Chapter Summaries

Ding Ling mastered the Breathing of the Ghost by performing a scene from The Butterfly Lovers with the Averting God’s help. After Zhou Yang taught her the technique’s uses and taboos, she left the unsafe abandoned house and circled around Daliangzi Village.

• Zhou Yang prepared to reclaim the Breathing of the Ghost, but Ding Ling asked for one more chance to control it with the Averting God.
• Ding Ling performed a passage from The Butterfly Lovers, and the ghostly breaths quieted before syncing with her own breathing.
• Zhou Yang confirmed that Ding Ling had mastered the Breathing of the Ghost, and the Knife Credit Ledger added it to her abilities.
• Ding Ling asked Zhou Yang whether she had sung and looked good, then discussed why her performance had affected the breathing technique.
• Zhou Yang taught Ding Ling the Breathing of the Ghost’s uses and taboos, and she left the abandoned house to avoid Chang Dafeng and the ghost-tainted villagers.

Zhou Yang and Ding Ling searched an apparently abandoned courtyard in Daliangzi Village and found paper figures dressed as characters from plays used in the Draft of Divine Makeup and Ghost Painting. They realized the Opera Ghost's preparations had likely targeted Chang Dafeng first, and finished searching the front courtyard with the main hall still unexplained.

• Zhou Yang sent Ding Ling over the wall to inspect the courtyard, where they discovered a collapsed house and a paper figure dressed as a high-ranking civil official with a slit in its robe.
• Ding Ling found a paper head with red-painted eyes in a stove and then encountered a headless paper figure dressed as Shen Gongbao.
• Zhou Yang identified the figure as Shen Gongbao with His Head Twisted and Neck Split and explained that Chang Dafeng had likely been the Opera Ghost's original target.
• Zhou Yang and Ding Ling continued searching the courtyard and found paper figures of Lady White Bone and Plague King Zhao Gongming in separate rooms.
• Zhou Yang and Ding Ling reached the main hall, the last room in the front courtyard, where they found no paper figure.

Ding Ling and Zhou Yang investigated the Zeng clan’s spotless main hall and found that its genealogy and ancestral portrait placed Zeng Laifeng in an impossible position. A strange opera performer appeared outside, and repeated crashing sounds left Zhou Yang’s vision black.

• Ding Ling examined the Zeng clan genealogy while Zhou Yang questioned why the hall held a spirit tablet for Lady Ding Jiu.
• Zhou Yang read that Zeng Laifeng was eighteen and entered in the genealogy, but realized his portrait should not have appeared among the ancestors whether he was alive or dead.
• Ghost Rhyme surged through the hall, and Zhou Yang took control of Ding Ling’s body as the ancestral portrait seemed to come alive.
• Zhou Yang overheard a man and a woman discussing how learning opera could help them take the Opera Lady’s skills and exchange themselves for her.
• Zhou Yang saw a corpse-like figure in a huadan costume painting her face, and the figure turned its head around to look at him.
• The figure began singing as repeated sounds of something heavy striking the ground rang out, and Zhou Yang’s vision went black.

Zhou Yang woke in Guan Village after escaping Daliang Village and worried that Ding Ling might have been killed by the Opera Ghost. Huang Shaozi brought him pig organs for his studies, and his question about the road out of the village made her offer to help him leave.

• Zhou Yang used incense burning through a rope to wake himself from the Knife Credit Ledger and wondered whether Ding Ling had survived the Opera Ghost's arrival.
• Zhou Yang considered whether Troupe Leader Chang might have drawn the Opera Ghost's attention, but concluded that returning to Daliang Village in time to help Ding Ling was too uncertain.
• Huang Shaozi knocked on Zhou Yang's door and brought the pig organs he had requested for learning the Draft of Divine Makeup and Ghost Painting.
• Huang Shaozi searched Zhou Yang's room and questioned him about the incense, and Zhou Yang explained that he had burned it to cover the smell of sweat.
• Zhou Yang asked about the road into Guan Village, and Huang Shaozi offered to help him leave.

Zhou Yang outmaneuvered Huang Shaozi’s attempts to draw him into the family’s routines, then realized the ghosts’ human behavior relied on rigid, limited common sense. He checked the Knife Credit Ledger and found that Ding Ling’s Mindfulness had risen, suggesting she had survived the Opera Ghost’s assault.

• Huang Shaozi hinted that she and Zhou Yang were different from the others, but Zhou Yang concealed his suspicions and concluded that she was trying to trap him into revealing he was alive.
• Huang Shaozi told Zhou Yang to eat at the family table and move into the west wing, but he agreed only to the meal and argued against sharing a room with Heigou and Baigou.
• Zhou Yang persuaded Huang Shaozi to ask Eldest Brother to take his side, then paid her for the bucket of pig offal.
• Zhou Yang reasoned that Huang Shaozi and the other ghosts acted according to rigid roles and inflexible common sense, which he could sometimes exploit.
• Zhou Yang checked Ding Ling’s entry in the Knife Credit Ledger and saw that her Mindfulness had risen to five, which reassured him that she had likely escaped the Opera Ghost.

Zhou Yang used Breathing of the Ghost to test how Guan Village’s villagers reacted to him, then worked for A Fu while absorbing lingering images into the Knife Credit Ledger. The ledger began revealing a new story, “A Woman Rides on a Golden Pagoda,” but showed too little for Zhou Yang to learn what it was about.

• Zhou Yang found that activating Breathing of the Ghost made Guan Village’s villagers friendlier, though their scrutiny of him remained.
• Zhou Yang collected soil from the place where Cao Qing had died, intending to use it for the Gate of Opening Ritual and Curse Creation God.
• Zhou Yang saw his shadow split into two distinct figures as he entered A Fu’s courtyard.
• A Fu transformed from a withered husk into a middle-aged man and told Zhou Yang to work without waiting for him.
• Zhou Yang forged iron with Breathing of the Ghost while A Fu ignored the method and said nothing about the previous day.
• The Knife Credit Ledger absorbed Li Yichun’s and Qian Heng’s lingering images and revealed the title and a few words of “A Woman Rides on a Golden Pagoda.”

Zhou Yang returned to the Zhou family home, suspected Zhou Heigou of plotting against him, and tried to win Huang Shaozi’s favor by helping prepare dinner. At the family meal, he watched the Zhou family eat like the dead and copied their strange manner of eating.

• Zhou Laogou and his sons returned from the fields, and Zhou Heigou taunted Zhou Yang about eating at the big table.
• Zhou Yang suspected Zhou Heigou was trying to expose him as a living person and resolved to learn more about him before acting.
• Zhou Yang offered to help Huang Shaozi carry dishes and serve rice, and she praised him and gave him chores.
• Zhou Heigou also went to Huang Shaozi for work, and the family gathered for dinner at the long table.
• Zhou Yang saw the family eat cold, undercooked rice and bloody meat without lifting their bowls, so he copied them and ate with his bowl left on the table.

At dinner, Zhou Yang watched Zhou Heigou and accepted the extra dead people’s food Heigou forced on him, secretly gaining strength from it. Zhou Laogou then gave Heigou the family’s old chain to tether a Dog King puppy after the Revelation Ceremony, leaving Yang’er to find another household’s hound if he survived the ceremony.

• Zhou Heigou poured his rice and bloody meat into Zhou Yang’s bowl, while Huang Shaozi urged Yang’er to eat more.
• Zhou Yang ate the extra food and felt its cold energy strengthen his body.
• Zhou Laogou announced that Heigou would join the village patrol after the Revelation Ceremony and receive the old chain to tether a Dog King puppy.
• Huang Shaozi pointed out that Yang’er would also join the patrol and was frailer than Heigou.
• Zhou Laogou said Yang’er would get the remaining bell and have to obtain a young hound himself if he survived the Revelation Ceremony.

Zhou Yang calculated how much joss paper he could save before the Revelation Ceremony, then spent three deeds of Good Karma to imprint Ding Ling’s Breathing of the Ghost. The imprint revealed a distinct figure whose ghostly handprints merged with Zhou Yang, leaving him to recognize the expanding patterns as ripples.

• Zhou Yang counted his joss paper and realized his wages would barely cover fat, practice, and future expenses.
• Zhou Yang used one liang of joss paper to practice Breathing of the Ghost, opening nearly all the Ghost Mouths across his body and advancing Right Mindfulness Lock to the eighth layer.
• Zhou Yang examined Ding Ling’s record in the Knife Credit Ledger and chose to spend three deeds of Good Karma imprinting her Breathing of the Ghost.
• The ledger’s Ghost Mouths opened as ghostly wails and faint opera singing sounded, and a distinct figure appeared before Zhou Yang.
• The figure formed expanding layers of blood-red handprints, then merged with Zhou Yang as the Ghost Mouths on their bodies aligned.
• Zhou Yang opened his own Ghost Mouths and formed expanding layers of handprints, recognizing them as ripples.

Zhou Yang discovered that his handprint ripples could erase Ghost Rhyme and control the Ghost Mouths on his hand, then prepared to repeat the Gate of Opening Ritual. As he settled his debt to Ding Ling, memories of Daliang Village returned and gave him an idea for captivating the Opera Lady.

• Zhou Yang used handprint ripples to strip the Ghost Rhyme of Huang Shaozi, Zhou Laogou, and Zhou Baigou from his room’s walls, realizing that they were ghosts while Zhou Heigou was not.
• Zhou Yang concentrated the ripples in his right hand, giving it the power to erase Ghost Rhyme and make its Ghost Mouths sing by mimicking the Zhou family’s ghostly aura.
• Zhou Yang checked the Knife Credit Ledger and learned that he could not Imprint Ding Ling’s Gate of Opening ability because the Gate had not manifested and its foundation was absent.
• Zhou Yang hid mud tainted with Cao Qing’s dead-man aura, tied his leg to the bedpost, and settled his account with Ding Ling through the Knife Credit Ledger.
• Zhou Yang recalled the Opera Ghost saying that an unheard play might captivate the Opera Lady, and inspiration struck him as his memories of Daliang Village ended.

Chang Dafeng took Ding Ling to the river and explained that the village’s mirrored banks made escape impossible, then admitted he had lied about the threat in Daliangzi Village. As Ding Ling heard a familiar voice calling her and reciting an opera passage, her resentment faded.

• Chang Dafeng scrubbed his rotten, bluish-gray arm in the river and complained that Ding Ling’s Mindfulness had resisted his Gate of Opening Malefic Force.
• Chang Dafeng taunted Ding Ling about her lost spirit, while she briefly retorted that he was the one whose lover had died.
• Chang Dafeng pointed out that the opposite bank mirrored their side and warned Ding Ling that crossing the river would bring her back to where she started.
• Chang Dafeng admitted that the threat in Daliangzi Village was neither a Puppet nor a group of Puppets, and claimed he had lied to keep the others from panicking.
• Ding Ling heard someone call her name, resisted answering, then lost her grievances when he recited an apology from an opera.

Zhou Yang sang Ding Ling an unfamiliar operatic song that he hoped could hold the Opera Ghost spellbound, but first he cleared up the hurt caused by his sudden departure. Ding Ling listened closely when he sang it again, leaving Zhou Yang with hope that the song might help them escape.

• Ding Ling blushed at Zhou Yang’s opening lines, then admitted the new operatic song sounded fresh but showed little interest.
• Zhou Yang realized Ding Ling resented him for leaving her alone when the Opera Ghost threatened her.
• Zhou Yang explained that he had left because he faced a deadly predicament of his own, and Ding Ling apologized for blaming him.
• Zhou Yang sang the passage again, and Ding Ling became absorbed in it.

Ding Ling learned that Chang Dafeng’s Gate of Rest Averting God was connected to a real ghost called Daliao, which had helped him escape the Opera Ghost at the cost of his arm. She agreed to perform “Zhong Kui Marries Off His Sister” with Chang Dafeng, while she and Zhou Yang planned to stage “Wujia Slope” within the performance; they returned to the opera troupe’s camp to prepare.

• Ding Ling became absorbed in thoughts about Wang Baochuan and Xue Pinggui until Chang Dafeng shouted her back to attention.
• Chang Dafeng admitted that the being occupying Daliangzi Village was the Opera Ghost and said he had summoned the Gate of Rest Averting God to escape it, losing his left arm in the process.
• Ding Ling told Zhou Yang that Chang Dafeng’s Gate of Rest Averting God was connected to a real ghost named Daliao, a dead funeral worker who drained the vitality of the living.
• Zhou Yang told Ding Ling to agree to perform “Zhong Kui Marries Off His Sister” with Chang Dafeng and proposed staging “Wujia Slope” within the opera.
• Chang Dafeng released Ding Ling from the Bloated Aspect’s control, and the two returned to the opera troupe’s camp on the ridge.

Ding Ling and Chang Dafeng prepared to use their opera performance to distract the dead of Daliangzi Village and escape across the river. As the show began, the silent corpse-villagers gathered before the stage, leaving the performers surrounded by the dead.

• Chang Dafeng explained that he would use his Averting God to possess a straw man dressed as a military general and serve as Ding Ling’s attendant.
• Chang Dafeng reviewed the escape plan: Ding Ling would sing Pink Butterfly, perform Zhong Kui Marries Off His Sister with him, then lead him to the river and across the bridge.
• Chang Dafeng warned Ding Ling that the Opera Ghost and other dead villagers carrying Ghost Rhyme would come to watch, and that she must perform without error.
• At dusk, Ding Ling beat the gongs and drums to summon the dead while Zhou Yang watched from behind the curtain and Da Le possessed the straw man.
• Corpse-villagers arrived with stools and silently gathered around the stage, including a grotesquely bloated man, a woman whose head nearly fell off, and their children.

Ding Ling and Zhou Yang prepared to perform Zhong Kui Marries Off His Sister for the dead of Daliang Village, while the Opera Ghost demonstrated that it could imitate even an unsung passage. When the appointed hour arrived, Da Le took the stage as the Lantern Ghost and Ding Ling entered as Zhong Kui.

• The dead gathered before the stage and used their Ghost Rhyme and knee-slapping to demand that the opera begin early.
• Ding Ling sang a passage from The Drunken Imperial Consort behind the curtain, calming the ghosts, but Zhou Yang heard the Opera Ghost sing the rest of the tune in Ding Ling's voice.
• Zhou Yang warned Ding Ling to steady herself and conserve her strength until the performance began at the fourth quarter of the hour of the dog.
• Da Le lit the Ghost Candle in its lantern and went onto the stage as the Lantern Ghost to clear the way for Zhong Kui.
• Ding Ling strode onto the stage as Zhong Kui as drums and music began.

Ding Ling opened her first Gate while performing as Zhong Kui, and she and Chang Dafeng began the ghostly procession from the courtyard toward the bridge. As the dead villagers joined their song, a sinister hand reached Zhong Kui from behind, untouched by the Ghost Candle.

• Ding Ling performed Zhong Kui’s journey home, opened her first Gate, and used her averting spirit to burn away the foul blood and silence the dead audience.
• Da Le Averting cleared a path through the corpses, and Ding Ling followed the lantern ghost from the stage to the courtyard while the Ghost Candle burned rapidly down.
• Chang Dafeng appeared as Zhong Mei, met Ding Ling’s Zhong Kui at the door, and began the opera’s marriage procession with her.
• Da Le Averting led Ding Ling and Chang Dafeng onto the village road as the dead villagers lined up and joined the opera’s song.
• A foul-smelling, withered hand landed on Zhong Kui’s shoulder, and the Ghost Candle’s flame failed to burn it.

Ding Ling and her companions struggled against the Opera Ghost as they led Zhong Kui’s wedding procession through a crowd of dead villagers. After the ghost began calling for “Ding Niang’er,” Ding Ling lost sight of the road, and Zhou Yang used his Mindfulness to send out a Supernatural Ripple.

• The Opera Ghost’s hand tore through the Ghost Candle’s protective fire and tried to pull Ding Ling from the procession.
• Chang Dafeng urged Ding Ling to keep walking, and the Da Le Averting God burned the corpse gripping her shoulder with its lantern, freeing her.
• The dead villagers linked together to extinguish the ghostly fire, then sang mournfully and called for “Ding Niang’er.”
• Ding Ling told Zhou Yang that the Opera Lady in the ruined house had been called Ding Jiu.
• The Ghost Rhyme obscured Ding Ling’s sight and pushed her toward the cries, so Zhou Yang warned her not to let the ghost call her away and released a Supernatural Ripple.

Zhou Yang and Ding Ling escaped the dead villagers’ trap when Chang Dafeng used the straw figure’s sun-shielding paper to make the corpses bow to it. They left Daliang Village, but the ghost Da Le caught up with Chang Dafeng by the river, where a face formed on another sheet of sun-shielding paper.

• Zhou Yang combined his Mindfulness with Ding Ling’s to break the Ghost Rhyme’s hold and free her from the darkness.
• Chang Dafeng called the ghost Da Le “senior brother,” and corpse fluid formed a Zhong Kui mask and Chang Dafeng’s face on the straw figure’s sun-shielding paper.
• The dead villagers reached for the paper, then fell to their knees and mourned it as their parents, while their own faces rotted beneath sun-shielding paper.
• Chang Dafeng led Ding Ling away from the village toward the river, and Zhou Yang asked about Chang Dafeng’s history of playing female roles and whether he had ever married.
• The ghost Da Le’s yellow shadow rushed past, and Chang Dafeng joyfully greeted his senior brother as a face formed on a sheet of sun-shielding paper before him.

Chang Dafeng led Ding Ling and Zhou Yang to the bridge and revealed that Ding Ling was meant to guard the Rear Slaughter Gate, while Ghost Da Le attacked her. Zhou Yang regained his senses through his connection with Ding Ling, but she could no longer speak, leaving their survival uncertain.

• Ghost Da Le slipped beneath Chang Dafeng’s veil and ate part of his face while he stood motionless.
• Chang Dafeng and Ding Ling continued to the bridge, where Chang Dafeng unexpectedly declared that Ding Ling would guard the Rear Slaughter Gate and hold back the Gate of Death.
• Zhou Yang used his Supernatural Ripple to block Chang Dafeng’s Bloated Aspect Averting God, but Ghost Da Le struck Ding Ling with yellow paper and spread its Ghost Rhyme through her body.
• Zhou Yang lost his senses when Ding Ling stiffened, then regained perception after she answered him through their connection.
• Zhou Yang saw that Chang Dafeng’s face had rotted and both his arms hung limp, while Ding Ling told him that she could no longer speak.

Zhou Yang refused to abandon Ding Ling and learned that Chang Dafeng intended to use her in an attempt to revive his senior brother. Zhou Yang and Ding Ling combined their powers to resist, but the ghost Da Le suppressed their attempt to chant the Health Preservation Scripture.

• Ding Ling confessed her wish to see Zhou Yang before dying and urged him to leave her behind.
• Zhou Yang refused to leave and vowed that he and Ding Ling would either survive or die together.
• Chang Dafeng explained that entangling two ghosts could open the Gate of Life and revealed his plan to revive his senior brother through Passing Through the Yin Body.
• Zhou Yang joined his thoughts with Ding Ling's, activated Breathing of the Ghost, and used their combined Mindfulness to make the Ghost Mouths chant the Health Preservation Scripture.
• Zhou Yang glimpsed a black-covered statue in a vision before Chang Dafeng interrupted and declared that becoming a ghost required a ritual.
• The ghost Da Le suppressed the Ghost Mouths on Ding Ling's body and forced them shut.