Recaps

Jiang Nuo and the others pieced together that the village’s cruel ghost-marriage custom was tied to a powerful ghost king and its sacrifices. After returning to the village in daylight, they found the villagers’ injuries healed and the children missing, then went to check on He Jiu and the others.

• Lin Yu emerged from hiding, and Jiang Nuo questioned him about having an older brother before Si Yan drew attention back to his wound.
• Pu Sang and Jiang Nuo found powerful ghostly energy lingering on Si Yan’s wound, which Jiang Nuo linked to a ghost king.
• Si Yan explained that the children’s song described a custom of marrying pregnant women to wandering ghosts and burying them alive, leading Jiang Nuo to suspect the ghost king’s wedding required sacrifices.
• Jiang Nuo proposed helping the ghost king get married so it would appear once all the guiding souls were found, and the group realized He Jiu, Shuishui, and Qianqian had not come out.
• The group returned to the village and saw that the elderly women’s injuries had vanished and the children were missing, then entered the village chief’s house to check on the others.

Jiang Nuo and the others found Li Ta and the rest of the village missing, then discovered the pregnant woman’s corpse hidden beneath a cabinet. After Jiang Nuo fed the corpse’s red stone and another stone with Lin Yu’s blood, a black snake appeared and swallowed them, leaving the group facing an unknown change in the air.

• Pu Sang called for the village chief and the others, but no one answered, and the group found Li Ta’s room empty and spotless.
• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan found the pregnant woman’s corpse hidden beneath a cabinet, while Wu Chou confirmed that all the rooms were empty.
• Jiang Nuo recognized the corpse and found a red stone clenched in her hand after searching her head with a dagger.
• Jiang Nuo forced Lin Yu to stay still and used his blood to soak the two red stones.
• A black snake slithered in through the window and swallowed both stones, and the guests felt a ripple pass through the air.

Jiang Nuo and Si Yan chose to search for and kill the Ghost King after being drawn into its wedding illusion, while the other guests stayed behind to help complete the wedding. The village chief’s wife noticed that two guests were missing and demanded to know where they had gone.

• Li Ta appeared at the village chief’s home and urged everyone to help prepare for a wedding, and the guests found the deserted village transformed by a Ghost King’s illusion.
• Jiang Nuo proposed either killing the Ghost King or completing its wish by finishing the wedding, and he chose the first option with Si Yan.
• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan left together, while Pu Sang, Zhou Yize, Wu Chou, and Lin Yu remained to help with the wedding preparations.
• The village chief’s wife assigned the remaining guests tasks, including preparing the bride and keeping vigil beside the bridal sedan.
• The village chief’s wife noticed two guests were missing, and Lin Yu said they had run off and should be punished.

Jiang Nuo and Si Yan searched the mortuary, where Jiang Nuo raised a red-haired zombie to help them, then tried to leave but were forced into the village’s wedding preparations. After Jiang Nuo killed the burly ghosts, they found themselves back where they started and realized they had to return to the village chief’s house.

• Jiang Nuo found that the mortuary’s little zombies were absent, but raised a half-skeletonized red-haired zombie and ordered it to hide until needed.
• Si Yan complained that Jiang Nuo would rather rely on the zombie than let him fight, and Jiang Nuo reassured him by biting his hand and telling him not to get hurt.
• Several burly men surrounded Jiang Nuo and Si Yan and ordered them to help prepare for the bride’s wedding; He Jiu secretly signaled for them to agree.
• When Jiang Nuo asked who the groom was, the burly men reacted with terror, so Jiang Nuo drew a large saber and killed them all.
• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan tried to leave the mortuary but returned to the same spot, leading Si Yan to conclude they had to go back to the village chief’s house.

Jiang Nuo and Si Yan helped the ghost bride with her makeup while Zhou Yize became unnaturally obsessed with Jiang Nuo. Jiang Nuo revealed that he had been manipulating Zhou Yize, then stabbed him in the neck as the bride watched.

• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan joined Zhou Yize in preparing the ghost bride, whose face shed and regrew its skin and whose belly radiated a strange power.
• Zhou Yize reminisced about his school days with Jiang Nuo and tried to take his hand, provoking Si Yan's jealousy.
• Jiang Nuo held Zhou Yize's hand and pretended to confess that he had always liked him, intensifying Zhou Yize's obsession.
• The ghost bride taunted Si Yan about being rejected, and Si Yan angrily threw face powder at her.
• Jiang Nuo stabbed Zhou Yize in the neck and said he liked anyone who took a fatal blow for him, making Zhou Yize's madness disappear.

Jiang Nuo comforted Si Yan after pretending to reject him to stop Zhou Yize from killing him, then investigated Lin Yu’s suspicious return to life. He trapped Lin Yu in a coffin beneath the scholar tree and sealed it with a suppression talisman.

• Jiang Nuo explained that the ghost bride had used Zhou Yize to choose between him and Si Yan as the sixth guiding soul, and Zhou Yize walked away under her spell.
• Si Yan demanded reassurance that Jiang Nuo’s rejection had been fake, and Jiang Nuo soothed him and promised he did not like Zhou Yize.
• Jiang Nuo suspected Lin Yu’s sudden return to life was connected to the seventh guiding soul and went to investigate him.
• Jiang Nuo confronted Lin Yu beneath the scholar tree, where an open coffin and living branches revealed a trap.
• Jiang Nuo used a vine to slam Lin Yu into the coffin, shut the lid, and sealed him inside with a suppression talisman.

Lin Yu escaped his coffin by separating his soul from his body, while Jiang Nuo suspected he had returned to the illusory realm. As the villagers reenacted the ghost bride’s brutal death, Jiang Nuo realized the scene was directing them outside the gate.

• Lin Yu left his corpse under control and followed it, vowing to kill the monster and then Jiang Nuo.
• Jiang Nuo realized that people who died in the game might return and grew wary that Lin Yu was among them.
• After all seven guiding souls gathered, Jiang Nuo ate with Si Yan, Pu Sang, and Wu Chou while they waited for nightfall.
• At midnight, Jiang Nuo and the others watched villagers force the pregnant ghost bride into a coffin and seal her inside.
• When the reenactment faded, Jiang Nuo noticed someone slipping away and saw the gate open, concluding they should go outside.

Jiang Nuo and the others survived a ghostly massacre by destroying the phantoms with his toy sword and Si Yan’s help. More powerful path-clearing ghosts arrived with a bridal sedan chair, and Jiang Nuo urged the group to run while the ghost king remained unseen.

• Jiang Nuo realized He Jiu had been guiding them toward the truth about the village’s past.
• A procession of ghostly shadows swept through Fragrant Tree Village, killing the remaining villagers and turning on Jiang Nuo, Si Yan, Pu Sang, and Wu Chou.
• Jiang Nuo used his toy sword to repeatedly split the phantoms, while Si Yan helped him destroy a larger shadow with a peachwood sword.
• More ghosts appeared behind a bridal sedan chair, and Si Yan identified them as path-clearing ghosts.
• Wu Chou warned that path-clearing ghosts were generally the strongest, so Jiang Nuo suggested they run before the ghost king appeared.

Jiang Nuo led Si Yan, Pu Sang, and Wu Chou to the village ancestral hall, where its spiritual deities could repel the ghosts pursuing them. Inside, Jiang Nuo discovered villagers’ corpses and tried to take down a deity portrait, but it burned his hands; he insisted on trying again.

• Jiang Nuo noticed the ghosts avoiding the ancestral hall and led the group toward it, while the red-haired zombie fled after being struck by a specter.
• Wu Chou stayed behind to draw the ghosts away and accidentally used Jiang Nuo’s projector to frighten them with a giant ghostly projection.
• Jiang Nuo, Si Yan, and Pu Sang entered the ancestral hall and learned that the deities’ spiritual presence kept the ghosts at bay.
• Jiang Nuo found a concealed room filled with villagers’ corpses and concluded that the village’s corpse herders had survived the massacre by sheltering in the hall.
• Jiang Nuo told the others to use the deity portraits against the ghosts, but a portrait burned his palms when he tried to remove it; he refused Si Yan’s offer to take over and tried again.

Jiang Nuo and Si Yan helped suppress the ghosts with divine images, then followed the bridal procession to the village chief's house, where Lin Yu's absence left a sedan chair unopened. After the red-haired zombie was sent to open it, Jiang Nuo and the others lost consciousness and appeared in separate parts of the newlywed mourning hall.

• Jiang Nuo took down a resisting divine image and cut his palm, so Si Yan gently bandaged his wound.
• Pu Sang called for help, and Si Yan used the divine images to suppress the ghosts while shielding Jiang Nuo from harm.
• Jiang Nuo and the others watched the bridal procession and spotted apparitions of corpse herders being chased.
• At the village chief's house, the ghosts discovered that Lin Yu was missing and demanded another soul guide to open the last sedan chair.
• Jiang Nuo sent the red-haired zombie to open the final sedan chair, but he and the others lost consciousness and appeared in separate spaces in the mourning hall.
• Wu Chou was trapped in a coffin, Pu Sang became a substitute bride, and vicious ghosts surrounded Si Yan.

Wu Chou, Pu Sang, Si Yan, and Jiang Nuo faced different traps inside the ghost king’s illusion. Jiang Nuo saw through and destroyed his imitation, then woke while the other guests remained trapped.

• Wu Chou woke bound inside a coffin and struggled unsuccessfully to escape.
• Pu Sang killed the ghosts in the courtyard but was repeatedly returned to the bed whenever she tried to leave, until she collapsed in despair.
• Si Yan slaughtered the malevolent ghosts in the village chief’s courtyard, then recognized that the cruel Jiang Nuo before him was an illusion and seized it by the throat.
• Jiang Nuo met an imitation of Si Yan in a white void, mocked its performance, and prompted the ghost to reveal its true form.
• Jiang Nuo knocked off the ghost’s head, causing it and the white void to disappear, then woke beside the bridal sedan while the other guests remained motionless.

Jiang Nuo and Si Yan escaped the illusion, and Si Yan helped Pu Sang wake while Wu Chou remained trapped and near death. Jiang Nuo killed Wu Chou to try to break the illusion, then the ghost wedding rites began as the group waited for the Ghost King.

• Jiang Nuo woke Si Yan, who embraced and kissed him after emerging from the illusion.
• Si Yan used the Heart-Clearing Mantra to wake Pu Sang, who had been dreaming of being forced to marry a ghost.
• Jiang Nuo warned that Wu Chou would die inside the illusion and, when the mantra failed, stabbed him in the neck.
• The wedding matron ordered the bridal sedan doors opened, and the ghost bride emerged as the mourning hall was prepared.
• Jiang Nuo watched the ghost bride as the gathered ghosts fell silent and waited for the Ghost King to arrive.

Lin Yu confronted the Ghost King, discovered he was He Jiu, and bound him long enough to strike a deal for help killing Jiang Nuo. He Jiu then arrived at his wedding, where Jiang Nuo recognized him despite his altered appearance.

• Lin Yu attacked the Ghost King in his lair, and their battle shook the illusory realm until the dragon vein's spiritual power surged through it.
• The Ghost King absorbed the dragon vein's power and suppressed it, but Lin Yu restrained him with a spell and revealed that he had deduced the Ghost King was He Jiu.
• Lin Yu offered to help He Jiu in exchange for his assistance killing Jiang Nuo, and He Jiu agreed.
• Lin Yu released He Jiu and reminded him that his wedding was about to begin.
• He Jiu arrived at the wedding, and Jiang Nuo recognized him beneath his blue face and fangs.

Jiang Nuo exposed the Ghost King’s disguise during the wedding ceremony and fought back against the furious Ghost King and Ghost Bride. As the Ghost Bride charged him, Jiang Nuo’s monster hide appeared to make him immune to the Ghost King’s control.

• The wedding attendant demanded that Jiang Nuo, born on October tenth, drink blood wine and sit on the mourning hall platform, but he smashed the cup instead.
• Jiang Nuo peeled away the Ghost King’s disguise, revealing Comrade He Jiu, and the Ghost King and Ghost Bride attacked him.
• Jiang Nuo pulled out a cannon to hold the ghosts back, then used his remaining points to retrieve a monster hide from his storage space.
• Jiang Nuo draped the hide over himself and charged the Ghost King, whose control powers no longer affected him.
• The Ghost Bride shrieked and lunged at Jiang Nuo with her claws as ghostly energy surged inside her.

Jiang Nuo confronted Lin Yu during the battle, recognizing that someone else had returned in Lin Yu’s body and trading bitter taunts about their deaths. As Lin Yu tried to provoke Si Yan with hints about Jiang Nuo’s past, Si Yan stood with Jiang Nuo and attacked him.

• Jiang Nuo resisted the ghost bride’s attack with the monster skin and used his left eye to stop her supernatural power.
• Lin Yu attacked Jiang Nuo with ghost-power shackles, but Jiang Nuo dodged and cut them apart, then confronted him as an old enemy.
• Jiang Nuo and Lin Yu exchanged insults about being burned and having their bodies destroyed, alarming Si Yan with what they revealed about Jiang Nuo’s past.
• Lin Yu’s fans linked his apparent change to news that his manager, Brother Zhuang, had been murdered, and they blamed Jiang Nuo while attacking his fan community online.
• A girl from the Mikazuki Family showed the livestream to her uncle and said Jiang Nuo could kill other people’s souls.
• Lin Yu tried to make Si Yan curious about Jiang Nuo’s past, but Si Yan rejected him and joined Jiang Nuo in attacking.

The ghost bride gave birth during Jiang Nuo and Lin Yu’s fight, and Pu Sang helped subdue her while the newborn ghost joined the battle. Jiang Nuo revealed his Red-Eyed Demonic Pupils and prepared to face Lin Yu and the Ghost King as the Ghost King tried to absorb the Dragon Vein’s power; outside the livestream, Number One decided to invite Jiang Nuo after it ended.

• The ghost bride went into labor, and the Ghost King called for help while Jiang Nuo, Lin Yu, and Si Yan continued fighting.
• The ghost fetus tore its way out, grew rapidly, and attacked Jiang Nuo before turning its attention to the others.
• Pu Sang used a spell to calm the little ghost, then used Jiang Nuo’s red cord to drag the ghost bride outside and bind her to a pillar.
• The Ghost King noticed his bride was missing and attacked Jiang Nuo more fiercely, so Jiang Nuo sent Si Yan out and shut the mourning hall doors.
• Jiang Nuo revealed his Red-Eyed Demonic Pupils, crushed the wedding matron, and spread red mist through the hall.
• Lin Yu urged the Ghost King to absorb the Dragon Vein’s Spiritual Power, while Number One learned the Ghost King Illusory Realm had suppressed the Dragon Vein and ordered Jiang Nuo invited after the livestream.

Jiang Nuo and Si Yan freed the Dragon Vein Golden Spirit from the Ghost King’s control, allowing Jiang Nuo to defeat the Ghost King. As the illusory realm began to shake, Jiang Nuo turned his attention to the wounded Lin Yu.

• Mikazuki Shunsuke decided to send a soul ghost to search for the Ghost King’s remaining soul, while Mikazuki Hexi wanted to go to Fragrant Tree Village.
• Jiang Nuo fought the Ghost King with a cannon and realized the Dragon Vein Golden Spirit was pleading for help rather than attacking him.
• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan channeled Spiritual Power into the Dragon Vein Golden Spirit while Pu Sang continued purifying the ghost fetus.
• The restored Dragon Vein Golden Spirit broke free of the Ghost King’s control and replenished Jiang Nuo’s Spiritual Power.
• Jiang Nuo restrained and tore apart the Ghost King, leaving the ghost bride grieving over his dissipating soul.
• As the illusory realm shook, Jiang Nuo threatened to kill Lin Yu again, while Lin Yu knew his damaged Ghost Power left him at a disadvantage.

Jiang Nuo confronted Lin Yu about their history and learned that Lin Yu had betrayed him in the Floating Life Tower because Jiang Nuo would not join the team ranking tournament. After Lin Yu died and his soul shattered, Jiang Nuo collapsed in Si Yan’s arms.

• Jiang Nuo restrained Lin Yu with the Spirit-Binding Spell and attacked him, then asked why Lin Yu had pushed him into the fire pool in the Floating Life Tower.
• Jiang Nuo remembered that Lin Yu had recruited him as a teammate, but they argued because Jiang Nuo refused the team ranking tournament and planned to enter the individual tournament.
• Lin Yu admitted he had tried to kill Jiang Nuo because he considered him no longer useful and resented his refusal to cooperate.
• Si Yan urged Jiang Nuo not to believe Lin Yu, and Jiang Nuo slit Lin Yu’s throat, killing him and destroying his soul.
• The system announced that the newly born protagonist had died and the Save the Villain Plan had reached 80% progress; Jiang Nuo then embraced Si Yan and passed out.

Jiang Nuo woke after Si Yan repaired his meridians, and the group discovered that the villagers were still alive after the Ghost King’s illusory realm vanished. Jiang Nuo and Si Yan suspected that time or reality in the realm had worked differently, but they had not yet explained their conclusion to Pu Sang.

• After Jiang Nuo collapsed from the clash between the Dragon Vein’s spiritual power and his demonic qi, Si Yan carried him away and worked to repair his meridians.
• Jiang Nuo woke in Si Yan’s arms, learned that Lin Yu had been reduced to ashes, and noticed that Si Yan had suppressed the chaos in his meridians.
• Si Yan promised to ask Jiang Nuo about his past after they returned, while livestream viewers argued over the deaths of Wu Chou and Zhou Yize.
• Jiang Nuo led Si Yan and Pu Sang out of the courtyard, where they saw villagers alive despite their apparent deaths in the illusory realm.
• After Pu Sang remarked that she had lost track of the days inside the realm, Si Yan and Jiang Nuo exchanged a knowing look, leaving Pu Sang confused.

Jiang Nuo, Si Yan, and Pu Sang were drawn into a ghostly wedding procession in the woods and trapped in coffins. Si Yan eventually escaped and found himself back at the place where they had started, then ran to find Jiang Nuo and Pu Sang.

• The village chief refused to explain the custom of marrying a single mother to a ghost and urged Jiang Nuo and the others to leave for the woods.
• Jiang Nuo gave Pu Sang a dagger and told her to stab herself if danger came and he and Si Yan could not save her.
• The children, guiding souls, and ghostly wedding procession reappeared in the woods, while Shuishui and Qianqian revealed their black eyes and inhuman nature.
• The bridal procession knocked Jiang Nuo, Si Yan, and Pu Sang into three coffins and carried them away.
• Pu Sang panicked inside her coffin, Jiang Nuo rested after failing to escape, and Si Yan repeatedly broke out before finally remaining free.
• Si Yan found himself back at their earlier location and ran toward the other two coffins, calling for Nuonuo.

Jiang Nuo and Si Yan fought off the Ghost Bride’s Guiding Souls, but the bridal sedans carried them away and dressed them as grooms. They found themselves back in a mourning hall, where Si Yan proposed they wear Chinese-style wedding robes when they married for real, angering the Ghost Bride.

• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan found Pu Sang dead in a coffin and walked toward a red glow as the bridal sedan returned to block their way.
• Jiang Nuo summoned the red-haired zombie while he and Si Yan fought the Ghost Bride’s Guiding Souls, defeating them despite the foul, bug-covered corpses.
• The bridal sedan knocked Si Yan inside and dressed him as a groom, while another sedan took Jiang Nuo away as well.
• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan emerged in groom’s robes at a mourning hall, where Si Yan suggested they wear Chinese-style wedding robes when they married for real.
• The Ghost Bride shrieked at their conversation, and Si Yan glared at her and demanded to know why she was screeching.

Jiang Nuo killed Si Yan to escape what he believed was an illusion, then faced the Ghost Bride and the ghosts she summoned. He exposed the hidden ghost fetus but had not yet dealt with it when the chapter ended.

• Jiang Nuo stabbed Si Yan, telling him to wait for him to get out, and the audience realized they might be trapped in an illusion.
• Jiang Nuo taunted the Ghost Bride and dismissed the corpse she animated as a fake.
• The Ghost Bride summoned Shuishui and Qianqian, who blamed Jiang Nuo for failing to save them, but he made them leave by threatening them with his cannon.
• Jiang Nuo fired at the Ghost Bride, forcing her to defend herself and reveal the dying ghost fetus hidden in the corner.
• Jiang Nuo spotted the ghost fetus and said, "Caught you."

Jiang Nuo destroyed the Ghost Bride’s illusion and woke in the woods with the other surviving guests. They entered the real Fragrant Tree Village, where Wang Simazi explained that the Ghost King controlled the zombies and the illusions had been tormenting and killing villagers.

• Jiang Nuo killed the Ghost Bride and shattered the illusion, then woke beside Si Yan and the guests he had sent out of it.
• Wu Chou and Si Yan explained that they had entered the illusion before reaching the village, while Jiang Nuo said Li Ta had died there and Lin Yu had been a wandering ghost.
• Zhou Yize apologized to Jiang Nuo and asked whether they might have been together if he had stayed at school, but Jiang Nuo rejected the hypothetical and left with Si Yan.
• Jiang Nuo, Si Yan, Pu Sang, Wu Chou, and Zhou Yize reached the real Fragrant Tree Village and found ruined houses, suffering villagers, and corpse herders.
• Wang Simazi confirmed that the request had been to destroy the double illusion and said the Ghost King controlled the zombies, while the illusions sometimes covered reality and slaughtered villagers.

The surviving villagers of Fragrant Tree Village explained how He Jiu and Meijuan became vengeful ghosts after villagers killed their mothers, forced He Jiu to face zombies, and trapped Meijuan in a ghost marriage. After hearing the truth, Jiang Nuo and the others left the village and received a message telling them to board the return bus.

• The oldest villager told Jiang Nuo, Si Yan, and Pu Sang that the village had shunned two witches, whose children, He Jiu and Meijuan, had been betrothed to each other.
• Villagers blamed the witches for a mysterious poisoning and killed them, then discovered that zombies—not the witches—had caused the trouble.
• The villagers demanded that He Jiu kill the sealed zombies before he could marry Meijuan, but he died, and the corpse-herding team had to seal the zombies again.
• Villagers arranged a ghost marriage between the dead He Jiu and pregnant Meijuan, who died trapped in a coffin; both became ghosts and created overlapping illusions before the massacre.
• Wang Simazi explained that the surviving villagers had been spared or rescued, while those who had urged He Jiu to face the zombies became the first Guiding Souls.
• Si Yan told Jiang Nuo that the ghosts could not reincarnate, and Jiang Nuo and the others left the village after completing the exploration mission.

After the Fragrant Tree Village quest ended, Jiang Nuo and Si Yan returned home and reconciled after arguing over the Love Soul. Jiang Nuo accepted that Si Yan’s feelings were genuine, while forbidding him from trying to remove the soul again.

• Jiang Nuo’s livestream ended with the side quest completed and the Dragon Vein repaired, and public praise for him surged.
• Cui Ming managed the attention around Jiang Nuo and searched for new scripts while the couple returned home together.
• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan slept until the next evening, when Cui Ming brought food and learned they had been arguing over something Si Yan had taken.
• Jiang Nuo found Si Yan trying to separate the soul inside the Spirit-Suppressing Stone and scolded him for risking his life.
• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan made up, and Jiang Nuo told him the Love Soul had been found but would not change their relationship.