Chapter Summaries

After Dawn shattered, Yu Xunge helped settle the Fragrant Branches and gave Mistblade Mountains Mistblade’s third Fox Tail before the next Godly Game was announced. Yu Xunge then entered a special World Battlefield game with 166 other players, where the players wondered why so few had joined.

• Dawn shattered, and three World Fragments flew into Yu Xunge’s hands as the leaders returned to Zai Jiu.
• Zai Jiu Xianchan brought flower-island territories to Zai Jiu and told Yan Tu she feared the Lighthouse being lit; Yu Xunge left them together and assigned Zhao Shuying the Fragrant Branches’ settlement work.
• Yu Xunge gave Mistblade Mountains Mistblade’s third Fox Tail after learning it could let Mountains Mistblade track or curse her and help Mistblade locate her rival.
• The Godly Game announced a 30-day game beginning the next night, and Yu Xunge set out to take Zai Jiu onto the River of Time before entering it.
• Yu Xunge arrived at a special World Battlefield game with 166 other players, where all marked Magic Items and skills were allowed and players could request aid from Star Sea gods.
• The players counted their small gathering and wondered whether the others had joined to enjoy the 30 days or attack other worlds.

Yu Xunge entered the Burial Ground game, where players could die repeatedly and be sent to Quiet Mountains after ten deaths. She explored an ancient castle and encountered a voice that recognized her as Fragrant Branch.

• The game rules revealed that players could bring only six Magic Items, that each death dropped a Tomb of the World, and that ten deaths transferred a player to Quiet Mountains.
• Yu Xunge entered the game, saw Mountains Xunge beside a giant clock, and was transported to an ancient castle.
• Yu Xunge equipped her companions and told Tulan to write Star Sea Beaver Duke on the Map Pocket Watch while she searched the castle.
• Yu Xunge planned to upgrade her Godly Relics and investigate whether Zai Jiu had any gods, but she still lacked the creator's name for [Cat's Ideal].
• Yu Xunge found a book written in Autumn Bear's language as the room began to lose its color, and a gentle voice called her Fragrant Branch.

Yu Xunge entered the buried past of a Fragrant Branch named Youwo and was drawn into a storyline about Midsummer preparing to invade Tingzhou. She learned that the invasion could help Qihua strengthen her World Skill, but the Fragrant Branch’s question remained unclear.

• Yu Xunge met a Fragrant Branch in the castle, who pulled her into the time when she was buried and recognized her as Zai Jiu Xunge.
• The Fragrant Branch offered Yu Xunge a gift if she found the answer to a question, then vanished and left Yu Xunge in the role of Youwo.
• A trusted assistant named Midsummer Withering urged Youwo to invade Tingzhou while Qihua was away playing the game.
• Yu Xunge learned that Midsummer had 85 World Fragments and hoped to seize Tingzhou’s 67 fragments to raise Qihua’s World Skill.
• Yu Xunge discovered that Tingzhou had only four Players remaining and wondered what answer the vanished Fragrant Branch was seeking.

Yu Xunge took Youwo’s place in a repeating stretch of time where Midsummer’s forces were compelled to invade Tingzhou, and learned that Qihua had forbidden the invasion until she returned. Youwo asked Yu Xunge to discover why she was forced to invade, and they decided to contact Qihua even if they had to reach Tingzhou’s battlefield first.

• Yu Xunge questioned Midsummer Withering and learned that Qihua was the Star Sea’s strongest being, while Youwo was called the Flower Soil of the Fragrant Branch.
• Yu Xunge found Midsummer’s assembled army and learned that Qihua had explicitly forbidden an invasion while she was away.
• Youwo explained that Qihua had buried what remained of her consciousness in this time loop, where she could alter everything except the compulsion to invade Tingzhou.
• Yu Xunge learned that Youwo could contact Qihua in an emergency and insisted they try, even after they reached Tingzhou’s battlefield.
• Youwo agreed with Yu Xunge but handed her the Flower of Deceit and asked her to make the contact.

Yu Xunge used the Flower of Deceit to contact Qihua and ask why she had to invade Tingzhou, but the call reached an automatic reply. She then explored Midsummer's dungeon with Youwo, discussing Qihua and the difficulties of raising Crown of Flowers Murder.

• Youwo offered to reveal when and where the owner of Yu Xunge's Ship's Wheel was buried, and Yu Xunge connected the Flower of Deceit.
• Yu Xunge asked Qihua why they had to invade Tingzhou, but Qihua's automatic reply told Youwo to invade it herself before the call ended.
• Youwo said she suspected Qihua was also buried in that stretch of time and invited Yu Xunge to investigate the mystery with her.
• Yu Xunge and Youwo entered Midsummer's dungeon in Tingzhou and walked through it while discussing Qihua and her deity talent word.
• Youwo described Crown of Flowers Murder as difficult to keep following its grower, and Tulan and Yu Xunge joked that raising it was needless trouble.

Yu Xunge questioned Youwo about the Burial Ground and learned that Qihua had sealed some of Youwo’s memories, but Youwo refused to reveal her own Deity Talent Word until Yu Xunge found Qihua’s. Qihua learned that Yu Xunge had met Youwo and looked forward to their conversation.

• Youwo explained that only Players who had fully comprehended their Deity Talent Word could be preserved in the Burial Ground, and she suspected Qihua had altered her memories.
• Youwo told Yu Xunge that the dead could meet when their overlapping times brought them into contact, and that she and other buried wills had speculated about Qihua’s reasons for invading Tingzhou.
• Yu Xunge and Youwo briefly witnessed a vision of Tingzhou’s sea battlefield before returning to the castle study in Midsummer.
• Youwo refused to share her Deity Talent Word until Yu Xunge found Qihua’s, despite Yu Xunge’s objections that both words could help explain the invasions.
• Qihua learned that Yu Xunge had encountered Youwo in the Burial Ground and smiled as she anticipated their stubborn conversation.

Yu Xunge visited Youwo’s memories of Godly Instruction to investigate Qihua’s past and studied a skill magic pattern Qihua had drawn. The memory left Yu Xunge wondering whether the pattern revealed anything about Qihua’s changing deity talent word.

• Yu Xunge asked Youwo to show her memories of Godly Instruction, and Youwo took her to a joint training session.
• Yu Xunge watched the wartime-era Qihua attend a lesson on modifying skills through magic runes, and Qihua briefly sensed someone behind her.
• Youwo offered to show Yu Xunge other memories, but Yu Xunge instead went to examine the magic pattern Qihua was drawing.
• Youwo said Qihua had changed her deity talent word five times but could not say which one she had found at that point.
• Yu Xunge suggested Qihua might deceive even herself and asked no further questions, leaving Youwo to ask what was unusual about the pattern.

Yu Xunge revealed that Qihua had been secretly drawing a changed version of her SS-rank [Flower Deception] skill, while the visible pattern was an illusion. She questioned Youwo’s blind trust in Qihua and then recognized that Youwo was actually Zai Jiu Xianchan.

• Youwo told Yu Xunge that her Deity Talent Word had not been altered, and Yu Xunge confirmed it was not Word Flower Soil.
• Yu Xunge watched Qihua and No Light Graffiti draw their skill patterns while Youwo explained that Qihua was creating the SS-rank skill [Flower Deception].
• Yu Xunge projected Qihua’s true magic pattern with Thunder and explained that the pattern on the paper was an illusion concealing a changed meaning.
• Yu Xunge pointed out that No Light Graffiti had altered his drawing so only Candle Barbarians could use its skill, and challenged Youwo for doubting her own understanding instead of Qihua.
• Yu Xunge recognized Youwo as Zai Jiu Xianchan, leaving Youwo stunned.

Yu Xunge and Youwo investigated Qihua’s memories, but Youwo refused to destroy a painting that held memories of their time together. After watching Qihua’s matches, Yu Xunge asked to see Youwo’s matches instead, and the scene shifted to Youwo and Tingzhou Huxiao in the Arena.

• Yu Xunge suggested destroying Qihua’s painting, but Youwo stopped when she realized it would erase memories of Godly Instruction and their shared time together.
• Yu Xunge asked to watch the parts of Qihua’s competition where she used her deity talent word, and Youwo showed her Qihua’s match against a Mountain Isle Clan member.
• Yu Xunge watched several of Qihua’s matches and saw her win decisively, while Youwo praised Qihua and grew irritated at Yu Xunge’s comparisons.
• Yu Xunge asked to watch Youwo’s matches involving her deity talent word, and the memory shifted to Midsummer Youwo facing Tingzhou Huxiao in the Arena.

Yu Xunge learned how to leave Youwo's Burial Ground and observed Youwo's deity talent word, Pruning, while searching for a way to learn about Qihua's past. Youwo could not tell her whether Qihua's classmates were buried there, leaving Yu Xunge with only a few hours to find the Beaver Duke before her time ran out.

• Youwo fought Tingzhou Huxiao to a draw, showing Yu Xunge and Tulan how formidable her Variation Quicksand was.
• Yu Xunge used Truth to test Youwo and learned that she could leave the Burial Ground only during its connection to reality, by returning to her entry point and calling Youwo's name.
• Watching Youwo fight Qihua, Yu Xunge saw her deity talent word diminish part of her Flower Branch while boosting her attributes, and learned that the ability was called Pruning.
• With nearly twenty hours spent in the Burial Ground and four hours remaining, Yu Xunge asked whether Qihua's classmates were buried there.
• Youwo said she did not know because she had died too early and the divine wills she had encountered could not seek answers beyond their limited memories.

Yu Xunge examined Youwo’s Soul Fire and questioned why the Fragrant Branches had not invaded Tingzhou before their destruction. Suspecting the altered memory concealed a disagreement between Youwo and Qihua, she asked Youwo to describe when she had opposed Qihua’s decisions.

• Yu Xunge paused the arena memory and inspected Youwo’s Soul Fire, asking whether it was Poem of the Bird’s Cause.
• Youwo confirmed that Qihua had also identified her Soul Fire that way, while Yu Xunge felt the name did not fit her.
• Yu Xunge reasoned that Youwo had been capable of leading the Fragrant Branches, and suspected the Fourth Bell Toll had prevented Qihua from completing an invasion of Tingzhou.
• Yu Xunge explained that she judged people by their personalities and asked what Qihua valued most; Youwo challenged her to explain why she discussed Qihua with her.
• Yu Xunge asked whether Youwo had followed Qihua’s orders after the game arrived and invited her to discuss the times she thought Qihua was wrong.

Yu Xunge challenged Youwo’s account of Qihua and argued that Qihua had deliberately avoided her, based on the flowers missing from Qihua’s island. She offered to keep investigating despite suspecting that uncovering the truth could put her escape and safety at risk.

• Tulan pointed out that Yu Xunge assumed Qihua could not have been wrong and suggested Qihua had stopped Youwo and the others from invading Tingzhou.
• Yu Xunge said she believed Qihua had been right and asked Youwo to move time forward to when Soul Fire appeared between Qihua’s brows.
• Yu Xunge questioned whether Qihua had ever truly visited Youwo and concluded that Qihua’s descriptions of her sounded like a spectator’s perspective.
• Yu Xunge noted that Qihua cultivated many Fragrant Branches but had neither Variation Quicksand nor Poem of the Bird’s Cause, and said this showed Qihua did not want to see Youwo.
• Youwo summoned a black quicksand python around Yu Xunge and Tulan as the exchange turned threatening.
• Yu Xunge offered to continue searching for the answer or leave quietly, admitting she feared Youwo might deceive her about the way out; she said she wanted to know what had made Qihua unable to forgive Youwo even as she buried her herself.

Yu Xunge confronted Youwo about the contradictions in her memories and deduced that she had deliberately sabotaged Qihua’s timeline to keep Qihua from being pruned by the Chaotic Star Sea. Youwo attacked Yu Xunge when she exposed the betrayal, but Golden Lightning shielded her.

• Yu Xunge told Youwo that Qihua would not have ordered an invasion to wait until she returned, since Youwo was trusted to lead Midsummer.
• Yu Xunge and Tulan reasoned that Midsummer had rushed to invade Tingzhou because its leaders knew the Bell Chime was coming soon.
• Yu Xunge realized Youwo had learned about other timelines and feared Qihua’s timeline would be pruned for lagging behind.
• Yu Xunge accused Youwo of betraying Qihua by allowing Midsummer and the Fragrant Branches to be destroyed so Qihua’s story would become more brilliant through suffering.
• Youwo angrily sent black sand at Yu Xunge, but Golden Lightning blocked the attack.

Yu Xunge learned that Youwo had engineered Qihua’s exile to make her endure suffering and become the Fragrant Branches’ hope, while Qihua had altered Youwo’s memories and shown her other timelines. The chapter ended with Yu Xunge questioning whether Youwo, rather than Qihua, had been concealing and pruning away mistakes in this altered stretch of time.

• Youwo revealed that her Deity Talent Word was “Breaking Branch” and confirmed that she and Qihua had altered this stretch of time together.
• Yu Xunge questioned how Qihua had been unable to evacuate any Fragrant Branches before the Bell Chime and concluded that Youwo must have intervened.
• Youwo explained that she threatened Midsummer using the Celestial Phenomenon Tribe, became Midsummer’s Arbiter, stripped Qihua of her leadership, removed her anchors, and arranged for the Star Sea to send her to another world.
• Youwo recalled that Qihua had flown into a rage when she discovered what Youwo had done.
• Youwo confirmed that Qihua had shown her how other timelines unfolded, and Yu Xunge asked whether Youwo had actually been the one concealing and pruning away mistakes.

Yu Xunge confronted Youwo about how Qihua had manipulated their memories and tested Zai Jiu Xianchan, then learned Youwo wanted to know what sustained Qihua when she was the last Fragrant Branch. Youwo promised to send Yu Xunge back and share information about the creator of [Cat's Ideal] if Yu Xunge answered.

• Yu Xunge explained that Qihua had altered the memories to make herself bear the blame and let Youwo believe she might someday visit.
• Yu Xunge recalled how Qihua had used Zai Jiu Xianchan's admiration to lead her to discover Youwo, and Youwo said Qihua had been cultivating her like a flower.
• Yu Xunge concluded that Qihua had deliberately favored outsiders to test whether Zai Jiu Xianchan would put the Fragrant Branch first.
• Youwo agreed to send Yu Xunge back to the real study after asking how Qihua answered Mountains and Star Sea's question about who she was fighting for.
• Youwo promised to reveal when and where the creator of [Cat's Ideal] was buried if Yu Xunge answered, and Yu Xunge accepted the bargain.

Yu Xunge traded Youwo the location and active hours of King in exchange for the answer to what had sustained Qihua. She revealed that Qihua’s answer had been a tear shed on the Clock Dial Battlefield, leaving Youwo shaken and Yu Xunge satisfied with her revenge.

• Yu Xunge insisted Youwo give her King’s location before she revealed Qihua’s answer.
• Youwo said King was active from 3:10:38 to 3:15:19 in the Burial Ground’s northwestern rainforest and northern grasslands, and that it moved only in the early morning.
• Yu Xunge asked whether Youwo had ever seen Qihua cry, and Youwo said Qihua had never cried since they met at fifteen.
• Yu Xunge told Youwo that Qihua’s answer had been a tear falling onto the Clock Dial Battlefield, then returned with Tulan to the freezing study.
• Yu Xunge explained to Tulan that Youwo would see Qihua’s heartbreak in the answer, while she and Tulan saw Qihua’s strength and resilience.

Yu Xunge privately explained how she had understood Youwo and admitted she had bluffed about Study, then told the ceiling that she no longer owed anyone anything. At the Demon Tavern, Qihua and the others watched the moment unfold, while Yudun realized Yu Xunge had unusually chosen to interfere in someone else’s past and grudges; Qihua remained unsure what Yu Xunge had done but showed no sign of anger.

• Yu Xunge explained to Tulan why Youwo had found her answer unbearable and why Qihua rarely cried.
• Yu Xunge admitted to Tulan and B80 that she had bluffed about Study’s identity.
• Yu Xunge told the ceiling she no longer owed anyone anything, then continued toward the northern Burial Ground.
• At the Demon Tavern, Yudun, Qihua, and the others watched Yu Xunge’s actions in Youwo’s room.
• Yudun concluded that Yu Xunge’s interference was rare because she usually respected others’ right to choose.
• Qihua said she was still considering what Yu Xunge might have done, while the Flower of Deceit showed no sign of anger.

Yu Xunge investigated King and searched player messages while considering whether events in the Burial Ground could affect the timing of the Fourth Bell Toll. She left the Castle still uncertain, troubled by the possibility that the players’ actions might hasten the Pendulum’s strike.

• Yu Xunge explained that Zhuri had appeared beside a fireplace upon entering the game and could not give the Beaver Duke’s exact burial time.
• Yu Xunge confirmed that [Cat's Ideal] was a relic left behind by King, but the six First Mates refused to answer further questions.
• Yu Xunge searched Battlefield Chat for messages from Burial Ground players while thinking about the upcoming Fourth Bell Toll.
• Yu Xunge concluded that players might learn about the Fourth Bell Toll from gods after entering a burial site, so she did not plan to warn them herself.
• Yu Xunge considered whether actions in the Burial Ground could influence the Pendulum’s timing, then walked into the mist as the streetlamps lit and went out behind her.

Yu Xunge reunited with Huang Jin in the Burial Ground and exchanged information with her about its rules and strange signs. As they discussed the Soul Fire and changing bell toll, Huang Jin asked Yu Xunge to make a snowman to help her survive.

• Yu Xunge found Huang Jin fighting Mountains Frost Deer and drove the deer away with an SS-rank sealing skill, then confirmed Huang Jin’s identity with private questions.
• Huang Jin described encountering an unfamiliar Moon Fox deity and leaving when she suspected he was from Mountains, while Yu Xunge withheld details about whose buried time she had entered.
• Yu Xunge revealed that a buried time could be left by calling its owner’s name at the original entrance when it reconnected with reality, while warning that the location might be an illusion.
• Yu Xunge told Huang Jin about the possible change in the Fourth Bell Toll, the Soul Fire’s place in the Burial Ground’s order, and her theory that emotional fluctuations affected the streetlamps.
• Huang Jin made snow fall and produced a snowball, then asked Yu Xunge to make her a snowman so she could stay alive in the Burial Ground.

Yu Xunge studied a newly revealed map of the Burial Ground, then set off toward the northern grasslands to search for Beaver Duke. Tulan vanished during the search, and Yu Xunge recorded the time and place, planning to return if she could not find her again.

• Yu Xunge made rollback snowmen for herself and Huang Jin, then discovered hers had one more rollback than Huang Jin's.
• A map appeared on the Pocket Watch Map, and Yu Xunge memorized its terrain and drew routes for Huang Jin before they parted ways.
• Yu Xunge headed north and searched for Beaver Duke when the Pocket Watch began heating up, sending her shadow and Tulan in different directions.
• Tulan suddenly vanished, leaving only a choice curse in Yu Xunge's mind, and Yu Xunge found no clues at the spot where she disappeared.
• B80 reported that the Pocket Watch stopped heating up at 11:10:56, and Yu Xunge marked the time and location before continuing north.