Chapter Summaries

Xu Chunliang repeatedly died at the hands of Qingci, a monster at the Bronze Sparrow Tower, and woke back at the start of their encounter each time. After failed attempts to avoid the poisoned tea, kiss her, and attack first, he tried to identify a weakness and considered seducing her.

• Xu Chunliang drank Qingci’s tea, discovered it was poisoned, and was killed when she crushed his heart.
• Xu Chunliang woke at the start of the encounter and remembered that he had transmigrated into a minor Demon-Slaying Bureau officer investigating men’s disappearances.
• Xu Chunliang avoided the tea, but Qingci severed his windpipe and crushed his heart.
• Xu Chunliang woke again, kissed Qingci, and was killed when she attacked him with porcelain-shard nails.
• Xu Chunliang drew a brass knife and lunged at Qingci, but she crushed his heart once more.
• Xu Chunliang tried to calm himself, ruled out drinking tea and fighting, and considered using his looks to seduce Qingci.

Xu Chunliang used unlimited reloads to discover and destroy the paper ghost at the Bronze Sparrow Tower, gaining one attribute point. He left for home with the ghost’s paper, but spotted a brothel woman and a scholar walking together ahead.

• Xu Chunliang pretended to be an inexperienced customer so the courtesan would turn away, then stabbed and repeatedly slashed her neck with a brass knife.
• The courtesan revealed she was a paper ghost and killed Xu Chunliang, but he remembered that the paper on her belly was her vital point.
• Xu Chunliang reloaded and stabbed the paper, destroying the ghost and earning one attribute point.
• Xu Chunliang read his status panel, kept his attribute point, and left the Bronze Sparrow Tower with the scrap of paper.
• Xu Chunliang headed toward his home, then paused when he saw a brothel woman and a scholar walking together.

Xu Chunliang used unlimited rollbacks to investigate a scholar and a brothel woman, only to discover that both were murderous weirds. After watching them repeatedly injure each other, he disguised himself as an inn attendant and brought boiling water into their courtyard, where he began choosing medicine from the scholar’s bundle.

• Xu Chunliang followed the scholar to an inn, was killed when the scholar bit his neck, and returned through a rollback.
• Xu Chunliang tried to surprise the scholar with a saber and a sugar pot, but the scholar pierced his chest and killed him again.
• Xu Chunliang waited outside the inn and secretly watched the scholar and the brothel woman reveal they were both weirds and repeatedly attack each other.
• Xu Chunliang disguised himself as an inn attendant, entered the courtyard carrying boiling water, and began taking bottles and jars from the scholar’s bundle to ask which one was medicine.

Xu Chunliang killed the scholar ghost with a knife and brick, then repeatedly reset after confronting the female ghost in the inn. After testing her tricks through several deaths, he approached her again, planning to test his theory about her vital points.

• Xu Chunliang failed to kill the scholar ghost before it drained his blood, and the reset returned him to Fireworks Lane.
• Xu Chunliang protected his neck with an iron plate, beheaded the scholar ghost, and smashed its head to earn two attribute points.
• Xu Chunliang found the female ghost, but they both anticipated each other's moves and reached a standoff.
• The female ghost released pink smoke and seduced Xu Chunliang, causing repeated resets as he became an undead knight.
• After six repetitions, Xu Chunliang decided the encounters had grown boring and inferred that the female ghost's heart, brow, and teeth might be vital points.

Xu Chunliang killed the brothel's female ghost and gained attribute points, but a powerful Moon Glow Grade demon killed him while he slept. After rolling back twice, Xu Chunliang realized his unseen attacker was above him and tried to calm himself while preparing for another ambush.

• Xu Chunliang killed the female ghost with his brass knife and a precise strike, earning six attribute points and an uncanny object.
• Xu Chunliang returned home and fell asleep, but a Moon Glow Grade great demon entered his courtyard and slit his throat.
• Xu Chunliang rolled back to the courtyard entrance, called for his hidden attacker to reveal himself, and was killed by a sword driven into his head.
• Xu Chunliang rolled back again and spotted the demon's shadow reflected in his washbasin while keeping his body calm.
• Xu Chunliang reasoned that the demon was patient, decisive, and too powerful to fight, then went to bed with his brass knife within reach.

Xu Chunliang repeatedly died to the black figure, then used his time-looping deaths to test the attacker’s patience and improve his saber technique. After reaching Eerie Tiger Saber entry level, he pretended to sleep while Black Eyes approached to kill him again.

• The black figure killed Xu Chunliang in his bed, and time and space rolled back to before the attack.
• Xu Chunliang tried sweeping, boiling well water, watching ants, fleeing, and calling for help, but the black figure killed him repeatedly, even defeating Demon-Slaying Bureau reinforcements.
• Xu Chunliang spent his six attribute points to raise Black Tiger Saber Technique to perfection and transform it into entry-level Eerie Tiger Saber.
• Xu Chunliang washed his face, returned to bed, and pretended to sleep as Black Eyes watched him.
• Black Eyes approached Xu Chunliang and raised his eerie sword to stab him in the chest.

Xu Chunliang killed the paper ghost mask, then refused to let Yu Ming and Liu Jie take credit for his victory. After Liu Jie left and the squad shunned him, Shi Qin warned Xu Chunliang that he should apologize and pay Liu Jie if he wanted to survive.

• Xu Chunliang used his Eerie Tiger Saber to kill the rabbit-headed figure and woke later covered in the figure’s black blood.
• Xu Chunliang saw that he had thirteen attribute points and decided to save them while using his rollback ability to gather information before spending them.
• Xu Chunliang brought the paper ghost mask to the Demon-Slaying Bureau, where Yu Ming offered him ten taels of silver while claiming that he and Liu Jie deserved the main credit.
• Xu Chunliang rejected Yu Ming’s offer and accused him of exploiting him and trying to steal his credit, prompting Liu Jie to leave in anger.
• The other lesser flag officers avoided Xu Chunliang, and Shi Qin privately advised him to apologize to Liu Jie, hand over the mask, and offer silver to stay alive.

Shi Qin died protecting Xu Chunliang, who killed himself and reset time before killing Liu Jie and being killed by Jin Jun. After another reset, Xu Chunliang realized Jin Jun was a Sun Halo Realm expert and Liu Jie's backer, so he could no longer confront them openly.

• Shi Qin gave Xu Chunliang his savings, then died after pushing him aside and taking Liu Jie's copper coin attack.
• Xu Chunliang killed himself beside Shi Qin, and Liu Jie's world shattered as time reset.
• After the reset, Xu Chunliang killed Liu Jie with Eerie Tiger Descends the Mountain, then died in Jin Jun's attack.
• Time reset again, and Xu Chunliang realized Jin Jun was Liu Jie's powerful backer and that he could not fight them openly.

Xu Chunliang arranged a pleasure-house outing for the Third Squad, then secretly killed Liu Jie and framed Yu Ming. After Jin Jun killed Yu Ming and Yu Linglong, Xu Chunliang realized he had passed his test and began plotting to kill Jin Jun.

• Xu Chunliang gave Yu Ming the ten taels of silver and suggested Liu Jie treat the squad to songs at Xiaoxiang Tower.
• Xu Chunliang got drunk at Xiaoxiang Tower and pretended to fall asleep, while Liu Jie and Yu Ming spent the night in Pink Hydrangea's room.
• Liu Jie got up to use the chamber pot and was struck on the back of the head, dying there.
• Jin Jun found Liu Jie dead and crushed Yu Ming's skull after Yu Ming claimed they were lovers, then killed Yu Linglong as well.
• Jin Jun ordered the squad back to the Demon-Slaying Bureau for questioning, while Xu Chunliang secretly concluded he had passed and decided to find a chance to kill Jin Jun.

Xu Chunliang, Liu Yong, and Shi Qin investigated strange deaths at Guo Family Village, where the village seemed ordinary despite Head Constable Liu’s report of mysterious fog. Head Constable Liu became trapped in an eerie darkness and saw a girl hanging from an iron hook as Xu Chunliang and Shi Qin sensed danger near the village entrance.

• Zhou Dafu sent Xu Chunliang with Head Constable Liu and Liu Yong to investigate deaths at Squire Guo’s estate.
• Shi Qin joined the group and warned Xu Chunliang to stay behind him if trouble arose.
• The group found Guo Family Village bright and peaceful, though Head Constable Liu insisted thick fog had covered it the day before.
• Head Constable Liu approached the village women but found himself unable to return to the willow tree as darkness and cold surrounded him.
• Head Constable Liu saw a girl in a green dress hanging from a rusty iron hook and drew his saber.
• Xu Chunliang noticed Head Constable Liu had been gone too long and readied his knife while Shi Qin stepped in front of him.

Xu Chunliang and Shi Qin investigated Guo Family Village after learning that its silver was Life Silver, then saw Liu Yong confront the Scale Immortal and vanish into its deadly darkness. Guo Si escorted Xu Chunliang and Shi Qin back to the village entrance, where Xu Chunliang sensed he had forgotten something.

• Old Madam Guo claimed the village was peaceful and offered Xu Chunliang, Shi Qin, and Liu Yong packets of silver, but Shi Qin recognized them as eighty-eight taels of Life Silver and refused them.
• Shi Qin explained that Life Silver contained anomalous blood and warned Xu Chunliang that the villagers were up to no good.
• Xu Chunliang and the others found villagers worshipping a rusty steelyard and its Scale Immortal, which Guo Si offered to summon for Liu Yong.
• Guo Si's invocation plunged Liu Yong into darkness, where he saw corpses hanging from iron hooks before a hook pierced his chest and killed him.
• Guo Si escorted Xu Chunliang and Shi Qin to the village entrance, and Xu Chunliang said he felt he had forgotten something.

Xu Chunliang realized that an eerie force was altering his memories and trapping him in repeated deaths connected to Guo Family Village. He returned to investigate the Scale Immortal worship and watched Liu Yong vanish, leaving him to search for the reason behind the village’s secrets.

• Xu Chunliang noticed Liu Yong listed in his panel despite having no memory of him, and concluded that his memories had been altered.
• Shi Qin was killed by a scale hook after he and Xu Chunliang found life silver on themselves, and Xu Chunliang died when he returned to Guo Family Village.
• Xu Chunliang repeatedly returned to the willow tree after dying, tried leaving with Shi Qin, and realized escape required breaking the predicament.
• Xu Chunliang re-entered Guo Family Village with Liu Yong and Shi Qin and found villagers silently worshipping the Scale Immortal.
• Guo Si knelt, Liu Yong vanished, and Xu Chunliang began losing his memories of him as he wondered what the steelyard scale was erasing.

Xu Chunliang repeatedly died to the steelyard’s supernatural attack while trying to escape the village and fight back. He became trapped in a loop of killing Guo Si and being killed, ending numb and despairing.

• Xu Chunliang discovered that the worshippers were dead and was killed by the steelyard’s hooks after hearing a voice say that inward was life.
• After rolling back to a point after Liu Yong’s death, Xu Chunliang questioned Guo Si about the Scale Immortal and learned that the real steelyard was kept in the ancestral hall.
• Guo Si refused to let Xu Chunliang visit the ancestral hall, so Xu Chunliang returned the Life Silver and exposed Guo Si as an evil entity by killing him.
• Xu Chunliang and Shi Qin charged toward the main family’s courtyard, but the steelyard’s hooks killed them both.
• Xu Chunliang repeatedly rolled back, killed Guo Si, and attacked the steelyard, dying each time until his rage gave way to numbness and despair.

After Xu Chunliang endured countless deaths and destroyed the hooked steelyard, he left Guo Family Village with Shi Qin and returned to hunting eerie beings. At Spring Rain House, he and a young woman independently searched the crowd for targets, unaware that each other might be the one they sought.

• Xu Chunliang became Death itself, erased the hooked steelyard with a slash, defied the being in the heavens, and then killed himself to reload because he had not destroyed the steelyard by his own hand.
• Xu Chunliang and Shi Qin left Guo Family Village, reported that nothing was wrong, and returned to the Demon-Slaying Bureau; Xu Chunliang warned Shi Qin not to spend the Life Silver.
• Xu Chunliang reflected on the terrifying powers above and resolved to kill them, then raised his level and went to Spring Rain House to find an eerie being to hunt.
• At Spring Rain House, Xu Chunliang quietly assessed the patrons while a young woman upstairs considered which of the seven Star Transformation Grade martial artists to eat.

Xu Chunliang repeatedly relived his visit to Cao Qin, a strange being who killed him with her qin music and poisoned wine. After discovering her Moon Glow Grade strength and that the green-clad maid was also a strange being, he died again and considered how to make Cao Qin use her power.

• A green-clad maid invited Xu Chunliang upstairs to meet Cao Qin, and he listened as she played the qin before falling asleep and being eaten by her.
• Xu Chunliang returned to the beginning of the encounter, stopped Cao Qin from playing, and attacked her with a brass knife, but she blocked it with her Moon Glow Grade strength.
• Xu Chunliang noticed that the green-clad maid was a strange being too, then joined her and Cao Qin at the table for a drink.
• The green-clad maid poisoned Xu Chunliang's wine, killing him, and he returned to the wine table and wondered whether refusing to draw his knife would make Cao Qin use her palm.

Xu Chunliang killed the red-robed musician and the blue-robed maid with a saber strike infused with the power of [Death], and discovered he had gained a hidden skill called Kiss of Death. The room then transformed around him, leaving him facing two marble reclining Buddhas as Buddhist scripture sounded.

• Xu Chunliang tested the poisoned wine on the red-robed musician and the blue-robed maid, realized it harmed humans but not eerie beings, and used their intimate drinking ritual to uncover the musician's weakness at her neck.
• Xu Chunliang struck the red-robed musician with Eerie Tiger Howls at the Heavens, infusing the saber technique with his experience of [Death], and killed her; the blue-robed maid also died from the power spreading through their contact.
• Xu Chunliang checked his status panel and found the new hidden skill Kiss of Death, which could activate at random and was tied to his understanding of death.
• The candles dimmed, the window became a stone wall, and Buddhist scripture sounded as the two corpses transformed into white-marble reclining Buddhas.
• Xu Chunliang stiffened and asked what was happening.

Xu Chunliang found himself in a strange Buddhist grottoes after the brothel room and its courtesans turned to stone. Following a young girl's sutra recitation, he encountered the jianghu heroes from the brothel, who welcomed him after mistaking him for a possible specter.

• Xu Chunliang discovered that the brothel room had become a cold stone chamber and the two female specters had turned into statues.
• Xu Chunliang left the chamber and recognized the surrounding caves and carved statues as Buddhist grottoes, though some carvings looked bizarre.
• Xu Chunliang followed a young girl's Buddhist recitation down the stone path, while a strange head with feelers attached itself to a headless Buddha behind him.
• Xu Chunliang came upon five armed jianghu heroes, who pointed their weapons at him before recognizing that he had also been transported there.
• The heroes explained how they had arrived, introduced themselves as Yinjian, Brother Axe, and Brother Dao, and laughed when Xu Chunliang questioned their names.

Xu Chunliang discovered that the faint golden light could destroy the black hair that repeatedly killed him, and used thousands of attempts to reach safety. He ended the chapter inside the light, taunting the unseen creature again after learning that stepping farther in would keep him safe.

• Xu Chunliang learned that Brother Dao and Brother Fu were twins named Liu Dao and Liu Fu, then joined them and Dian Zheng, Xu Tu, and Yinjian in descending the mountain.
• The six followed the little girl's chanting toward a golden light, and Xu Chunliang walked ahead alone while the five heroes kept together.
• A black hair in the darkness killed Xu Chunliang and the five heroes, but Xu Chunliang repeatedly returned and tested how to evade it.
• After thousands of deaths, Xu Chunliang saw the hair shatter when it touched the golden light and realized the light could protect him.
• Xu Chunliang reached the light and taunted the creature, but its burning hair stabbed his eye and killed him.
• Xu Chunliang returned, took two extra steps beyond his previous stopping point, and again beckoned the creature toward him.

Xu Chunliang taunted the Hair-Strand Weird and proved that its burning hair could not harm him, while the golden light protected him. After he provoked a simp into charging him, the youth fell at the edge of the darkness and was killed by the Weird.

• Xu Chunliang called to the Weird in the darkness, shocking Yinjian and the white-robed swordsman, who wondered how he knew its rules.
• The Hair-Strand Weird shot a strand of hair at Xu Chunliang, but flames burned it to ash just before it reached his eye.
• The Weird's agonized shriek disturbed the survivors, while the little girl's chanting kept them from losing their sanity.
• Xu Chunliang ignored the green-robed swordswoman's scolding and mocked the slightly plump youth for acting like her dog.
• The youth charged Xu Chunliang with Starving Tiger Pounces on Prey, but Xu Chunliang tripped him into the edge of the darkness, where a strand of hair pierced his eye and killed him.

Xu Chunliang and the others explored the Ruin Realm under the protection of a Buddhist light, hoping to find a way out. They reached a giant Buddha statue and discovered that the chanting came from an adorable little girl with a pearl where her mouth should have been.

• Xu Chunliang defeated the fat saber wielder by using his lunge to trip him into a black-haired eerie being, impressing Li Baiyi and making Yinjian more wary of him.
• Li Baiyi explained that Ruin Realms appeared unpredictably and were extremely dangerous, then urged the group to explore rather than wait for rescue.
• Xu Chunliang and the others followed the Buddhist light and the Heart Sutra chant toward its source.
• The group found a little girl chanting before a Buddha statue whose head was lost in darkness, and Xu Chunliang suspected it was the headless Buddha.
• The little girl turned around, revealing a pearl in place of her mouth that produced the Buddhist chant.