Recaps

Xu Xue nearly killed Sha Chuan in a fit of rage, but Qi Gu stopped her and helped her reunite with Jiang Huaguo by video call. Xu Xue received the snowflake necklace Jiang Huaguo had bought for her, said goodbye to her loved ones, and left Sha Chuan’s body as his crimes and ruined future awaited him.

• Xu Xue seized control of Sha Chuan’s body and tried to strangle him, but Qi Gu dispelled her yin energy before she could destroy her soul.
• Xu Xue learned that Jiang Huaguo had helped uncover Sha Chuan’s crime and video-called her to reconnect.
• Jiang Huaguo showed Xu Xue the snowflake necklace she had bought after Xu Xue’s death and asked Qi Gu how to send it to her.
• Xu Xue put on the necklace, told her parents where to find evidence of Sha Chuan’s crimes, and asked Jiang Huaguo to look after them.
• Xu Xue said goodbye and left Sha Chuan’s body, while Jiang Huaguo promised to care for her parents.
• Sha Chuan woke to the staff’s contempt and realized that prison and public disgrace awaited him.

After Sha Chuan fled alone into Qingji Mountain, the production team continued on without him. In the capital, Wei Cai failed to secure help from Mr. He and struggled to hire trolls to smear Qi Gu.

• Qi Gu helped bring the Iron Pellet back up, and Mu Xingchen wrapped it in tissues while Lin Hanzhi watched.
• Song An ordered Sha Chuan tied up so the team could hand him over to the police, but Sha Chuan knocked down a staff member and ran into the forest.
• The production team chose not to pursue Sha Chuan and continued down the mountain.
• Wei Cai received Mr. Sheng's demand to re-sign Qi Gu within half a month or lose his job, then asked Mr. He for help.
• Mr. He approved money for a smear campaign, but Wei Cai's first call went to a paid-troll company whose boss warned others against taking the job; Wei Cai eventually found a small company willing to work for half payment up front.

As the group rested during their ghost hunt, Mu Xingchen was enthralled by a golden deity statue and began kowtowing to it. Qi Gu intervened and pulled the statue free, revealing a fawning Golden Toad that claimed its worship-inducing power was passive.

• Qi Gu ate snacks as Lin Hanzhi attentively offered him jelly, while Mu Xingchen grew jealous and tried to win his master's attention with candy.
• Lin Hanzhi invited Qi Gu to visit good restaurants after the show, and Qi Gu happily agreed.
• The group stopped to rest, and Mu Xingchen spotted a golden statue in a small shrine while exploring nearby.
• Mu Xingchen's eyes turned gold, and he began kowtowing to the statue until Qi Gu interrupted him.
• When Mu Xingchen started kowtowing again, Qi Gu yanked out the statue, which transformed into a Golden Toad that denied making him worship it.

Qi Gu freed a golden toad from its kowtowing curse and learned that it could grant small windfalls to kind people. He brought the toad to Floating Mist Temple as a receptionist, while Lin Hanzhi tended to Qi Gu’s hands and the toad speculated about their relationship.

• Qi Gu severed the red thread controlling the golden toad’s curse, and the toad explained how it had fled the family it once blessed.
• Qi Gu told the staff that the toad’s windfalls only worked for kind people, and the golden toad granted them various small fortunes.
• Lin Hanzhi declined to ask for wealth, while Qi Gu said he could not keep more than five thousand yuan without bad luck.
• The golden toad told Qi Gu he was destined to be poor, so Qi Gu silenced it and hired it to handle reception at Floating Mist Temple in exchange for incense offerings.
• Qi Gu gave the golden toad to Mu Xingchen, and Lin Hanzhi wiped Qi Gu’s hands and held his wrist as the toad asked whether Lin Hanzhi was Qi Gu’s wife.

Qi Gu discovered that a powerful Wish Ghost was collecting the price of people’s wishes without properly fulfilling them, and learned it was likely hiding atop Qingji Mountain. He and several companions set out to confront it while Song An led the staff off the mountain.

• A staff member named Li wished to trade five years of his life for five hundred thousand yuan, aged five years, and received money that the bank identified as fraudulent and froze.
• Qi Gu severed the red thread draining Li’s life and drove off the attacking Wish Ghost, which Pubu Gesang identified as a ghost that granted wishes in exchange for a greater price.
• The Golden Toad realized it had once traded its accumulated merit for immortality and worship, and Qi Gu deduced that the Wish Ghost was based on Qingji Mountain’s summit.
• After learning the Wish Ghost’s influence covered at least a district, Song An decided to end the show and take the staff down the mountain.
• Qi Gu, Pubu Gesang, Lin Hanzhi, Mu Xingchen, and Li continued toward the summit while Song An led the staff away.

Sha Chuan’s wish to reach the foot of Qingji Mountain was fulfilled when the Wish Ghost dragged him into the air and dropped him to his death. Qi Gu’s group encountered and subdued an Earless Ghost, who revealed that the Wish Ghost had forced it to help gather people to eat.

• Sha Chuan lost Qi Gu’s sachet, wished to reach the mountain’s foot safely, and was lifted and dropped by the Wish Ghost, dying on impact.
• Lao Li asked Qi Gu whether he could recover the five years the Wish Ghost had taken from him, and Qi Gu said killing it would end its influence.
• At midnight, Qi Gu’s group entered an area where an Earless Ghost silenced everyone, and Qi Gu struck it out of a stone beneath Lin Hanzhi’s foot.
• Qi Gu questioned the Earless Ghost, who pleaded for mercy and explained that the Wish Ghost had threatened it into finding people to eat.

Residents of Qingji District learned that wishes could attract the Wish Ghost, while Qi Gu led his group up Qingji Mountain to deal with the ghosts. The Earless Ghost persuaded the Stone Ghost to join them, though the Stone Ghost admitted he had killed people and quietly asked to delay telling Qi Gu.

• Qingji District residents received an official warning not to make wishes, and many believed the danger after seeing reports and a livestream of the ghosts.
• Qi Gu spared the Earless Ghost on the condition that he follow along and be sent to reincarnate afterward; the ghost instead asked to become a cat or dog in a wealthy family.
• The Earless Ghost promised to persuade his friend, the Stone Ghost, to surrender, then led Qi Gu, Lin Hanzhi, Mu Xingchen, and Old Li to a gorge.
• The Earless Ghost and Stone Ghost communicated through speech and sign language, and the Stone Ghost emerged from the rock to meet Qi Gu.
• The Stone Ghost admitted that he had killed people, but asked Qi Gu if he could still come along; he then urged the Earless Ghost to let him put off explaining further.

Stone Ghost’s memories revealed how his parents abandoned him, a bully caused his death, and Earless Ghost became his first companion. After Qi Gu spared Stone Ghost, Earless Ghost eagerly offered to reveal another ghost’s secrets.

• Stone Ghost’s parents left him alone in the village, and his classmates bullied him while adults did little to help.
• When Stone Ghost was eighteen, the ringleader forced him to jump from a gorge with an umbrella, killing him; Stone Ghost awakened in the rocks and pinned the ringleader beneath them.
• Stone Ghost stayed in the rock face until Earless Ghost settled beside him, and the two ghosts became companions and learned sign language together.
• After Wish Ghost took over Qingji Mountain, Qi Gu understood Stone Ghost’s past, spared him, and told him to come along.
• Earless Ghost thanked Qi Gu and offered to reveal the identity of another ghost.

Qi Gu and the others encountered a Cave Ghost that lured hikers into its cave by pretending to be an injured girl. Lin Hanzhi baited it into Qi Gu’s golden runes, and Qi Gu freed the soul of its latest victim.

• Earless Ghost warned the group that the Cave Ghost preyed on hikers and explained how it lured people to their deaths.
• The Cave Ghost called for help from inside a cave, and its pitiful voice drew Old Li toward it.
• Qi Gu moved to help the supposed injured girl, but Lin Hanzhi threw a potato chip can at her and provoked the Cave Ghost into revealing its skeletal form.
• Qi Gu trapped the Cave Ghost in golden runes, scattering its skeletal disguise and exposing its small, deformed true body.
• Qi Gu released the recently deceased woman’s soul, and she angrily cursed the Cave Ghost for using her body and voice.

Mu Xingchen met Hot-tempered Big Sis, a devoted fan whose support had helped her through a crisis, and gave her the photo and autograph she had long wanted. After Qi Gu burned the evil cave ghost to ashes, he promised to teach Mu Xingchen his techniques, while Lin Hanzhi’s work-minded expression made Qi Gu wary.

• Hot-tempered Big Sis stopped cursing when she saw Mu Xingchen, then explained that watching him work hard had helped her through a suicidal crisis and inspired her to study.
• Hot-tempered Big Sis asked Mu Xingchen for a photo and autograph, and he fulfilled her wish before she departed.
• Qi Gu burned the cave ghost’s soul and body to ashes, while Earless Ghost congratulated himself for surrendering and Golden Toad praised Qi Gu.
• Mu Xingchen watched Qi Gu’s technique closely, and Qi Gu promised to teach it to him when they returned.
• Lin Hanzhi gave Qi Gu a sinister, work-focused look, prompting Qi Gu to step away and compare him to Bald Qiang’s boss.

Qi Gu’s group reached Wish Temple, where its seductive atmosphere bewitched several guests and revealed the temple’s blood-red threads. Qi Gu knocked out the affected men and faced the temple’s power as the livestream went dark.

• Song An found Sha Chuan’s bloodied body at the foot of Qingji Mountain, called the police, and checked the livestream to see Qi Gu eating safely.
• Song An noticed an Internet Water Army account spreading claims that Qi Gu’s ghosts were his allies, while Wei Cai’s hired company continued posting attacks manually.
• At Wish Temple, Pubu Gesang revealed a golden Vajra and offered to sever the temple’s blood-vessel-like threads, and Qi Gu led the group inside.
• The temple’s fragrant air bewitched Mu Xingchen, Lao Li, and Lin Hanzhi, so Qi Gu knocked them unconscious before confronting the Golden Image.
• Golden Toad challenged the temple’s ghost, and the fallen phone left viewers listening to the dark livestream as a faint breathing sound continued.

Qi Gu and his companions destroyed the Wish Ghost that formed the golden Buddha, but Qi Gu realized the Golden Hall itself had not vanished. The exhausted group faced the revelation that the hall might also be part of the Wish Ghost.

• Lin Hanzhi secretly propped up his phone to film Qi Gu confronting the golden Buddha, which offered to grant wishes.
• Qi Gu rejected the golden Buddha's offer, and Pubu Gesang's wish to make his boss act human failed.
• Qi Gu, Pubu Gesang, Stone Ghost, and Earless Ghost attacked the golden Buddha and exposed its body as countless merged Wish Ghosts.
• While the others held off its blood vessels, Qi Gu completed a cinnabar array that stopped the Wish Ghost's attacks and made it explode.
• After the fight, Qi Gu pointed out that the Golden Hall remained, suggesting it was part of the Wish Ghost itself.

Qi Gu and the others destroyed the Wish Ghosts and their source, Azure Bone, then secured a peaceful next life for Stone Ghost and Earless Ghost. The chapter ended with the two reborn as a cat and a dog, living together until they died and were buried side by side.

• Qi Gu revealed that his array had stunned the Wish Ghosts, and Pubu Gesang, Wine Ghost, and the others finished them off while Qi Gu rested.
• Lin Hanzhi secretly struck Azure Bone, causing the Wish Temple and the remaining Wish Ghosts to vanish.
• Qi Gu summoned a ghost official, who recorded their merit, took Wine Ghost into custody, and agreed to let Stone Ghost and Earless Ghost reincarnate together as animals.
• Stone Ghost and Earless Ghost were reborn as Shitou, a Czechoslovakian Wolfdog, and Yuanyuan, a silver-shaded cat, in a loving household.
• Yuanyuan and Shitou lived together until they died one day apart, and their owners buried their ashes together in the courtyard.

Wei Cai’s attempt to damage Qi Gu’s reputation backfired as Qi Gu’s name filled the trending list, prompting Wei Cai to suspect Vivian was supporting him and plan to have paparazzi follow them. Meanwhile, Qi Gu returned to Floating Mist Mountain and accepted lunch with Vivian and Han Yunshu, naming their new restaurant Between Water and Clouds and receiving a Han Family dining card.

• Wei Cai’s hired troll pushed a negative hashtag about Qi Gu into the trending list, but online arguments and grateful Qingji District residents helped make Qi Gu’s other topics dominate the top spots.
• Wei Cai woke to find nine of the top ten trending topics praising Qi Gu and decided Vivian must be supporting him, so he planned to have paparazzi photograph them together.
• Qi Gu returned to Floating Mist Mountain, slept until morning, and accepted Vivian and Han Yunshu’s invitation to lunch.
• A paparazzo followed Qi Gu to the Han Family’s new restaurant but could not enter the private room, so he ordered the cheapest set meal while waiting for Qi Gu to leave.
• Vivian and Han Yunshu welcomed Qi Gu and told him about Vivian’s pregnancy with Green Ghost’s child.
• Qi Gu named the restaurant Between Water and Clouds, and Han Yunshu gave him a card for free dining at the Han Family’s restaurants.

After Qi Gu was summoned to discuss important matters with Pubu Gesang, Wei Cai used a paparazzo’s photo of Qi Gu and Vivian to try to turn Han Yunshu against them. Han Yunshu instead beat Wei Cai for insulting Vivian and their family’s benefactor, and Wei Cai stood before the gathered guests clutching the photo.

• Qi Gu agreed to meet Pubu Gesang after receiving his message about important matters.
• Wei Cai received a photo of Qi Gu and Vivian, mistook Vivian’s belly for a pregnancy, and decided to use it to win Han Yunshu’s favor.
• Wei Cai obtained an invitation to the An Tea Banquet, rented a luxury watch, and approached Han Yunshu with the photo.
• Han Yunshu stopped to hear Wei Cai when he mentioned Vivian, then punched him after Wei Cai accused her of infidelity and insulted her.
• Mr. Qian and the reception guests gathered, and Han Yunshu explained that Wei Cai had insulted his wife and their family’s benefactor.
• Wei Cai stood up, clutched the photo, and prepared to show it to the crowd.

Wei Cai was exposed at Mr. Qian’s reception, thrown out, and left facing a ruined watch and Mr. He’s anger, but he resolved to target Qi Gu’s career. Inside, Han Yunshu revealed Qi Gu’s supernatural ability to the executives, leaving a grieving businessman desperate to seek his help finding his son’s remains.

• Han Yunshu showed the guests that the man in the photograph was himself, clearing up the accusation against Vivian and Qi Gu.
• Mr. Qian ordered security to eject Wei Cai, compensate him for medical expenses, and blacklist him from future receptions.
• Wei Cai damaged his expensive watch in a fall, learned Mr. He had blocked him, and decided to report Qi Gu to the Radio and Television Bureau.
• Han Yunshu told the executives that Qi Gu had identified Vivian’s unborn child as their deceased son, Xiao Song, returned to them.
• An elderly businessman who had lost his son begged Han Yunshu for Qi Gu’s contact information so he could find his son’s remains.

Mu Xingchen returned home and reconciled with his parents, while Qi Gu’s protective sachet saved Mu Xiaoxiang from a truck crash. Qi Gu and Golden Toad arrived at the Anomalous Events Management Bureau’s Z Province Branch, where Pubu Gesang waited with the branch director.

• Mu Xingchen visited his parents after three years away, and Mu Xiaoxiang accepted his decision to stay on the variety show and prepared gifts for Qi Gu and Floating Mist Temple.
• Mu Xingchen gave his parents the protective sachets Qi Gu had supplied, and one sachet stopped an overloaded truck from hitting Mu Xiaoxiang’s car.
• Mu Xiaoxiang returned to the bureau after the near-crash, while Yang Liuxin and Mu Xingchen decided to add more gifts for Qi Gu.
• Qi Gu and Golden Toad reached the outskirts, and Qi Gu messaged Pubu Gesang to reveal the concealed Z Province Branch building.
• Pubu Gesang greeted Qi Gu from behind a lounge sofa, leaving Qi Gu and Golden Toad unable to see him.

Sang Ma recruited Qi Gu into the Anomalous Events Management Bureau’s Z Province branch, where he agreed to join while keeping his filming contract. After completing onboarding and handing over the Purple-Gold Gourd for research, Qi Gu left with Pubu Gesang and Golden Toad, who asked for Mu Xingchen’s phone number.

• Sang Ma rescued Pubu Gesang from an awkward conversation with Golden Toad, who paid him four thousand to make peace.
• Sang Ma offered Qi Gu a bureau job, and Qi Gu accepted on the condition that assignments would not be too frequent or too trivial.
• Auntie Zhao remembered Sang Ma’s late daughter and regretted that Sang Ma no longer came by for mango sago.
• Qi Gu, Pubu Gesang, and Golden Toad finished the desserts, completed his onboarding, and collected his equipment; Qi Gu agreed to let the Research Department study his Purple-Gold Gourd.
• Pubu Gesang took the gourd back to the bureau and asked Qi Gu for Mu Xingchen’s number so he could claim the promised jars of lollipops.

Floating Mist Temple’s opening drew an overwhelming crowd, and its sachets sold out within an hour as Golden Toad advised visitors on their fortunes. After Qi Gu urged visitors to pray in the temple halls, worshippers reported dreams at Shifu’s small shrine that seemed to connect them with deceased loved ones.

• Huang Hongyuan opened Floating Mist Temple’s gates to a huge crowd, and visitors rushed to buy sachets, with each person limited to one.
• Golden Toad told Guan Aiai she would receive a ten-thousand-yuan windfall and gave her friend no windfall fortune.
• Qi Gu woke to learn that all two thousand sachets had sold out and that the temple had run short of incense and supplies.
• Qi Gu announced that the temple would offer free ticket reservations in the future and encouraged visitors without sachets to pray in the halls.
• A young man reported dreaming of his late grandfather after praying at Shifu’s small shrine, and a woman said her deceased cat had visited her in a dream and revealed that her dog had scattered the cat food.

Qi Gu explained that the figure in Floating Mist Temple’s shrine was his master, then learned that Fang Heng’s family tragedy might be connected to a sinister force in Huai Shui Village. He demonstrated a talisman that copied the Purple-Gold Gourd’s abilities and left Mu Xingchen facing a formidable stack of study books.

• Qi Gu told online commenters that the shrine’s figure was his master, while they speculated that his master might be more than an ordinary old man.
• Han Yunshu brought Fang Heng to Floating Mist Temple, where Qi Gu divined that Fang Heng had once lived in Huai Shui Village but could not probe the village further.
• Pubu Gesang noted that Huai Shui Village was the destination for the next episode of Investigating the Strange, and Qi Gu suggested that Fang Heng’s wife and son might not have died by coincidence.
• Qi Gu told Fang Heng that his son might still be alive, and Fang Heng left the temple energized and hopeful.
• Qi Gu offered to make a consumable talisman that copied the Purple-Gold Gourd’s abilities, then showed Pubu Gesang and Mu Xingchen how it worked.
• Qi Gu gave Mu Xingchen twenty thick books to study and told him to memorize the Qingjing Jing by the next morning.

After Floating Mist Temple’s opening day, Qi Gu treated the staff to dinner while Mu Xingchen stayed behind to study. Qi Gu learned that Lin Hanzhi was enduring a mysterious ordeal by a river and read an angler’s plea for help with a ghost that kept following him.

• Qi Gu and Huang Hongyuan finished the temple accounts, and Qi Gu treated the employees and Mu Xingchen to dinner.
• Pubu Gesang returned to the General Bureau with fifty Gourd Talismans, while Mu Xingchen stayed behind to memorize the Qingjing Jing.
• Lin Hanzhi congratulated Qi Gu on the temple opening and said he was sick but had to keep working; beside a river, he repeatedly plunged into the water and crawled back out in pain.
• Qi Gu read a post from Angler Never Gets Skunked, who admitted that he and his two fishing buddies had kept fishing after seeing a ghost because they did not want to lose their bet.
• Angler Never Gets Skunked said the ghost had latched onto him and floated closer each time he went fishing.

Qi Gu agreed to help three anglers haunted by a ghost and took Mu Xingchen to investigate, while Lin Hanzhi recovered in the hospital after a dangerous mission. Miao Yue confronted Lin Hanzhi about the riverbed threat and suspected he had feelings for Qi Gu.

• Qi Gu agreed to visit the anglers and asked them to donate a year's worth of charity lunches for children in the mountains after the haunting was resolved.
• Mu Xingchen recited the Qingjing Jing to Qi Gu, then joined him on a livestreamed trip to investigate the ghost.
• Qi Gu told viewers that the ghost was unlikely to be a vengeful spirit and explained how careless words could draw a ghost's attention.
• Lin Hanzhi sent Qi Gu a hospital photo after passing out, and Qi Gu asked whether he should change jobs once he recovered.
• Miao Yue scolded Lin Hanzhi for repeatedly risking his life to suppress something on a riverbed, but he refused to explain because it was a Bureau secret.
• Miao Yue guessed that Lin Hanzhi's messages were to Qi Gu and teased him about his apparent interest, but Lin Hanzhi denied there was anything between them.

Qi Gu investigated the ghost haunting the reservoir and discovered she was a newly dead woman who had been trying to scare three anglers for days. The anglers learned that their persistence at fishing had frustrated her, and Qi Gu left them to confront how ridiculous the whole situation was.

• Qi Gu warned the anglers that their cabin was structurally unsafe, and they moved outside with their fishing gear.
• Qi Gu told the anglers to fish as usual to lure the ghost out, and a red-haired female ghost approached them.
• The anglers initially fled, but returned to help one another haul in what they thought was a heavy fish while the ghost angrily swore at them.
• Mu Xingchen translated the ghost’s explanation that she had only wanted to scare people and kept pursuing the anglers because they ignored her.
• Qi Gu explained that the anglers had been scared but stayed to avoid returning without a catch, and the anglers protested that the ghost had harassed them for days over nothing.

Qi Gu and the fishermen discovered that the strange blind fish had taken a child’s eyes and asked them to rescue its owner, Shuishui, from a safe at the bottom of the reservoir. The fishermen brought the rusted safe to the surface, and its age suggested Shuishui had been trapped there for many years.

• Qi Gu sent the female ghost off to reincarnate and directed the fishermen to keep pulling in their catch.
• The fishermen landed a beautiful blind fish with human eyes, and Qi Gu explained that its kind stole eyes to obtain them.
• The blind fish said it meant no harm and asked the group to help rescue its owner, Shuishui, from a heavy safe underwater.
• The three fishermen dived into the reservoir with the blind fish and brought a rusted, sludge-covered safe to the surface.
• Everyone realized the safe had been underwater for many years and that Shuishui inside could not have survived.

Qi Gu and Mu Xingchen opened the safe and freed Shuishui’s soul, who reunited with Xiao Yu and revealed how the blind fish had tried to protect her for years. After Xiao Yu learned that Shuishui had given her eyes before dying, Shuishui comforted her and turned to speak with the fishermen.

• Xiao Yu celebrated as Qi Gu, Mu Xingchen, and the fishermen hauled the safe ashore and Qi Gu broke its rusted lock with the Purple-Gold Gourd.
• Shuishui’s soul reunited with Xiao Yu beside her bones and told her she had died because she was human and had remained underwater.
• Shuishui’s memories revealed that Xiao Yu had lived with her in a vase, heard about her abuse, and tried to persuade her to trade her eyes for safety.
• After Shuishui’s family sealed her in the safe and sank it in the reservoir, she gave Xiao Yu her eyes and promised to stay with her until Xiao Yu could find help.
• Years later, Xiao Yu led fishermen to the safe by driving fish to their hooks and biting a hook herself, and the fishermen finally pulled Shuishui out.
• Shuishui stroked the sobbing Xiao Yu and asked her to quiet down while she spoke to the fishermen.