Chapter Summaries

Lin Qiye stopped Monkey King and Gilgamesh from destroying the hospital courtyard, while Merlin prevented Gilgamesh from reigniting their fight. On the road to Shangjing City, the Nightfall Squad watched Li Zhenzhen grieve the coming breakup of 006 Squad, and Lin Qiye said she would have to grow through it.

• Monkey King and Gilgamesh fought fiercely in the courtyard, with the Kasaya suppressing Monkey King's power as their divine auras clashed.
• Merlin warned Lin Qiye that the hospital was growing displeased, and Lin Qiye stopped the fight and repaired the courtyard.
• Monkey King agreed to leave for the sake of Lin Qiye's fruit wine, while Merlin used a Silence Spell to keep Gilgamesh from provoking him again.
• On the highway to Shangjing City, Li Zhenzhen cried in her sleep about the departure of Uncle Shao, Uncle Yuan, and the rest of 006 Squad.
• Jialan explained that 006 Squad was Li Zhenzhen's family, and Lin Qiye said she could not change their duty to guard War Pass but could change herself.

Lin Qiye learned from Shao Pingge that he and Chen Muye had been Agents of Great Xia’s gods, receiving their powers through sacred mediums while the gods were reincarnating. The revelation that Yanluo Hall had empowered Chen Muye led Lin Qiye to ask whether the Great Xia gods had now fully returned and where they were.

• Lin Qiye brought the sleeping Li Zhenzhen back to the courtyard, where Zhang Zhengting explained that she had been upset by news of personnel changes in the squad.
• Shao Pingge invited Lin Qiye to his office and offered to tell him about Chen Muye’s past.
• Shao Pingge revealed that he and Chen Muye had been Agents of Great Xia’s gods, whose powers came through sacred mediums rather than fragments of divine realms.
• Shao Pingge explained that King Yama had chosen him and Chen Muye as Black and White Wuchang, using Yanluo Hall as their medium.
• Lin Qiye recalled seeing Yanluo Hall behind Chen Muye and asked whether the Great Xia gods had returned after the Heavenly Court Origin was repaired, and where they were.

Shao Pingge told Lin Qiye that the Great Xia Gods had left Great Xia, allowing him to infer that the Heavenly Court Origin was restored and the gods had returned from reincarnation. Lin Qiye realized that the Night Watchmen were concealing the gods’ return to deter the foreign god kingdoms and buy Great Xia time to prepare for war.

• Lin Qiye asked Shao Pingge whether the Heavenly Court Origin had been restored and the Great Xia Gods had returned, but Shao Pingge said the matter was too classified for him to disclose.
• Shao Pingge hinted that the Great Xia Gods were no longer in Great Xia, then left Lin Qiye to join the gathering in the courtyard.
• Lin Qiye deduced that the gods had returned and stayed hidden so the foreign god kingdoms would not know the full strength of Great Xia.
• Lin Qiye understood that the Night Watchmen’s defensive line and Zuo Qing’s War Passes helped conceal Great Xia’s trump cards while the humans and gods prepared to face a possible God War.

Yuan Gang told Lin Qiye and Nightfall Squad that they had been chosen as invited instructors for the upcoming recruit training, giving Mask Squad a chance to rest. After they agreed, An Qingyu mentioned a strange boy he had seen with Li Zhenzhen and asked Lin Qiye whether he had secretly had a son.

• Zuo Qing asked Yuan Gang to make Nightfall Squad the invited instructors so Mask Squad could rest after years of relentless work.
• Yuan Gang told Lin Qiye and the others about the assignment, and they agreed to take it on.
• Yuan Gang revealed that Li Zhenzhen would attend the Training Camp as a recruit and told Nightfall Squad to train her fairly.
• An Qingyu told Lin Qiye that he had seen a strange boy while finding Li Zhenzhen, then asked whether Lin Qiye had secretly had a son.

An Qingyu discovered that a mysterious boy carried a golden power resembling Lin Qiye’s bloodline, along with the soul of a divine cat, leaving Lin Qiye wondering whether the boy was connected to a Great Xia God. The next morning, Lin Qiye’s squad arrived at Night Watchmen Headquarters for their Star Sea Medal investiture, while the Mask Squad watched unnoticed from the audience.

• An Qingyu told Lin Qiye that a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old boy carried his familiar golden power, prompting jokes about Lin Qiye having a son.
• An Qingyu added that the boy also contained the soul of a strange cat with a trace of divinity, and Lin Qiye wondered whether he was a god’s agent.
• After the dinner, Shao Pingge reminded Lin Qiye that his investiture ceremony would take place at Headquarters the next morning.
• Lin Qiye and his teammates received their custom deep-crimson cloaks and entered Night Watchmen Headquarters together.
• Shao Pingge began the Star Sea Medal investiture ceremony in place of Commander Zuo Qing, while the disguised Mask Squad watched from the audience.

Mask Squad attended Nightfall Squad’s ceremony, where Lin Qiye and his teammates received two Sea of Stars medals, then left Shangjing City for a vacation in Hainan. As their plane was about to take off, King Mask received a call from Commander Zuo.

• Mask Squad came to support Nightfall Squad at the awards ceremony and watched Lin Qiye and his teammates receive two Sea of Stars medals.
• Lin Qiye and the other Nightfall Squad members recognized Mask Squad, and King Mask silently encouraged Lin Qiye to keep it up.
• After the ceremony, Lin Qiye told his teammates that Mask Squad had left before his speech ended.
• Mask Squad boarded an economy-class flight to Hainan for their vacation.
• King Mask received a call from Commander Zuo just before the plane was due to take off.

On the eve of Training Camp, Lu Baoyou lost his temper when a child damaged his Night Watchmen application and destroyed part of a train carriage before continuing toward Shangjing City. Meanwhile, Li Zhenzhen tearfully left 006 Squad for Training Camp, determined to look after herself and hoping her teammates would stay well.

• On a train bound for Shangjing City, Lu Baoyou woke to find a boy had taken and crumpled his encrypted document pouch.
• When the woman defended the boy and threw the pouch at him, Lu Baoyou unleashed his power, tearing apart the front of the carriage and disappearing into the wilderness.
• Lu Baoyou recovered his application form, which named him as an applicant for Night Watchmen Recruit Training.
• At 006 Squad headquarters, the squad members said goodbye to Li Zhenzhen as she prepared to leave for Training Camp.
• Li Zhenzhen walked away from the siheyuan in tears, then wiped them away and vowed to take care of herself.

Instructor Hong told Nightfall Squad that they would be responsible for training and assessing 612 recruits, whose preparation could determine whether they survived an approaching war. After accepting the responsibility, the squad discussed how to make the recruits grow quickly, and An Qingyu proposed using fear to create pressure.

• Instructor Hong visited Nightfall Squad to discuss the recruits’ assessment and explained that 612 recruits would take part, far more than the squad had expected.
• Instructor Hong told Lin Qiye and the others that they would lead the recruits’ training, with the freedom to choose their methods because the recruits might soon face war.
• Lin Qiye accepted the responsibility and asked for one night to plan before the formal assessment began the following afternoon.
• After Instructor Hong left, Nightfall Squad discussed how to accelerate the recruits’ growth, and An Qingyu suggested creating pressure through fear.

Night Watchmen recruits arrived at Training Camp as Lu Baoyou was denied entry over his recent train explosion. Yuan Gang approved Lin Qiye and the others’ unusual plan for the recruits’ first assessment, while Fang Mo reunited with Li Zhenzhen and Baili Pangpang and Cao Yuan traveled to the camp by plane.

• Li Zhenzhen arrived at Training Camp and was directed to her dormitory.
• An instructor revoked Lu Baoyou’s training qualification because he had caused a train to explode, and Lu Baoyou left rather than return home.
• Yuan Gang learned that 611 recruits had arrived and agreed to Lin Qiye and the others’ unusual assessment plan.
• Li Zhenzhen met Fang Mo on the drill field but reacted coldly because he had left her to face a Mystery alone.
• Yuan Gang began addressing the recruits as Baili Pangpang and Cao Yuan discussed the predictable training-camp speech aboard a plane.

Yuan Gang summoned the Nightfall Squad to demonstrate Great Xia’s power to the defiant recruits, and Lin Qiye and his companions made a dramatic entrance atop the evolved Hong Yan. After Yuan Gang suppressed everyone’s realms, he challenged the 611 recruits to break a Nightfall member’s mask before nine that night, leaving the contest about to begin.

• Yuan Gang challenged the dissatisfied recruits to prove their strength and called for Nightfall.
• Lin Qiye and six companions arrived on Hong Yan, whose dragon roar and presence stunned the recruits.
• Lin Qiye introduced the group as the Nightfall Squad, Great Xia’s Fifth Special Squad.
• Yuan Gang offered the recruits direct graduation if anyone broke a Nightfall member’s mask before nine, but required strict training if they failed.
• Yuan Gang activated the Town Ruin Stele, suppressing everyone in the Training Camp to the Lamp realm, and Lin Qiye began the challenge.

After the recruits attacked the platform, Nightfall Squad disappeared and the recruits split up to hunt them. Fang Mo suspected the exercise had a hidden purpose, while Lin Qiye ordered his squad to follow their plan; two recruits then discovered what looked like a demon beside a dead instructor.

• Nearly half the recruits charged Nightfall Squad, but the squad vanished when the platform was destroyed, and the recruits split into groups to search for them.
• Fang Mo recognized Lin Qiye’s aura and questioned why Nightfall Squad was letting the recruits hunt them instead of establishing authority by attacking first.
• From a dormitory rooftop, Lin Qiye saw the recruits divide and told Nightfall Squad to proceed according to plan.
• In the cafeteria, Qian Duoduo followed Liu Yang as they searched for Nightfall Squad, then spotted a cloaked figure beside what appeared to be a dead instructor.
• The figure turned toward Liu Yang and Qian Duoduo, who screamed, but it stopped before attacking and vanished.

After Instructor Li's corpse was found, Shen Qingzhu persuaded the recruits that impostors from the Ancient God Church might have infiltrated the camp as the Nightfall Squad. The recruits discovered a monstrous spider nest inside the dormitory, where a Crimson Cloak figure and a Man-faced Spider waited, and the figure realized they had been discovered.

• Qian Duoduo reported that someone wearing a Crimson Cloak and holding a Sha Wujing mask had killed Instructor Li, and Liu Yang confirmed his account.
• A man named Shen Qingzhu argued that the apparent Nightfall Squad might be impostors and suggested they could belong to the Ancient God Church.
• A recruit warned the gathered trainees to avoid the suspected Nightfall Squad while they investigated the situation.
• The recruits followed a strange noise upstairs and found that the dormitory's interior had become a vast spider nest filled with cocooned instructor corpses.
• A Man-faced Spider and a Crimson Cloak figure wearing a Monkey King Mask appeared, and the figure whispered that they had been discovered.

Lu Baoyou spotted the seemingly unguarded Training Camp and flew toward it with power linked to a Fallen Angel. Inside, Lin Qiye recognized the aura of Lucifer’s agent while the recruits attacked him as part of Nightfall Squad’s staged test, unaware that an outsider was approaching.

• Lu Baoyou climbed a mountain overlooking the Training Camp, found its watchtowers and defenses empty, and leaped toward the camp using six dark crimson wings.
• Lin Qiye sensed an aura connected to a Fallen Angel and suspected Lucifer had an agent inside the Training Camp.
• The frightened recruits mistook Lin Qiye for a fake Nightfall and, spurred on by their fear, charged him.
• Lin Qiye drew Zhan Bai and spread grass beneath his feet as he welcomed the recruits’ attack.
• Instructors in the underground surveillance room watched Nightfall Squad’s staged test and discussed the risks of withdrawing the camp’s defenses.

Lin Qiye staged a convincing battle against the recruits, using A Zhu’s web to make them appear defeated before investigating the recruit roster. He learned that Lu Baoyou, a God's Agent of Lucifer, had been disqualified because his father died at Chenglong Pass.

• Lin Qiye appeared among the recruits and knocked out most of them with a strike from Zhanbai, while A Zhu bound them in Spider Silk.
• Lin Qiye defeated the remaining recruits without drawing his blade, using his combat skill, Absolute Darkness Erosion, and Seraphim Divine Might.
• Several recruits fled after witnessing Lin Qiye's staged slaughter, and Lin Qiye let them escape as part of the plan.
• Lin Qiye went to the underground surveillance center and asked Yuan Gang for the recruit roster.
• Yuan Gang told Lin Qiye that Lu Baoyou was Lucifer's God's Agent but had been disqualified because his father died at Chenglong Pass and Lu Baoyou was an only child.

Lin Qiye learned that Lu Baoyou, the son of fallen Night Watchman Lu Qiu, had become Lucifer’s Agent and was being considered for recruit training. Though he saw Lu Baoyou as a potential enemy, Lin Qiye could not bring himself to harm a martyr’s son; meanwhile, three recruits quietly discussed a plan during the assessment.

• Yuan Gang explained that Lu Baoyou discovered his father’s Night Watchman documents, left home, and later became Lucifer’s Agent.
• Yuan Gang said the Night Watchmen planned to send Lu Baoyou home after his father’s death and reconsider recruiting him in two years.
• Lin Qiye recognized that he and Lu Baoyou represented rival gods but decided he could not kill Lu Qiu’s son.
• New recruits ran through the Training Camp as screams echoed around them and wondered why the Nightfall Squad was involved.
• A youthful recruit asked whether the Nightfall Squad’s involvement would affect the trio’s plan.

Jialan waited at the shooting range for recruits to scare, but a group surprised her while she struggled to assemble her head-belt costume. She knocked the recruits unconscious and exposed Qianmo, an Ancient God Church infiltrator, as he attacked her.

• Three recruits from the Ancient God Church plotted to exploit the Town Ruin Stele and destroy the Training Camp, while Qianmo remained hidden among the recruits.
• Jialan waited at the shooting range wearing the Red Boy Mask and tried to prepare her head-belt props as a group of recruits approached.
• The recruits found Jialan struggling to fit a training mat beneath her Hanfu and froze when they saw her beside the mask.
• Ashamed and furious, Jialan charged the recruits and knocked them unconscious with her punches.
• Qianmo attacked Jialan from behind with frigid energy, but his strike shattered harmlessly against her; Jialan grabbed him and punched him in the head.

Jialan knocked Qianmo unconscious while Lin Qiye and his companions continued their plan to gather the recruits in the main auditorium. Ding Chongfeng assembled the survivors and declared the auditorium a safe house, leaving them to prepare for the crisis outside.

• Jialan resisted Qianmo's attacks and knocked him unconscious with a third punch.
• Ding Chongfeng broadcast instructions telling the recruits to hide, avoid masked people, and head to the main auditorium.
• Lin Qiye met up with Baili Pangpang, Cao Yuan, and An Qingyu, then said the next part of the plan depended on Cool Bro and Jiang Er.
• Ding Chongfeng and Su Yuan checked the arrivals, and the auditorium's barriers were lowered to let in more than ninety recruits, followed by Fang Mo and Li Zhenzhen.
• Ding Chongfeng explained that they had gathered to assess the situation and keep recruits from being alone, then called the defended auditorium a safe house.

Ding Chongfeng and the recruits described terrifying encounters at the training base, and Shen Qingzhu concluded that Nightfall Squad had been replaced by the Ancient God Church. The recruits mistakenly believed Qianmo was behind the infiltrations, while Shen Qingzhu began explaining the Church’s purpose.

• Ding Chongfeng described finding a Crimson Cloak-wearing man with a Black Coffin dissecting the instructors’ corpses, and he identified the man as an Ancient God Church member.
• Li Zhenzhen recognized the man as a Nightfall Squad member, but a ghostly girl in white flew into her body before she could speak up.
• Other recruits recounted encounters with a black-flamed demon and a man keeping giant spiders, while Fang Mo wondered whether enemies had replaced some of Nightfall Squad and killed Lin Qiye.
• Ding Chongfeng invited Shen Qingzhu to analyze the reports, and Shen Qingzhu declared that Nightfall Squad had been replaced by the Ancient God Church.
• Three Ancient God Church recruits mistook the reports for Qianmo’s infiltration plan and praised his supposed tactics.
• Shen Qingzhu said the Church served the foreign evil gods and asked who Great Xia’s greatest enemy was, prompting a recruit to answer, “The Outer Gods!”

Shen Qingzhu explained how the Ancient God Church planned to exploit the Night Watchmen’s manpower shortage by infiltrating the Training Camp and killing its instructors. The recruits’ suspicions seemed confirmed when Jiang Er, controlling Li Zhenzhen, revealed she had come from the Ancient God Church.

• Shen Qingzhu explained that the Ancient God Church intended to weaken Great Xia by attacking the Night Watchmen’s recruits and disrupting their defenses at the War Passes.
• Shen Qingzhu reasoned that the church members had disguised themselves as the Nightfall Squad to infiltrate the Training Camp and strike after the Town Ruin Stele suppressed the instructors’ power.
• Ding Chongfeng suggested that the church might have infiltrated the recruits instead, prompting Shen Qingzhu to fall silent and the three disguised church members to worry they had been exposed.
• The three church members speculated that Shen Qingzhu might be one of Lord Qianmo’s incarnations and be diverting suspicion from the recruits.
• Li Zhenzhen entered the auditorium, and Fang Mo realized she was an impostor and drew her blade.
• Under Jiang Er’s control, Li Zhenzhen announced that she had come from the Ancient God Church, stunning the recruits and the three disguised church members.

Li Zhenzhen claimed the Ancient God Church would shut down the Town Ruin Stele and destroy the recruits, prompting Ding Chongfeng to rally everyone for a fight. Shen Qingzhu and Lin Qiye wondered whether real Ancient God Church infiltrators were among the recruits, while An Qingyu confirmed the plan’s cover story was plausible.

• Li Zhenzhen revealed that she intended to shut down the Town Ruin Stele and regain her full strength before leaving the recruits to await their deaths.
• Ding Chongfeng urged the recruits to fight for themselves and Great Xia, and they charged toward the main field.
• Shen Qingzhu contacted Lin Qiye and raised his suspicion that the Ancient God Church had infiltrated the recruits.
• Lin Qiye discussed the possibility with Baili Pangpang, Cao Yuan, and An Qingyu, who explained that the fabricated plan could plausibly match the Church’s real motives.