Chapter Summaries

Yang Jian left to help Zhang Wei after learning he was in trouble, and found him with Ye Zhen at a village that had appeared inexplicably in Dahai City. The village chief assigned Zhang Wei to be the groom and told them to fetch the bride the next day, leaving the three men to stay in a sinister house.

• Yang Jian read a headquarters book about the relationship between ghost controllers and ferocious ghosts before Jiang Yan urgently told him that Zhang Wei was in trouble.
• Ye Zhen and Zhang Wei stood outside a newly appeared village when Yang Jian arrived amid the Ghost Lake's red light and floodwater.
• Yang Jian examined the village and saw a hunchbacked village chief appear at the entrance and invite them inside.
• The village chief led Yang Jian, Ye Zhen, and Zhang Wei through the eerily silent village, where red double-happiness decorations hung outside houses.
• The village chief pointed them to a low house, identified Zhang Wei as the groom, and told them to fetch the bride the next day.
• Yang Jian decided they would stay in the house, while Ye Zhen joked about going straight to the bridal chamber.

Yang Jian used the Human Skin Paper’s warning to work out when it was safe to leave the house, then went with Ye Zhen to investigate a wedding venue in the village. They found a Marriage Certificate that appeared to control people and ghosts by recording and subtly guiding events, leaving Yang Jian to consider whether it could help save Zhang Wei.

• Yang Jian questioned the Human Skin Paper and learned that searching the village by day was fatal, while a nighttime attempt to change the groom’s identity could save A Wei at the cost of his own life.
• Yang Jian inferred that he and Ye Zhen should leave after midnight, when it was both night and the next day, and told Zhang Wei to stay inside with a bottle of water that could help in danger.
• At midnight, Yang Jian and Ye Zhen left Zhang Wei behind and found a courtyard filled with lifeless wedding guests who watched them as they entered the building.
• Yang Jian and Ye Zhen discovered a Marriage Certificate recording Zhang Wei’s past actions in disturbing detail, with events involving women written in vivid red.
• Yang Jian reasoned that the Marriage Certificate could use Ghost Blood to suppress a ghost and guide a person or ghost toward a likely event, but that its changes had to remain plausible and limited.

Yang Jian and Ye Zhen fought their way out of the village chief’s wedding banquet after supernatural hands repeatedly attacked them through the Marriage Certificate. The village chief then declared that Zhang Wei, whom he identified as the groom, had to fetch the bride from the mountain graves.

• Ye Zhen cut the village chief in half, but the village chief appeared again as the banquet guests rose and advanced on them.
• A pale hand repeatedly attacked Ye Zhen and Yang Jian; Yang Jian grabbed the Marriage Certificate and saw the words “fetch the bride” appear in Ghost Blood.
• Yang Jian flooded the courtyard with lake water while Ye Zhen tore open a path through the crowd with his sword, and they escaped to Zhang Wei’s lodging.
• The village fell silent after Yang Jian and Ye Zhen returned indoors, and Yang Jian concluded that the village contained multiple certain-death rules while the village chief’s lodging was safe.
• The village chief arrived and told Zhang Wei it was time for the groom to fetch the bride, pointing toward a stretch of graves on the mountain.

Yang Jian and Zhang Wei searched the village graveyard for Zhang Wei’s bride, only to find an empty coffin and awaken a female corpse. The corpse controlled Zhang Wei and attacked Yang Jian, leaving both men in grave danger as the villagers’ suona music suppressed Yang Jian’s powers.

• Yang Jian led Zhang Wei and Ye Zhen to the mountain graveyard to find Zhang Wei’s bride.
• Zhang Wei found his fiancée’s photograph on a gravestone, and Yang Jian discovered that his Ghost Domain could not enter the grave mound.
• Yang Jian took Zhang Wei’s supernatural shovel and dug up an old black coffin as the villagers began playing their suonas.
• Yang Jian opened the coffin and found it empty, while a red-clad female corpse appeared on Zhang Wei’s back.
• The corpse forced Zhang Wei toward the bridal sedan chair as the suona music pinned Yang Jian in place and the corpse’s gaze rapidly weakened him.

Yang Jian and Ye Zhen briefly stopped the bridal corpse from carrying Zhang Wei to the sedan chair, but Yang Jian’s attempt to dismember her failed when she restarted and reappeared on Zhang Wei’s back. As Zhang Wei resumed walking, Yang Jian realized he might need the Marriage Certificate, while Ye Zhen suddenly headed toward the village compound.

• Yang Jian used his supernatural powers to slow Zhang Wei and pull the bridal corpse off his back, but the corpse’s influence also caught hold of Yang Jian.
• Ye Zhen used his Ghost Domain and longsword to strike the bridal corpse, stopping Zhang Wei long enough for Yang Jian to tear her away.
• Yang Jian covered the corpse with his Ghost Shadow and cut her in two with the hatchet, but she restarted and reappeared on Zhang Wei’s back.
• Zhang Wei began walking toward the bridal sedan chair again, and Yang Jian understood that the Marriage Certificate might be necessary to save him.
• Ye Zhen declared that Zhang Wei was under his protection, then vanished into the village compound.

Yang Jian used an eighth-layer Ghost Domain to restart the graveyard and save Zhang Wei, while Ye Zhen endured the Marriage Certificate’s backlash and waited inside the village courtyard as the bride’s procession arrived.

• Yang Jian forced the eight Ghost Eyes to overlap, expanding his Ghost Domain before drawing it back to cover only the graveyard.
• Yang Jian restarted the area, reversing events and restoring Zhang Wei while the female corpse walked away toward the bridal sedan chair.
• Yang Jian ended the restart and told Zhang Wei that the female ghost had gone to find Ye Zhen.
• Ye Zhen survived the Marriage Certificate’s attacks but found himself unable to leave the room.
• The synchronized footsteps and suona stopped outside the courtyard, and a voice announced that the bride had arrived.

Dahai City was devastated by a supernatural attack while headquarters struggled to respond because its forces were already stretched thin. Half an hour before the disaster, Yang Jian concealed Zhang Wei in a gold body bag and followed the eerie wedding procession toward the courtyard holding the marriage contract.

• People's heads began exploding across Dahai City, and a speeding train crashed in its tunnel.
• A Wu tried to alert headquarters, but the second wave of attacks struck him before he could get through.
• Cao Yanhua ordered support for Dahai City, but Wang Xiaoming explained that headquarters could not spare enough personnel without risking other emergencies.
• Cao Yanhua ordered the available rescue forces to search inward from the city's outskirts and retreat at signs of danger.
• Half an hour earlier, Yang Jian sealed Zhang Wei inside a gold body bag and followed the wedding procession toward the marriage contract's courtyard.

Yang Jian found two post office tenants in the bridal chamber and forced them to explain why they had come to the village. After learning about their letters and a bracelet that redirected ghost attacks, he left them there while promising that at least one would survive.

• Yang Jian followed two living figures into the bridal chamber and demanded to know who they were and why they were there.
• When the pair stayed silent, Yang Jian beheaded the man, and the woman revealed that they were Liu Qingqing and Li Yi, tenants on the post office's third floor.
• Liu Qingqing explained that a man with a large saber had killed the other tenants and forced them to deliver letters to the bride after she entered the bridal chamber.
• Li Yi revived, and Yang Jian learned that his bracelet could transfer a malicious ghost's attack to another bracelet wearer.
• Li Yi gave Yang Jian his bracelet, and Yang Jian promised that at least one of the pair would leave safely before departing.

Yang Jian and Ye Zhen tried to stop the supernatural wedding by using Ye Zhen’s Substitute Ghost to redirect the Ghost Lake’s revival onto the bride. As the bride absorbed the repeated attacks, Yang Jian focused on the Marriage Certificate, and the outcome remained uncertain.

• Ye Zhen and the bride were forced to kowtow, while the attack also cracked Yang Jian’s skull until his Ghost Shadow stopped the damage.
• Ye Zhen’s body shattered and then recovered through the Substitute Ghost, emerging with a changed presence and a Ghost Domain.
• Yang Jian decided to risk a plan to deal with the bride, and Ye Zhen asked him to put the dark red bracelet on his wrist.
• Yang Jian used the Ghost Lake against the Marriage Certificate, while Ye Zhen transferred the lake’s revival risk through himself and onto the bride.
• Lake water repeatedly poured from the bride’s wedding gown and seeped back into her body as Yang Jian concentrated on the Marriage Certificate.

Yang Jian used the Marriage Certificate to manipulate the wedding rules and create a chance to save Ye Zhen, while Liu Qingqing completed the post office’s mission and returned. Ye Zhen was restored, but the Ghost Bride began moving again, leaving the outcome uncertain.

• Yang Jian wrote instructions into the Marriage Certificate, directing Liu Qingqing to enter the coffin and making whoever entered after the wedding bows count as the bride.
• Yang Jian wrote that Liu Qingqing had kept her letter and would return to the post office after completing the mission, but the bracelet shattered as he finished.
• Yang Jian told Ye Zhen not to resist, and Ye Zhen and the female corpse completed the third bow together.
• Liu Qingqing appeared in a wedding dress inside the coffin, and Li Yi carried her out along the eerie path until they disappeared.
• Yang Jian used the Ghost Eyes to restart Ye Zhen after the female corpse released him, restoring his living appearance.
• Yang Jian warned Ye Zhen that the plan might not be complete as the Ghost Bride began moving again.

Yang Jian trapped the female corpse in an endless loop by making the Marriage Certificate, Ghost Post Office, and her killing rules conflict. After returning to the city, he left with Zhang Wei while Ye Zhen departed alone, vowing to eradicate every vicious ghost.

• Yang Jian’s plan caused the female corpse to alternate endlessly between approaching the Ghost Post Office and kneeling under the Marriage Certificate’s influence.
• Yang Jian explained to Ye Zhen that the corpse had become an incomplete bride and would remain trapped in the loop unless another supernatural force intervened.
• Yang Jian and Ye Zhen left the courtyard as people in the Ghost Post Office watched the corpse loop; a Republican-era man with a saber observed it from the top floor and then disappeared.
• Yang Jian opened Zhang Wei’s gold body bag and told him it was time to return, while explaining that Ye Zhen had transferred the Ghost Lake’s fourth layer onto the female corpse, letting Yang Jian control the lake more completely.
• Ye Zhen declined Yang Jian’s invitation to return to Dachang City and left, saying he would sweep every last vicious ghost from the world.

Yang Jian and Zhang Wei returned to Dachang City after the disaster in Dahai City, while news of the city’s destruction spread through rumors. Back at Guanjiang Residential Complex, Jiang Yan tried to comfort Yang Jian, who then went to the modern temple he had built on the vacant lot.

• Yang Jian and Zhang Wei saw the news of Dahai City’s lockdown at Dachang Airport, where Zhang Wei told nearby travelers that ghosts had caused the disaster.
• Jiang Yan greeted Yang Jian and Zhang Wei at the arrivals exit, and they left the airport together.
• Lin Bei, a bald man carrying broken mirror fragments beneath his trench coat, arranged a flight to DQ City and left with airport staff after showing his person-in-charge ID.
• At Guanjiang Residential Complex, Zhang Wei went to his esports office while Jiang Yan asked Yang Jian if he was all right.
• Yang Jian warned Jiang Yan that talking about supernatural matters could get people killed, and she returned to manage the company.
• Yang Jian went to the vacant lot behind the residential complex, where a modern-style temple now stood.

Yang Jian returned to his disguised temple, considered Wang Shanshan’s strange connection to his injuries, and agreed to take her home to meet his mother. When they reached Meishan Village, a girl appeared behind them and called him her cousin, startling him because he had not sensed her approach.

• Yang Jian visited Wang Shanshan and the Ghost Child, and Wang Shanshan told him that cracks had appeared in her head after he nearly died in Dahai City.
• Yang Jian suspected that injuries from supernatural attacks on him might be transferred to Wang Shanshan, and he said he would confine the Ghost Child in a gold box if needed.
• After Zhang Fen urgently called and ordered Yang Jian to bring a girlfriend home for the New Year, Yang Jian agreed to take Wang Shanshan with him, partly because he wanted to learn more about his father’s suspected connection to a supernatural incident.
• Yang Jian locked the Ghost Child inside the gold safe house, then traveled with Wang Shanshan to Meishan Village.
• As Yang Jian and Wang Shanshan walked into the village, a girl behind them called Yang Jian her cousin, and Yang Jian opened his Ghost Eye in alarm.

Yang Jian returned to Meishan Village with Wang Shanshan and encountered his cousin Liang Yuan, whose strange behavior suggested a connection to the supernatural. After finding no clues about his father at the family home, Yang Jian learned that the man who saved him in the hurricane was Li Yang, and decided to go to DQ City to visit Li Yang’s seriously ill mother.

• Liang Yuan told Yang Jian that Wang Shanshan was almost dead, then abruptly ran off, prompting Yang Jian to suspect she had encountered the supernatural.
• Yang Jian asked Liu Xiaoyu to investigate Liang Yuan and followed up on the unidentified man who had saved him in the hurricane.
• Yang Jian and Wang Shanshan reached his family home, where Yang Jian searched his father's memorial room for clues but found nothing unusual.
• Liu Xiaoyu reported that the hurricane rescuer was Li Yang, a young man who disappeared during the Ghost Painting incident while still an ordinary person.
• Yang Jian learned that Li Yang's mother was seriously ill in DQ City and arranged a flight there to visit her.

Yang Jian traveled to DQ City and used his Ghost Domain to remove Liu Jing’s tumor, saving her life. After noticing that the falling snow could make his Ghost Hand feel cold, he warned Li Jie to leave the city and sent him to Shangtong Building in Dachang City.

• Yang Jian left Wang Shanshan with his mother and drove to DQ City after concluding that Li Yang had come from the future and might eventually join his team.
• Yang Jian learned from Li Jie that Liu Jing’s tumor and complications made surgery too risky, then entered her hospital room alone.
• Yang Jian used his Ghost Domain and Ghost Hand to remove Liu Jing’s tumor, and Li Jie summoned medical staff to examine her.
• Yang Jian felt an abnormal chill when a snowflake touched his Ghost Hand, then confirmed that Liu Jing was recovering.
• Yang Jian advised Li Jie to leave DQ City and go to Shangtong Building in Dachang City, then shut the window against the strange falling snow.

Yang Jian questioned Liu Jing about Li Yang and searched her home, where he unexpectedly met Lin Bei. Lin Bei told him how he had left the supernatural bus and described the old man who drove its passengers off, leading Yang Jian to connect the driver to Elder Qin and his father's death.

• Yang Jian questioned Liu Jing about Li Yang's behavior before he went abroad and learned that he had seemed like an ordinary student.
• Yang Jian arranged for Liu Jing to recover in Dachang City and noticed that the snow outside seemed to carry supernatural power.
• Yang Jian searched Liu Jing's dusty apartment but found nothing unusual before someone knocked at the door.
• Yang Jian recognized Lin Bei, who had come to thank him for sending money to his family.
• Lin Bei told Yang Jian that an old man had driven the bus's passengers off and killed those who resisted, and Yang Jian suspected the man was Elder Qin.
• Yang Jian connected Elder Qin's past as a bus driver to the bus's role in killing his father and suppressing a dangerous ghost.

Yang Jian learned that Lin Bei had come to DQ City to investigate its strange snowfall, then received an urgent call that Xiao Yuan was killing people. Before he could leave, a supernatural attack pulled him into shifting dreamlike scenes where his powers were gone, and he suspected the ghost Nightmare was involved.

• Lin Bei told Yang Jian that headquarters had sent him to investigate DQ City, and Yang Jian advised him to leave because the supernatural snowfall covered the city.
• Wang Shanshan called Yang Jian and reported that Xiao Yuan had stabbed a child, so Yang Jian ordered Liu Xiaoyu to send staff to stop her.
• As Yang Jian prepared to leave, a wave of drowsiness struck him, and his Ghost Domain expanded while Lin Bei raised his guard.
• Yang Jian found himself in a hospital ward where Liu Jing was hanged by a straw rope, and discovered that his left hand and supernatural powers were gone.
• Yang Jian entered a shifting scene on a country lane, where Xiao Yuan smiled as she stabbed a corpse, and he suspected the ghost Nightmare.

Yang Jian realized he was trapped in a dream attacked by the ghost his father had controlled, and followed Xiao Yuan to find and kill it. Their path beside the Ghost Lake was soon overwhelmed by falling corpses, one of which began to rise as they fled.

• Yang Jian noticed Xiao Yuan was missing an eye and learned that supernatural things like his incomplete left hand could not be brought into the dream.
• Yang Jian connected the attack to his father's ghost and asked Xiao Yuan to take him out of the dream.
• Xiao Yuan said they had to find and kill the ghost before dawn, then led Yang Jian along a country path.
• Yang Jian recognized the rivers beside the path as the Ghost Lake and saw countless female corpses hanging from Ghost Ropes overhead.
• Yang Jian grabbed Xiao Yuan and ran as the corpses fell into the lake and a female corpse landed beside the path and began to rise.

Yang Jian and Xiao Yuan fought their way through a nightmare filled with manifestations of Yang Jian’s past supernatural encounters before falling into a vast mirror-lined space. They landed beneath an enormous, eerie Buddha statue, leaving Yang Jian wondering whether his memories had been altered.

• Xiao Yuan fought off the rising female corpses with knives and a handgun while she and Yang Jian ran along the narrowing path.
• Yang Jian realized the nightmare’s anomalies seemed tied to his own experiences and wondered whether the bloodstained old newspaper had altered Xiao Yuan’s memories.
• The cousins fought together as corpses fell from the sky, but the path beneath them became a mirror and shattered.
• Yang Jian and Xiao Yuan fell into a vast space lined with mirrors and discovered an enormous Buddha statue at its center.
• Xiao Yuan and Yang Jian landed on a bench, and Yang Jian questioned whether his memories of the Buddha statue had been altered.

Yang Jian, Xiao Yuan, and Lin Bei found themselves together in a dream world, where Yang Jian identified the Knocking Ghost and tried to determine whether Lin Bei was real. After confirming Lin Bei’s identity, Yang Jian explained that the dream involved a ghost his father had once controlled.

• The Knocking Ghost appeared beside Yang Jian and offered food, but Lin Bei pinned it to the wall with a glass shard.
• Xiao Yuan attacked Lin Bei, and Yang Jian stopped her and explained that she was his cousin.
• Lin Bei described being chased by headless corpses in a mall before escaping through a mirror and arriving in the dining room.
• Yang Jian beat and stabbed the Knocking Ghost, convincing Lin Bei that he was the real Yang Jian.
• Yang Jian told Lin Bei that the dream world involved a ghost his father had once controlled.