Chapter Summaries

Tang Qi used the Life Curse to create a magical puppy as the first Dream Seed, intending for it to find a person compatible with Dreamland and make them his first external dependent. He sent the puppy through a portal to Saint Eagle's Nest City, where it began its search with only an hour to find a candidate.

• Tang Qi sealed Borusa back inside the Ceramic Doll after stopping its attempt to pollute the Wilnas Sprite.
• Tang Qi considered how to gain more control over Dreamland, concluding that he needed compatible dependents imprinted with his power.
• Tang Qi used the Life Curse on an empty Dream Bubble and created a small, magical white puppy.
• Tang Qi told the puppy to find its true master within an hour and opened a portal to Saint Eagle's Nest City.
• The puppy entered the portal to search for a candidate who could pass Tang Qi's trial and become Dreamland's first external dependent.

Tang Qi sent the Snow White Puppy to find Dreamland’s first external dependent, and after it rejected several candidates, he approved its choice of the desperate actor Stan Duplessis. Stan awakened as the puppy merged with him and began carrying his soul toward an unknown place.

• Tang Qi rejected a highly compatible baby as too young, then set restrictions on the Snow White Puppy’s search.
• The Snow White Puppy considered a talented young pianist and many other people across Hawknest City but chose none of them.
• Near the end of its one-hour life, the Snow White Puppy found the filthy, broken-down Stan Duplessis in an alley’s garbage pile.
• Tang Qi learned of Stan’s extraordinary acting talent and, after noticing something in his mind, told the Snow White Puppy to merge with him.
• The Snow White Puppy dissolved into dreamlike motes that entered Stan, and Stan awoke seeing his soul leave his body as a vast voice sounded within him.

Stan Duplessis entered a frozen wilderness with Little Snowball to face a trial, but hunger and cold nearly killed them before the trial even began. As Little Snowball started to collapse with him, Stan’s hidden soul trait awakened, restoring his strength and stopping its collapse.

• Stan recognized his recovered body and realized Little Snowball had chosen him as its master.
• A blizzard forced Stan and Little Snowball to flee into the forest, where he failed to hunt or gather food and began freezing in a tree hollow.
• Little Snowball tried to warm Stan but could not overcome Tang Qi’s restrictions, and its life began fading as Stan weakened.
• Stan’s soul underwent a transformation that let divine power break through one of Tang Qi’s restrictions.
• Stan regained his youth and strength, saved Little Snowball from collapsing, and thanked it gently.

Tang Qi sent Stan Duplessis into a trial in the wilderness, where Stan endured a supernatural storm before Tang Qi created a paradise designed to tempt him. Stan resisted its comforts and tried to leave with Little Snowball, but the paradise’s innocent inhabitants and his own transformed body made the test more difficult.

• Stan Duplessis left the forest with Little Snowball and transformed into a wise, aged traveler upon entering the wilderness.
• A violent storm shattered Stan’s Curios and left him and Little Snowball near death as they struggled forward.
• Tang Qi sent a projection of the Light of Immortality into the wilderness, creating a lush paradise around the fallen Stan.
• A young girl revived Stan in a spring and offered him food and comfort, but Stan recognized the scene as a trial and tried to leave with Little Snowball.
• Little Snowball stayed among fairies while the girl cried, and Stan discovered that the spring had changed his body into that of a young man.

Stan Duplessis was trapped in a paradise that corrupted him through an enchanting melody and endless desire, but he awakened by confronting his parents’ painful memory and destroyed the source of the illusion. He returned to reality with Little Snowball safe, as the dying monster revealed the melody’s name: “Song of Ass Hell.”

• Stan Duplessis tried to leave Primal Paradise with Little Snowball, but the paradise’s creatures and music drew him into desire and transformed Little Snowball into a Big Fat Pig.
• Stan lost his sense of self as the paradise filled with grotesque creatures and structures that worshiped him as their King.
• Stan reached a crimson cocoon and found his parents embracing inside it, pierced together by a hiltless longsword while they stabbed each other with red daggers.
• Stan pulled the longsword from his parents, faced the rushing creatures, and slashed them, causing the candy-colored paradise to vanish.
• Stan awoke as Traveler Stan with Little Snowball safe on his head and saw the dying monster whose buttocks bore the fading sheet music.
• The monster named the melody “Song of Ass Hell” before it disappeared.

Stan Duplessis became a newborn Secret Witch after clearing a dangerous Dreamland node, while Tang Qi gained pure divine power from the trial. The story then shifted to a blood-soaked villa where masked killers blamed Stan for his disappearance and threatened a woman and two children.

• Stan Duplessis returned to Hawknest City with a transformed body and Little Snowball, and realized he was a free member of the Neutral Faction.
• Tang Qi watched Stan’s return and learned from the Book of Nothingness that Stan had cleansed the newborn node and defeated its monster.
• Tang Qi concluded that followers could purify Dreamland by killing monsters and decided to give Stan time to master the spells he had gained.
• A projection showed a blonde woman and two children trapped inside a blood-drawn Magic Array in a villa surrounded by masked killers.
• A killer in a goat mask blamed the captives for Stan Duplessis’s disappearance, and the woman recognized them as demons drawn there by Stan.

Stan Duplessis rushed to rescue Rachel and their daughters from fans who planned to sacrifice them to the God of Primal Desire. His first attack failed, leaving his family bound again as the mutated leader advanced on him.

• Tang Qi recognized that the Magic Array was meant to sacrifice Rachel Duplessis and her daughters to the God of Primal Desire, and assured Stan Duplessis that the threat was manageable.
• Stan Duplessis sought Tang Qi’s guidance, then attacked after the masked fans revealed faces they had altered to resemble his.
• Stan Duplessis cut the bindings on Rachel, Morgan, and Andy, told them to escape, and charged the fans.
• The leader transformed into a monster and struck Stan Duplessis into a wall, then bound Rachel and her daughters again.
• Tang Qi watched Stan Duplessis’s failed attack and wondered why he had fought like a swordsman instead of a wizard.

Tang Qi helped Stan Duplessis defeat the Primal Desire Servants and learned that the newly created Furnace Witches had remained mysteriously inactive. After rumors blamed him for leading them in a conspiracy against the Light Faction, Tang Qi decided to find one and discover what they intended to do.

• Stan Duplessis used his supernatural charm to turn five Primal Desire Servants against one another and rescue Rachel Duplessis and their children.
• Tang Qi sent Little Snowball a wisp of Furnace Flame, which destroyed the Magic Array and drove off the God of Primal Desire.
• Tang Qi read reports questioning why the newborn Furnace Witches had not begun fighting Evil God organizations and noticed rumors tying him to a plot against the Light Faction.
• Tang Qi dismissed the claims that he could alter the Furnace's faction and set out to find one of the new Furnace Witches.

Tang Qi created a Little Firebird to locate another Furnace Witch and found Klaus Lovich, a struggling painter who had recently become a newborn Furnace Witch. After learning the Furnace’s new rules used Tang Qi’s past sacrifices as examples, he realized the Furnace’s guidance could cause trouble; Klaus recognized him.

• Tang Qi failed to sense other Furnace Witches, so he used a Life Curse to create a Little Firebird from Furnace Flame and sent it to search Hawknest City.
• The Little Firebird found Klaus Lovich in his Starka District studio, where he had injured his eyes staring at the sun while trying to please the Furnace.
• Tang Qi identified Klaus as a newborn Furnace Witch who had received the Golden Furnace Meditation Method but lacked combat spells.
• Tang Qi read Klaus’s mind and learned that the Furnace’s guide showed Tang Qi’s past secret sacrifices as examples of the new rules for newborn Furnace Witches.
• After Tang Qi withdrew Crimson, Klaus’s vision cleared and he recognized Tang Qi, leaving Tang Qi wary of what he would do next.

Tang Qi realized that the Furnace’s new witches might mistake him for their leader and that unknown enemies could target him, so he gave Klaus Lovich brief instructions before returning to the Dreamland to prepare. Meanwhile, Sally traced a pattern of mysterious attacks to a force targeting Tang Qi, then confronted a swarm of Black Stains as they attacked her in the Library Tower.

• Klaus Lovich called Tang Qi his leader, and Tang Qi worried that newly born Furnace Witches would seek him out and bring unknown dangers.
• Tang Qi gave Klaus the Tempering Method and ordered him to meditate, practice it, and stop staring directly at the sun, then vanished to prepare in the Dreamland.
• Sally reviewed reports of people connected to Tang Qi suffering strange attacks and used her Fate Witch powers to sense that the threat was drawing closer to her.
• A Black Stain crept toward Sally, and she froze it with a curse against anyone bearing malice toward Tang Qi.
• More Black Stains appeared throughout the Library Tower, and Sally commanded them to submit as powerful magic filled the building.

Sally captured a mysterious creature that had been targeting people connected to Tang Qi, then discovered it concealed a more dangerous will and destroyed it before it could reach him. Shaken by what she sensed, she contacted Tang Qi through the metal plate she had altered to allow two-way communication.

• Sally suppressed the mysterious creature attacking the Library Tower and sealed it in a glass jar.
• Nicole suggested the creature might be gathering intelligence on Tang Qi, and Sally left the meeting with it, apparently intending to visit him.
• As Sally approached the Magic Channel, she sensed the creature’s hidden malice and confronted it instead of taking it to Tang Qi.
• Sally opened a gateway to the Mystery, banished the creature, and used the True Word Curse to make it self-destruct.
• Sally suppressed her urge to approach the Oil Painting and sent Tang Qi several messages through the two-way metal plate.

Sally used her Fate Witch powers to learn that the threat behind the Black Liquid had targeted Tang Qi and others. In the Sutron ruins, Stana survived the Black Liquid’s attack with help from her teacher, who revealed that its true target was Stana’s secret friend.

• Sally realized that an existence behind a dangerous creature had targeted Tang Qi and decided to become stronger so she could help him.
• Sally completed a transaction with a great will and saw an image of curved antlers and eyes associated with misfortune.
• In the Sutron ruins, Stana’s knight squad was overwhelmed by Black Liquid, and she fought her way toward escape.
• Stana used Super Strength Technique to smash the Black Stain, but the creature re-formed and moved to attack her again.
• Stana’s teacher appeared, erased the Black Stain, and restored Stana’s strength.
• Stana’s teacher told her that the aberration had likely been targeting Stana’s secret friend, leaving Stana stunned.

Rose Madeline trapped and dissected a mysterious black Life Aggregation that infiltrated her study, but its fragments revealed an unknown divine power and triggered her laboratory’s defenses. The entity stopped the destruction, reformed behind Rose, and demanded to know how she had discovered it.

• Rose Madeline sent Gracie away and entered her laboratory to conduct a dissection experiment.
• A black liquid creature infiltrated the laboratory, where Rose’s Curios trapped, attacked, and divided it into pieces.
• Darwin’s Steam Hand identified the creature as part of a Life Aggregation and detected an unknown divine power within it.
• Rose began investigating the slug-like fragments, but Darwin’s Steam Hand started a self-destruct sequence, and the laboratory’s defenses went berserk.
• The black liquid stopped time, halted the destruction, and reformed into an androgynous figure behind Rose.
• The figure confronted Rose and asked how she had discovered it.

Rose Madeline confronted a Black Liquid Androgynous Being that revealed it had failed twice and was gathering information about Tang. As Rose was teleported away, the creature copied her appearance and took over her body, while Tang received Sally’s warning not to gaze upon it.

• Rose Madeline questioned the Black Liquid Androgynous Being, which called itself a Life Aggregation and said it had failed twice to overcome fate and the power that nurtured light.
• Rose realized the creature’s true target was Tang and asked what it wanted with him, while her teacher began teleporting her away.
• The Androgynous Being said it sought Tang to confirm information, then revealed it would borrow Rose Madeline’s body and walked toward a grotesque Oil Painting.
• Tang received Sally’s message that mysterious creatures were attacking people connected to her and that he must not let one appear before him or gaze upon it.
• Tang felt a powerful warning of danger as a mature female voice suddenly sounded beside him.

An impostor wearing Rose Madeline’s face sent a mutating Black Liquid into Tang Qi’s Dreamland, where its hidden symbol triggered the Omniscience within his soul. As he began to lose control, Tang Qi severed the Divinity Tentacle carrying it and banished the strange object into a hazy, empty world.

• The impostor Rose Madeline used an oil painting to review the faces and scenes connected to Tang Qi, then sent a grinning Black Stain into the Dreamland.
• The Black Liquid entered the Dreamland and revealed faint divinity that formed an indescribable symbol, which triggered a violent reaction in Tang Qi’s Omniscience.
• Sally’s warning reached Tang Qi, and he realized the symbol was bait connected to a Great Terror that could take his life, power, or soul.
• Tang Qi used Dream Divinity and Chaos Spores to obscure his senses and resist the urge to look at the symbol.
• Tang Qi severed the Divinity Tentacle carrying the Black Liquid and used a wormhole to banish it into a hazy, empty world.

Tang Qi used the Dreamland’s divine power to stop the Black Liquid from reaching the Dreamland, but the liquid revealed a terrifying gateway and beings connected to his past. He withdrew his gaze from the entities within, yet glimpsed a second Giant with a gouged-out eye before escaping their attention.

• Rose Madeline shed her skin, fused with the Black Liquid, and used a transcendent symbol’s light to close the exile wormhole and freeze the Divinity Tentacle.
• Tang Qi pulled the Divinity Tentacle out at its source and destroyed it, unleashing a divine torrent that disrupted the Mystery and weakened the symbol’s light.
• A radiant gateway opened on the Black Liquid island, and Tang Qi saw figures from his life walk into a dark universe where a Giant bearing the symbol began to rise.
• Tang Qi withdrew his gaze to avoid being contaminated, then felt compelled to glimpse another Giant with a pitch-black hole where its head should have been.
• The first Giant turned its symbol-eye toward Tang Qi, who rapidly withdrew his gaze and gasped as he tried to process what he had seen.

Tang Qi investigated the Black Liquid’s attacks on people connected to him and learned that the beings behind them served a mysterious race called the Origin Divine Race. Raphael’s warning confirmed the race’s immense power and possible involvement in major upheavals, but its goals and connection to Tang Qi’s Omniscience remained unknown.

• Tang Qi calmed the turmoil in Dreamland and sent Raphael questions about the Black Liquid, the Darkest Universe, and the two Giants.
• Stana warned Tang Qi that the Black Liquid had attacked her, and the Holy Nun cautioned him to treat his powers carefully.
• Rose Madeline reported that the Black Liquid had attacked her and tried to enter Dreamland by impersonating her.
• Rose relayed her teacher’s intelligence that the Black Liquid came from a vast universe and served an unnamed race.
• Raphael told Tang Qi that the Black Liquid called itself servants of the great masters and identified its masters as the Origin Divine Race.

Tang Qi used White Merlin and a unicorn to divine whether the secret in his soul had been leaked, revealing his Omniscience to help them glimpse the future. The prophecy showed the secret would be exposed at a later time, and Tang Qi began shaping a plan using Flora’s True Love Fable.

• Tang Qi summoned the resurrected White Merlin and a snow-white unicorn to perform a divination about whether the secret in his soul had been leaked.
• When Merlin’s divination yielded no result, Tang Qi revealed his Omniscience and joined the attempt, allowing them to glimpse a crack in the fortress of the future.
• An unknown torrent shattered their wills, killed Merlin and the unicorn, damaged the laboratory, and nearly aged Tang Qi to death before the Book of Nothingness absorbed the Gray Light.
• Tang Qi concluded that his secret would be leaked, but not yet, and decided to make the prophecy real.
• Tang Qi summoned Flora’s True Love Fable and focused on a huge, bizarre object depicted on one of its pages.

Tang Qi used Flora's Box to create a duplicate, transferred his Furnace Witch powers into Tang Qi Number Two, and had him sacrifice a Devouring Divinity to the Master of the Furnace. The offering earned twenty-eight Sun Merits, while Tang Qi's plan to use the duplicate as a decoy began.

• Tang Qi found Flora's Box in God's Paradise and used his blood to create a body identical to himself.
• Tang Qi separated a fragment of his soul and placed it in Tang Qi Number Two, making the duplicate seem fully alive.
• Tang Qi transferred his Furnace Flame and Furnace Eyes to Tang Qi Number Two as part of a plan to draw enemies' attention and court danger under his identity.
• Tang Qi Number Two sacrificed the Devouring Divinity through the Furnace's remaining offering portal.
• The Master of the Furnace pulled Tang Qi's consciousness into the Ruins of Darkness, where Tang Qi saw the offering yield twenty-eight Sun Merits.

Tang Qi spent Sun Merits to transform Tang Qi Number Two into a Furnace Priest, equipping the doppelgänger with Furnace witchcraft and a pair of Furnace Hammers. After reflecting on how to investigate his Omniscience, he prepared to find newborn Furnace Witches in the Greater Hawknest City Area and see whether they would accept him as their nominal leader.

• Tang Qi exchanged Sun Merits to raise Tang Qi Number Two's rank and chose witchcraft and Mystical Items for the doppelgänger.
• Tang Qi gave Tang Qi Number Two two Furnace Hammers and changed the doppelgänger's flamboyant robe to an ordinary Witch Robe.
• Tang Qi resolved to study Omniscience by developing the soul rule in his Divine Domain and unsealing Harper's Book.
• Tang Qi confirmed that Tang Qi Number Two had become a Legendary Rank Furnace Priest, with three Sun Merits remaining.
• Both Tang Qis set out to find newborn Furnace Witches in the Greater Hawknest City Area and learn how many would recognize Tang Qi as their nominal leader.