Chapter Summaries

Fan Daoyi returned to [Eight Trigrams] after visiting Guixu and explained how his Balance ability could alter the strength of an individual or an entire world. He suspected that “Dao” had introduced a new uncertainty into the scheme and resolved to change it himself, while Qian Heaven questioned whether he belonged in his leadership position.

• Qian Heaven returned to [Eight Trigrams] and found Fan Daoyi waiting in his private room, where they spoke before Fan Daoyi left.
• Fan Daoyi reunited with the group and told them he had returned to Guixu, then explained that Balance let him choose how to equalize the strength of people and worlds.
• Fan Daoyi said he had gone to Guixu to make a wish because his power carried a price, and he declined to explain further.
• Fan Daoyi went back to Qian Heaven, realized that someone he called “Dao” might have changed the situation, and decided to alter the scheme himself.
• Kun Earth reassured Qian Heaven that she would stay by his side when he wondered whether he suited his position.

The Azure Dragon revealed that Qian Heaven had always belonged to the Four Fiends Cult, leaving Kun Earth and the others devastated. Kun Earth remembered how Xiao Xuanqing had saved her from suicide when she was Yun Wangshu, and how he had greeted her as his own kind.

• The Azure Dragon told [Eight Trigrams] that Qian Heaven had chosen the Four Fiends Cult and had been a member from the beginning.
• Kun Earth blamed the Azure Dragon for letting Qian Heaven join [Eight Trigrams], then asked him to leave.
• Kun Earth and Xun Wind admitted they both had terrible taste.
• Yun Wangshu recalled how classmates had mocked her for surviving a deadly experiment and called her a curse.
• Yun Wangshu tried to jump from the school rooftop, but Xiao Xuanqing caught her despite her ability forcing him to let go.
• Xiao Xuanqing looked up at the moon with Yun Wangshu and greeted her, saying, "Hello, my own kind."

Yun Wangshu lost control of her power after learning Xiao Xuanqing had been driven out of school, but Azure Dragon rescued her and offered her a home. She joined [Eight Trigrams] as Kun Earth and later reunited with Xiao Xuanqing, whom Xun Wind proposed recruiting.

• Yun Wangshu learned that Xiao Xuanqing had dropped out after a school-board member's son and his friends had humiliated him.
• Yun Wangshu confronted the students, lost control, and used her power to make them choke themselves.
• Azure Dragon knocked Yun Wangshu unconscious, destroyed her collar, and ordered the students' memories altered and the illegal experimenters punished.
• Azure Dragon brought Yun Wangshu to a new home, where he welcomed her and later offered her a place in [Eight Trigrams].
• Yun Wangshu joined [Eight Trigrams] as Kun Earth and later encountered Xiao Xuanqing again.
• Xun Wind suggested luring Xiao Xuanqing over to become an outstanding leader, and Yun Wangshu agreed.

Fan Daoyi learned that Qian Heaven had returned to the Four Fiends Cult with an item that could revive someone without a price, then warned Azure Dragon that the revived would begin dying. As Azure Dragon vanished to spread the news, he spoke of a perfect future, leaving Fan Daoyi and Dao Er uncertain about what he meant.

• Kun Earth questioned whether her past bond with Qian Heaven had been part of his plan, while Fan Daoyi concluded that Qian Heaven's departure had been brought forward to make him kill.
• Dao Er suggested that Fan Daoyi's purpose was to kill the revived, and Fan Daoyi considered killing all of them to avoid showing favoritism.
• Qiongqi learned that Qian Heaven had returned with an item that would allow someone to be revived without paying a price.
• Fan Daoyi teleported to Azure Dragon's office and warned him that he was going to die; Azure Dragon admitted he was afraid despite having once wanted to die.
• Fan Daoyi announced that the revived would receive messages of their deaths, with those who had taken shortcuts dying first and others dying according to the price they had paid.
• Azure Dragon turned into mist to deliver the message and spoke of meeting Dao Yi at a perfect future, while Dao Er questioned how such a future could exist after the painful deaths and farewells.

Fei Yin died after telling Zhen Thunder that her returned life and feelings had been shaped by Guixu, and Azure Dragon also passed away after comforting Xun Wind and entrusting the country’s future to the survivors. With the resurrected group gone and the world in mourning, Dao Er rallied the Four Fiends Cult to exploit the moment and offer their enemies to Guixu.

• Fan Daoyi wondered whether Zhen Thunder would truly die or merely disappear under the pretext of death, then went to see Fei Yin one last time.
• Fei Yin told Zhen Thunder that she had died long ago and that only her present self was real before she stopped breathing and dissolved into sand.
• Xun Wind blamed himself as memories of the group’s past sacrifices returned, while Azure Dragon comforted him and warned the survivors to prepare for the Four Fiends Cult.
• Azure Dragon grew old and died after entrusting his concerns to the others, and the last people who had returned from the dead vanished from the world.
• Dao Er convinced the Four Fiends Cult that the deaths were an opportunity from Guixu, and the group set out to offer their weakened enemies to it.

Dao Er provoked the Four Fiends Cult into attacking while the Eight Trigrams were emotionally vulnerable. As Yun Wangshu confronted Xiao Xuanqing over his failed pursuit of power, he asked her to kill him, while Taotie grew convinced the cult was doomed.

• Dao Er admitted to Dao Yi that he had encouraged the Four Fiends Cult to cause trouble and wanted to stir up more chaos.
• Before the attack, Zhen Thunder tried to hide his grief over Fei Yin, but Kan Water stopped him from forcing himself to act fine.
• Dao Er chased Dao Yi away from the battlefield, then revealed he wanted to give the others an outlet for their anger.
• Yun Wangshu confronted Xiao Xuanqing about stealing the resurrection item and pursuing power, and he admitted his obsession had made him her enemy.
• Xiao Xuanqing asked Yun Wangshu to kill him because he could not let go of his desire for power.
• Taotie repeatedly urged Chaos to attack the weakened Eight Trigrams, then concluded that the Four Fiends Cult was doomed.

Yun Wangshu killed Xiao Xuanqing, who chose [Eight Trigrams] as he died, while Dao Er withdrew the Four Fiends Cult and blamed Guixu for the conflict. After Zhen Thunder died carrying a clue to destroying Guixu, Li Fire left for Guixu alone, leaving Kun Earth to find her farewell letter and apologize to the others.

• Dao Er ordered Chaos and the Four Fiends Cult to retreat, and Yun Wangshu used He Piaojian's longsword to kill Xiao Xuanqing as he turned away.
• Xiao Xuanqing died choosing [Eight Trigrams], and Dao Er vanished after blaming Guixu for the suffering between the two sides.
• Fan Daoyi refused to choose between Guixu and the Present World when Guixu's creatures asked whether to kill or release the person who had entered.
• Several days later, [Eight Trigrams] found Zhen Thunder's corpse at Guixu's entrance, with instructions for destroying Guixu clenched in his hand.
• Kun Earth refused Li Fire's request to enter Guixu, but Li Fire later left without permission and left a letter explaining her past and fear that she was destined for solitude.
• Kun Earth read Li Fire's letter and apologized to the others, exhausted and distressed that she had let Li Fire leave.

Li Fire and the members of [Eight Trigrams] chose to enter Guixu together, where the Apothecary and the Puppeteer killed Kun Earth and Kan Water. Xun Wind used his amulet to send Li Fire back to the human world and faced the Sculptor alone, while He Piaojian and Fan Daoyi were confronted by the Flower Tender.

• Black Cat ordered the Apothecary to attack the woman who had come to Guixu, and they sent her out as a sacrifice to their lord.
• Li Fire insisted on entering Guixu, and Kun Earth, Xun Wind, Kan Water, He Piaojian, and the others agreed to go with her.
• The Apothecary and the Puppeteer tortured Kun Earth and Kan Water, then left them dead after Kun Earth used her control to direct Kan Water's final movements.
• The Sculptor blocked Li Fire and Xun Wind, and Xun Wind used his glowing amulet to send Li Fire back to the human world before staying behind.
• The entrance to Guixu vanished after Li Fire returned, while the Flower Tender confronted He Piaojian and Fan Daoyi.

Fan Daoyi chose neither humanity nor Guixu and opened the gateway, where he confronted the chained Dao and learned that worlds were being used as sustenance. Dao tried to trade places with him, but Dao Yi agreed and turned the tables, revealing himself as Dao Er as the lakebed swallowed Dao.

• The Flower Tender's miasma exposed Fan Daoyi's betrayal, and a thorn pierced He Piaojian, who died without fighting back.
• Fan Daoyi killed the Flower Tender and found the other creatures dead or dying, including the Sculptor, the Puppeteer, and the Apothecary.
• Dao Yi opened the gateway and found Dao chained behind it, then learned that chains connected countless worlds as sources of sustenance.
• Dao explained that he had created Dao Yi to hide from their observers and tried to leave Dao Yi bound in his place.
• Dao Yi agreed to the exchange, but the lakebed swallowed Dao, and the bound Dao Yi revealed a smile belonging to Dao Er.

Dao Yi’s deception erased him from the world and brought the dead back to life, leaving the survivors to learn that he was gone. He reunited with Lin Huai, fulfilled their deal, and the story ended with the world’s creation and the author’s notice about a future novel.

• Dao Yi revealed that he had used Dao, Dao Er, and Dao San as parts of a deception that let him reach absolute neutrality and disappear from the world.
• Savvis erased the sorrow tied to Dao Yi, while the world revived and the dead, including Li Fire’s companions, returned.
• Li Fire told He Piaojian and the others that Dao Yi had died, and they struggled to understand his absence.
• Dao Yi met Savvis after becoming free, then vanished and appeared before Lin Huai, who congratulated him on succeeding.
• Dao Yi and Lin Huai discussed their deal and the risks of his plan before Dao Yi said the world existed and would perish because of him.

Fan Daoyi discovered that he and the members of [Eight Trigrams] had lost their memories and traveled through time to seek the truth. After seeing a future where they all died and learning that the stranger knew him but denied it, he severed their remaining ties and returned to a fabricated happy world.

• Fan Daoyi noticed gaps in his memories and questioned why the members had formed [Eight Trigrams].
• Fan Daoyi traveled through time to investigate the origins of [Eight Trigrams] and encountered a stranger holding the Scales.
• The stranger showed Fan Daoyi a future in which everyone died if they learned the truth, then denied knowing him.
• Fan Daoyi recorded his memories, shattered the fragment of their past ties, and left the stranger behind.
• Fan Daoyi returned to a happy campsite where the others remembered nothing, while the stranger discussed the false ending with another person.