Episode Summary
The team arrives in Weizhou to investigate the mysterious "ghost carriages" haunting the roads and plaguing Tong Shuang's old family business, the Pingyuan Escort Agency. They uncover a complex plot involving grave robbing and the secret refining of corpses into oil. By debunking the supernatural rumors and setting a clever trap, they capture several fanatics who reveal they are part of a larger organization that serves a mysterious deity, identified only by a black mole between the eyebrows.
Spoiler Alert
The episode opens in a forest outside Weizhou City, where a strange white smoke suddenly appears. A convoy of carriages, marked with the character for "Escort" , moves silently along the road. A passerby, noticing the carriages are completely unmanned, cautiously approaches. To his horror, he discovers the heavy chests are filled not with goods, but with corpses.
Meanwhile, Xiao Beiming and his group arrive in Weizhou. Xiao Beiming feels a sudden wave of dizziness but dismisses it as fatigue. Tong Shuang tries to enter his old family home, the now-defunct Pingyuan Escort Agency, but the main gate is sealed. Just then, the side door opens and an old man, Hai Bo, emerges, yelling that everyone in the house is dead. Tong Shuang immediately recognizes his family's loyal butler. Overjoyed at his young master's return, Hai Bo explains he has been watching over the empty agency. The group pitches in, cleaning the dusty courtyard and rooms, while Hai Bo prepares a meal for them.
That evening, Xiao Beiming assigns tasks to the group. He correctly deduces from Hai Bo's behavior that someone has been intentionally creating disturbances to scare people away from the agency. The next day, as Feng Qingzhuo checks on Xiao Beiming's health, a mob of angry townspeople gathers outside, led by a man named Li Goudan. He claims the "ghost carriage" appeared again the previous night, an event he and others witnessed, leading them to demand answers from the Pingyuan Escort Agency. An official, Wang Feihu, arrives with his men to restore order. After dispersing the crowd, Wang Feihu learns from Hai Bo that the agency was looted after its downfall, leading him to suspect someone is using the stolen items for nefarious purposes.
Elsewhere, the investigation splits. Tong Shuang, tending to the horses, sees one go into a frenzy. Finding nothing wrong with the feed, he suspects the water is tainted. His investigation points to the nearby Saltwater River. At the same time, Zhong Xueman asks Wang Feihu about a rare mineral called Chiyao Stone. Wang Feihu reveals that a wealthy merchant has bought the entire mountain where the stone is found and is now buying up any remaining stones at a high price. The group decides they must find this mysterious merchant.
The two investigations converge when Tong Shuang and Huo Dairong make a gruesome discovery in the Saltwater River: burnt human fingers. They realize someone is secretly refining corpses by the riverbank. Tong Shuang reports this to Xiao Beiming, who immediately connects it to the ghost carriage. He theorizes someone is creating corpse oil and decides to stake out the local graveyard that night.
Their stakeout is successful. They witness a team of men stealing freshly buried bodies. The group intervenes and uncovers the trick behind the "ghost carriage": the thieves were using thin, nearly invisible black threads to pull the unmanned carriages, creating a supernatural illusion to keep people away. When caught, the thieves confess they were paid a high price for the bodies and used the ghost story as a cover for their operation.
Following the thieves' lead, the team sets a trap. Tong Shuang goes to the market to catch the middleman, while Xiao Beiming hides inside a coffin, posing as a corpse to lure the ultimate buyers. The plan works, but the buyers they capture are fanatics. They chant mysterious spells, expressing their willingness to die for their "deity." When threats don't work, Tong Shuang cleverly bluffs, describing a potent poison he will use on them that will prevent their souls from "ascending to godhood." Terrified, the fanatics confess everything. They reveal the bodies are used to create corpse oil, while another group is tasked with collecting the blood of living people. Crucially, they provide a key detail about their "deity": a black mole between the eyebrows.
