengyuan, Zhou Man, and Xu Mingji about Xu An, his tampered medication, He Guilan's death, and Jiang Ren's connection to the family.
• Lu Wenchuan ordered Bureau personnel to guard the basement and question the household, then warned Xu Zhihan that Xu Chengyuan might target him next.
• Xu Zhihan returned to his room, coughed blood, and took medicine Lu Wenchuan brought through the window.
• Xu Zhihan received anonymous messages threatening to reveal his treatment of his family and realized they planned to make the conflict public.

Xu Chengyuan and Zhou Man plotted to discredit Xu Zhihan, while Xu Mingji helped spread edited videos that made Xu Zhihan look unstable. After seeing the online backlash, Xu Zhihan agreed with Lu Wenchuan to wait before releasing his full recording, then exposed Xu Mingji’s attempt to secretly film him and told him to perform for a bigger audience.

• Xu Chengyuan told Zhou Man they would portray Xu Zhihan as unstable so the public would doubt his accusations.
• Xu Mingji overheard them and chose to help turn public opinion against Xu Zhihan.
• Edited videos of Xu Zhihan forcing Xu Mingji and Jiang Ren to kneel went online, prompting rumors and widespread criticism.
• Xu Zhihan saw the trending topics and told Lu Wenchuan he had a full recording; Lu advised him to wait before releasing it.
• Xu Mingji visited Xu Zhihan while secretly recording, but Xu Zhihan disabled his phone and told him to take his performance to the living room.

Xu Zhihan let the Xu Family use edited videos and Xu Mingji’s public plea to turn online opinion against him, then released a recording exposing Xu Mingji’s scheme. The recording shifted public scrutiny onto the Xu Family, while Xu Zhihan kept more evidence in reserve.

• Xu Mingji’s hospital video of Zhou Man kneeling went viral, and paid trolls helped the Xu Family portray Xu Zhihan as unstable and ungrateful.
• Lu Wenchuan learned that the basement’s Resentment-Nurturing Formation had existed for at least fifteen years, dating back to around Xu An’s death.
• Xu Zhihan ignored online abuse and told Lu Wenchuan he would release his recording when Xu Mingji cried.
• Xu Mingji posted a tearful video defending Xu Zhihan, but the comments used it to condemn Xu Zhihan further.
• Xu Zhihan uploaded a recording in which Xu Mingji admitted he had feared the Gu Family would reject him, and it quickly went viral.
• Xu Chengyuan blamed Xu Mingji as the recording turned public opinion against the Xu Family, while Xu Zhihan hinted that he had more recordings.

After Xu Zhihan exposed Xu Mingji’s confession, the Xu Family failed to suppress the recording, and Xu Zhihan confronted Xu Chengyuan over the family’s buried secrets. A preliminary report revealed Xu An’s connection to Xu Zhihan’s birth mother, leaving Xu Zhihan determined to make Xu Chengyuan answer for what he had done.

• Xu Zhihan’s recording turned public opinion against Xu Mingji, while Xu Chengyuan and Zhou Man failed to take it down.
• Xu Chengyuan demanded that Xu Zhihan delete the recording, but Xu Zhihan warned him that he had more evidence and hinted that he knew about He Guilan’s death.
• Lu Wenchuan warned Xu Zhihan that the Xu Family might try to discredit him as mentally unwell and told him not to return to the basement while he was so weak.
• Lu Wenchuan delivered the Special Investigation Bureau’s preliminary basement report and revealed that Xu An had come from Xu Zhihan’s birth mother’s family.
• Xu Zhihan reacted with pain to Xu An’s connection and said Xu Chengyuan had better live a long time so he would not escape punishment.