Chapter Summaries

Qi Gu explained that his calmness came from a lifetime of terrible luck, and Lin Hanzhi comforted him. Meanwhile, Sha Chuan continued deceiving his girlfriends, unaware that the three women had discovered his scheme and compared notes.

• Viewers asked how Qi Gu stayed calm, and he listed the misfortunes he had endured.
• Qi Gu remembered being orphaned and explained why he had taken Green Ghost home; Lin Hanzhi wished him better luck.
• Sha Chuan privately reassured Lili and Xiao Mo that each was the most important woman in his life.
• Lili connected Qi Gu’s warning to suspicious details about Sha Chuan and arranged to meet two of his other financial backers.
• The three women compared their relationships with Sha Chuan and realized he had scheduled their calls, passed gifts between them, and recycled their sweet messages.

Sha Chuan pretended to mourn a dead girlfriend to attract viewers and planned to use his image to advance his career, while his three girlfriends secretly plotted to expose him. At Moon-Worship Pavilion, Qi Gu revealed the deadly rule hidden from the Wine-Cup Game and warned the group not to trust unfamiliar horror-game instructions.

• Sha Chuan acted heartbroken on livestream, hoping to attract attention and sign with Wei Cai before eventually leaving his three girlfriends.
• Lili, Xiao Mo, and Xinxin agreed to play along with Sha Chuan’s scheme, livestream his downfall, and prevent his comeback.
• The group reached Moon-Worship Pavilion, where Song An explained the Wine-Cup Game and Lin Hanzhi asked to stay close to Qi Gu.
• Qi Gu pointed out that players must not step in the wine, which had been offered as food to a ghost, and warned that the post’s author had likely been a ghost setting a trap.

Qi Gu summoned and captured the wine ghost at the Moon-Worship Pavilion after tricking it into biting enchanted stones that shattered its rotten teeth. Afterward, he made Mu Xingchen his disciple by accepting his milk and immediately assigned him the job of washing the Purple-Gold Gourd.

• Song An suggested they summon the wine ghost, and Qi Gu prepared enchanted stones to stand in for living people.
• Qi Gu recited the summoning incantation and poured erguotou at the four corners of the Moon-Worship Pavilion.
• The wine ghost appeared, drank the liquor, and swallowed Qi Gu's enchanted stones, which made its rotten teeth fall out.
• The wine ghost lunged at Qi Gu, who captured it in his Purple-Gold Gourd.
• Qi Gu decided to take Mu Xingchen as his disciple, accepted his Want Want milk, and gave him responsibility for washing the gourd.

After Qi Gu captured the drunkard ghost in his gourd, Lin Hanzhi discovered that Qi Gu had used medicine stored in it and reacted badly to its supposed contamination. His unexpectedly mild response baffled Pubu Gesang, while the incident and the cast’s antics sent several searches trending online.

• Qi Gu put the drunkard ghost’s enormous head into his gourd, prompting Pubu Gesang to consider how useful the artifact could be to the Bureau.
• Lin Hanzhi asked whether Qi Gu had taken the medicine for his wound from the gourd, and Qi Gu admitted it had held other ghosts before.
• Lin Hanzhi scrubbed the medicine off his ankle until his skin reddened, then told Qi Gu there had better not be a next time; Qi Gu promised he had washed the gourd.
• Pubu Gesang wondered why Lin Hanzhi kept treating Qi Gu so leniently, while Mu Xingchen questioned the eight-year-old boy’s serious talk about his career prospects.
• The ghost game and the exchange about Lin Hanzhi’s mysophobia became trending topics, confusing people who had missed the events.
• Random Bystander A replied to the trending searches as if grading homework, then panicked when his replies and likes drew a flood of attention.

Lili, Xiao Mo, and Xinxin exposed Sha Chuan for cheating on all three of them and exploiting his deceased ex-girlfriend, Xu Xue. Xu Xue’s roommate Jiang Huaguo joined the livestream and revealed that Sha Chuan had falsely claimed to attend Q University using Xu Xue’s stolen student ID.

• Lili, Xiao Mo, and Xinxin started a promoted livestream to expose Sha Chuan’s cheating.
• Lili presented chat records, a timeline, and gifts showing Sha Chuan had dated all three women at once and shared their messages and gifts between them.
• Viewers turned against Sha Chuan and discussed his deceased ex-girlfriend, Xu Xue, who had died after failing a postgraduate entrance exam.
• Xu Xue’s roommate Jiang Huaguo joined the stream and said Sha Chuan had attended a second-tier university, not Q University.
• Jiang Huaguo revealed that Sha Chuan had used Xu Xue’s stolen Q University student ID in his photos.

Jiang Huaguo recounted how Sha Chuan misused Xu Xue’s student ID, manipulated her spending, and remained attentive enough to keep her from breaking up with him. As viewers turned on Sha Chuan and Xu Xue’s mother called during the show, he decided to answer, while Qi Gu saw more in the black threads around him.

• Jiang Huaguo explained that Sha Chuan used Xu Xue’s student ID to suggest he was a university student, then deceived Xu Xue when she confronted him.
• Jiang Huaguo described Sha Chuan’s attentiveness and recalled Xu Xue becoming unusually careful with money before her suicide.
• Viewers condemned Sha Chuan after hearing Jiang Huaguo’s account, and he saw comments accusing him of cheating and manipulating Xu Xue.
• Sha Chuan noticed Xu Xue’s mother calling, hesitated to answer, then decided to take the call rather than appear guilty to viewers.
• As Sha Chuan prepared to answer, Qi Gu perceived more in the hazy black threads surrounding him.

Jiang Huaguo told Auntie Xu and the livestream why she had not visited Xu Xue’s grave and recalled how Xu Xue had become her best friend. As Sha Chuan tried to discredit her, Qi Gu spotted a human-life debt connected to him.

• Sha Chuan denied the online accusations and suggested Jiang Huaguo was exploiting Xu Xue’s death for publicity.
• Jiang Huaguo explained that she avoided cemeteries because her mother died by suicide at her father’s grave after his burial.
• Jiang Huaguo recalled how Xu Xue and her university roommates had supported her, including Xu Xue giving her a down jacket and calling her her best friend.
• Jiang Huaguo vowed to swear at Xu Xue’s grave that her account of Xu Xue and Sha Chuan came from genuine understanding.
• Qi Gu saw black threads connecting Sha Chuan to a human-life debt, leaving Auntie Xu and the viewers shocked.

Qi Gu offered to summon Xu Xue from the Underworld so she could explain the injustice surrounding her death, and asked who would let her possess them. After Sha Chuan initially refused, he agreed, hoping to preserve his devoted-boyfriend image.

• Xu Xue's parents offered Qi Gu their money and property in exchange for the truth about their daughter's death.
• Qi Gu said Xu Xue remained in the Underworld and proposed summoning her to speak for herself.
• Qi Gu asked Xu Xue's parents for her birth details and sought a volunteer to let her possess them.
• Jiang Huaguo and Xu Xue's parents immediately volunteered, while Sha Chuan claimed his poor health made possession too dangerous.
• Sha Chuan reconsidered and agreed to be possessed, presenting himself as willing to sacrifice for Xu Xue.

Qi Gu summoned Xu Xue into Sha Chuan’s body so she could tell her parents how she had been assaulted and driven to suicide. After Qi Gu exposed signs that Sha Chuan had helped set her up, he produced an underworld iron pill that could force Sha Chuan to tell the truth.

• Qi Gu drew Xu Xue’s fate chart and summoned her soul into Sha Chuan’s body.
• Xu Xue reunited with her parents and explained that her company boss had sexually assaulted her after Sha Chuan brought her to a karaoke celebration.
• Xu Xue recounted how Sha Chuan persuaded her not to report the assault, and her parents blamed themselves for not being someone she could confide in.
• Qi Gu questioned Xu Xue about the night of the assault and reasoned that Sha Chuan had returned only after the attack was over, suggesting he had helped arrange it.
• Qi Gu said an underworld iron pill could force Sha Chuan to speak truthfully and produced one from his Purple-Gold Gourd.

Qi Gu gave Xu Xue the Judge of the Underworld's Iron Pellet, allowing her to force Sha Chuan to confess that he had manipulated her and arranged for his boss to abuse her. Xu Xue's father called the police, while netizens exposed the boss and his wife left him with their children.

• Qi Gu tossed the Iron Pellet to Xu Xue, who swallowed it and let Sha Chuan control her body again.
• The Iron Pellet forced Sha Chuan to reveal that he and his boss had plotted to exploit Xu Xue and that he had deliberately manipulated her.
• Xu Xue's parents learned Sha Chuan had caused their daughter's death, and her father called the police.
• Netizens identified Sha Chuan's agency boss and informed his wife about his involvement.
• The boss's wife slapped him, presented her prepared divorce agreement, and left with their children.

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.