Chapter Summaries

Headquarters learned that Yang Jian’s team had stopped Zhang Xianguang’s Ghost Tamer group and contained Ghost Painting, though the operation left several captains dead, missing, or gravely injured. Yang Jian spared Wang Han and kept Zhang Xianguang trapped in the dream world to question him, leaving Zhang to ponder his demand for atonement.

• Cao Yanhua told the captains that Zhang Xianguang’s group had been defeated, Ghost Painting was under He Yuelian’s control, and the operation had cost Li Jun his life while leaving Wei Jing missing and Liu San and He Yin’er badly hurt.
• Cao Yanhua explained that Yang Jian had used Li Jun’s ghost fire to overcome Ghost Painting’s restrictions, and that He Yuelian would remain in the Ghost Post Office under Sun Rui’s supervision while Headquarters assessed her.
• Wang Chaling received permission to return to Dadong City after the captain meeting’s urgent business ended.
• Yang Jian found the injured Wang Han in the dream world, told him Zhang Xianguang’s plan had failed, and let him return to reality with a warning not to cause trouble again.
• Yang Jian told the trapped Zhang Xianguang that his plan was finished and kept him alive because he wanted answers, then warned him to consider how he would atone before leaving.

Yang Jian went to a secluded Chinese medicine shop in Zhongjiang City to investigate its connections to Chen Qiaoyang, Zhang Xianguang, and the Ghost Tamers of the past. There he met the Blind Old Man, who revealed that he had been friends with the corpse Yang Jian buried and suggested he was close to death.

• Yang Jian arrived at the old district in Zhongjiang City and found the dim Chinese medicine shop protected by supernatural forces.
• Yang Jian used his Ghost Eye to illuminate the shop, prompting the Blind Old Man and Xiao Ru to come out and warn him not to burn it down.
• Yang Jian introduced himself and explained that he had learned about the shop by stealing the memories of troublesome Ghost Tamers.
• The Blind Old Man recognized Yang Jian's strength, told Xiao Ru to treat him politely, and invited him to sit.
• Yang Jian recognized the Grand Tutor Chair from the old house where he had buried a corpse, and the Blind Old Man admitted that he had been friends with its occupant.
• The Blind Old Man said Yang Jian had arrived just in time, since he might soon have been left with nothing but his coffin.

Yang Jian questioned the Blind Old Man about the Republican Era, the origins of supernatural incidents, and the old generation’s hopes for a new path. The old man explained why he helped Ghost Tamers delay revival, then offered Yang Jian a special medicine, which Yang refused to trust.

• Yang Jian named Republican Era Ghost Tamers he had encountered, and the Blind Old Man supplied their identities and mentioned Luo Qian, the graveyard keeper.
• The Blind Old Man described three conjectures about the origins of supernatural incidents and argued that Ghost Tamers needed pioneers rather than inheritors to break the cycle.
• Yang Jian realized the old man had avoided leaving behind methods because he hoped the current generation would develop an exceptional path of its own.
• The Blind Old Man said he treated Ghost Tamers to delay vicious ghost revival and give them more time to nurture hope, not to control what they did afterward.
• Xiao Ru brought out a packet of supernatural Chinese medicine that the old man offered as a way to delay revival, but Yang Jian said he could not trust it.

Yang Jian accepted medicine and advice from the old man at the Chinese medicine shop, while declining to take Xiao Ru as a companion. After leaving, he reflected on the old man’s explanation of Zhang Xianguang’s Peach Blossom Spring Plan and departed the city.

• The old man gave Yang Jian three packets of medicine and explained that he had prepared a coffin from the Coffin Shop for his death.
• The old man offered to let Xiao Ru follow Yang Jian, but Xiao Ru refused, and Yang Jian promised to look after her if he had the chance.
• Yang Jian told the old man and Xiao Ru that he had killed Zhang Xianguang, Chen Qiaoyang, and the others who used to visit the shop.
• Yang Jian left traces of Ghost Lake water in a secluded part of the city so he could return while the old man was alive.
• Yang Jian considered how Zhang Xianguang’s Peach Blossom Spring Plan sought to build a world without the problems afflicting the existing one, then left the city.

Yang Jian returned to Dachang City and resumed his routine at Shangtong Building, where he learned of unexplained disappearances and noticed that the ghost cabinet had reappeared. He suspected the vanished Wishing Ghost had returned to Zhao Xiaoya and ordered Liu Xiaoyu to contact her and Liu Siyue.

• Yang Jian returned home, told Jiang Yan and Zhang Liqin about the Headquarters meeting and Zhang Xianguang's failed plan, then spent the night dreaming.
• Yang Jian checked Dachang City the next morning and found it calm before returning to Shangtong Building.
• Yang Jian spoke with Keiko at reception, then told Zhang Liqin he would attend Zhang Wei's class reunion and meet someone there.
• Liu Xiaoyu reported that Feng Quan and Liu Qi had returned to Dachang City, that people were disappearing without explanation, and that the Black Umbrella incident remained unresolved.
• Yang Jian noticed the ghost cabinet in his office and realized the paranormal conflict with the Wishing Ghost might have ended.
• Yang Jian told Liu Xiaoyu to contact Liu Siyue and Zhao Xiaoya, suspecting the missing-person cases were connected to the ghost that had returned to Zhao Xiaoya.

Yang Jian went to Sunshine Community after the Wishing Ghost returned to Zhao Xiaoya and began frightening Liu Siyue. When Zhao Xiaoya wished for Yang Jian to die, he used the Ghost Scissors and discovered that the resulting curse connected to the Ghost Cabinet instead.

• Liu Xiaoyu confirmed that Liu Siyue and Zhao Xiaoya were living in Sunshine Community, and Yang Jian went there to investigate.
• Liu Siyue told Yang Jian that Zhao Xiaoya had grown into a teenager overnight and that a ghost had returned, frightening her with nighttime activity.
• Yang Jian realized the Wishing Ghost had returned to Zhao Xiaoya and seemed more violent after its conflict with the Ghost Cabinet.
• Zhao Xiaoya accused Yang Jian of killing her father, Zhao Kaiming, then wished for Yang Jian to die.
• Yang Jian took the Ghost Scissors and saw the curse line lead not to Zhao Xiaoya or the Wishing Ghost, but to the Ghost Cabinet on the balcony.

Yang Jian investigated Zhao Xiaoya’s wish and found that the ghost cabinet was attacking him, then sent her into Ghost Dream to be taught by Zhang Xianguang. After Yang Jian’s ghost fire suppressed the supernatural attack, the cabinet remained unharmed, leaving him to consider how to destroy it.

• Yang Jian found that the Ghost Scissors’ thread from Zhao Xiaoya’s wish led to the ghost cabinet, and he suspected the Wishing Ghost had defeated and controlled it.
• The ghost cabinet released blood and a skinless corpse, which Yang Jian attacked with ghost fire while sending Liu Siyue outside.
• Yang Jian confronted Zhao Xiaoya about wishing for his death, then used the vicious dog to put her into a nightmare and bring her to Zhang Xianguang’s private school for instruction.
• Zhang Xianguang agreed to teach Zhao Xiaoya after realizing she did not understand the harm in her wishes.
• Yang Jian’s ghost fire burned away the bloody corpse and contained the supernatural blood, but the ghost cabinet remained intact and untouched by the flames.

Yang Jian used Zhang Xianguang's broadsword to test its power against the Ghost Cabinet, discovering that it tore through both supernatural phenomena and reality. The slash split the Ghost Cabinet into two, leaving Yang Jian to consider how the separated cabinets might be used before the lingering crack vanished.

• Yang Jian decided that sealing the Ghost Cabinet with ghost fire would not solve the danger it posed to others, and considered asking the human-skin paper for help.
• Yang Jian remembered Zhang Xianguang's broadsword and took it from a corpse in the water, suffering supernatural decay in his arm as he gripped it.
• Yang Jian saw cracks across his vision while holding the broadsword and inferred that its blade tore apart whatever lay along those cracks.
• Yang Jian swung the broadsword at the Ghost Cabinet, splitting it and tearing through nearby walls and buildings before using his Ghost Domain to restore the damage.
• Yang Jian concluded that the broadsword could separate Ghost Tamers' bodies and supernatural powers, then wondered how to use the two Ghost Cabinets before the crack disappeared.

Yang Jian tried to use the two halves of the split ghost cabinet to create a supernatural conflict, but the cabinets crumbled and vanished instead. He brought the unconscious Zhao Xiaoya to Shangtong Building, where he prepared to monitor the Wishing Ghost that lingered around her.

• Yang Jian placed contradictory requests in the two halves of the ghost cabinet, asking for the Wishing Ghost to appear and not appear within three days.
• After Yang Jian extinguished the ghost fire, the blood stopped attacking him, flowed into the cabinets, and the ghost cabinets rapidly decayed and vanished.
• Yang Jian told Liu Siyue to bring Zhao Xiaoya to Shangtong Building so Zhao Xiaoya could receive care and be watched.
• Yang Jian asked Huang Ziya to arrange for Xiong Wenwen and Li Yang to stay at the company while they monitored the Wishing Ghost.
• Huang Ziya contacted Xiong Wenwen's mother, Chen Shumei, to ask permission for Xiong Wenwen to come to the company.

Yang Jian arranged for Li Yang and Xiong Wenwen to monitor Zhao Xiaoya and investigate the Wishing Ghost while he waited for news about the disappearances. Liu Qi, now a Headquarters Ghost Tamer and captain candidate, arrived to meet Yang Jian, and they left together to talk over lunch.

• Xiong Wenwen tried to flee after hearing a ghost was following Zhao Xiaoya, but Yang Jian provoked him into staying for three days.
• Li Yang reported no progress on the disappearances and suspected they were linked to a supernatural incident elsewhere; Yang Jian assigned him and Xiong Wenwen to watch Zhao Xiaoya and the company.
• Yang Jian explained that removing Zhao Xiaoya as the Wishing Ghost's host might leave the ghost unrestrained, so he chose to keep her under observation for the three-day deadline.
• Zhang Wei told Liu Qi that few of their former classmates had survived and that Wang Shanshan had stopped replying to his messages.
• Yang Jian met Liu Qi in the lobby, and the three men went to lunch so Yang Jian and Liu Qi could talk.

At the abandoned No. 7 High School, Liu Qi told Yang Jian and Zhang Wei how a supernatural incident involving his grandparents led him to become a Ghost Tamer. He explained that he later joined Headquarters and became a candidate captain, leaving the three reflecting on how far they had come since the Knocking Ghost Incident.

• Yang Jian, Liu Qi, and Zhang Wei visited No. 7 High School and recalled the classmates who died during the Knocking Ghost Incident.
• Yang Jian asked Liu Qi how he had become a Ghost Tamer and a candidate captain in the year since they last met.
• Liu Qi recounted how his dead grandparents vanished from their coffins and caused people in his village to die.
• Liu Qi discovered that his grandparents’ curse made them search for each other, and he ended the incident by burying them together in one coffin.
• After losing many relatives, Liu Qi sought out supernatural events, tamed a fierce ghost, and continued resolving incidents to grow stronger.
• Liu Qi joined Headquarters, learned how to manage the dangers of being a Ghost Tamer, and was eventually nominated as a candidate captain.

Yang Jian, Liu Qi, and Zhang Wei discovered a red supernatural axe buried in the school field, and Yang Jian decided to have Dr. Chen examine it. Zhang Wei could wield it without feeling its supernatural weight, and the three left to take it to the company.

• Yang Jian and Liu Qi discussed Liu Qi's role overseeing a city and reaffirmed their old friendship during their reunion.
• Yang Jian noticed Zhang Wei digging in the field and went with Liu Qi to see what he had found.
• Yang Jian pulled a mud-covered red axe from the ground and recognized it as a supernatural weapon resembling one he had seen in the Ghost Painting.
• Yang Jian found that the axe grew heavier the longer he held it, while Zhang Wei could wield it without discomfort.
• Yang Jian told Zhang Wei to stop playing with the axe until Dr. Chen studied it, then the three headed to the company.

Yang Jian and Liu Qi traveled to Baishui Town after learning that Wang Shanshan and Dashan City's person in charge had disappeared there. Yang Jian stopped the town's supernatural rain, but discovered that much of the town did not match its map.

• Yang Jian learned from Wang Bin that Wang Shanshan had gone to Baishui Town and lost contact, then decided to bring her back.
• Liu Qi discovered that Dashan City's person in charge, Xiao Yang, had also disappeared in Baishui Town, and joined Yang Jian on the trip.
• Yang Jian told Zhang Wei to stay in Dachang City and meet Miao Xiaoshan while he and Liu Qi traveled to Baishui Town through his Ghost Domain.
• Yang Jian found Baishui Town covered in cold supernatural rain and used his Ghost Domain to disperse it.
• Yang Jian compared the town with a map from Liu Qi's operator and found that more than half of Baishui Town was missing from the map.

Yang Jian and Liu Qi investigated Baishui Town, where supernatural influence had altered the town and contaminated its residents. They found Wang Shanshan’s grandmother preserved in a strange state and used yellow paper to suppress the force sustaining her, then left to search the town for the source of the danger.

• Yang Jian compared Baishui Town with its map and concluded that a supernatural place was invading reality, while Liu Qi learned that the missing Xiao Yang had left no information behind.
• Yang Jian warned Liu Qi to treat every building as dangerous and suspected that supernatural rain had contaminated the townspeople through their water and daily life.
• Yang Jian and Liu Qi found Wang Shanshan’s grandmother’s mold-covered house and discovered her motionless, apparently lifeless body locked inside a room.
• Yang Jian found that ghost fire partly restored the old woman but could kill her, so he covered her face with yellow paper to suppress the supernatural force and keep her asleep.
• Yang Jian and Liu Qi left the old woman’s room and continued searching Baishui Town for other unusual places.

Yang Jian and Liu Qi investigated Baishui Town and learned that supernatural rain had trapped and confused its residents. When night fell, ghosts and other supernatural phenomena emerged throughout the town, but Yang Jian believed Wang Shanshan and many residents were still alive, protected by the rain.

• Yang Jian used his ghost hand to clear the mist from Zheng Xiaorong’s eyes, and Zheng warned them that ghosts appeared at night and residents could not escape the town.
• Zheng Xiaorong left to search for his wife after Yang Jian gave him about three hours before nightfall.
• Dark clouds gathered again, and Yang Jian and Liu Qi waited for nightfall as rain returned and the town grew dark.
• At six o’clock, figures appeared in the rain, shops opened by themselves, and supernatural activity filled Baishui Town.
• A ghost reached for Liu Qi from a sewer, but Yang Jian burned its arm with ghost fire.
• Yang Jian concluded that most figures wandering in the rain were living residents kept from dying by the supernatural rain, possibly through the efforts of the person in charge of Dashan City.

Yang Jian found the Ghost Shroud in a haunted clothing store and fought his way out after taking it. Outside, Liu Qi saw his supposedly deceased grandparents among the crowd, leaving Yang Jian to face a new mystery.

• Yang Jian and Liu Qi searched Baishui Town for Wang Shanshan and passed a ghost hotel and a haunted noodle shop.
• Yang Jian recognized Ghost Child's Ghost Shroud in a clothing store and entered to reclaim it, while Liu Qi waited outside.
• When the shop demanded seventeen yuan, Yang Jian took the Ghost Shroud without paying, triggering a ghost sealed in the walls to attack him.
• Yang Jian immobilized and dismembered the ghost, then used ghost fire to suppress the other garments' supernatural influence and escape the store.
• Yang Jian discovered Liu Qi standing among the crowd and warned him that a ghost was there, but Liu Qi said he had seen his deceased grandparents.

Yang Jian and Liu Qi found a refuge protected by funeral couplets and met Xiao Yang, the missing person in charge of Dashan City. Xiao Yang revealed that Wang Shanshan had entered the road where the dead appeared, and Yang Jian prepared to pursue her while Xiao Yang refused to abandon the survivors.

• Liu Qi mistook the dead for his grandparents in the endless crowd, while Yang Jian warned him that ghosts might be manipulating his senses.
• After Yang Jian and Liu Qi left the clothing store, five ghosts emerged and followed them through Baishui Town.
• Yang Jian used his vicious dog to locate survivors, leading him to a room protected by funeral couplets that made Liu Qi lose consciousness.
• Yang Jian entered the refuge and met Xiao Yang, who had been presumed dead and was sheltering around twenty survivors.
• Xiao Yang told Yang Jian that Wang Shanshan had followed the road of the departed with the Ghost Child, possibly seeking a deceased loved one.
• Xiao Yang refused Yang Jian's offer to take him out unless he could bring the other survivors along.

Yang Jian agreed to lead the Baishui Town survivors across the boundary into reality at six the next morning, while first searching for Wang Shanshan. Before he could leave, five ghosts from the clothing store gathered outside Xiao Yang’s shelter and began wearing down its protective funeral couplet.

• Xiao Yang explained that he had trapped the residents in a living-dead state and could not safely awaken or evacuate them on his own.
• Yang Jian agreed to evacuate most of the residents at six the next morning, postponing his search for Wang Shanshan if necessary.
• Xiao Yang sensed several powerful beings approaching and shut the shelter’s door, relying on the funeral couplet to keep ghosts out.
• Five ghosts climbed to the third floor, and Yang Jian recognized them as the clothing-store ghosts he had provoked.
• The funeral couplet turned the first two ghosts away, but they returned after fewer steps each time, and Liu Qi realized they were draining its protection.
• Yang Jian said he would intervene if a ghost broke in and planned to tear down the clothing store afterward.

Yang Jian stopped five ghosts from entering the survivors’ room by burning and dragging their supernatural garments into Ghost Lake. He then left with Xiao Yang and Liu Qi to search Baishui Town for Wang Shanshan and continue their plan.

• The door’s couplet failed, and five ghosts in old clothes entered the corridor.
• Yang Jian pinned the grayish-blue-robed ghost with a coffin nail, but it broke free and recovered.
• Yang Jian used ghost fire to suppress all five ghosts, then pulled their garments into Ghost Lake and contained them.
• Yang Jian said their plan would proceed at six o’clock and headed back toward Baishui Town’s main road.
• Xiao Yang offered to help locate Wang Shanshan, and Liu Qi joined them as the three left the survivors and continued deeper into town.

Yang Jian, Xiao Yang, and Liu Qi followed the vicious dog deeper into Baishui Town, where paper flowers marked the boundary of a supernatural land. The road trapped them among dead souls and separated them, leaving Yang Jian to confront familiar apparitions alone.

• Xiao Yang warned Yang Jian that the town grew more dangerous with every step, but Yang Jian continued searching for Wang Shanshan until the paper flowers convinced him to stop and use the vicious dog.
• The vicious dog ran across the road, and when Xiao Yang and Liu Qi followed, the route back and the far side vanished into an endless crowd of dead souls.
• A nearly three-meter-tall ghost passed close to Liu Qi, and he and Xiao Yang realized Yang Jian had disappeared from their sight.
• Liu Qi saw his dead grandparents, while Xiao Yang saw his dead little sister; Xiao Yang warned Liu Qi not to trust the dead souls or follow them.
• Alone among the dead souls, Yang Jian saw Zhao Lei, Zhou Zheng, and Yan Li appear and cut the Zhao Lei apparition in two with his cracked spear.