Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Lu Ze explains that the Illusion Alliance believes sealed cultivation makes an Illusion Realm useless for sword training. Li Moran is puzzled, since she assumes insight can still be gained.
• Lu Ze reveals his solution: his realm will seal not only cultivation, Spiritual Energy, and Root Bone, but also each participant’s memories and insights related to the sword. Everyone will start with no sword knowledge and relearn from scratch.
• He credits this new ability to his development of the Fearful Soul Entanglement Array, which can now affect memories and even a person’s connection to the Dao.
• Lu Ze places the Illusion Crystal Stone in Li Moran’s Illusion Tower and launches Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. She enters a battlefield scene where two unfamiliar warriors fight; one defeats the other, and a message announces that enemy general Tamura has fallen.

Character developments

• Lu Ze shows confidence in his plan and reveals the extent of his growing power as an Illusion Crafter.
• Li Moran moves from confusion to keen anticipation. She realizes the experience could teach even an accomplished master something genuinely new.

Significant themes

• Fresh starts and rediscovery: Erasing accumulated expertise lets experienced cultivators approach combat as beginners.
• Different perspectives: Li Moran’s exceptional talent makes ordinary limitations hard for her to understand, while Lu Ze recognizes what others may struggle with.
• Learning through experience: The Illusion Realm is presented not merely as practice, but as a chance for profound transformation and insight.

Character interactions

• Lu Ze explains his plan to Li Moran, who quickly recognizes its potential and trusts that he has found a way to win.
• Their exchange highlights Lu Ze’s playful confidence and Li Moran’s faith in his abilities.

Plot points and events

• Lu Ze unveils Sekiro, a new combat Illusion Realm designed to train swordsmanship. It temporarily seals both cultivation and understanding of the Dao, forcing players to develop from the same baseline.
• Zhou Qiaoling joins despite her usual dislike of solo combat realms. She has been neglecting sword practice to play King of Auctions, so Elder Liu Qingmei has assigned Sekiro as punishment.
• Qiaoling considers escaping by practicing outside her master’s home, but enters the realm when Liu calls. Zhou Yue then activates a talisman—provided by Elder Liu and originally obtained from Lu Ze—that traps her Spiritual Sense inside until she clears the game.
• Zhong Yi, Zhou Yue, and Mu Yawen also enter. Sekiro’s opening depicts Ashina’s violent history: Isshin Ashina seizes power, and an orphaned boy found on a battlefield is taken in and trained as the shinobi Wolf.
• Years later, Wolf has lost his adoptive father and the master he was sworn to protect. A woman leaves him a letter in a snowy well, asking him to wake for his master’s sake. The Illusion Realm begins as Zhong Yi’s Spiritual Sense enters Wolf’s body.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhou Qiaoling remains playful and money-minded, but her neglect of sword training has consequences. Her excitement about playing quickly turns to alarm at the prospect of a punishing challenge.
• Zhou Yue joins in teasing his sister and helps enforce her punishment, while Zhong Yi reacts with amused disbelief and curiosity about the realm’s mechanics.
• Elder Liu Qingmei is presented as strict but supportive of Lu Ze’s training method, using his realm as a way to make Qiaoling practice.
• Zhong Yi studies the setting and recognizes that its low-power world could make it an effective place to rebuild combat skill.

Significant themes

• Discipline versus distraction: Qiaoling’s gaming obsession interferes with her cultivation, prompting a deliberately difficult corrective measure.
• Growth through adversity: With cultivation and Dao insight removed, players must rely on skill and effort.
• Loss and loyalty: Wolf’s origin and the request to awaken for his master establish the emotional stakes behind his journey.
• Illusion realms as training: Lu Ze’s creations are entertaining, but they can also challenge players and cultivate practical abilities.

Plot points and events

• Four cultivators explore the same Illusion Realm, beginning after a lengthy cutscene in which they appear to play as Wolf, a shinobi.
• Mu Yawen ignores the letter found on him, charges armed guards bare-handed, and is killed.
• Zhou Qiaoling tries to steal a guard’s sword rather than sneak past. It will not come free; the guards catch and kill her.
• Zhong Yi attempts the intended stealth approach, but a guard’s sneeze sets fire to the grass. The resulting commotion exposes him, and he dies.
• Zhou Yue laughs at the others’ failures and successfully crosses the guarded grass. He then dies when the apparently sturdy wooden bridge breaks beneath him.
• After respawning, Zhong Yi makes it through the stealth section and climbs to the Moon-Viewing Tower. From the letter, he deduces that Wolf served Lord Kurō and that the tower holds a promised “fated opportunity.” A youthful voice greets him from inside.

Character developments and interactions

• Mu Yawen is impatient and eager for combat, overestimating how well her martial skills will serve her without a weapon.
• Zhou Qiaoling is bold but impulsive; her attempt at sword theft turns into an awkward confrontation.
• Zhong Yi is cautious and confident in his knowledge of the game’s stealth mechanics, but a mishap defeats him. He rebounds, proceeds methodically, and proves adept at drawing conclusions from clues.
• Zhou Yue boasts that the stage suits his abilities and mocks the others, only to suffer an unexpected death of his own.
• The four are linked by livestream battle reports and audience commentary: each learns about the others’ progress and failures, and their reactions supply much of the humor.

Significant themes

• Overconfidence versus caution: The players’ assumptions—whether that fighting, stealing, stealth, or climbing will be safe—repeatedly fail.
• Game freedom and consequences: Players can act beyond the original game’s restrictions, but reckless choices remain dangerous.
• Unpredictability and comedy: Small mishaps and environmental hazards, such as a sneeze or a breakable bridge, can be as deadly as enemies.

Plot and events

• Zhong Yi enters the Illusion Realm’s opening cutscene, where Sekiro reunites with his young master, Kuro Hirata, and receives Kusabimaru, a sword tied to Kuro’s lineage.
• Taking control of Sekiro, Zhong Yi searches the Moon-Viewing Tower, finding pills and a Healing Gourd made by the alchemist Dogen. Kuro hints that something happened to Sekiro “that night,” but postpones explaining it.
• Kuro is confined in the tower. He and Sekiro agree that Sekiro will investigate a rumored secret passage beneath a bridge and return to help him escape Ashina Castle.
• Zhong Yi leaves the tower and discovers that unaware enemies can be killed with stealth Deathblows. He dispatches several guards and assumes the realm’s swordsmanship challenge is not affecting him.
• After practicing basic attacks and defense against lone enemies, Zhong Yi enters a gatehouse where several samurai attack together. Overconfident, he repeatedly mistimes his blocks, is overwhelmed, and dies.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhong Yi is more interested in the realm’s lore than simply honing his swordsmanship. His curiosity about Kuro, Sekiro’s missing memories, and Dogen’s role drives his questions and speculation. His confidence grows after easy stealth kills, then collapses when he faces multiple opponents.
• Kuro appears gentle and reassuring, but shows firm resolve in affirming his bond with Sekiro. His question about Sekiro’s past suggests hidden history.
• Sekiro is presented as a devoted shinobi, accepting his master’s sword and pledging his life to him.
• The livestream audience teases Zhong Yi for lingering over the story and mocks his assumption that the combat challenge is easy. Their comments also suggest skilled sword cultivators are struggling to adapt to the realm.

Significant themes

• Master–servant loyalty: Sekiro’s oath to Kuro establishes the emotional core of their relationship.
• Mystery and buried history: Sekiro’s lost memories and the references to the Dragon’s Blood, the Hirata lineage, and Dogen hint at deeper lore.
• Skill versus overconfidence: Zhong Yi’s stealth success and basic practice lead him to underestimate combat, but the group fight quickly exposes his poor timing.
• Combat as learning: The realm teaches mechanics through encounters, while Zhong Yi’s experience shows that knowing a technique in theory is not the same as executing it under pressure.

Key plot points

• Zhong Yi respawns after being killed by an ordinary warrior, surprised by the enemy’s unexpectedly high damage. On his next attempt, he proceeds cautiously, using ambushes and avoiding groups.
• At the gate tower, he faces Yamauchi Shigenori, the first elite enemy. Zhong Yi has learned that blocking builds an opponent’s posture bar, but he still attacks too aggressively. Shigenori counters his deflected strike and kills him with a heavy combo.
• Other players also struggle with the fight. Mu Yawen learns to time her blocks after several deaths, earns a deathblow, then discovers Shigenori has a second life.
• Zhou Qiaoling, frustrated after coming close to victory, realizes she may not need to defeat Shigenori to reach her destination. She dodges his slow attack and runs past him.
• Meanwhile, the Sword Dao Ruins participants are exploring the Sekiro Illusion Realm, with hundreds of their experiences projected above the Limitless Sword Domain. Chen Yuan’s scene draws the largest audience.

Character development and interactions

• Zhong Yi shifts from confidence to caution after his early death, but still has to learn that aggression alone won’t overcome the game’s combat system.
• Mu Yawen makes progress by observing Shigenori’s attack patterns and practicing perfect blocks, though the boss’s extra life surprises her.
• Zhou Qiaoling moves from dread and frustration to resourceful problem-solving, choosing escape over a fight she doesn’t have to take.
• Yamauchi Shigenori serves as a punishing but instructional opponent: his powerful, deliberate attacks expose players who ignore blocking and openings.

Significant themes

• Learning through failure: Repeated deaths teach players to study enemy patterns and adjust their tactics.
• Combat discipline: Blocking, timing, and recognizing openings matter more than blindly attacking.
• Player agency: Zhou’s escape shows that reaching an objective does not always require defeating every enemy.

Key plot points and events

• Cultivators struggle against Yamauchi Shigenori, a tutorial enemy in Lu Ze’s Sekiro-inspired Illusion Realm. Their cultivation is useless there, and losing their sword sense makes them struggle with the game’s Deflect-and-counter rhythm.
• Grand Elder Chen Yuan repeatedly dies to the enemy while spectators mock his performance—echoing how his sect had previously treated the Spirit Cloud Sect.
• Li Moran also fails several times, but pauses to study the fight and gradually adapts.
• Lu Ze, hearing cultivators dismiss the challenge, creates a Formation that lets them voluntarily suppress their understanding of the sword. They immediately experience the fight as far more difficult and gain a new appreciation for Li Moran’s skill.
• With her timing and strategy refined, Li Moran defeats Yamauchi Shigenori’s second life in a flowing sequence of attacks, defense, and counterattack.
• Chen Yuan finally wins on his eighth attempt, then boasts that he had merely been testing the enemy. Lu Ze punctures his pride through a public Danmu message, reminding him that Yamauchi Shigenori is only a tougher enemy in the beginner tutorial.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ze enjoys Chen Yuan’s comeuppance, demonstrates the Illusion Realm’s mechanics, and uses humor to keep the Grand Elder’s victory in perspective.
• Li Moran shows patience, adaptability, and exceptional talent: she learns the combat rhythm quickly and turns repeated failures into a decisive win.
• Chen Yuan moves from frustration and embarrassment to a hard-earned victory, but immediately disguises his struggle as deliberate restraint.
• The spectators shift from scoffing at the challengers to astonishment once they experience the sword-sense restriction themselves. Lu Ze’s reputation also makes them wary of criticizing his Illusion Realm openly.

Significant themes

• Skill over status: Cultivation rank and sword mastery do not guarantee success when the rules change.
• Learning through failure: Repeated defeats teach players to read attacks, Deflect, and counter.
• Perspective and humility: Outsiders underestimate challenges they have not experienced; Chen Yuan’s boast is undercut by the audience’s knowledge of his struggle.
• Entertainment and social reversal: Lu Ze’s Illusion Realm turns combat into a public spectacle, allowing earlier mockery of others to rebound on its source.

Plot points and events

• Chen Yuan reaches the end of the tutorial area after defeating Yamauchi Shigenori, whom he had died to eight times. He hides his earlier struggles and insists that the fight was easy.
• As he advances, Chen explains Sekiro’s combat mechanics to the cultivators watching: stealth deathblows, building an enemy’s posture, blocking, and perfectly timed deflections. He dismisses the swordsmanship as crude.
• Lu Ze answers with two brief messages—“This is offense” and “This is defense”—without challenging Chen’s boasts, leaving Chen to assume Lu Ze is showing restraint.
• Chen follows the quest to the secret passage, blows the Leaf Whistle, and meets Kurō. Kurō laments that fleeing may be his only option given the fate of his bloodline.
• The pair emerge beneath the moon into a field of reeds. A tall, armored man stands ahead; Lu Ze identifies him as Genichiro Ashina, setting up the next confrontation.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Yuan tries to preserve his image as a master swordsman, reframing repeated defeats as experimentation and claiming he has now mastered the world’s combat system. His confidence grows as he recovers some feel for the sword, though his boasts invite dramatic irony.
• Lu Ze remains notably restrained, offering terse explanations rather than openly mocking Chen. His final message signals that a major opponent is waiting.
• Kurō shows anxiety and resignation about his bloodline’s fate, contrasting with Chen’s self-assured chatter.
• Chen largely ignores Kurō’s story and focuses on performing for the audience.

Significant themes

• Pride and self-deception: Chen conceals failure and exaggerates his competence.
• Learning through defeat: His repeated deaths gradually help him adapt to Sekiro’s unfamiliar swordplay.
• Dramatic irony and foreshadowing: Chen declares there are no worthy opponents, just before Genichiro appears.
• Different stakes: Chen treats the journey as a chance to display skill, while Kurō faces a genuine threat to his bloodline.

Key plot points and events

• Sekiro and Kurō reach the Reed Field, where Genichiro Ashina confronts them. Sekiro stays behind to fight while Kurō escapes.
• Chen Yuan, controlling Sekiro, assumes Genichiro is a routine tutorial boss and confidently begins the battle.
• Genichiro overwhelms him with exceptional speed and swordsmanship. Chen Yuan’s first attempts to dodge, heal, and counterattack fail; even successful blocks do not protect him from Genichiro’s follow-up strikes.
• A [Peril] warning appears when Genichiro feints a sword draw and attacks with a punch. Genichiro follows with a leaping sword strike, triggering [Death] and defeating Chen Yuan.
• A cutscene shows Genichiro severing Sekiro’s left arm and capturing Kurō. The spectators are stunned that such a formidable opponent appears in a “beginner tutorial.”
• Angry and embarrassed, Chen Yuan leaves the Illusion Realm and confronts Lu Ze, accusing him of making the challenge deliberately unfair.

Character developments

• Chen Yuan begins overconfident, believing his experience with Illusion Realms and the tutorial framing will make the fight easy. Genichiro’s skill leaves him frightened and humbled; his frustration afterward reflects both the crushing loss and his embarrassment.
• Sekiro acts with calm resolve, choosing to hold off Genichiro so Kurō can escape.
• Kurō is frightened by Genichiro but ultimately follows Sekiro’s instruction and flees.
• Genichiro is presented as cold, confident, and overwhelmingly skilled, showing no mercy to Sekiro.

Significant themes

• Overconfidence versus humility: Chen Yuan’s assumptions about an easy tutorial collapse against a genuinely dangerous opponent.
• Skill and mastery: Genichiro’s threat comes not just from powerful stats but from the swordsmanship embedded in the Illusion Realm.
• Death and consequence: The defeat is brutal and consequential within the story, leaving Sekiro injured and Kurō captured.
• Learning through adversity: The tutorial teaches basic combat, but its lesson culminates in a seemingly impossible challenge.

Character interactions

• Sekiro silently signals Kurō to leave, and Kurō obeys despite his fear.
• Genichiro taunts Sekiro’s abilities and announces his intention to take the Divine Heir.
• Chen Yuan’s confidence gives way to panic as he fights Genichiro, while the spectators react in disbelief to the battle’s difficulty.
• Afterward, Chen Yuan directs his anger at Lu Ze, believing the challenge was designed to humiliate him.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Yuan accuses Lu Ze of rigging the illusion realm by making Genichiro Ashina unbeatable. He argues this breaks Lu Ze’s wager: Lu Ze had promised every opponent could be defeated and that the realm would help cultivators improve their swordsmanship.
• Lu Ze points out that Genichiro has defeated everyone shown in the projections, including the renowned illusion-realm prodigy Li Moran. He insists Genichiro can be beaten and blames Chen Yuan’s loss on his swordsmanship.
• When Chen Yuan doubts Lu Ze could defeat Genichiro fairly, Lu Ze sets a deadline: someone will beat Genichiro within three days—or Lu Ze will concede the wager. Chen Yuan accepts.
• Interest in Lu Ze’s sword-focused illusion realm, Sekiro, draws in countless cultivators, but Genichiro promptly overwhelms them. Vignettes show Mu Yawen, Zhou Qiaoling, and Zhou Yue each falling to his feints and attacks.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ze remains calm and confident under accusation, using the other players’ defeats to defend his design. He stakes his reputation on someone clearing Genichiro within three days.
• Chen Yuan turns his frustration into a challenge to Lu Ze’s credibility, arguing that repeated defeats prove the opponent is impossible. His claims provoke debate among the spectators, but he ultimately agrees to Lu Ze’s deadline.
• Li Moran refuses to give up after being defeated: she resets her progress and begins another attempt, making her the likeliest candidate to fulfill Lu Ze’s prediction.
• Mu Yawen, Zhou Qiaoling, and Zhou Yue each react with anger, panic, or wary respect to Genichiro’s deceptive fighting style, but none can defeat him.

Significant themes

• Skill versus unfair design: Lu Ze argues that an opponent seeming unbeatable may expose the player’s limitations rather than a flaw in the realm.
• Persistence and mastery: Li Moran’s decision to try again contrasts with the others’ immediate defeats and sets up the coming test.
• Deception and realism: Genichiro’s feints make the encounters feel authentic and frustrating, while challenging cultivators to adapt.
• Reputation and public judgment: The wager turns a dispute over game design into a public test of Lu Ze’s credibility.

Key plot points and events

• Li Moran repeatedly challenges Genichiro Ashina in the Illusion Realm, despite the fight being designed as a scripted defeat. She resets her save after each loss so she can keep trying, convinced that any enemy with a health bar can be beaten. As she persists, she begins to read Genichiro’s movements more clearly.
• Zhou Yue’s battle ends with Sekiro defeated and his left arm severed. He wakes in a temple with a mechanical replacement—the Shinobi Prosthetic—given to him by the Buddha Carver.
• The Buddha Carver explains that Kurō is imprisoned in Ashina Castle and that Genichiro intends to exploit his mysterious Dragon’s Heritage. Zhou Yue receives a new quest to return to the castle and gather clues.
• Before Zhou Yue leaves, the Buddha Carver tells him to bring any shinobi tools he finds so they can be fitted to the prosthetic.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Moran shows exceptional patience and determination. She prefers to fight alone and blocks viewers’ comments so she can focus. Her repeated attempts suggest she is gradually learning Genichiro’s timing.
• Zhou Yue shifts from confusion about his new arm to eagerness to use it, and his defeat fuels a personal desire to settle the score with Genichiro. He speaks respectfully to the Buddha Carver but remains curious about the old man’s past.
• The Buddha Carver is a guarded, remorseful figure who says he carves Buddhas to repent for deep sins. He helps Zhou Yue and offers practical guidance, while revealing little about himself.
• Their brief exchange gives Zhou Yue the information and equipment he needs to continue his rescue mission.

Significant themes

• Persistence and mastery: Li Moran’s repeated failures become a process of learning rather than a reason to quit.
• Loss and adaptation: Zhou Yue’s severed arm is replaced by a versatile prosthetic, turning injury into a new source of possibility.
• Redemption and guilt: The Buddha Carver’s endless carving reflects his attempt to atone for an unspecified past.
• Revenge and resolve: Zhou Yue leaves determined to face Genichiro again, framing the next stage of his journey as both a rescue mission and a personal reckoning.

Plot points and events

• Chen Yuan enters the Sekiro Illusion Realm determined to fight openly, rejecting the Shinobi Prosthetic and stealth as dishonorable.
• He easily defeats a gate guard, then boasts that a true sword cultivator should take on enemies head-on. A rifleman shoots him from behind, and the resulting stagger leaves him surrounded and forced to flee.
• Realm Master Lu Ze mocks him with the advice, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
• Chen Yuan escapes to a hilltop, where an angry black rooster catches him off guard and kills him while he is drinking from his Healing Gourd. The newly enabled live stream lets cultivators across the realms witness the humiliating defeat.
• Chen Yuan revives and attacks the rooster. Although embarrassed by the audience, he cannot object to the stream without seeming to concede that he is a poor fighter.
• After restoring his revival charge, he returns to the route. Finding that defeated soldiers have respawned, he cautiously uses stealth deathblows despite his earlier disdain for them. Viewers repeat his own boast back at him, and he awkwardly defends his change of tactics.
• He advances through the soldiers and reaches the passage beneath Ashina Castle, where he again grows confident—just as he encounters the imposing Ashina General Kawarada Naomori.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Yuan shifts from proud, rigid posturing to reluctant pragmatism. Repeated setbacks make him use stealth and caution, though his pride remains quick to return.
• Lu Ze enjoys puncturing Chen Yuan’s arrogance, first through a mocking message and then by enabling live streams at the most embarrassing moment.
• The watching cultivators initially offer cautious praise, but the stream of Chen’s rooster defeat gives them license to laugh and echo his earlier words.
• The black rooster becomes an absurd but formidable opponent, killing Chen through a mistimed moment of distraction.

Significant themes

• Pride versus adaptability: Chen’s insistence on “honorable” combat fails against enemies who use ranged attacks, numbers, and surprise.
• Humiliation and public image: The live stream turns private failures into spectacle, making Chen’s reputation and pride part of the challenge.
• Words coming back to haunt you: Chen’s declarations about never using stealth are repeated back at him once circumstances force him to do exactly that.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Yuan encounters Kawarada Naomori, a samurai general with two health bars, and assumes his modest appearance means he will be manageable.
• He tries to block the general’s fast, heavy sword strikes, but misreads a delayed attack and takes substantial damage. Watching cultivators mock him through the livestream chat.
• Chen Yuan switches to relentless offense, believing his speed will keep the general staggered. The general breaks his combo with a leaping attack, killing him and consuming his first life.
• After resurrecting, Chen Yuan reluctantly attempts to follow the Illusion Realm’s combat rules: perfect deflections followed by counterattacks. He manages a few successful exchanges before the general uses a dangerous [Peril] attack that cannot be blocked. Distracted and overwhelmed, Chen Yuan is killed again.
• From outside the Illusion Realm, Lu Ze enjoys the spectacle, recognizing the general as a notorious early-game obstacle who often drives inexperienced players to seek refunds.

Character developments

• Chen Yuan begins confident and proud, relying on his rank and swordsmanship. Repeated defeats expose his impatience and overconfidence; he becomes frustrated, then grudgingly accepts that he must adapt to the realm’s rules.
• Lu Ze watches with amused familiarity, understanding that the general’s purpose is to punish players who rely on brute force rather than learning the combat system.

Character interactions

• Chen Yuan’s exchanges with the general are almost entirely combat-driven: the general punishes mistimed blocks, reckless attacks, and poor responses to perilous moves.
• The livestream viewers heckle Chen Yuan throughout, worsening his embarrassment and provoking him to defend his abilities.
• Lu Ze’s perspective contrasts with Chen Yuan’s confusion: he knows the general is a deliberately difficult test for newcomers.

Significant themes

• Adaptation over raw skill: Chen Yuan’s cultivation experience cannot substitute for learning the Illusion Realm’s specific mechanics.
• Pride and humiliation: His status as a renowned elder offers little protection against failure—and the mocking audience makes each defeat more painful.
• Rules and mastery: Success requires patience, precise deflection, and recognizing attacks rather than simply blocking or attacking faster.

Plot points and events

• Lu Ze explains that he built Sekiro quickly but spent two days refining its combat. Thirty talented Sword Cultivator Cybersouls adapted the moveset using Sword Dao principles, making the challenge exceptionally difficult. Unlike his earlier prank creation, he intends this illusion realm to genuinely improve cultivators’ swordsmanship.
• Across the Cultivation World, players repeatedly die trying to reach Ashina Castle.
• Mu Yawen struggles to understand Zhong Yi’s advice: she must deflect attacks and respond to perilous moves, rather than rely on brute force. With Zhong Yi slow to answer her messages, she experiments—and dies again.
• Zhou Qiaoling is repeatedly defeated by a samurai general. Her master, Elder Liu, watches her stream and offers a reward if she clears the realm that day. Motivated by the promise of a valuable gift, Zhou studies the enemy, then cleverly grapples over a wall and runs past him instead of fighting.
• Chen Yuan, a powerful cultivator, fares no better against the general. He learns that the enemy can deflect and counter, then mistakes a grab for a sweep and is killed. Viewers mock his repeated deaths and flood the stream with the question, “Does this illusion realm only have one enemy?” Chen Yuan explodes in frustration.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ze shows both technical ambition and a sincere belief that the game can train Sword Dao, even though its difficulty may be extreme.
• Mu Yawen is confused but willing to keep experimenting; her reliance on Zhong Yi’s intermittent advice highlights how little she understands the game’s combat.
• Zhou Qiaoling proves resourceful and opportunistic. Her teasing attempt to get a larger reward from Elder Liu gives way to a clever noncombat solution.
• Elder Liu encourages Zhou through the livestream, using a promised reward to keep her focused.
• Chen Yuan is humbled by the game’s unfamiliar mechanics, while the audience’s relentless teasing pushes him to lose his temper.

Significant themes

• Skill over raw power: The illusion realm demands timing, observation, and correct responses rather than cultivation strength.
• Learning through failure: Repeated deaths expose players’ misunderstandings and force them to adapt.
• Cunning versus confrontation: Zhou’s escape shows that success may require finding a different approach, not simply winning a fight.
• Public embarrassment and humor: Livestream commentary turns the cultivators’ struggles into a communal spectacle.

Key plot points and events

• In Zhou Yue’s illusion world, he repeatedly fights the Ashina General, using each death to learn the enemy’s patterns. He masters the rhythm of attacking, deflecting, and avoiding the dangerous low sweep.
• Wolves unexpectedly interfere during his first attempt, helping cause his death. After respawning, Zhou Yue kills the wolves and defeats the General.
• The victory rewards him with Scattered Prayer Beads and a Gourd Seed—and triggers a server-wide announcement naming him the first player to defeat the Ashina General on Normal difficulty.
• The announcement reignites competition among cultivators, who now see Sekiro’s boss first kills as a measure of individual strength and sect prestige. Zhou Yue sets out to claim more.
• Reflecting on the game’s vivid [Perilous] and [Death] warnings, Zhou Yue recognizes their resemblance to Zhong Yi’s Grand Dao Truth Incantation, which gives words tangible force.
• Lu Ze receives a system offer to learn Zhou Yue’s Karma Fire Azure Lotus Art, but rejects it, worried it might make him even more unlucky. He then wonders whether he can acquire Zhong Yi’s Cross True Art instead.

Character developments

• Zhou Yue grows from frustrated player to confident, skilled fighter through repeated practice. His first kill brings him both personal satisfaction and public recognition, and he shows perceptiveness by identifying the inspiration behind the game’s warning system.
• Lu Ze is revealed to have deliberately incorporated the Grand Dao Truth Incantation into Sekiro’s illusion effects. His experience with that technique has also made him cautious about learning other cultivation methods.

Character interactions

• Zhou Yue battles the Ashina General, while roaming wolves briefly disrupt the fight and contribute to his first defeat.
• Zhou Yue’s praise of Lu Ze’s illusion-crafting abilities reaches Lu Ze through the system, earning him the chance to acquire Zhou Yue’s technique.
• Lu Ze declines the offer and turns his attention to Zhong Yi, hoping to obtain a different ability.

Significant themes

• Practice and mastery: Repeated failure teaches Zhou Yue the timing and discipline needed to win.
• Competition and reputation: The first-kill announcement turns individual achievements into a contest among cultivators and sects.
• Blurring illusion and reality: The game’s written warnings feel powerful because they echo a real cultivation art.
• Power has risks: Lu Ze’s reluctance to learn a technique reflects his fear that cultivation methods may bring unwanted side effects.

• Key events: Elder Chen Yuan, a sword expert, struggles through Sekiro’s early stages while viewers mock his repeated deaths. After finally defeating the Ashina General, he learns from Lu Ze that the foe was only an elite enemy, not a boss. Undeterred, he continues, grows more confident, and reaches the Tiger’s Mouth Stairway. There he defeats two guards and confronts the Red Oni. His sword cannot stagger the brute, and his instinctive attempt to block a kick fails. When a Perilous attack follows, Chen Yuan dodges backward—but the Oni catches him and slams him into the ground. The viewers return in force to laugh at his misfortune.
• Character development: Chen Yuan shifts from an indignant grandmaster distracted by taunts to a more focused, practical player. He learns the basics of deflection and becomes more capable against ordinary enemies, but his confidence is shaken when the Red Oni’s unfamiliar attacks defeat him. Lu Ze remains a mischievous observer, deliberately boosting the stream’s audience.
• Character interactions: The viewers’ jeering danmu repeatedly provokes Chen Yuan, while Lu Ze’s blunt correction about the Ashina General further tests his pride. Chen Yuan responds by pressing onward rather than retreating. His encounter with the Red Oni pits his sword-based assumptions against the creature’s raw strength and unorthodox attacks.
• Themes: The chapter contrasts pride with perseverance, and mastery with the need to adapt. It presents failure and repeated death as part of learning, while showing how public competition and spectators’ mockery can both pressure and motivate a player.

Plot points and events

• Zhou Yue repeatedly struggles against the Red Oni in the Illusion Realm. Though he begins to read its attacks and dodge its kicks, its unpredictable grabs keep killing him.
• A system announcement reveals that Mu Yawen has scored the first kill against the Red Oni. Zhou Yue asks how he did it.
• Mu Yawen says he beat the Oni on his first try and found its punches and kicks easy to read. He suggests deflecting just as the Oni lifts its foot to kick.
• Zhou Yue learns that Zhong Yi taught Mu Yawen that Deflection is central to the Illusion Realm’s combat. Impressed, he assumes Zhong Yi has made serious progress.
• Zhong Yi finishes his own fight and celebrates—only to reveal he was fighting Yamauchi Shigenori, a basic tutorial enemy. Zhou Yue is left wondering whether Zhong Yi is secretly gifted or simply very bad.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhou Yue goes from frustrated and baffled to briefly encouraged by Mu Yawen’s advice, then astonished by Zhong Yi’s apparent expertise. His reactions provide much of the chapter’s humor.
• Mu Yawen is unexpectedly skilled against the Red Oni, likely because its hand-to-hand fighting resembles techniques familiar to him as a Body Cultivator. He modestly credits Zhong Yi for his understanding of Deflection.
• Zhong Yi appears knowledgeable enough to teach core combat principles, but his victory over a beginner-level enemy makes his actual ability uncertain.
• The three share advice and congratulations, and they all recognize how easily distractions can ruin a near-victory in the Illusion Realm.

Significant themes

• Skill over stats: Sekiro’s fixed abilities and powerful enemies force players to rely on timing, observation, and technique rather than cultivation or superior attributes.
• Different strengths, different challenges: Mu Yawen finds the Oni’s physical attacks readable, while Zhou Yue finds them overwhelming.
• Humorous ambiguity: Zhong Yi’s knowledge and poor apparent progress leave the others—and the reader—unsure whether he is insightful, inept, or both.

Plot points and events

• In Sekiro, Zhong Yi repeatedly dies to the samurai general. He discovers that stealth deathblows can damage elite enemies, but his poor timing and clumsy blocks keep getting him killed.
• The story explains Dragonrot: Sekiro can revive once near where he falls, but each revival may afflict people around him. The Buddha Carver’s worsening cough is the cost of Zhong Yi’s deaths.
• Feeling guilty, Zhong Yi decides to stop fighting the general for now and reach Ashina Castle by another route. His first attempt to grapple across ends in a fall and another death, worsening the Carver’s condition.
• In the Limitless Sword Domain, Chen Yuan finally defeats the Red Oni after fifty-seven deaths, only to be mocked by viewers and Lu Ze, who points out that the Red Oni is not even a boss.
• Chen Yuan proceeds through a gate and finds another samurai general, Yamauchi Noriyoshi, surrounded by soldiers. Though warned about them, he charges in. A lookout sounds the alarm, soldiers swarm the area, and Noriyoshi cuts off Chen’s escape. Chen is killed.

Character developments

• Zhong Yi shifts from stubbornly insisting on beating the samurai general to reluctantly prioritizing the Buddha Carver’s health. His confidence remains high, however, and he still makes reckless mistakes.
• The Buddha Carver suffers visibly from Dragonrot, turning Zhong Yi’s repeated deaths into a source of guilt and urgency.
• Chen Yuan shows persistence by eventually defeating the Red Oni, but his pride and sensitivity to mockery remain strong. He boasts about his combat skill and ignores a warning, leading to another defeat.
• Lu Ze uses targeted audience recommendations and pointed comments to intensify pressure on struggling players, especially Chen.

Significant themes

• Death and its consequences: Revival is powerful but not free; repeated failure harms others through Dragonrot.
• Pride versus patience: Zhong Yi eventually chooses to retreat and grow stronger, while Chen’s bravado makes him rush into danger.
• Public judgment and humiliation: The Danmu audience’s teasing and abuse affects the players’ confidence and behavior.
• Learning through failure: Both players gain knowledge from repeated deaths, but applying it effectively remains difficult.

Character interactions

• Zhong Yi’s concern for the Buddha Carver clashes with the audience’s sarcasm, and he angrily defends his plan to defeat Genichiro.
• The Buddha Carver dismisses Zhong Yi’s apology and continues carving, while Zhong Yi resolves to spare him further suffering.
• Chen’s hard-won victory over the Red Oni is undermined by the Danmu’s ridicule and Lu Ze’s correction.
• Lu Ze warns Chen about the soldiers, but Chen dismisses the advice; the alarm and Noriyoshi’s attack then leave him trapped.

Key plot points and events

• In the Sekiro Illusion Realm, Zhong Yi successfully sneaks up on the Red Oni and uses a Deathblow to remove one of its two lives.
• He lectures his livestream viewers about the tactic, but admits he has no reliable strategy for the Oni’s second life. His attempted parries fail, and after being struck by a combo, he is caught by the Oni’s perilous grab and killed.
• Back at the Buddha Carver’s temple, Zhong Yi suspects the realm offers more than combat practice. He recalls that the Oni fears fire and wonders how to use the candle near its former restraints to exploit that weakness.
• A bald, red-headscarfed man recognizes Zhong Yi as “Master Shinobi” and says they met “that night”—the same phrase Kurō used. The remark deepens Zhong Yi’s curiosity about the event three years ago that apparently caused his long sleep and loss of memory.
• The man offers to reveal what happened if Zhong Yi lends him 50 copper coins to start a business. Zhong Yi agrees but discovers he has no money after losing half his funds with each of his many deaths.
• Hoping to earn money by killing ordinary soldiers, Zhong Yi finds that even they can deflect his attacks. The scene ends with his frustration escalating as the bald man also begins coughing.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhong Yi is resourceful and curious: he uses a stealth tactic against the Oni, entertains viewers through repeated failures, and becomes more interested in uncovering the realm’s hidden story than simply improving his swordsmanship. His confidence in farming money quickly collapses.
• The bald man shifts from a familiar-seeming greeting to a solemn claim that he knows Zhong Yi, then turns the conversation into a request for investment. His promise of information gives Zhong Yi a potential lead, but poverty blocks it.
• The livestream viewers tease Zhong Yi about his repeated inability to finish the boss, while he keeps up a confident, humorous instructor persona.
• Zhong Yi’s interactions with the Red Oni are a cycle of tactical success, failed experimentation, and death; his encounter with the bald man introduces a new mystery rather than a combat challenge.

Significant themes

• Failure and persistence: Zhong Yi repeatedly dies but continues experimenting and explaining what he learns.
• Curiosity and hidden truth: The recurring reference to “that night” draws attention to Zhong Yi’s lost memories and the Illusion Realm’s deeper story.
• Humor amid frustration: Zhong Yi’s cheerful commentary contrasts with his defeats, empty purse, and the absurd difficulty of even ordinary enemies.
• Resource costs and consequences: Repeated deaths drain Zhong Yi’s money, directly preventing him from pursuing the information he wants.

Key plot points

• Zhong Yi questions a coughing bald man about a night three years earlier, when thieves raided and burned the Hirata estate while its samurai were away at war.
• The raid was a catastrophe for the Hirata Household, Kurō’s family. The bald man recalls seeing Zhong Yi there, apparently searching for something, but Zhong Yi has no memories of Sekiro’s past.
• Zhong Yi pays for a lead about a flame-spewing shinobi tool at the Hirata estate, hoping it will help him defeat the Red Oni. The bald man directs him to the burned ruins.
• At the ruins, a blind old woman mistakes Zhong Yi for her son Inosuke and gives him the Young Lord’s Bell, asking him to offer it before a Buddha statue for Kurō’s sake.
• Zhong Yi takes the bell to the abandoned temple. Emma is examining blood coughed up by the Buddha Carver to investigate Dragonrot; Zhong Yi offers to obtain more samples from another afflicted person.
• The Buddha Carver rings the bell before a Buddha statue. Zhong Yi loses consciousness, and the scene shifts to a system prompt: [Three Years Ago].

Character developments and interactions

• Zhong Yi remains pragmatic—he pays for useful information and seeks a weapon against the Red Oni—but his sympathy for the old woman leads him to honor her request. His awkward guilt over the bald man’s illness also prompts him to spend his last coins.
• The bald man provides fragmentary but important clues about the raid and the Hirata ruins. His Dragonrot symptoms seem to ease after Zhong Yi gives him money.
• The old woman mistakes Zhong Yi for her son, revealing her confusion and grief, yet entrusts him with the bell out of concern for Kurō.
• Emma continues her investigation into Dragonrot and expresses concern that Zhong Yi is repeatedly risking his life.
• The Buddha Carver guides Zhong Yi through the bell ritual, awakening memories connected to the past.

Significant themes

• Memory and identity: Zhong Yi lacks Sekiro’s memories, while the bell promises to awaken them.
• Compassion amid hardship: Zhong Yi chooses to comfort the old woman and fulfill her wish, despite his own urgent goals.
• Consequences of death and illness: Dragonrot affects those around Zhong Yi, linking his repeated deaths to others’ suffering.
• War, loss, and unresolved history: The destruction of the Hirata estate continues to shape the present, and the bell opens the way to revisit it.

Plot points and events

• Zhong Yi arrives in the past, three years before the main timeline, at the Hirata Estate during a nighttime bandit raid. He activates a Ghost Buddha checkpoint and finds a dying guard who mistakes him for Owl’s son and urges him to save the young lord.
• Noticing that the bandits are weak and poorly equipped, Zhong Yi suspects they could not have breached the estate’s defenses on their own. He theorizes their attack may be a cover for a more organized force.
• He sneaks through the estate, using stealth Deathblows rather than risking fights against groups. Along the way, he finds two shinobi tools: the Flame Arrow and the Shinobi Axe of the Flying Ape.
• Zhong Yi struggles through the estate, dying repeatedly to enemies and gaining no levels. He meets the same bald bandit he encountered earlier, briefly considers whether killing him would affect the future, but leaves him unharmed.
• After dismissing the ordinary enemies as unchallenging, Zhong Yi encounters shield-bearing soldiers and angrily complains that their defenses make his character progression useless.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhong Yi is analytical and cautious: he questions the bandit raid’s apparent explanation and relies on stealth after learning the danger of being surrounded. He also frames his playthrough as a way to help everyone clear the Illusion Realm, rather than simply pursuing the fastest route. Despite his confidence, repeated deaths expose his frustration and limits.
• The dying guard recognizes Zhong Yi as Owl’s son and dies before explaining more.
• The bald bandit mistakes Zhong Yi for a fellow raider, argues over a courtyard, then gives him information about a treasure in a cliffside pagoda. Zhong Yi considers using him to test the effects of changing the past but ultimately spares him.
• The livestream audience jokes about Zhong Yi’s confidence, challenges his strategy, and later praises his stated goal of helping others. Their commentary provides a playful counterpoint to his in-world struggles.

Significant themes

• Suspicion and hidden motives: Zhong Yi doubts that the visibly weak bandits are the true force behind the estate’s fall.
• Persistence and accessibility: He presents his approach as a guide for ordinary players, not a display of elite skill.
• The risks of changing the past: His question about whether the bald bandit would exist three years later raises the possibility of consequences across timelines.
• Humor amid failure: Zhong Yi’s bravado, deaths, and complaints contrast with the grim raid, keeping the chapter’s tone comedic.