Chapter Summaries

Yang Jian drove back the ghost invading the ancient house, then confronted Fan Xing and the other messengers over attracting danger to the group. Outside, Zhou Deng explored a forest road and accidentally awakened a woman buried in a grave, who headed toward the ancient house.

• Yang Jian struck the invading ghost with his hatchet, forcing the darkness to retreat, and warned the messengers that the threat had only been driven back temporarily.
• Yang Jian accused Fan Xing and his companions of drawing ghosts toward the rear hall, then ordered them not to retreat during future crises.
• Zhou Deng stole a stick of incense and a white lantern before following a strange yellow-earth road into the old forest.
• Zhou Deng explored a clearing of graves, left the incense on a beautiful woman's grave, and returned without taking its offerings.
• The incense burned into the grave, the tomb collapsed, and a woman in a red qipao emerged and walked toward the ancient house.

Yang Jian and the others discussed the old residence’s funeral rituals while guarding the Red Coffin, but Zhou Deng’s return with a white lantern revealed that he had announced the old man’s death to the ghosts. The old residence’s defenses then failed, leaving the rear hall under supernatural attack ahead of schedule.

• Wang Feng explained that the funeral’s third day should involve announcing the death, while the fourth day would be for people to pay their respects.
• Zhou Deng returned carrying a white lantern and yellow mud, and the group found supernatural footprints around the back door.
• Yang Jian concluded that the footprints came from a ghost that had followed Zhou Deng, but he chose not to investigate further.
• The darkness returned around four in the morning, and Li Yang and the others struggled to keep the back door shut against an unseen force.
• When the radio announced that someone had died, Yang Jian realized Zhou Deng’s lantern had told the ghosts the old man was dead.
• The incense stopped protecting the Red Coffin, and the darkness and ghosts reached the rear hall as the back door gave way.

After the premature mourning announcement brought the third day’s ghosts into the old residence, Yang Jian sent Li Yang to retrieve the lantern while the others guarded the coffin. Li Yang crossed the main hall and courtyard with Yang Jian’s ghost shadow and a ghost candle, but the lantern’s recovery remained uncertain.

• Yang Jian decided to correct the disrupted timing by carrying out the third day’s mourning announcement and enduring the second night’s ghosts until midnight.
• Yang Jian sent Li Yang through the main hall to retrieve the lantern, giving him a scarred doll and the last ghost candle.
• A Ghost Tamer began vomiting blood as a fierce ghost eroded him, and Li Yang set off along Yang Jian’s ghost shadow.
• When the shadow reached its limit, Li Yang lit the ghost candle, which burned rapidly after shielding him from a ghost’s attack.
• Li Yang hurried through the main hall and courtyard toward the front yard, briefly glimpsing a hunched old man carrying a bamboo basket.

Yang Jian dealt with a Ghost Tamer whose body had been invaded by a ghost, while Wang Feng used his Ghost Dice to hold back the ghosts entering through the back door. The chapter left Yang Jian fighting a pale corpse ghost after chopping it in two with the firewood axe, though the axe’s curse also split him at the waist.

• Yang Jian stabbed the blood-vomiting Ghost Tamer with the Coffin Nail, killing him, then threw his corpse out through the back door.
• Old Eagle fired at a blurry figure in the corridor, while Wang Feng began a Ghost Dice game to stop the ghosts at the rear entrance.
• Wang Feng won the first dice round and pushed the black shoes outside back several meters, but a second ghost joined the game and the next round ended in a draw.
• Yang Jian told Fan Xing and the others to take turns replacing the messengers playing against the back-door ghosts.
• Yang Jian used the Ghost Shadow to spot a pale, emaciated corpse ghost in the main hall and chopped it in two with the firewood axe, but the curse split him at the waist as well.

Li Yang retrieved the white lantern and realized he needed to lure the ghosts away from the old house, while the survivors in the rear hall struggled to hold back the invasion. After Wang Feng and two other Ghost Tamers died in the dice game, Yang Xiaohua nearly fell through a supernatural gap in the wall, but Yang Jian and her red balloon caught her.

• Li Yang opened the main gate with his red ghost candle, removed the white lantern, and recognized that he needed to lead the ghosts away from the old house.
• Wang Feng lost the dice game and died, but another Ghost Tamer took his place and temporarily forced the ghost back.
• The replacement Ghost Tamer lost his next round and died, so Old Eagle took over the dice game as the ghosts continued pressing toward the rear hall.
• A radio in the main hall taunted the survivors as Fan Xing grew desperate and Yang Jian continued guarding the Red Coffin.
• Yang Xiaohua stepped through a gap that had appeared in the rear-hall wall, but Yang Jian's ghost hands and her red balloon lifted her to safety.

Yang Jian used the Music Box Curse to keep Old Eagle alive after he lost the dice game, then left the Red Coffin’s protection to attack the ghost whose Ghost Domain was swallowing the old residence. He dismembered several ghosts and found the source of the domain, striking it as a crack of light opened in the darkness.

• Yang Jian freed Yang Xiaohua from the red balloon and warned everyone to stay near the Red Coffin as the Ghost Domain spread through the rear hall.
• Yang Jian played a piano simulator to release the Music Box Curse on Old Eagle, allowing Old Eagle to survive losing the dice game and continue playing.
• Yang Jian asked Da Qiang to hold back the advancing Ghost Domain for ten seconds while he rushed into the main hall to attack its source.
• Da Qiang used his Ghost Domain to protect the others around the Red Coffin as Yang Jian entered the main hall and revealed the ghosts’ mediums with his ghost shadow.
• Yang Jian used the hatchet to sever the mediums of several ghosts, endured the resulting curses, and restarted his shattered body with the Ghost Eye.
• Yang Jian found and dismembered the ghost behind the old residence’s Ghost Domain, and a bright crack appeared in the darkness.

Yang Jian used the firewood axe to dismember the ghost sustaining the ancient house’s Ghost Domain, temporarily ending the attack and buying time for everyone. The group survived the second day, while Yang Jian rested in the main hall and warned that the fourth day remained uncertain.

• Yang Jian dismembered several ghosts and struck the source of the Ghost Domain again, despite the axe’s curse damaging his body and forcing him to restart twice.
• Yang Jian noticed the strange old woman from the bus among the ghost mediums, but ignored her and continued attacking the source ghost.
• Li Yang returned with the white lantern, and the supernatural phenomena in the rear hall disappeared as he left to draw away the outside ghosts.
• Yang Xiaohua found Yang Jian in the main hall, where he said the third day’s mourning announcement had begun early and that the immediate danger had been stabilized.
• Yang Xiaohua told the others that Yang Jian was alive and the crisis had passed; the old house stayed calm for hours, and the survivors rested and recovered.

After surviving the second-day vigil, Yang Jian and the remaining Ghost Tamers prepared for the third day’s death announcement. He decided they should leave the old house together, trusting Li Yang’s judgment that the white lantern could keep the ghosts at bay.

• Yang Jian recovered from the hatchet’s curse while the others rested, and he told Yang Xiaohua that following the old house’s rules might let them survive the remaining days.
• At midnight, the third day began without anything unusual happening inside the old house.
• Yang Jian checked the Red Coffin and found it undisturbed, while the incense sticks had gone out.
• Li Yang advised leaving the old house for the death announcement, and Yang Jian agreed after considering the risks to the coffin and the delivery task.
• The survivors gathered outside, and Yang Jian took the white lantern from Li Yang and led the group.

Yang Jian and the others used the third day’s safe death-announcement route to investigate beyond the old house and prepare for the coming funeral days. They found signs linking Liu Qingqing to a collapsed grave and debated how much grave rice to take for a possible ghost banquet on the fifth day.

• Yang Jian and the others discussed whether the fourth day would require paying respects, mourning, or wearing mourning clothes to survive.
• During the death announcement, Yang Jian led the group farther from the old house and found old graves and a recently collapsed grave along the yellow dirt path.
• Yang Jian identified a high-heel print leading toward the old house, and he and Li Yang speculated that a ghost connected to Liu Qingqing might be seeking her.
• Old Eagle noticed bowls of white rice before the graves and proposed that the fifth day would involve a ghost banquet.
• After debating the risks of taking rice early, Yang Jian chose to take the bowl from the collapsed grave, while the group considered how many bowls they might need.

Yang Jian and the others exchanged three incense sticks for three bowls of white rice, preparing for the fifth-day ghost banquet while continuing to investigate the grounds. In the old forest, they found Zhou Deng buried beneath yellow paper; after Yang Jian removed it, Zhou Deng awoke and said something had taken his lantern.

• Yang Jian found a burned incense stick in the collapsed grave and inferred that incense could be exchanged for white rice.
• Li Yang explained that Zhou Deng had disrupted the proper order of events, so Yang Jian retrieved the remaining incense sticks from the rear hall.
• Yang Jian and the others planted the two incense sticks on graves and took the remaining two bowls of rice, completing the exchange of three sticks for three bowls.
• Yang Jian led the group into the old forest, where they found the paranormal bus gone and discovered a pale hand protruding from the soil.
• Yang Jian pulled Zhou Deng's body from the ground and tore away the yellow paper on his face, revealing that Zhou Deng was alive beneath a human-skin mask.
• Zhou Deng told Yang Jian that something had taken his lantern and asked to leave the forest before explaining what had happened.

Zhou Deng recounted how he survived the ghost forest, where a female ghost recognized him and took his lantern, and the group speculated that she may have deliberately left him where they could find him. With the fourth day of the Condolence Day approaching, Yang Jian led everyone into the forest to search for white clothes that might protect them.

• The group found Zhou Deng buried beside the road and returned with him to the old house, where he explained that the forest was a vast Ghost Domain filled with ghosts.
• Zhou Deng said he used a human-skin mask to blend in with the ghosts, but a woman resembling the figure on the second grave's tombstone recognized him and chased him until he used yellow paper to play dead.
• Yang Jian and the others discussed whether the female ghost had deliberately left Zhou Deng near the road, and they decided to wait for a possible appearance on the Condolence Day.
• Yang Jian ordered Zhou Deng to follow his instructions and directed the group to prepare for the fourth day, with only six hours left before midnight.
• After Zhou Deng revealed that some corpses buried beneath the forest trees wore white clothes, Yang Jian led the group to dig near the forest's edge in search of mourning clothes.

Yang Jian and the others searched beneath the old trees for mourning clothes, but their digging triggered supernatural changes in the forest. As the fourth day's condolence visit began, they retreated into the old house, where the lantern went out and ghosts forced their way inside.

• Yang Jian's group dug beneath the trees and found only four sets of mourning clothes among numerous disturbing corpses, including a shrouded skeleton and a breathing infant.
• With too few mourning clothes for the eight people, Old Eagle and Zhou Deng gave up their claims as night fell and the trees they had dug beneath began collapsing.
• The infant began crying, so Yang Jian led everyone back into the old house before midnight and distributed the mourning clothes, while Zhou Deng gave Yang Xiaohua yellow paper.
• At midnight, a cold wind extinguished Yang Jian's lantern, and ghosts forced open the old house's doors and rushed inside.

On Condolence Day, Yang Jian used the coffin nail to pin down the infant ghost that appeared on an unfamiliar Ghost Tamer, but eerie cries and a flood of black-clad ghosts invaded the old residence. As the group fled toward the red coffin in the rear hall, Zhou Deng, Old Eagle, and Yang Xiaohua relied on their own supernatural protections while the unfamiliar Ghost Tamer remained behind.

• The unfamiliar Ghost Tamer objected to being denied mourning clothes and considered taking them from the others, but Yang Jian refused to give him a yellow sheet of paper.
• The infant ghost from beneath the tree appeared behind the unfamiliar Ghost Tamer, and Yang Jian used his sixth-layer Ghost Domain and coffin nail to pin it to the wall.
• Although the infant ghost was pinned, its cries continued as paper figures and countless black-clad ghosts began entering the old residence.
• Yang Jian ordered everyone to retreat to the red coffin in the rear hall, while Zhou Deng put on the human-skin mask and Old Eagle sat down to endure the ghosts with the music box's curse.
• Yang Xiaohua floated silently, the others headed for the coffin, and the unfamiliar Ghost Tamer remained standing where he was.

On Condolence Day, Yang Jian and the others carried the Red Coffin into the main hall and opened it, releasing the old man's supernatural power and halting most of the ghosts. The uneasy balance left some ghosts still moving, including a vivid figure in crimson.

• Yang Jian and the others discovered that the back door had shut as ghosts flooded the old house and pressed toward the rear hall.
• Yang Jian decided to carry the Red Coffin into the main hall, and the group found that their mourning clothes concealed them from the ghosts as long as they stayed silent.
• After Da Qiang spoke, several ghosts turned toward the group, revealing that noise could expose them despite the mourning clothes.
• Yang Jian opened the Red Coffin, and the old man's corpse sat upright with a fierce expression as the invading ghosts stopped advancing.
• Yang Jian spotted several figures moving among the halted ghosts, including one wearing a vivid crimson garment.

Yang Jian opened the locked room during the temporary balance of Condolence Day and discovered that it had supplied several red supernatural objects found elsewhere. As he inspected the room, a slender figure’s shadow stretched toward him from the doorway.

• The old man's changed corpse stopped the ghosts’ advance and temporarily restored balance in the old house.
• Yang Jian asked Zhou Deng to watch the situation, borrowed the doll from Li Yang, and crossed the crowded main hall along its wall.
• Yang Jian used the bronze key to unlock the door, fulfilling the Ghost Cabinet’s trade request, then pushed it open despite the red light inside.
• Yang Jian found a bridal chamber missing its canopy bed, Ghost Cabinet, and other furnishings, and realized that many red supernatural items may have come from there.
• A slender figure’s shadow stretched across the floor toward Yang Jian from the doorway.

Yang Jian encountered a powerful ghost wearing Liu Qingqing’s red qipao in the sealed bridal chamber and found that his usual methods could not restrain her. As he withdrew, the ghost spoke through Liu Qingqing’s body and revealed that she was a consciousness preserved from the Republican Era, with only the time of one incense stick before she vanished.

• Yang Jian entered the bridal chamber and attacked a figure at the doorway, but it disappeared, and he found the infant corpse missing from his spear.
• Yang Jian saw a woman in a red qipao sitting at the vanity and recognized that the incense-scented figure was a ghost overlapping with Liu Qingqing.
• Yang Jian tried the sixth-level Ghost Domain, the coffin nail, and the hatchet, but the woman could move within the Ghost Domain and left no footprint medium for the hatchet.
• Yang Jian decided to leave the ghost in the room rather than risk being trapped in the old residence, but the woman turned and revealed Liu Qingqing’s face beneath her own.
• Liu Qingqing’s voice spoke in a stranger’s tone and told Yang Jian that she was a consciousness preserved from the Republican Era, able to remain for only the time of one incense stick.

Yang Jian questioned Liu Qingqing, a Republican Era consciousness awakened inside the ancient house, about supernatural secrets and the Ghost Post Office. She revealed the post office’s sixth floor and gave him a jade bracelet before fading toward revival, and Yang Jian returned to find the room had vanished.

• Yang Jian asked Liu Qingqing about the ancient house, ghosts, and controlling supernatural power, but she said her generation had found no way to solve ghost revival.
• Liu Qingqing explained that the ancient house was a Ghost Domain and that the Ghost Post Office had a sixth floor, whose sole occupant would control the post office but never leave it.
• Yang Jian tried to take Liu Qingqing’s memories, but stopped when he realized she was an anomaly whose memories he could not steal safely.
• As the incense failed and Liu Qingqing began to decay, she gave Yang Jian a black-and-red jade bracelet and told him the person in the room would survive.
• Yang Jian left the room, which vanished from the corridor, and returned to Zhou Deng and the others without sharing what he had learned.

As the seventh night’s danger continued to build inside the old house, Yang Jian confronted the return of several supernatural entities and tried to protect the survivors. A black Grand Tutor Chair killed Da Qiang, but Yang Jian severed its ghostly hands and continued attacking it.

• Yang Jian warned the survivors to focus on surviving and keep the three bowls of rice safe for the fifth day.
• A ghost radio appeared on the black Grand Tutor Chair, and Yang Jian threw it into the Red Coffin, where it screamed and fell silent.
• A baby’s cry briefly rang through the old house before an unknown force abruptly silenced it.
• At six in the morning, the black Grand Tutor Chair emerged from the crowd, and its withered hands pressed Da Qiang into a seat and killed him.
• Yang Jian used his Ghost Domain and hatchet to sever three fingers from the hands, then severed two more as he attacked the chair again.

Yang Jian contained the handless ghost, but the old house’s balance began collapsing as the ghosts revived and advanced. With the old man in the Red Coffin tilting toward lying down and the hidden old woman still inside, the survivors feared the house would be overrun before midnight.

• Yang Jian cut off the ghost’s fingers, accepted matching wounds on his own hand, and sealed the severed fingers in the Red Coffin.
• Yang Jian and Old Eagle mourned Da Qiang’s death, and Yang Jian identified Liu Qingqing as another survivor who might still be alive.
• Yang Jian threw Da Qiang’s corpse out of the courtyard and gave his mourning clothes to Zhou Deng with a warning not to cause trouble.
• At ten in the morning, the old man in the Red Coffin tilted backward, and the ghosts moved closer as his power to suppress them weakened.
• Yang Jian explained that the old man and the other ghosts were reviving at different rates and warned that the old woman with the bamboo basket might hasten the collapse.
• By afternoon, the ghosts had advanced to just over a meter away, and Yang Jian, Zhou Deng, Li Yang, Fan Xing, and Old Eagle realized the house would likely be overrun before midnight.

Yang Jian used Li Yang’s ghost door to remove ghosts from the old house and restore its balance, but a powerful ghost nearly emerged from behind the door. The threat receded, leaving Yang Jian to suspect that the old man’s corpse would be the greatest danger on the seventh day.

• Li Yang explained that the old house’s balance was failing, and Yang Jian decided to send its ghosts through the ghost door.
• Li Yang opened the door, and Yang Jian used his Ghost Domain and coffin nail to throw ghosts into the darkness while Zhou Deng helped.
• Fan Xing tried to move a black paper figure, but it grabbed him until Yang Jian pinned it with the coffin nail.
• As ghosts emerged behind the door, Yang Jian ordered Li Yang to close it, and they erased the door’s outline before the danger subsided.
• Yang Jian saw the old man’s corpse facing them and concluded that surviving the seventh day might require sacrificing one of his coffin nails.