Chapter Summaries

Jiang Nuo subdued Li Dan and absorbed her resentment, while Si Yan helped restore her to her pre-death appearance. Li Dan’s obsession remained unresolved, and the others suspected Cui Ming was the reason she lingered.

• Li Dan attacked Cui Ming and Lili, but Jiang Nuo suppressed her hair and turned her Grievance Baleful Realm back on her.
• Jiang Nuo offered Li Dan a chance to resolve her obsession, but she lunged at him and Si Yan struck her with a spiritual spike.
• Jiang Nuo used the Backlash Illusory Realm and incense to absorb Li Dan’s resentment and refine a Half-Corpse Soul.
• Si Yan called Pu Sang for the Purification Spell and promised Li Dan he would restore her appearance if she calmed down.
• Li Dan’s corpse returned to a healthy appearance, and she began to cry as Jiang Nuo finished collecting her resentment.
• Si Yan told Li Dan she would remain in the building if her obsession did not fade, and the others realized Cui Ming might be her obsession.

Li Dan recounted how her abusive husband killed her, then realized her obsession with love was misplaced and disappeared after taking revenge. Jiang Nuo woke up at Cui Ming's home and learned that online rumors were accusing him of failing to save Zhang Quan.

• Li Dan told Cui Ming and the others that her husband had abused her, forcibly removed her uterus, and killed her, and she later scared him to death as a ghost.
• Si Yan recognized that Li Dan's obsession centered on whether she could find love, and Lili urged her to love herself; Li Dan's soul then dispersed.
• Jiang Nuo remained asleep after refining Li Dan's soul, while Si Yan held and cared for him.
• Jiang Nuo woke at Cui Ming's home, where Lili told him that netizens were claiming Zhang Quan had died and that Jiang Nuo had failed to save him.
• Jiang Nuo read the hostile comments and saw Glutinous Rice Fans defending him with footage from the livestream.

Jiang Nuo promised to livestream Zhang Quan again, then went to Zhang Quan’s home to refine him into a Half-Corpse Soul. After suppressing Zhang Quan’s transformation and driving in the seventh corpse-suppressing nail, Jiang Nuo faced the newly awakened corpse lunging at him.

• Jiang Nuo posted that Zhang Quan would livestream again the next day and warned people who cursed him and his fans that they would have bad luck.
• Si Yan served Jiang Nuo his braised pork, and Jiang Nuo gently reassured him about his cooking.
• Jiang Nuo and Si Yan went to Zhang Quan’s home, where Jiang Nuo sent Si Yan out of the yin-filled bedroom before beginning the refinement.
• Jiang Nuo used the ghost king’s jade bone to suppress the room’s yin energy, removed the talisman, and forced resentful baleful energy into Zhang Quan’s corpse.
• Jiang Nuo drove seven corpse-suppressing nails into Zhang Quan’s acupoints, and Zhang Quan opened his eyes and lunged to bite him.

Jiang Nuo refined Zhang Quan into a Half-Corpse Soul, then recovered his depleted spiritual power with Si Yan. Their conversation revealed that Si Yan was connected to the Dao Xuan Association, while Jiang Nuo explained he preferred working alone.

• Jiang Nuo activated the Corpse-Shaking Nails and fused Zhang Quan's living soul with his baleful resentment and corpse energy, creating a Half-Corpse Soul.
• Jiang Nuo gave Zhang Quan the jade ruyi and told him to follow the Ghost King's aura to avenge his grandmother.
• Si Yan carried the exhausted Jiang Nuo out of the bedroom and restored some of his spiritual power by kissing him.
• Jiang Nuo explained that Zhang Quan could help him catch ghosts and earn points, then confronted Si Yan about his connection to the Dao Xuan Association.
• Jiang Nuo said he avoided joining the association because he preferred working alone, and he gazed out the window as he recalled the past.

Zhang Quan recovered as a Half-Corpse Soul and attacked the Ghost King, exposing Lin Yu’s involvement in his possession. Jiang Nuo went to confront Lin Yu alone, while Si Yan decided to follow him despite being told to stay behind.

• Zhang Quan posted a video proving he was alive, thanked Jiang Nuo, and joined Jiang Nuo’s fan groups.
• Lin Yu and his manager were shocked by Zhang Quan’s survival, and Zhang Quan broke into Lin Yu’s home to fight the Ghost King.
• The Ghost King tried to control Zhang Quan with an incantation, but Jiang Nuo used the jade bone to regain control and helped Zhang Quan shatter a hidden mirror.
• Jiang Nuo saw Lin Yu behind the mirror and left to confront him, ordering Si Yan to stay behind.
• Si Yan decided to follow Jiang Nuo anyway and planned to claim the Dao Xuan Association had assigned him a mission if he was caught.

Jiang Nuo confronted the Ghost King and Lin Yu in the hidden room, where the fight revealed the Ghost King’s connection to a past instance and Lin Yu’s status as this world’s protagonist. Jiang Nuo stabbed Lin Yu and discovered that weakening him advanced the Save the Villain Plan.

• Zhang Quan resisted the Ghost King while Jiang Nuo arrived at the hidden room and recognized the Ghost King as a player.
• The Ghost King offered to cooperate with Jiang Nuo, but Jiang Nuo attacked him and used the red cord to trap the room.
• Lin Yu drained Brother Zhuang’s vitality, escaped through the window, and struck Jiang Nuo with An Yin’s power.
• Jiang Nuo crushed the jade bone, and the Ghost King recognized it and tried to flee from the red cord.
• Jiang Nuo subdued Lin Yu, stabbed him in the heart, and received a notification that the Save the Villain Plan had reached 40% progress.
• Jiang Nuo realized Lin Yu was the protagonist, while the Ghost King reacted with alarm.

Jiang Nuo killed Lin Yu and tore apart the Ghost King, then reunited with Si Yan, who accepted him despite his blood-red eyes and the bodies around him. Jiang Nuo left Zhang Quan to hide the killings while he and Si Yan went home.

• Jiang Nuo killed Lin Yu, whose death triggered a 70% completion notice and awarded 500 points.
• Zhang Quan fought the Ghost King, and Jiang Nuo recognized him as Duoluo ke before tearing his soul apart.
• Si Yan rushed upstairs after his ghost detector went dark and found Jiang Nuo beside the bodies.
• Jiang Nuo scolded Si Yan for disobeying him, then softened when Si Yan said he was not afraid of him.
• Jiang Nuo ordered Zhang Quan to conceal the deaths, and Zhang Quan staged the scene to make it look as though Lin Yu had killed Brother Zhuang.

An Yin restored Lin Yu to life in his original body and made him the new protagonist, tasking him with killing Si Yan and taking his powerful soul. Back home, Jiang Nuo reunited with Si Yan, but discovered that Si Yan’s Spirit-Suppressing Stone contained someone else’s soul.

• An Yin revealed that Lin Yu had used the body that originally belonged to the resurrected Lin Yu, then offered to make him the new protagonist.
• Lin Yu accepted An Yin’s task to kill Si Yan and seize the soul containing special power, and awoke in his original body.
• Jiang Nuo returned home with Si Yan and eagerly clung to him until Si Yan urged him to shower because his clothes were dirty.
• The system warned Jiang Nuo that a new protagonist had appeared and his plan’s progress had fallen to 50 percent, but he refused to spend points on a clue.
• Jiang Nuo noticed Si Yan’s Spirit-Suppressing Stone contained someone else’s soul and objected, while Si Yan said he would die without wearing it.

Jiang Nuo learned that the living soul inside Si Yan’s Spirit-Suppressing Stone was his missing Love Soul, leaving him doubting whether Si Yan’s love was genuine. After Si Yan’s desperate outburst, Jiang Nuo sent him home and confronted 0732 about where his Love Soul was.

• Jiang Nuo realized that the living soul Si Yan’s grandfather had found near Purple Forest Mountain was his missing Love Soul.
• Jiang Nuo asked whether Si Yan loved him for himself or because he possessed the Love Soul, and Si Yan could not answer.
• Si Yan tried to prove his love by offering to return the Love Soul, then threatened to hurt himself when Jiang Nuo tried to leave.
• Jiang Nuo stopped Si Yan, put him to bed, and called Si Mingde to have Si Yan taken home and kept away for a while.
• After Si Yan was taken away, Jiang Nuo confronted 0732 about its claim that his Love Soul was in the variety show, and 0732 said guests counted too.

Jiang Nuo learned that his love soul was inside Si Yan and struggled to find a way to save them both without knowing how much of Si Yan’s affection was genuine. When Jiang Nuo headed to Fragrant Tree Village to rescue missing fans and investigate a zombie outbreak, Si Yan reached for him, but Jiang Nuo pulled away.

• Jiang Nuo asked 0732 to consult Lingduan, which confirmed there was no error in the mission and that the solution would become clear later.
• Cui Ming alerted Jiang Nuo that fans had encountered zombies in Fragrant Tree Village, and Jiang Nuo gave one bitten fan instructions to suppress the corpse qi before contact was lost.
• Weird and Strange Adventure announced its fourth episode in Fragrant Tree Village, with Jiang Nuo, Si Yan, Lin Yu, Pu Sang, Li Ta, Wu Chou, and Zhou Yize as guests.
• Jiang Nuo learned the Dao Xuan Association had sent members ahead to the village and redeemed supplies for the zombie incident.
• Jiang Nuo boarded the production bus, where Si Yan took his hand; Jiang Nuo pulled away, and Si Yan asked whether he had to treat him that way.

Jiang Nuo reunited with Lin Yu and met the Dao Xuan Association members on the way to their destination, while continuing to ignore Si Yan after their fight. Si Yan tried to win him over with tears and a revealed injury, but Jiang Nuo stayed guarded as Zhou Yize’s attention made him jealous.

• Jiang Nuo saw Lin Yu alive and instinctively stepped in front of Si Yan before greeting him.
• Si Yan clung to Jiang Nuo and begged him not to abandon him, but Jiang Nuo shook off his hand and sat alone.
• Jiang Nuo met Pu Sang, Wu Chou, and Li Ta, then argued with Si Yan and Zhou Yize over Zhou Yize calling him Xiao Nuo.
• Pu Sang revealed that Si Yan had been sad and hurt himself after returning home, prompting Jiang Nuo to check his wound and question where Si Yan lived.
• Jiang Nuo kept ignoring Si Yan during the drive while chatting with Zhou Yize, leaving the motion-sick Si Yan upset and jealous.

Si Yan feigned illness to draw Jiang Nuo’s attention, then the group traveled to Fragrant Tree Village to investigate jiangshi attacks. After Jiang Nuo was chosen as captain and the group entered the forest, Pu Sang spotted something alarming behind them.

• Si Yan pretended to be dizzy and upset until Jiang Nuo comforted him, then gave Zhou Yize a smug look.
• The director explained that the group would investigate jiangshi attacks and mysterious traditions in Fragrant Tree Village, and Jiang Nuo was chosen as captain.
• The group entered the village’s humid, pathless forest, where Jiang Nuo kept Si Yan close and Si Yan accused Zhou Yize of crowding him.
• After a rustling sound came from the thorny undergrowth, Jiang Nuo threw a stone toward it, but Li Ta dismissed it as an animal.
• Pu Sang turned around and stared at something ahead, her breathing slowing as she warned the others to turn back.

Jiang Nuo and the others fought through a snake-filled path, then faced swarms of venomous bugs in the woods. As they searched for the largest creature in each group, Si Yan spotted a rotting-faced watcher, and Jiang Nuo attacked a giant lizard above Lin Yu.

• Jiang Nuo used talismans and blades to lead the group through the snakes, while Si Yan helped bind a giant python with Spiritual Power and free Li Ta.
• Jiang Nuo warned that the bugs were coated in deadly slime, and Lin Yu identified the largest creature in each group as its weak point.
• Si Yan spotted a rotting-faced person hiding by a tree, but chose not to pursue them so he could stay with Jiang Nuo.
• Si Yan pulled Jiang Nuo away from a centipede near his ear, and Jiang Nuo cleaned Si Yan’s hand before hearing about the watcher.
• Jiang Nuo climbed a tree and sliced open a giant lizard positioned above Lin Yu.

Jiang Nuo and the guests reached Fragrant Tree Village after fighting through a mountain full of bred insects, where researcher He Jiu told them the Dao Xuan Association had rescued the bitten fans. As the group settled in, Si Yan connected a mysterious person’s facial symptoms to poisonous flowers, while Lin Yu attracted the village children and drew Jiang Nuo’s attention.

• Jiang Nuo killed the lizard and exchanged an unsettlingly familiar smile with Lin Yu before the guests continued through the woods.
• He Jiu met the group, gave Zhou Yize bandages, and explained that the bitten fans were staying at the village chief’s house while the zombie remained unidentified and impossible to kill.
• He Jiu warned Pu Sang away from poisonous flowers, and Si Yan told Jiang Nuo that someone he had seen in the woods showed the same eye sores and facial rot described by He Jiu.
• The guests entered Fragrant Tree Village, where Wu Chou searched the crowd and Lin Yu hugged the children who gathered around him.
• Jiang Nuo watched Lin Yu closely, and Lin Yu asked whether he had something to say.

Jiang Nuo and the guests arrived at the village chief’s home, where they found Shuishui unconscious with signs of corpse qi and discovered that she was making the number four. When Shuishui awoke and pointed at Li Ta, Lin Yu suggested that Li Ta was the fourth person marked to die.

• He Jiu led the guests to the village chief’s flower-filled home, where the chief said zombies had killed three people and Shuishui was the fourth victim.
• Jiang Nuo examined Shuishui, while Si Yan identified corpse qi in her body and found that her Corpse-Suppressing Plaques had been smashed.
• Jiang Nuo noticed Shuishui’s fingers seemed to show four, and the village chief’s wife recalled that the first three people killed had also been making numbers.
• Shuishui’s head moved, her eyes opened, and she pointed four fingers at Li Ta.
• Lin Yu suggested that Li Ta was the fourth person marked to die, leaving Li Ta terrified.

Jiang Nuo discovered a chained, pregnant woman eating bugs in a locked room, then joined the village’s corpse herders for an exorcism ritual as Si Yan reacted uneasily to the coffins. The chapter left Jiang Nuo examining the corpses while Si Yan glared at Zhou Yize.

• Jiang Nuo stopped Li Ta from attacking Shuishui, restrained her with a talisman and red cord, and gave Jiang Qianqian more talismans.
• Si Yan pointed out a person watching them from a sealed room, and Jiang Nuo decided to investigate while ordering Si Yan to stay behind.
• Jiang Nuo found a beautiful woman with ulcerated eyes chained inside, crushing and eating bugs beside a cabinet containing an infant-shaped vase and three flowers; she noticed him, and he vanished.
• Jiang Nuo heard a cry of pain near Li Ta’s room but continued on after listening briefly.
• The village chief’s party gathered for the exorcism ritual, where the corpse herders lined up chained coffins and Si Yan hid behind Jiang Nuo, saying he hated them.
• Jiang Nuo went to examine the corpses, Zhou Yize followed him, and Si Yan glared viciously at Zhou Yize.

Jiang Nuo and the others took part in Fragrant Tree Village’s corpse-cleansing ritual, then agreed to guard the mortuary overnight. As the group settled beside the coffins, Si Yan went to the bathroom and asked Jiang Nuo to rescue him if he did not return.

• The corpse herders performed a ritual to drive ghost qi from the bodies, and Jiang Nuo noticed Wu Chou’s eyes looked lifeless.
• The village chief asked the guests to split into teams to guard the mortuary and the village against the jiangshi.
• Jiang Nuo volunteered to guard the mortuary, and Si Yan, Pu Sang, and Wu Chou joined him, leaving Zhou Yize with the other team.
• Zhou Yize felt dizzy, Li Ta kept scratching his neck, and Lin Yu concealed a rash on his arm.
• After nightfall, Jiang Nuo, Si Yan, Pu Sang, and Wu Chou settled on a bamboo bed beside the coffins in the mortuary.
• Si Yan left to use the bathroom and asked Jiang Nuo to come save him if he took too long.

Si Yan received a strange love-gu from a creepy granny before a coffin opened and a jiangshi attacked the group. Jiang Nuo restrained the jiangshi and bound most of the coffins, but his talisman blew off.

• A creepy granny offered Si Yan a gu to bind him to Jiang Nuo, then disappeared before he could question her further.
• Si Yan told Jiang Nuo about the gu, and Jiang Nuo noticed that it smelled like the room.
• A coffin began knocking, and Jiang Nuo briefly stopped it with a talisman before its lid blasted off and a jiangshi emerged.
• Wu Chou and Pu Sang fought the jiangshi while Si Yan redirected its charge, and Jiang Nuo tied red cord around several coffins.
• Jiang Nuo stopped the jiangshi with a talisman, but the talisman blew off in a gust of wind.

After the group drove a strange zombie back to its coffin, Pu Sang woke in the village grove and became trapped in a supernatural vision. The children’s rhyme named her as the fifth Guiding Soul, and a bridal sedan struck her as the chapter ended.

• Jiang Nuo and the others shoved the zombie toward the entrance, but it returned to its coffin when moonlight reached it.
• The group went to sleep, with Wu Chou keeping watch while Pu Sang rested in the mortuary.
• Pu Sang woke in the grove and saw the village children chanting that she was the fifth Guiding Soul.
• The children recited the fates of the first four Guiding Souls and chased Pu Sang through the grove.
• A bridal sedan appeared and crashed into Pu Sang, causing her intense pain despite her belief that the scene was an illusion.

Pu Sang woke from an illusion in which a bridal sedan pursued her and she was identified as the fifth person to die. After Shuishui recovered and Li Ta was found unconscious with blisters on his neck, Lin Yu and Zhou Yize recounted how ghosts had lured Li Ta toward the forbidden room, leaving Si Yan to question Zhou Yize’s account of his fall.

• Jiang Nuo woke Pu Sang from an illusion, and she remembered barefoot children singing that she was the fifth person and a bridal sedan crashing into her.
• He Jiu rushed from the village chief’s house and reported that Li Ta had suffered an accident while Shuishui had awakened.
• Jiang Nuo examined Li Ta’s blistered neck as Lin Yu and Zhou Yize described the previous night’s events.
• Lin Yu said ghosts in hemp clothing had summoned Li Ta to kowtow before the forbidden room and injured him when he tried to intervene.
• Zhou Yize said he had seen the ghosts and fallen while trying to cross the courtyard threshold, but he ran across it easily in daylight when Si Yan asked him to demonstrate.