Chapter Summaries

Liu Di entered T5 City, where an old calligrapher assigned newcomers characters that reflected their nature. The calligrapher could not choose Liu Di’s character, and hinted that Liu Di would discover who the city’s overwhelming figure called “God” was within three days.

• Liu Di and Redback crossed a light-speed waterfall and arrived before the ancient city of T5.
• Liu Di found the city walls covered in characters and met the old calligrapher who said each one represented a newcomer.
• The calligrapher examined Liu Di but struggled to select a character that fit him.
• The old man described the kind of tyrant worthy of the blank jade wall and pointed out the giant character “God” on the opposite wall.
• The old man told Liu Di to enter the city and experience it to learn who “God” was, then admitted he could not read Liu Di well enough to choose his character.

Liu Di entered T5 City and met Gu Xiao, a spoiled young master who mistook him for a potential ally against Di Ba. Gu Xiao took Liu Di to Ten Mile Brothel Street, where the women eagerly welcomed him.

• Liu Di met Gu Xiao, who introduced himself as the City Lord’s relative and claimed the soldiers following him were his family’s imperial guards.
• Gu Xiao handed Liu Di a secret order to kill Di Ba and explained that T5 residents planned to ambush the feared destroyer if he entered the city.
• Liu Di gave Gu Xiao his real name, and Gu Xiao dismissed the possibility that he was Di Ba because he seemed too caring toward animals.
• Gu Xiao led Liu Di through T5 City, where women fled at the sight of him and the remaining men greeted him.
• Gu Xiao brought Liu Di to Ten Mile Brothel Street, where nearly five hundred women emerged from the pavilions and affectionately welcomed him.

Liu Di explored T5 District’s ancient-style streets after avoiding Gu Xiao’s invitation to visit a brothel. He was left bewildered by how kind and generous everyone he met seemed, unlike the hostile people he expected in the Brain Realm.

• Gu Xiao invited Liu Di to visit a brothel, but Liu Di escaped to a nearby market while Gu Xiao entered Lichun Tower.
• Liu Di walked through the ancient market and tied a little girl’s hair, receiving a red date in thanks.
• Liu Di shielded the girl from a runaway horse, but its bearded handler stopped in time and gave Liu Di an oil-paper umbrella.
• A bun stall owner gave Liu Di a free meat bun, leaving him puzzled by the residents’ generosity.

Liu Di attended a storytelling in T5 and learned how its beloved city lord entered the Brain Realm to find her comatose younger brother. The storyteller recounted her awakening psychic power and setting out to cross all nine continents in search of him.

• Liu Di followed T5 residents to hear Mr. Hu tell a story and received a stool and roasted peanuts from the welcoming crowd.
• Mr. Hu began the crowd’s favorite tale, the Ode to the Luo River Goddess, about T5’s city lord.
• Mr. Hu said the city lord entered the Brain Realm by taking medicine to put herself into a coma so she could find her younger brother, who was also comatose.
• Mr. Hu recounted how the city lord arrived in the dangerous T-one District and discovered her immense psychic power when she killed villains threatening a girl.
• The city lord vowed to walk across all nine continents to find her younger brother, and the people of T-one made way for her.

Liu Di heard the tale of Goddess Luo, who crossed the five regions to find her brother and made T5 a peaceful refuge, then joined a gathering where residents planned to kill Di Ba. He left the conspirators arguing over how best to describe Di Ba's ugliness, without revealing that he was Di Ba.

• A storyteller recounted how Goddess Luo traveled through T1 to T5, ended a war, found her younger brother Gu Xiao, and brought vulnerable people to live in T5.
• Rain fell as Liu Di wondered what Goddess Luo looked like and suspected she might be crying for reality.
• Liu Di remembered the plan to kill Di Ba and entered Dragon Phoenix Teahouse, where hundreds of T5 representatives had gathered.
• Uncle Three and the representatives proposed ways to capture and kill Di Ba, while Furball Chicken and Redback startled the crowd.
• Liu Di praised the plan but objected to calling Di Ba hideously ugly, prompting the crowd to suggest even harsher descriptions before Liu Di excused himself.

Liu Di turned back through T5 and persuaded Gu Xiao to take him to see his sister. Gu Xiao brought him to a tower filled with her admirers and revealed that although she was nearby, nobody could meet her.

• Liu Di abandoned his plans to explore T5 and returned to Ten Mile Brothel Street.
• After leaving Lichun Tower, Gu Xiao refused Liu Di’s request to see his sister, then agreed to take him there when Liu Di threatened to kidnap him.
• Liu Di rode with Gu Xiao in his luxurious carriage and learned that Gu Xiao had only pretended to be exhausted.
• Gu Xiao’s carriage passed a tower where over a hundred handsome young men watched for his sister and greeted him as he returned.
• Gu Xiao told Liu Di that his sister was just ahead, but everyone could see her and no one could meet her.

Liu Di arrived at the flower sea to meet Goddess Luo, whose interest in chess had drawn many hopeful challengers. He learned that anyone who entered the grove was turned away, while even a devoted chess expert had never understood her game.

• Liu Di admired the blooming fruit trees as Gu Xiao explained that Goddess Luo would speak at length with anyone who defeated her at chess.
• Liu Di saw Goddess Luo beneath a peach tree and briefly became entranced by her beauty.
• Pu He'an entered the peach blossom grove to challenge Goddess Luo, but the grove sent him back outside before he could approach her.
• A cross-legged chess enthusiast told Pu He'an that he had already lost and warned him that repeated attempts could cost him the right to watch Goddess Luo.
• The chess enthusiast explained that he had memorized thirteen chess manuals and prepared polished jade pieces, yet had never earned a game with Goddess Luo or understood her chess game.

Liu Di solved Goddess Luo’s orchard Go challenge without defeating her, earning the chance to meet her face to face. When she turned around, he recognized her as the girl from his memories.

• Liu Di realized the Peach Blossom Grove formed a Go board and identified the five open intersections.
• Liu Di entered the grove, picked a pear blossom, and reached Goddess Luo without being sent back.
• Liu Di explained that he had taken back a move to break the stalemate rather than claim victory, and Goddess Luo understood his intentions.
• The cross-legged young master grasped Liu Di’s insight, conceded defeat, and left after snapping his chessboard.
• Goddess Luo turned around, revealing her face to the onlookers, and Liu Di recognized her as the girl from his memories.

Liu Di reunited with Gu Fan, his childhood friend, beneath a peach tree and learned that she already knew he was Di Ba and considered him a hero. Gu Fan invited him to stand beside her, while Liu Di secretly destroyed the telescopes watching them from the black tower.

• Liu Di remembered how Gu Fan had befriended him as a child, and the two introduced themselves beneath the peach tree.
• Gu Xiao and the Gu family retainers were stunned when Gu Fan smiled at Liu Di.
• Gu Fan told Liu Di that she recognized him as Di Ba and explained why she viewed him as a hero.
• Gu Fan revealed that she used an unsolvable chessboard to keep admirers at a distance, then invited Liu Di to stand beside her.
• Liu Di sensed the retainers spying through telescopes and used liquid metal to shatter their lenses.

Liu Di met Gu Fan in T5, where she gave him gifts for the birthdays he had never celebrated and asked him to find the stars and shooting stars she could no longer remember. The chapter left Liu Di determined to find them for her.

• Liu Di met Gu Fan in T5’s sea of flowers, and she explained that T6’s evil occupants were spying on the continent.
• Gu Fan held Liu Di’s hand to stop him from attacking T6, then asked his age and gave him handmade gifts for his past birthdays.
• Gu Fan explained that the largest gift beneath the peach tree was meant for her first friend, a boy who suffered headaches, and that she hoped never to meet him in the Brain Realm.
• Liu Di promised to make up Gu Fan’s birthdays, and she told him she could no longer remember the stars or shooting stars.
• Liu Di promised Gu Fan that he would go find the stars she had forgotten.

Liu Di accepted a Go challenge from more than two hundred Gu family retainers while his attention remained on Gu Fan in Peach Blossom Garden. He defeated every opponent with astonishing speed, leaving the retainers stunned by his skill.

• Liu Di said goodbye to Gu Fan and left Peach Blossom Garden carrying gifts, while Magic Child noticed his neural reflex speed had dropped.
• More than two hundred Gu family retainers challenged Liu Di to Go, hoping to prove he had not bewitched Goddess Luo.
• Liu Di agreed to play them all at once, and Yi Bin joined him to call out his moves.
• Liu Di rapidly dictated moves across the two hundred boards while watching Gu Fan from afar, defeating the first retainer in thirty-three moves.
• Liu Di declared most of the retainers had no path to victory and predicted the remaining players would lose within five moves, causing them all to collapse.

After Liu Di spent the night playing chess and waited for dawn, he met Gu Fan, who revealed that she had guarded T5’s border against T6 for fifty years. Gu Fan then made identical clones of herself and Liu Di so they could sneak away together.

• After the chess match, Liu Di stayed awake through the night before heading to the Peach Blossom Grove at dawn.
• Gu Xiao confronted Liu Di and warned him not to visit his sister, but Liu Di ignored him.
• Liu Di asked Gu Fan why she stood guard all night, and she explained that she had protected T5 from T6 for fifty years to preserve the region’s balance.
• Liu Di offered to keep watch with Gu Fan, but she instead invited him to sneak away and have fun.
• Gu Fan created a clone of herself and another of Liu Di, leaving the copies to guard the hill while they prepared to disguise themselves and go into the city.

Gu Fan disguised herself and took Liu Di on a secret day of wandering through T5, where they pulled weeds in a wheat field and she used her power to ripen the crop. They left the grateful Auntie Zhang behind and set off for their next stop.

• Gu Fan transformed herself and Liu Di into ordinary-looking travelers, then left their avatars on the hill with Redback and the Furball Chicken.
• Gu Fan led Liu Di past the unseen Gu Xiao and used her ability to take them to a wheat field at the western end of T5.
• An old woman named Auntie Zhang told Liu Di she was stabbing a straw doll to curse Di Ba, while Gu Fan went to work pulling weeds.
• Liu Di accidentally pulled up wheat seedlings as he followed Gu Fan, who cleared weeds from one row and then used her life force to ripen the entire field.
• Auntie Zhang thanked the City Lord, and Gu Fan took Liu Di by the hands and ran off to their next destination.

Liu Di and Gu Fan shared Peach Blossom Cake and made sweet potato pastries for the elderly residents of T5 District, growing closer through their kindness and cooking. The old men tasted Liu Di’s creation and were moved to tears by its warmth.

• Gu Fan brought Liu Di to a teahouse where elderly residents welcomed her and praised her Peach Blossom Cake.
• Gu Fan fed Liu Di the first pastry and explained that many of the old men’s real-world consciousnesses could soon disperse.
• An old man gave Gu Fan a sack of sweet potatoes, and Liu Di offered to turn them into pastries.
• Liu Di steamed and mashed the sweet potatoes with sugar, honey, and oil, then served the set pieces to Gu Fan.
• Gu Fan praised Liu Di’s layered sweet potato pastries, and an old man cried after tasting one.

Liu Di parted from Gu Fan, who returned to her role as the White-Clad Luoshen, and went to confront Gu Xiao. Gu Xiao challenged him to prove he was strong enough to protect his sister, and Liu Di accepted a duel against him and his two hundred cavalrymen.

• Liu Di and Gu Fan spoke about love and her brother Gu Xiao, and Liu Di resolved to make Gu Xiao believe in love.
• Gu Fan returned to her post, transforming from an ordinary girl into the White-Clad Luoshen before scattering into peach blossom petals.
• Liu Di headed toward Ten Mile Spring Brothel Street and found Gu Xiao and two hundred Gu Family Iron Cavalry blocking the cleared street.
• Gu Xiao demanded that Liu Di stay away from Gu Fan and said her husband must be undefeated in battle and strong enough to defeat him.
• Gu Xiao claimed his cavalrymen were all his brothers and insisted that a duel against him meant facing all two hundred and one of them.
• Liu Di accepted the challenge, declaring that he was not afraid, especially when fighting for Gu Fan.

Liu Di intimidated Gu Xiao with a massive saber, then took him to a perilous mountaintop to discuss love. He urged Gu Xiao to marry Ning Xiang, leaving Gu Xiao furious and convinced Liu Di had misunderstood everything.

• Liu Di summoned a huge saber and stopped it just above Gu Xiao, frightening the Gu Manor cavalry into fleeing.
• Liu Di dispersed the saber, destroyed a nearby cannon carriage, and carried Gu Xiao into the sky.
• Liu Di brought Gu Xiao to a tiny rock pillar above a deep abyss and asked what he was like in real life.
• Liu Di guessed that Gu Xiao cared for Ning Xiang and offered to play matchmaker so they could marry.
• Gu Xiao protested Liu Di's interpretation and shouted that he would rather die.

Liu Di brought Gu Xiao to Yan Hua Lou to meet its top courtesan, Ning Xiang, who was devoted to Gu Xiao. As Ning Xiang cared for Gu Xiao in her room, she noticed her hairpin was missing, and Gu Xiao blamed Liu Di for breaking it.

• Gu Xiao nearly fell off a cliff, but Liu Di caught him and carried him back to T5 City.
• Liu Di took Gu Xiao to Yan Hua Lou and mistakenly presented another woman as Ning Xiang before the madam explained that Ning Xiang was the top courtesan who would serve only Gu Xiao.
• Ning Xiang appeared, and Liu Di brought Gu Xiao upstairs to her room.
• Ning Xiang wiped the dirt from Gu Xiao and explained that he avoided water because he had injured his brain in a drowning accident.
• Ning Xiang noticed her hairpin was missing, and Gu Xiao accused Liu Di of breaking it.

Liu Di realized Ning Xiang might genuinely care for Gu Xiao and proposed a test to prove it, while Gu Xiao agreed to the wager. Left alone with Ning Xiang, Gu Xiao asked whether she would grieve if he died, and her answer made him reconsider what a long life meant.

• Liu Di restored Gu Xiao's jade hairpin, and Ning Xiang explained that it was a replica of the one she had given Gu Xiao.
• Liu Di saw how carefully Ning Xiang treated Gu Xiao and urged him to love her, but Gu Xiao declared his affection for thirty-two other courtesans too.
• Gu Xiao explained that he sought validation from the courtesans, while Liu Di accused him of overlooking Ning Xiang's sincere feelings.
• Liu Di proposed testing Ning Xiang's sincerity and promised to stop interfering if she proved insincere; Gu Xiao agreed to the wager.
• After Liu Di left through the window, Ning Xiang returned with wine, and Gu Xiao asked whether she would grieve if he died.
• Ning Xiang said she could not accompany Gu Xiao forever, prompting him to reflect that a long life would be meaningless without her.

Gu Xiao staged a fake assassination to prove that the women of Ten Mile Brothel Street cared about him more than Ning Xiang did, but the performance turned deadly when T6 Ghost Cavalry arrived. The lead knight revealed that Gu Xiao’s sister had abandoned her post and demanded that Gu Xiao come with him.

• A countryman attacked Gu Xiao with a broadsword and accused him of abusing his family, while Gu Xiao realized Liu Di had arranged the scene.
• The attacker lit explosives strapped to his chest, but Old Madam Zhao doused the fuse with foot-washing water and rallied the women of the brothel street to rescue Gu Xiao.
• The women beat the attacker, but Ning Xiang did not appear, so Gu Xiao declared that Liu Di had lost their bet and that the brothel women loved him more than Ning Xiang did.
• Dozens of Black Armored Knights confronted Gu Xiao, and he mistook them for actors in Liu Di’s performance.
• The lead Black Knight killed the countryman and said he belonged to the T6 Ghost Cavalry, had entered T5 because Gu Xiao’s sister abandoned her post, and would take Gu Xiao with him.

Gu Xiao’s attempt to resist the T6 Black Knights ended in the destruction of the Gu Family Iron Cavalry and Ning Xiang’s death as she shielded him from a saber. As the Black Knight prepared to kill him, Gu Xiao confessed his love for Ning Xiang, and Liu Di’s voice answered him.

• Old Madam Zhao confronted the Black Knights and was killed, while the courtesans fled and the leader ordered Gu Xiao taken as leverage against his sister.
• Gu Xiao fired a signal and summoned the Gu Family Iron Cavalry, but hundreds of Black Armored Knights and their ferocious Beasts overwhelmed them.
• Gu Xiao refused to help the Black Knights threaten his sister and charged at their leader, who swung his saber at him.
• Ning Xiang rushed in front of Gu Xiao and took the saber blow, then died in his arms after telling him to run.
• Gu Xiao mourned Ning Xiang and shouted that he loved her as the Black Knight raised his saber to kill him.
• Liu Di’s voice spoke in Gu Xiao’s mind, telling him that his love for Ning Xiang was enough.