Chapter Summaries

Tang Qi began experimenting on Fallen Flora to learn the nature of gods, extracting samples from her and testing their properties and magical knowledge. After gaining several spells but not the answers he wanted, he prepared to experiment on Flora’s main body.

• Tang Qi considered the danger of his Furnace Witch identity and concluded that the dying Furnace could make the profession lead him toward madness and death.
• Tang Qi traveled to his Dreamland laboratory with the Mechanical Sphere containing Flora and found that its passage absorbed a Mystic Jellyfish from the Lost World.
• Tang Qi extracted a bloody thread from Flora and used his abilities and Flame magic to test its vitality, pollution, and other traits before destroying it.
• Tang Qi conducted two more tests, extracting the Touch of True Love summoning incantation and then several spells, including Parasitic Hand, Tyrone Blood Eye, and Blood Grudge.
• Tang Qi decided to test Flora’s main body, while Flora stopped struggling inside the Life Containment Sphere.

Tang Qi restrained the mad god Flora and began removing the strange objects embedded in her body. He discovered a glass sphere containing a tiny world inhabited by little people.

• Tang Qi released Flora from the Life Containment Sphere, and her monstrous True God Body expanded through the tower laboratory.
• Tang Qi struck Flora with the Truth Thorn, forcing her to shrink and fall into a protective coma.
• Tang Qi used a Body Control Spell to shake foreign objects from Flora, then stored the contaminated objects for later study.
• Tang Qi examined Flora and found a glass sphere embedded in her chest, containing miniature landscapes and tiny human inhabitants.

Tang Qi dissected the foreign objects attached to Flora and discovered that her fallen divinity had contaminated many of them, including a tiny nation that depended on her divine power. After removing the final parasite, Tang Qi was left able to examine Flora’s true body without interference.

• Tang Qi examined the Land of Little People and found that Flora’s fallen divinity had driven its inhabitants into madness and bodily mutations.
• Tang Qi cut the Land of Little People from Flora, then examined a Devouring Beast’s tooth embedded in her arm and learned that she and the beast had once fought while weakened.
• Tang Qi used Truth Thorn to suppress Flora when she began swelling, then continued dissecting her while Secret Recorder recorded his findings.
• Tang Qi discovered that most foreign objects attached to Flora were contaminated, though a few could resist or suppress her fallen divinity.
• Tang Qi removed the Withered Blood Mite, leaving Flora’s true body free of foreign objects, and saw its secrets begin to reveal themselves.

Tang Qi dissected Flora to investigate how gods crossed the limits of divinity, but his experiments triggered a transformation that revealed another Source of Divinity within her. The Book of Nothingness appeared, and Tang Qi’s Dreamland began urging him to devour her.

• Tang Qi restored Flora to her true form and recorded theories about the limits, fused souls, and divine power of the all spirits.
• Tang Qi continued experimenting on Flora for several days, trying to separate her soul with spells and magical tools.
• Flora swelled into a Blood Bubble, then collapsed into a shifting mass of crimson flesh filled with magical knowledge, mad will, and soul aura.
• Tang Qi recognized the mass as Flora’s Source of Divinity and wondered how she had become a mad god after fusing with it.
• A cold Gray Light appeared within Flora’s Source of Divinity, and Tang Qi suspected it was another Source of Divinity.
• The Book of Nothingness manifested, while Tang Qi’s Dreamland went berserk and whispered for him to devour Flora.

Tang Qi discovered that Flora’s madness came from a contaminated Source of Divinity fragment and used the Truth Thorn to keep her briefly sane. Flora began telling him about her former lover, Ispatranie, and offered to share their complete story.

• Tang Qi learned that Flora had partially fused with a soul-affecting Source of Divinity fragment while trying to advance to become a God of Life.
• Tang Qi decided he could neither keep the unstable sources in the Dreamland nor safely devour the contaminated fragment.
• Flora regained her sanity briefly and asked Tang Qi to lash her with the Truth Thorn, which helped contain her madness.
• Tang Qi asked Flora whether she had any last wishes or wanted to make a deal, but refused to promise to save her.
• Flora told Tang Qi that Ispatranie, the Goddess of Fertility and Death who became one of the Three Great Goddesses of Life, had once been her lover.
• Flora offered Tang Qi an unabridged account of her story with Ispatranie.

Tang Qi rejected Flora’s first offers and negotiated a simpler request: after Ispatranie fell, he would seal her soul in a Curio. Flora promised to relinquish everything she had, and answered Tang Qi’s questions before preparing to release it.

• Flora tried to tempt Tang Qi with forbidden knowledge, blessings, and fulfilled desires, but he resisted and used the Truth Thorn to keep her sane.
• Flora first asked Tang Qi to help avenge her by making Ispatranie fall, but he refused; she then asked him only to seal Ispatranie’s soul in a Curio after her eventual fall.
• Flora sensed the aura of the source and power within Tang Qi, triggering a violent bout of contamination that he suppressed with the Truth Thorn.
• Flora promised to relinquish her soul, will, magical knowledge, and divine power, along with dangerous contamination, and said she trusted Tang Qi without requiring a contract.
• Flora answered Tang Qi’s questions about becoming one of the myriad spirits, divine kingdoms, and methods of purging contamination.
• Flora’s speech faltered as she told Tang Qi to prepare to receive everything she had.

Flora vanished after the Sources of Divinity collapsed, leaving Tang Qi with a Curio that recorded her romance with Ispatranie and a deadly mass of corruption. Tang Qi exiled the corruption, absorbed part of the Sources, and stored the rest in blank worlds before opening the Picture Album to distract himself from their influence.

• Tang Qi watched Flora devolve into an infant and disappear, after which the two Sources of Divinity collapsed into a Great Mystery Explosion.
• The collapsed Sources produced the True Love Fable Picture Album, while a mass of corrupting black mud emerged behind it.
• Tang Qi swallowed the black mud with a Divinity Tentacle and severed another tentacle to exile it to a different universe.
• Tang Qi absorbed portions of the two ownerless Sources and collected their magical knowledge in a new Book of Nothingness page named “Flora.”
• Fearing the Sources would overwhelm and corrupt him, Tang Qi sent their remaining red and gray power into two blank worlds.
• As he struggled with the Sources’ influence, Tang Qi opened the Picture Album and began reading its first page, “Paradise of Desire, First Encounter.”

Tang Qi studied Flora’s True Love Fable, absorbed knowledge and power from it, and concluded that he needed more followers to clear Dreamland’s monsters and gather divine power. As the Festival of Light approached, he received warnings from friends about the Lord of Light’s awakening, including Sally’s offer to leave Origin Star with him.

• Tang Qi examined a scene in Flora’s Picture Album and gained new skills and knowledge from its depiction of Desire Knights and Fallen Fairies.
• Tang Qi reviewed his experiment with Flora and resolved to seek control of the Source of Dreams by obtaining more divine power.
• Tang Qi determined that his followers would need to fight Dreamland’s multiplying monsters and realized he needed more followers.
• Gluttony alerted Tang Qi that December 23 had arrived, leaving only two days before the Festival of Light and the Lord of Light’s awakening.
• Tang Qi read letters from friends warning him of danger, and Sally urged him to leave Origin Star with her.

Tang Qi read letters from friends warning him about the Lord of Light’s likely hostility and weighed Rose Madeline’s offer of protection, but he chose to face the danger himself. After replying to everyone and sending gifts to Sally and the children, he decided to capture his final weak-god Experiment Subject before confronting Light’s malice.

• Sally showed her affection for Tang Qi, but he rejected a relationship because they were young and he felt compelled to keep moving forward amid the approaching Era of Madness.
• Jensen invited Tang Qi and Raphael to witness the birth of his child with Kriyas and sent Tang Qi a key to the Tyros Secret Realm, but Tang Qi decided not to risk drawing the Lord of Light toward the Tyros Tribe.
• Stana warned Tang Qi that powerful members of the Church loyal to the Lord of Light had reached a hostile consensus, and she urged him to protect himself.
• Tang Qi read letters from his friends and Rose Madeline, who offered to ask her teacher to protect him if he became the sage’s disciple, but he declined the suggestions and reassured his friends.
• Tang Qi sent Rose an Experiment Log, enclosed Curios for Sally to give the children, and learned that the children had wreaked havoc among the anomalies in Messer City.
• Tang Qi decided to capture the final weak-god Experiment Subject before facing the Lord of Light’s malice.

Tang Qi traveled to Apalis City for the Transcendental Cook Championship, where he hoped to capture the weakened evil god Mesolia. As the bus reached the city, he learned more about Mesolia’s history and anticipated drawing her out through the competition.

• Tang Qi rode into Apalis City on a bus full of human and fiend chefs, while Gluttony stole grilled ribs and Tang Qi paid the vendor.
• Tang Qi recalled that the championship could attract Mesolia, an evil god who sought skilled cooks to become her dependents.
• Tang Qi reviewed Mesolia’s history, including her failed attempt to cook a piece of Vesta’s flesh and the destruction of her kingdom by Vesta and Tataria.
• Tang Qi concluded that Mesolia was now a weak, starving deity hiding in Apalis City and looked forward to capturing her as an experiment subject.

Tang Qi and the other Transcendental Cooks entered the Forest of Tartalia to compete for places in the final round at the House of Food. With only twenty-four hours to impress the chefs of twelve restaurants, Tang Qi began preparing a fragrant soup that drew every contestant’s attention.

• Tang Qi and the other contestants heard sharply divided accounts from ordinary visitors who had eaten at the forest’s supernatural restaurants.
• Satura explained that contestants had to win recognition from the chefs at all twelve restaurants to reach the final round, and that the last batch had twenty-four hours to cook for them.
• Tang Qi entered the forest and saw the twelve strange restaurants surrounding tables piled with supernatural ingredients.
• Tang Qi summoned his Earthen Pot and began making soup with Snow Mountain Water, Onion Sprites, Mystic Fragrance Herb, leg meat, and Minotaur Fiend’s Milk.
• Tang Qi’s soup released an irresistible aroma, making the other Transcendental Cooks turn toward him and swallow.

Tang Qi used the True Word Curse to make his Delicious Meat Soup satisfy the supernatural chefs, earning entry to the House of Food. Inside, he discovered that Mesolia had corrupted its cuisine and was drawn toward a dish under the influence of an entrancing command.

• Tang Qi added the True Word Curse to his meat soup, and Menu Announcer from Sweetwater City tasted it with astonishment and satisfaction.
• Tang Qi served the cursed soup to the competing chefs and restaurant head chefs, passed the assessment, and entered the Secret Realm of Tartalia.
• Tang Qi saw black threads from the House of Food corrupting the supernatural cuisine and recognized Mesolia's aura.
• Tang Qi entered the House of Food, where host Alfred welcomed him and offered him dishes prepared by the judges.
• A tongue-like dish captivated Tang Qi as Alfred, the contestants, and the judges whispered, "Eat it!"

Tang Qi used divinely empowered meat soup to lure Mesoliya out and discovered that the chefs and judges were being contaminated by her. The Dog Girl Ge'er seized the soup, and Tang Qi learned that Mesoliya was parasitizing her, making Ge'er's survival crucial to avoiding catastrophe in Apalis City Circle.

• Tang Qi enchanted the remaining meat soup with a True Word Curse, making its aroma irresistible and drawing the House of Food's contestants and judges toward it.
• Tang Qi saw that the contestants and judges were being transformed into Mesoliya's dependents after eating the Tongue of God.
• Ge'er lunged from the judges' seats, grabbed the Earthen Pot, and subdued the others with a growl.
• Tang Qi discovered that Mesoliya was parasitizing Ge'er and that breaking their fragile connection could cause Mesoliya to manifest her True God Body over Apalis City Circle.
• Ge'er belched, and the Golden Broth's flavor erupted from her stomach.

Tang Qi tried to force Mesoliya out of Ge'er with a meat soup seasoned with Furnace Flame, but the reaction with Mesoliya’s divinity made her lose control and threaten a vast disaster. Using his False God form and the Sword of Truth, Tang Qi restored her will and made her submit, then prepared to cut into her body.

• The Furnace Flame in the meat soup reacted with Mesoliya’s divinity, causing her to lose control and transform Ge'er into a massive, fire-wreathed monster.
• Mesoliya’s black tongue extinguished the Furnace Flame, while her growing body and polluted milk threatened the House of Food, nearby cities, and their inhabitants.
• Tang Qi used Raphael’s Truth Thorn to restrain Mesoliya, then transformed into a False God through the Book of Nothingness.
• Tang Qi declared that Mesoliya’s soul would regain itself and that she would offer herself, briefly restoring her will and forcing her to submit.
• Tang Qi took up the Sword of Truth and prepared to cut into Mesoliya’s body.

Tang Qi used his cooking skills and divine powers to contain Mesoliya by cutting her into meat and boiling it in an Earthen Pot. Mesoliya resisted and briefly tried to escape, but her appetite drew her back into the soup, where she melted away and was sealed inside the pot.

• Tang Qi restored a trace of Mesoliya’s self-awareness and cut a slice from her body with the Sword of Truth, dropping it into an Earthen Pot.
• Tang Qi used Divinity Tentacles and kitchen knives transformed from Truth Thorn to slice the rest of Mesoliya into meat for the boiling soup.
• Mesoliya reappeared from the last remaining piece of meat and tried to escape through a crack while clutching a piece of Vesta’s flesh.
• Tang Qi identified the flesh and used the True Word Curse to make the soup’s aroma irresistible, drawing Mesoliya away from the crack and back toward the pot.
• Mesoliya swam through the soup and greedily ate it until she melted away, and Tang Qi sealed the pot with its lid and a surge of flames.

Tang Qi finished dealing with Mesoliya and resolved to stop capturing gods while he digested his gains. An invitation to Apalis City's Festival of Light reminded him that the Lord of Light would awaken that night and might target both the Lord of Thorns and Tang Qi, leaving him uneasy about the Furnace's silence.

• Tang Qi stored Mesoliya's sealed soup after learning it could grant immense powers or assimilate anyone who drank it.
• Tang Qi reflected on the deaths caused by Mesoliya's Tongue of God and decided to end his capture operations and focus on his future plans.
• Judges from the Federation Supernatural Head Chef Association invited Tang Qi to Apalis City's Festival of Light.
• Tang Qi realized the festival coincided with the Lord of Light's awakening and recalled that he and the Lord of Thorns had been excluded from the Holy Covenant Tablet.
• Tang Qi remembered the Master of the Furnace's long silence and felt uneasy about what it might mean.

At a banquet in the Forest of Tartalia, Tang Qi joined the fiends’ celebrations before the Festival of Light’s midnight chanting revealed the Kingdom of Light above Origin Star. The kingdom vanished almost immediately, but Transcendentals sensed that beings beyond mystery were also about to awaken.

• Tang Qi attended a feast with Transcendental cooks and accepted a young centaur woman’s invitation to dance.
• Other fiends invited Tang Qi to dance, while his three pets watched and speculated about his behavior.
• As midnight approached, believers across the Divine Eagle Federation began chanting the Holy Word, and the fiends stopped their music to listen.
• Pillars of Holy Light rose across Origin Star, revealing the Kingdom of Light as it nearly merged with the world.
• The Kingdom of Light vanished in less than half a second, leaving ordinary believers unsure whether they had experienced a hallucination.
• Transcendentals across the world felt an overwhelming terror and suspected that the myriad spirits beyond mystery were about to awaken.

As the myriad spirits watched Origin Star, the Lord of Light revived Charles I and made him king of angels. Charles I asked whether Light would forgive the Lord of Thorns, and Light answered by casting his brother from the Kingdom of Light into the mortal world disguised as “Truth.”

• The myriad spirits opened their eyes over Origin Star, causing supernatural beings to bow their heads as the Kingdom of Light’s influence over ordinary people faded.
• Tang Qi watched the spirits and the Kingdom of Light, then saw Charles I take shape before its gateway.
• The Lord of Light resurrected Charles I, named him the king of angels, and blessed Light’s believers.
• Tang Qi predicted that punishment would follow the blessing, and Charles I asked whether Light would forgive a brother who betrayed him.
• The Lord of Light declared that he would separate the Lord of Thorns from Light and send him into the mortal world disguised as “Truth.”

The Lord of Light answered Charles I’s questions, prophesying a humiliating punishment for Tang Qi after acknowledging his deception. As the ceremony ended, the All Spirits gathered their attention around Origin Star, and the Furnace began a desperate attempt to imitate Light by appearing as a sun and drawing the planet’s living beings into its worship.

• The Lord of Light declared that Tang Qi would repent publicly on the second Festival of Light, peeling away his skin and writing his sins in blood.
• Tang Qi considered his recent actions and wondered why the All Spirits were watching Origin Star as Light’s ceremony concluded.
• The All Spirits’ attention intensified, and Furnace flames began pouring from Tang Qi’s body as he recognized the Furnace’s mad self-rescue.
• A vast sun appeared above Origin Star, replacing the gate of light and the All Spirits’ eyes in the sight of every living being.
• Tang Qi realized the Furnace was trying to force everyone to look upon it and recruit enough followers to create vast numbers of Furnace Witches.

Tang Qi witnessed the Furnace project its power onto Origin Star, creating an unknown number of Furnace Seeds while spreading deadly contamination. The All Spirits joined forces to seal the Furnace Universe, averting disaster but leaving Tang Qi to wonder whether the New Era had truly begun.

• The Furnace projected its divinity into the souls of Origin Star’s inhabitants, threatening to create millions of new Furnace Witches and ignite a devastating war.
• Black contamination spread from the Furnace and threatened to kill the newborn Furnace Witches and destroy life on Origin Star.
• The All Spirits returned and joined forces to extinguish the Furnace’s projection and seal the Furnace Universe.
• Tang Qi sensed that the Furnace was not resisting the seal because it was part of its desperate plan to slow its destruction after creating new Furnace Seeds.
• The All Spirits withdrew and erased the Divine Miracles’ effects from ordinary humans, while Tang Qi reflected that the night might mark the beginning of the New Era.