Episode 7 recap: The coffin is strange, and Chang Dong suspects the existence of parallel worlds.
Chang Dong initially wanted to call Fei Tang, but Ye Liu Xi stopped him, believing that everyone has their own fate. In the middle of the night, they left the campsite with a group of people, and Ye Liu Xi and the others saw it but had no idea where they were going or what they were up to. Fei Tang sneaked back to find Ye Liu Xi and showed Chang Dong a photo. He explained that it was a coffin that Hui Ba and the others had discovered. They were now preparing to dig it out and open it. Judging from the design, it appeared to be a coffin from the Han Dynasty.
There were still people staying in the tents, so Fei Tang couldn't be away for too long and quietly slipped back. Ye Liu Xi and Chang Dong went to take a look, but the sandstorm was too intense, and the footprints were difficult to discern. Chang Dong ran up to the platform to investigate their whereabouts and came down. Ye Liu Xi teased Chang Dong for his agility, and Chang Dong mentioned that he had practiced parkour for a while.
Ye Liu Xi and Chang Dong found Hui Ba and the others. They were in the process of pulling a coffin out, but halfway through, a sandstorm kicked up. Hui Ba decided to ignore it and urged everyone to continue pulling. Unexpectedly, the coffin suddenly came out and collided with the two people at the front. The others went to check and found that those two individuals were no longer alive.
Hui Ba urged everyone to quickly open the coffin. At that moment, a song started playing, the same song that Ye Liu Xi had sung before. Hui Ba asked who was playing tricks and threw a shovel in that direction. Ye Liu Xi also heard the song and felt that the coffin might be related to her. She walked out with Chang Dong. Hui Ba and the others looked at them anxiously, but Ye Liu Xi assured them that she was just there to watch the excitement and they didn't have to worry about her. Hui Ba said that when they opened the coffin, those who saw it would get a share and told Ye Liu Xi to take a couple of extra items.
Unexpectedly, the shovel that Hui Ba threw out earlier came back and slit Hui Ba's throat. The other people were terrified, and Zhang Shao shouted and ran away. Ye Liu Xi inspected the coffin and said that although he didn't know what it had to do with him, he could open the coffin.
Ye Liu Xi opened the coffin, and Chang Dong saw that it contained shadow puppets. There were nine of them, about the size of a person, and each had a different face. Huo Ya and the others wanted to leave, but Chang Dong asked if they were just going to leave Hui Ba's body behind. Huo Ya said he would go back and get some people to come and move the bodies. Chang Dong covered the bodies of the three deceased with a cloth, feeling that since they were already dead, they deserved some dignity.
Chang Dong took pictures of everything there and returned with Ye Liu Xi. However, when they opened the car door, they found their vehicle filled with sand. Chang Dong asked Fei Tang if anyone had touched their car, but Fei Tang said no one had. Chang Dong found it strange that recent events were all connected to sand. Could it be that the sand had come to life?
Fei Tang looked at the photos that Chang Dong took and said that the coffin was from the Han Dynasty, but the clothing styles of the shadow puppets were from the Tang Dynasty. Ye Liu Xi told Fei Tang a folk song, and Fei Tang found it strange too. In ancient times, the area beyond the Yumen Pass was a desert where exiled prisoners suffered. However, the last line of the song was peculiar, indicating that they neither wanted to enter the pass nor leave it. Could they have become lonely spirits or wandering ghosts?
Chang Dong shared some of his thoughts with Ye Liu Xi. He said that nowadays, regardless of people's personalities, there are laws that serve as a framework for their actions. But Ye Liu Xi seemed to have no such framework, and she was likely not living in modern society. Ye Liu Xi had become accustomed to solving problems through violence.
Chang Dong drew a map and thought that if there really was a group of people living outside the pass, their concept of entering and leaving the pass would be completely opposite to theirs. Ye Liu Xi agreed that it made sense.
I have heard a scarier story than Sister Xi's. It's about two people holding hands and climbing a mountain. Along the way, they are brutally attacked by evil spirits, their bodies covered in blood and wounds. One of them cuts off half of their own body to feed the evil spirits, while the other desperately pulls their loved one up the mountain. When they look back, they realize they are holding a severed hand in their own hand.