Chapter Summaries

Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi spent the morning together before discussing the Glazed Bone and its final destination, the Huai'an River. Lin Hanzhi explained that the river concealed the remains of practitioners who had died fighting ghosts and monsters, and revealed that his long-term assignment was connected to their burial site.

• Jing Ping brought breakfast to Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi, who shared the food after hiding the traces of their night together.
• Qi Gu fitted the piece obtained from Bai Yu into the Glazed Bone, whose lights still pointed toward the riverbed.
• Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi considered whether the Glazed Bone was inherently harmful or depended on how its user wielded it.
• Qi Gu asked whether the Huai'an River was the final location and recalled that Lin Hanzhi had a long-term assignment there.
• Lin Hanzhi explained that practitioners killed by ghosts and monsters had been buried beneath the Huai'an River to suppress disturbances from their remains.

Lin Hanzhi told Qi Gu how a thousand-year-old Astronomical Bureau director devised a way to suppress reanimated practitioners, and revealed that he had been giving his blood to the Riverbed each month. Qi Gu comforted him and decided they would enter the Underwater Tomb without Mu Xingchen and the others.

• Lin Hanzhi recounted how a violent death led to reanimated corpses, prompting the director to have practitioners who died violently buried on the Huai'an Riverbed beneath the dragon vein.
• Lin Hanzhi explained that when the dragon vein weakened, the bureau discovered descendants’ blood could calm the corpses and secretly began collecting it.
• Lin Hanzhi told Qi Gu that the Lin family’s dwindling bloodline meant he had to give more blood than others, and that he had gone alone to the Riverbed after Director Wang could no longer accompany him.
• Qi Gu comforted Lin Hanzhi, who admitted he had been lonely during the confidential monthly assignments and could not see the reanimated corpses behind the Cast-Iron Gate.
• Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi suspected the big-spending emperor had funded the enormous gate, and Qi Gu decided they would enter the tomb without Mu Xingchen and the others.

Lin Hanzhi and Qi Gu prepared to enter the Underwater Tomb at Huai'an River, where they expected to face thousands of Horrifying Corpses, and set out together before dawn. Their sixth Investigating the Strange livestream began underwater, leaving viewers speculating about the unfamiliar location.

• Lin Hanzhi and Qi Gu agreed to set out after Qi Gu's injury healed, and they spent two more peaceful days together.
• Lin Hanzhi packed diving gear and explosives for the Huai'an River mission, while Qi Gu added two tracking drones and decided to livestream the dive.
• Lin Hanzhi said he had left words for Miao Yue, while Qi Gu chose to wait until they returned before saying anything to the others.
• Lin Hanzhi and Qi Gu kissed, then boarded a helicopter and departed before dawn as Jing Ping watched them leave.
• Viewers discovered that episode six of Investigating the Strange was live and saw Lin Hanzhi and Qi Gu diving through dark freshwater with shadows on both sides.

At a crowded mall event, Miao Yue and Pubu Gesang learned that Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi had gone live without telling them, leaving them worried about the danger. Underwater, Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi reached a hidden chamber, where Lin Hanzhi used his blood to activate its array and Qi Gu rewrote the seal to let only the two of them pass.

• An audience member told Mu Xingchen that episode six of Investigating the Strange was airing live, and Mu Xingchen realized he had not been informed.
• Miao Yue and Pubu Gesang saw the live broadcast and feared Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi had left them behind because the underwater mission was dangerous.
• Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi reached the riverbed, opened a concealed entrance in a sealed block, and entered the cramped chamber.
• Lin Hanzhi poured Bureau members' blood into the chamber's lamp stands, then stabbed his chest with the Bone Blade to add his own blood.
• Qi Gu recognized the sealing array's logic, replaced it with runes that admitted only him and Lin Hanzhi, and used a healing rune to ease Lin Hanzhi's wound.

The Cunning Ghost unleashed a horde of vicious ghosts to spread suffering across the mortal world, and the Anomalous Affairs Bureau and its allies mobilized to protect residents. Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi reassured livestream viewers and urged them toward safety as the crisis spread.

• The Cunning Ghost sent countless vicious ghosts from the ruined temple to rampage through the world and create suffering for the Asura's return.
• Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi entered a corridor filled with ghostly howls, then told viewers to use talismans or a mind-cleansing incantation and seek Safe Zones.
• A viewer gathered her family and elderly neighbors and headed toward a nearby Safe Zone after hearing Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi's advice.
• The Anomalous Affairs Bureau dispatched its members and assigned registered metaphysics practitioners to protect residents.
• Pubu Gesang stayed at a shopping mall to protect the crowd while Miao Yue ran toward another assignment, and Mu Xingchen helped calm the people.
• The banyan tree shielded Huai Shui Village, while Zeng Qinghuan, Mo Zhou, and other Ghost Messengers set out to apprehend the ghosts and the Bureau prepared for battle.

Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi discovered that the Spendthrift Emperor and the Director of Astronomy had built the underground complex to contain the Horrifying Corpses, and found a Twin Hearts Pendant linking them to the pair. The pendant revealed their past-life connection, as the story shifted to the dying Director of Astronomy and the emperor caring for him a thousand years earlier.

• Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi followed their instincts through the maze and reached a burial chamber containing a large coffin.
• Qi Gu opened the coffin, revealing the remains of the Spendthrift Emperor and the Director of Astronomy buried together.
• Lin Hanzhi explained that the emperor and director had built the complex to imprison the Horrifying Corpses, then found a Twin Hearts Pendant between their intertwined hands.
• Lin Hanzhi joined the pendant to the halves worn by him and Qi Gu, and its light revealed that the ancient pair were connected to their present lives.
• A thousand years earlier, the emperor visited the gravely ill Director of Astronomy and gently tried to feed him his favorite congee.

The Director of Astronomy prepared a sealing formation to contain the Horrifying Corpses, while concealing from the emperor that using it would cost him his life. He chose to spend his remaining time with the emperor, then died after asking for the emperor’s congee.

• The Director of Astronomy coughed up blood while the emperor fed him congee and explained that Records of Corpse Liberation should be entrusted to a prudent family of practitioners.
• The Director of Astronomy recalled realizing that the emperor loved him and decided to stay with him for as long as he could, despite knowing he would die.
• Five days later, the Director of Astronomy completed a sealing formation and stored it in a Purple-Gold Gourd, teaching the emperor how to use it on the underwater tomb.
• The Director of Astronomy asked for the emperor’s minced chicken congee, collapsed after retching blood, and died before the emperor returned with the bowl.
• In the thirteenth year of Qianyuan, the emperor fell gravely ill and suspended court for more than three months, while the Director of Astronomy was recorded as having died young.

The emperor and the director were reunited briefly after death, but the director accepted a thousand years in Purgatory and arranged to be reborn as Qi Gu. In the present, Lin Hanzhi and Qi Gu recognized that the Records of Corpse Liberation were connected to Lin Hanzhi’s ancestor, Lin Yuan.

• The emperor completed the underwater tomb and ordered an ordinary second coffin, hoping he and the director could share it in their next lives.
• The dying emperor climbed to Twin Hearts Temple to pray for reunion, where he briefly saw the director’s soul before both spirits rose.
• The director explained to the Ghost Official that he had lied about meeting the emperor in their next lives to keep him from following him into Purgatory.
• After the director’s thousand-year sentence, the Ghost Official agreed to raise him as Qi Gu and arranged for the emperor to reincarnate a few years older.
• In a burial chamber, Lin Hanzhi and Qi Gu recognized the name Records of Corpse Liberation and connected it to Lin Hanzhi’s ancestor, Lin Yuan.

Lin Hanzhi learned how the Lin family’s massacre had been tied to their effort to stop a white-haired fierce ghost and its Glazed Bone plot. The chapter revealed how Ning Xiao alone survived the family’s attempt at corpse liberation, then used the Teleportation Arrays to hunt S-rank ghosts, though the Sea Lord escaped her.

• Lin Hanzhi connected the Records of Corpse Liberation to his ancestor Lin Yuan and realized it explained the Lin family’s past.
• Lin Qiao used the Heavenly Eye to foresee a white-haired fierce ghost distributing Glazed Bone and saw the Records of Corpse Liberation as the way to stop the threat.
• The Lin family searched Huaguo, planted Teleportation Arrays near the ghosts’ locations, and suffered failed attempts to use the Records of Corpse Liberation.
• Thirty-two Lin family members attempted corpse liberation together, but most died, and one transformed into an evil ghost and attacked a nearby villa.
• Lin Yan sacrificed himself to kill the evil ghost, while Ning Xiao completed corpse liberation and discovered that Lin Hanzhi’s heart still beat faintly.
• Ning Xiao used the Teleportation Arrays to kill the known S-rank ghosts and take their bones, but the Sea Lord survived by hiding among human incense offerings.

Lin Hanzhi realized the Lin family had intended to retreat into the tomb beneath the Huai'an River after corpse liberation, and Qi Gu stayed by him as they faced what lay beyond its door. Meanwhile, Cunning Ghost revealed that Water Corpses had infiltrated the Anomalous Affairs Bureau and demanded the corpse-liberated immortal and the Glazed Bone in exchange for sparing the Safe Zones.

• Lin Hanzhi recalled the Lin family's knowledge of the tomb and their plan to enter it after defeating the S-rank malevolent ghosts, while Qi Gu comforted him.
• A boy in Safe Zone 15 noticed that the Anomalous Affairs Officer's clear eyes had turned murky, and similar changes appeared among officers in other Safe Zones.
• Cunning Ghost confronted Miao Yue outside Anomalous Affairs Bureau headquarters and showed her Water Corpses hiding among the officers in multiple Safe Zones.
• Cunning Ghost demanded that the Bureau hand over the corpse-liberated immortal in the Underwater Tomb and the gathered Glazed Bone within fifteen minutes, or he would unleash the Water Corpses on nearly a thousand Safe Zones.
• Cunning Ghost explained that he had maneuvered the Bureau into finding the tomb, relying on Qi Gu to open it and Lin Hanzhi's blood to make the immortal submit.

Lin Hanzhi and Qi Gu reunited with the Corpse-Release Immortal, completed the Glazed Bone, and learned Cunning Ghost was threatening civilians with transformed Bureau members. After the Immortal sacrificed herself to empower Lin Hanzhi’s Bone Blades, Miao Yue and the Ghost Official stopped the attack and seized control of the Safe Zones.

• Qi Gu opened the tomb, and the Corpse-Release Immortal embraced Lin Hanzhi and Qi Gu before giving them the remaining Glazed Bone, which fused into a complete skull.
• Lin Hanzhi read Miao Yue’s urgent message: Cunning Ghost had transformed more than a thousand Bureau members and demanded the Immortal and Glazed Bone within fifteen minutes.
• The Corpse-Release Immortal refined Lin Hanzhi’s forty-six Bone Blades into transparent weapons, said goodbye, and faded away after Lin Hanzhi called her Mom.
• Cunning Ghost learned the Immortal had died and ordered the Water Corpses to attack civilians across the Safe Zones.
• Miao Yue activated the Gu insects she had planted in the Water Corpses, while the Ghost Official’s Ghost Messengers captured the vicious ghosts.
• Miao Yue explained that Cunning Ghost’s actions had revealed every Water Corpse, allowing her to identify them all.

Miao Yue learned that Cunning Ghost had killed her parents during a staged mission, but he sacrificed himself to summon the Asura Ghost. Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi fought the manifested Asura Dharma Form as it tore open the Ghost Prison and unleashed ghosts upon the capital.

• Cunning Ghost attacked Miao Yue, but a Bureau officer deflected his claws before Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi arrived and drove him back.
• Cunning Ghost revealed that the Glazed Bone was a diversion and used hand seals, human suffering, and a vessel to summon the Asura Ghost.
• Cunning Ghost was consumed by blue-green flames and turned to ash as the Asura Dharma Form emerged from the Glazed Bone.
• Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi attacked the Asura Dharma Form, while Qi Gu ordered an officer to carry the exhausted Miao Yue away.
• The Asura Dharma Form struck the city, opened fissures into the Ghost Prison, and released evil ghosts as Lin Hanzhi's Bone Blades failed to harm it.

Qi Gu used the Threads of Karma to trap Asura, while Lin Hanzhi fought to keep the Asura Dharma Form occupied. After Lin Hanzhi gave Qi Gu his remaining Spiritual Power, the golden threads bound Asura and restored daylight to the human world.

• Qi Gu recalled how to use the Threads of Karma and began turning Asura's evil deeds golden with his Spiritual Power.
• Lin Hanzhi repeatedly attacked the Asura Dharma Form with the Bone Blade to distract it, sustaining severe injuries.
• Qi Gu endured the strain of dodging attacks and dyeing the endless Threads of Karma until he lit the final thread.
• Lin Hanzhi pulled Qi Gu from beneath Asura's descending foot and transferred all his remaining Spiritual Power to him.
• Qi Gu activated Lin Hanzhi's Spiritual Power, and the golden Threads of Karma enveloped Asura in a cage that compressed and exploded.
• Asura's stolen light returned to the human world, and daylight flooded the ruined cities.

In a carefree what-if, Lin Hanzhi and Qi Gu prepared for a family picnic, recalling how Lin Hanzhi had found and brought Qi Gu home as a child. The chapter ended as the two ran toward Lin Yan and Ning Xiao beneath the sunshine.

• Lin Hanzhi woke Qi Gu and reminded him they were going on a picnic.
• Lin Hanzhi's family teased him for looking after Qi Gu, whom he had found abandoned at a mall when they were children.
• Lin Hanzhi's parents adopted Qi Gu after no one could identify his birth parents.
• Qi Gu asked who was joining the picnic and what food they were bringing, and Lin Hanzhi told him the family and his favorite foods were ready.
• Lin Hanzhi and Qi Gu ran toward Lin Yan and Ning Xiao beside the waiting cars.

Pubu Gesang, Mu Xingchen, Lin Hanzhi, and Qi Gu enjoyed a series of everyday moments as their lives settled into routines of work, affection, and leisure. The chapter ended with records showing Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi had been seen together almost every time over three years.

• Pubu Gesang complained to Brother Qi about the gold worn off his Vajra and received a money transfer from his boss.
• After Qi Gu saw Mu Xingchen drawing talismans slowly during a concert, he gave him a punishing practice assignment.
• Lin Hanzhi accused Qi Gu of admiring another man's abs, but Qi Gu explained the accidental video and kissed Lin Hanzhi's abs.
• Qi Gu spent his idle days between the Lin family's Main Residence and Floating Mist Temple, often going out to try food.
• Fans recorded that passersby had seen Qi Gu and Lin Hanzhi together on twenty-one of twenty-four occasions, while Lin Hanzhi picked up Qi Gu's favorite dishes on the other three.