Chapter Summaries

Yang Jian contained the Ghost Lake’s spread at the cost of severe supernatural strain, then entered the lake to retrieve Li Jun and Liu San. As the one-eyed old man gave the remaining Taiping Town garment to the cause, Yang Jian hid from a searching lake ghost and continued toward his goal.

• Yang Jian and A Hong redirected the Ghost Lake, flooding Zhongzhou City while limiting the lake’s spread, but both suffered supernatural strain.
• A Hong collapsed after Ghost Makeup eroded her face, and Yang Jian withdrew his Ghost Domain when he reached his limit.
• Yang Jian put on the Ghost Ring and dove into the lake to retrieve Li Jun and Liu San while Feng Quan and Cao Yang watched A Hong and the three people on the black boat.
• The one-eyed old man abandoned his plan to oppose Yang Jian, used a burning paper boat to summon a wooden ship, and burned the washing woman’s corpse to reveal Taiping Town’s final garment.
• Yang Jian encountered a ghost formed from lake water searching nearby and used the Ghost Ring to keep it from locating him precisely.

Yang Jian searched Ghost Lake for Liu San and Li Jun while confronting doubts about the path of becoming an aberration, then found Li Jun and the Ghost Lake source ghost. He located Liu San, who agreed to help outside and demanded a chance to kill the one-eyed old man, as the source ghost continued to stalk Yang Jian.

• Yang Jian reflected on the risks of becoming an aberration, concluded that survival determined whether a Ghost Tamer’s method was right, and resolved to forge a new path.
• Yang Jian found Li Jun at the bottom of Ghost Lake and grabbed the human skin bearing his ghost fire.
• The female corpse, source of Ghost Lake, appeared and followed Yang Jian, forcing him to avoid contact while continuing his search.
• Yang Jian found Liu San in the form of a wrinkled, unfamiliar corpse, and Liu San said he could speak but could not move.
• Liu San agreed to help deal with the crisis outside and asked to kill the one-eyed old man himself; Yang Jian warned him to perform well.
• Liu San realized that the female corpse following Yang Jian was the source evil ghost of the Ghost Lake Incident.

Yang Jian escaped Ghost Lake with Liu San and Li Jun, but the lake’s ghosts followed them onto the boat, and Li Jun’s human skin nearly revived. After the Faceless Man erased A Hong’s damaged face and gave her a blank one, Yang Jian began painting a replacement while Liu San heard the ghostly whispers again.

• Yang Jian carried Liu San and Li Jun toward the surface, but a female corpse attacked Liu San and whispered to him, causing his body to bleed and dissolve.
• Yang Jian cut off the corpse’s head with his spear, but three female corpses appeared, so he forced his way out of Ghost Lake and boarded the wooden boat.
• The one-eyed old man jumped into Ghost Lake with the dead woman’s clothing, hoping to retrieve the corpse while the fierce ghost was distracted.
• Li Jun’s human skin began reviving after leaving the lake, and Yang Jian pinned it to the deck with a coffin nail before summoning A Hong, Feng Quan, and Cao Yang.
• The Faceless Man removed A Hong’s ruined face and left her featureless, then Yang Jian used her makeup case to paint a new face for her.
• As Yang Jian finished painting A Hong’s features, Liu San heard familiar ghostly whispers and felt his body growing damp again.

Yang Jian restored A Hong’s face with Ghost Makeup and used Ghost Scissors to discover that Ghost Lake’s curse had attached itself to Liu San and himself. He put the scissors away rather than risk their accumulated curses, then released Li Jun’s human skin so A Hong could bring him back as Ghost Lake continued to threaten them.

• Yang Jian applied Ghost Makeup to A Hong’s face, and she awoke with her appearance restored.
• Yang Jian told A Hong to retrieve Li Jun while Cao Yang and Liu San described the lingering effects of Ghost Lake.
• Cao Yang used Ghost Scissors on Liu San’s hair and saw a female corpse clinging to him, but his attempt to sever the curse failed and the ghost targeted Cao Yang.
• Cao Yang used Yang Jian’s hair to confirm that the same female corpse had attached itself to Yang Jian, who then took the scissors and cut the ghost’s hand away.
• Yang Jian found that using Ghost Scissors risked contamination from other curses, so he put them away and left his own curse untreated.
• A Hong announced she was ready, and Yang Jian removed the coffin nail from Li Jun’s human skin, allowing Ghost Fire Li Jun to return.

Yang Jian and the others watched ghosts escape from the Ghost Lake as the Taiping Town survivors departed with a recovered female corpse. The crisis escalated when female corpses appeared across Zhongzhou City, apparently wearing clothes and using abilities learned from Liu San and the one-eyed old man.

• Feng Quan explained that the Ghost Lake had invaded reality and its imprisoned ghosts were escaping, while Li Jun argued the gathered Ghost Tamers could handle the aftermath.
• The one-eyed old man emerged from the lake with a female corpse and a strange coat, then left on the black boat with Boss Liu and the Faceless Man.
• Liu San wanted to attack the departing Taiping Town group, but Yang Jian and Cao Yang persuaded him to wait until the Ghost Lake crisis was over.
• Female corpses appeared in the exposed buildings throughout Zhongzhou City, each wearing similar clothing and bearing a strange smile.
• Yang Jian suspected the Ghost Lake ghost had acquired Liu San's ability and the one-eyed old man's method of clothing its manifestations.

Yang Jian and the others confronted the female corpses emerging from Ghost Lake after suspecting the ghosts had copied Liu San’s abilities. Their first attacks suggested each corpse was an independent vicious ghost, and the group began clearing buildings as the threat escalated.

• Li Jun tested the female corpses with ghost fire, but an invisible supernatural force kept the flames from reaching them.
• Liu San warned that the corpses might each possess the source ghost’s full power, and Yang Jian ordered the team to clear nearby buildings together.
• Li Jun and A Hong entered a building and faced a crowd of female corpses, while Liu San revealed his decayed ghost arms and sent his paper figures to fight.
• Liu San’s power destroyed a female corpse, but it recovered in the pooled water, suggesting it was a real vicious ghost.
• Yang Jian and Feng Quan subdued several female corpses, but Yang Jian’s axe curse affected only one, leading him to suspect each corpse existed independently.

Yang Jian deduced that Ghost Lake invaded people and corpses, turning them into fierce ghosts and copying Ghost Tamers’ abilities, then left Feng Quan to test whether he could use the lake’s power himself. Elsewhere, Cao Yang contained the female corpses in a dangerous human-skin bag, while the other Ghost Tamers continued their efforts.

• Yang Jian and Feng Quan found that female corpses kept appearing despite their attempts to bury or disable them, and Yang Jian concluded that Ghost Lake itself did not exist as a single ghost but invaded its victims.
• Yang Jian reasoned that Ghost Lake copied supernatural abilities from Ghost Tamers, including Liu San’s paper figures, and that this copying had caused the number of fierce ghosts to spiral out of control.
• Feng Quan urged Yang Jian to use the supernatural power he had stolen from Ghost Lake, so Yang Jian gave Feng Quan the Ghost Ring and left to test the power.
• Cao Yang used Ghost Pressing Person to immobilize the female corpses in his building, then swallowed them with a human-skin bag and used a lit white ghost candle to keep the ghosts inside from escaping.
• Cao Yang observed that Li Jun had cleared his building, Feng Quan was still facing the corpses, and Liu San was using paper figures to try to absorb one.

Li Jun and Liu San struggled against female corpses that kept emerging from the water, while Yang Jian discovered that Ghost Lake could create waterborne vicious ghosts from the dead. He revived 1,200 people and sent them into his river to create an army that could help him fight Ghost Lake.

• Li Jun and A Hong found that female corpses had returned after being trapped in Ping An Building, and Li Jun prepared to fight them again.
• Liu San contained thirty female corpses in paper figures, but more emerged from the water and surrounded him.
• Yang Jian created a new river domain outside Zhongzhou City and revived Wang Shan to test how Ghost Lake's power worked.
• Yang Jian drowned Wang Shan in the river, then summoned him back as a waterborne vicious ghost and realized the female corpses were formed from Ghost Lake water.
• Yang Jian used the Liar Ghost's necklace and Ghost Shadow to create 1,200 people who had died in Dachuan City, then sent them into the river to become more waterborne vicious ghosts.

Yang Jian used power stolen from Ghost Lake to create male corpses that fought the endless female corpses overwhelming the other Ghost Tamers. The tide turned in their favor, and Cao Yang, Liu San, Feng Quan, Li Jun, and A Hong realized Yang Jian was behind the rescue.

• Yang Jian watched the resurrected people sink into the river, then saw them reappear as red-eyed male ghosts and sent them toward Ghost Lake.
• Cao Yang, Liu San, Feng Quan, Li Jun, and A Hong struggled against the ever-growing female corpses, and Liu San retreated while the others neared their limits.
• Li Jun and A Hong prepared to flee when the female corpses suddenly stopped and began getting dragged away by male ghosts.
• Yang Jian appeared and explained that he had stolen some of Ghost Lake's power to create enough male ghosts to fight its female corpses.
• Feng Quan, Liu San, and Cao Yang recognized Yang Jian's intervention as the male ghosts began turning the fight around.

Yang Jian and the other captains debated how to contain Ghost Lake after his male corpses temporarily countered its female corpses. When the female corpses stopped appearing, a woman emerged on the wooden boat, revealing a new and terrifying threat.

• Yang Jian explained that he might use the supernatural pendulum clock in Dadong City to disrupt time and send Ghost Lake out of the real world, though the plan required a restart.
• Liu San urged the group to abandon the area, while Cao Yang proposed sealing Ghost Lake and Feng Quan offered to encircle it with Grave Soil if he could prevent his ghost from reviving.
• The male corpses continued fighting the female corpses until no new female corpses appeared, leaving Yang Jian wary of an unknown change in Ghost Lake.
• A muffled sob came from the wooden boat, where Yang Jian saw a woman in white combing her wet hair with a blood-red wooden comb; the group recognized her as Ghost Lake's source.

Yang Jian and the other captains faced a sobbing woman who appeared on Ghost Lake’s boat, but the curse began eroding them before they could confront her. They withdrew to a highway service station, where Liu San, Li Jun, and Yang Jian were still struggling against the supernatural effects.

• A strange woman appeared on a wooden boat on Ghost Lake, and Liu San’s attempt to foresee her next move failed.
• Liu San began walking toward the woman without awareness, then discovered wet black hair and a female corpse’s skin as the curse eroded him.
• Yang Jian recognized that the curse was making female corpses overlap with Liu San, Li Jun, and himself, and concluded they had to retreat.
• Feng Quan used Ghost Mist to take the group out of Ghost Lake’s range.
• At a deserted highway service station, Liu San vomited lake water and looked like a female corpse, Li Jun’s body filled with water, and Yang Jian struggled to control his body.

Yang Jian and his companions retreated from the ghost lake after its curse began eroding them. Yang Jian escaped the curse by replacing his body, then used the Ghost Scissors to restore Liu San’s consciousness, though the ghost lake remained unresolved.

• Yang Jian, Li Jun, and Liu San found the ghost lake’s curse worsening and retreated before confronting its source.
• Yang Jian abandoned his cursed body and used the ghost necklace to create a new one, leaving his old body to turn into a female corpse.
• Yang Jian pinned the transformed corpse with a coffin nail, and Cao Yang realized female corpses could be killed away from the ghost lake.
• Yang Jian cut the curse on Liu San three times with the Ghost Scissors, restoring his consciousness but becoming contaminated by another curse.
• Liu San thanked Yang Jian, and the group concluded that the ghost lake could grow stronger by stealing supernatural abilities from Ghost Tamers.

After the Ghost Lake operation left the captains exhausted, Yang Jian rested at a service station and discovered that Ghost Lake’s power was eroding his body. He then found that the Wishing Ghost and the Ghost Cabinet were locked in a supernatural deadlock, while Headquarters concluded that the Ghost Lake Incident could not be resolved.

• Yang Jian and the other captains agreed to suspend the operation, rest, and check whether Ghost Lake’s spread had been contained.
• Li Jun agreed to report the incident to Headquarters while the others went to rest at the service station.
• Yang Jian vomited blood as Ghost Lake’s power eroded him, though he sensed that it was calming Ghost Eye’s revival.
• Yang Jian discovered a curse linking the Ghost Cabinet and the Wishing Ghost, which appeared to be keeping both from targeting him or Zhao Xiaoya.
• Cao Yanhua reviewed the report from Li Jun and concluded that the Ghost Lake Incident had no solution.

Cao Yanhua authorized the Ghost Lake team to abandon the operation if necessary, while the one-eyed old man and his companions attempted to resurrect a young woman in Taiping Ancient Town. Liu San returned to the flooded ancestral hall to settle his blood debt with the old man, who revealed his identity as He Liansheng, the Soul Summoner, and summoned spirits to confront him.

• Cao Yanhua told Li Jun’s team to decide how to handle the Ghost Lake and to seal off the area if they could not resolve it, while Headquarters investigated Shen Lin’s disappearance and monitored Ye Zhen and Wang Chaling.
• At the service station, Li Jun told A Hong that Headquarters could send no more captains, and he continued analyzing the Ghost Lake while Yang Jian stayed awake and Cao Yang rested.
• The one-eyed old man, Boss Liu, and the Faceless Man placed a young woman’s corpse in a Red Coffin and used an incense stick and written paper in an attempt to bring her back to life.
• Liu San returned alone to the ancestral hall, revealed the old corpse concealed inside his paper effigy body, and declared that he would kill the one-eyed old man or die trying.
• The one-eyed old man shut the ancestral hall doors, summoned spirits from the memorial tablets, and introduced himself to Liu San as He Liansheng, the Soul Summoner.

He Liansheng summoned the dead to defend the ancestral hall, but Liu San's many paper effigies overwhelmed him and killed him. After Liu San fled, the Red Coffin opened and a young woman awakened, apparently resurrected.

• He Liansheng summoned the spirits of Taiping Ancient Town's dead and attacked Liu San, but Liu San's ancient corpse resisted his supernatural powers.
• He Liansheng's summoned spirits immobilized Liu San, tore off his face, and burned him, but the destroyed body proved to be only one of many paper effigies.
• More than a dozen Liu San paper effigies surrounded He Liansheng and used their ancient corpses' power to kill him.
• Liu San confirmed He Liansheng was dead and fled before the dead man's fierce ghost could revive.
• Boss Liu found He Liansheng's headless body and questioned why he had not summoned the most important souls.
• The Red Coffin's spirit tablet shattered, its lid opened, and a young female corpse sat up as the Faceless Man sensed her resurrection.

After He Liansheng died, his final summoning revealed the secrets of the Soul Summoner’s inheritance and entrusted the role to He Yin'er. He Yin'er became the fourth Soul Summoner and left Taiping Town with Boss Liu and the Faceless Man to rebuild it in Dayuan City.

• He Yin'er learned that He Liansheng had died, then saw his headless corpse in the ancestral hall and grieved for her grandfather.
• He Liansheng appeared through the Soul Summoning Incense and told He Yin'er how to inherit his power, warned her not to seek revenge, and entrusted the spirit tablets to her.
• After He Liansheng's summoning ended, He Yin'er replaced her eye with his ghostly eyeball and completed the inheritance, becoming the fourth Soul Summoner.
• He Yin'er announced that she would rebuild Taiping Town in Dayuan City, where she had served as a captain at Headquarters.
• He Yin'er, Boss Liu, and the Faceless Man gathered the spirit tablets and important items, while He Liansheng's body remained in Taiping Ancient Town for burial.

Yang Jian inspected the aftermath of containing Ghost Lake and argued that the team should stop short of confronting the ghost inside it. Headquarters approved his lockdown plan, and the group agreed to monitor Ghost Lake for three days before leaving.

• Yang Jian surveyed the altered terrain, confirmed Ghost Lake's spread had been contained, and discovered that ghosts which escaped the lake had vanished from the region.
• Yang Jian returned to the service station and told Li Jun and the others that the escaped ghosts could cause future incidents, while Cao Yang reported that Captain Yinzi was online again.
• Liu San proposed using the supernatural camera against the ghost on Ghost Lake's wooden boat, but Yang Jian argued that a direct fight risked undoing the containment and releasing dormant ghosts.
• Li Jun contacted Headquarters, and Cao Yanhua approved Yang Jian's plan to leave Ghost Lake contained as long as its influence did not spread outward.
• Yang Jian, Cao Yang, and Liu San accepted the plan, while Li Jun required the group to monitor Ghost Lake for three days before they left.

Yang Jian and the other captains investigated a strange county town that appeared near Ghost Lake, where the lake’s supernatural influence seemed to be receding. They found an empty opera stage that Yang Jian recognized as dangerous, and he ordered everyone to leave it alone as the town began to disappear.

• After Liu San reported an unfamiliar county town, Yang Jian confirmed it had no counterpart in the real world and agreed to investigate with the other captains.
• The group found Ghost Lake water covering the county town, and Yang Jian observed that the town’s supernatural force was affecting the Ghost Lake power inside him.
• As the water vanished, the county town began to blur, and Liu San sensed that hidden things were about to emerge.
• The captains followed strange sounds to an empty opera stage with white hanging cloth and rows of red benches, which reminded Yang Jian of supernatural objects he had encountered before.
• Yang Jian warned the others that an unseen ghost might be present near the stage and decided they should record the discovery rather than risk triggering a taboo.

Yang Jian withdrew from the vanishing county, while Li Jun tested the supernatural opera stage and the red benches despite warnings from the others. After the group escaped, Yang Jian made clear he would not help with incidents beyond Ghost Lake and planned to return to Dachang City if the blockade remained stable.

• Yang Jian chose to leave the county, and Cao Yang and Liu San agreed to document it as a level X incident called Weird County.
• Li Jun set the county ablaze with ghost fire, revealing that the opera stage resisted the flames while supernatural corpses burned away.
• Li Jun touched a red bench and found a child-sized, blood-red handprint on his palm, confirming that invisible ghosts occupied the benches.
• Li Jun stepped onto the stage, causing its sounds to stop, the ghost fire to die, and many benches to shift as though their unseen occupants had stood up.
• Cao Yang pulled Li Jun away, and Feng Quan used his Ghost Domain to help the group retreat beyond the county.
• Yang Jian warned the others that he would not intervene in incidents unrelated to Ghost Lake and said he would return to Dachang City if the blockade held through the next day.

After the Ghost Lake operation, Yang Jian parted from the other captains and visited Sun Rui at Hell Apartment to consult Yang Xiao about the Ghost Dream dog haunting his nightmares. Yang Xiao advised him to meet the dog in the dream, and Yang Jian prepared to do so with Yang Xiao's help.

• Yang Jian and the other captains confirmed that Ghost Lake had been contained, thanked him for his help, and agreed to share information about dangerous places linked to the Republican Era.
• Yang Jian left for Dahan City instead of returning to Dachang City, seeking Sun Rui at Hell Apartment.
• Sun Rui showed Yang Jian an oil painting through which he entered the painting world and met Yang Xiao.
• Yang Jian told Yang Xiao about Ghost Dream and the vicious dog in his memories, and Yang Xiao advised him to enter the dream and meet the dog.
• Yang Xiao offered to help if anything went wrong, and Yang Jian decided to contact the dog inside Ghost Post Office.