Chapter Summaries

King Mask reunited with Wu Xiangnan in Japan and told him how Mask Squad had been lost in the Fishing Village. Wu Xiangnan explained why survivors kept their squads’ memories alive and revealed that he had found a way to kill Susanoo.

• Amamiya Haruki led King Mask to a remote house, where Wu Xiangnan recognized him after seeing his cracked King mask.
• King Mask recounted Mask Squad’s tragedy in the Fishing Village, and Wu Xiangnan comforted him.
• Wu Xiangnan described how Special Squads carried on through survivors who remembered their fallen comrades.
• King Mask learned that Wu Xiangnan had stayed in Japan to avenge Blue Rain Squad by killing Susanoo.
• Wu Xiangnan told King Mask he had already found a way to kill Susanoo.

Wu Xiangnan agreed to help King Mask enter Takama-ga-hara and kill Susanoo in exchange for an item King Mask needed to pursue godhood. Meanwhile, Merlin brought Lin Qiye and Jialan to Japan’s coast, where the Gate of Reception appeared through the mist and revealed the entrance to Takama-ga-hara.

• Wu Xiangnan explained that Takama-ga-hara could only receive native gods, and recalled how he and Blue Rain had entered by following Yamata no Orochi through a gate.
• King Mask offered to help Wu Xiangnan kill Susanoo in exchange for an item from Takama-ga-hara, and Wu Xiangnan accepted.
• Merlin woke Lin Qiye and Jialan and transported them onto Bake-kujira’s back as it reached the ocean’s surface.
• Lin Qiye recognized the coastline as Japan, and Merlin clarified that the calamity’s source was beyond the mist.
• Merlin revealed the enormous Gate of Reception, the entrance to Takama-ga-hara.

Lin Qiye, Jialan, and Merlin passed through the Gate of Reception and arrived in Takama-ga-hara, a land beneath a vast Blood Moon and covered by a bloody ocean. Merlin explained that the moon’s corruption came from the Cthulhu Gods and questioned whether they were truly a mythology, before Bake-kujira began to sink and the group fled to shore.

• Merlin confirmed that the Gate of Reception led to Takama-ga-hara, and he pulled Lin Qiye and Jialan back from its powerful attraction as Bake-kujira carried them through.
• Lin Qiye saw the bloody ocean and enormous Blood Moon of Takama-ga-hara and asked Merlin why the gods’ land looked like hell.
• Merlin explained that the Red Moon formed when power from the Cthulhu Gods leaked through a broken part of their seal on the moon.
• Merlin questioned whether the Cthulhu Gods were a true pantheon, since their mythology had no traceable origins or history, but admitted he did not know what they were.
• Bake-kujira trembled and began sinking beneath the bloodied waves, so Merlin transported Lin Qiye and Jialan to a shore strewn with wreckage.
• Lin Qiye watched as scarlet radiance spread from Bake-kujira’s body across the sea.

Merlin explained that the whale fall released a huge burst of Red Moon pollution across Takama-ga-hara, while Wu Xiangnan told King Mask how the Red Moon drove Yamata no Orochi and the expedition into violence. Merlin began explaining that Cthulhu Gods had projected the contamination source into Takama-ga-hara more than fifty years earlier, leaving Lin Qiye with more questions about the gods’ fate.

• Merlin cast three Mind Magic spells to shield Lin Qiye from the intense pollution released when Bake-kujira sank, warning that the protection would last no more than a day.
• Wu Xiangnan told King Mask that the Red Moon in Takama-ga-hara made the expedition impulsive and caused Yamata no Orochi to become contaminated and turn back to fight them.
• Wu Xiangnan recounted that Corpse Beasts drove the survivors deeper into Takama-ga-hara, where they encountered Susanoo seated atop a mountain of god corpses.
• Merlin brought Lin Qiye and Jialan aboard a Silver Carriage and explained that Cthulhu Gods had broken through part of the seal more than fifty years earlier, projecting contamination into Takama-ga-hara to form the Red Moon.

Merlin explained how a God of Time from Great Xia delayed the catastrophe by locking the time of the fishing village, but fate led Takama-ga-hara to ruin through a traitor and an internal god war. As Lin Qiye and Merlin traveled through the fallen realm, corpse beasts charged at their carriage.

• Lin Qiye learned that the gods of Takama-ga-hara had planned to bring Bake-kujira's contaminated corpse through the Gate of Reception and drive the pantheon mad.
• Merlin explained that a God of Time from Great Xia locked the fishing village in time, delaying the catastrophe for more than fifty years by preventing Bake-kujira's return.
• Merlin told Lin Qiye that fate had corrected itself: a traitor dismantled Takama-ga-hara's defenses, and the Red Moon's influence fueled a god war that devastated the realm.
• Several monsters charged the carriage, and Merlin identified them as corpse beasts formed from fallen gods' divine power and lingering violence.

Merlin effortlessly destroyed the corpse beasts pursuing Lin Qiye and Jialan, then took them along Takama-ga-hara’s outskirts to prepare Lin Qiye’s gift. Meanwhile, Wu Xiangnan recounted his encounter with Susanoo, and Zuo Qing compared the secret Takama-ga-hara archive with a new time-loop investigation before learning that Lin Qiye and Jialan were still missing.

• Merlin obliterated the corpse beasts chasing Lin Qiye and Jialan, then explained that he was taking a route around Takama-ga-hara to prepare a gift for Lin Qiye.
• Wu Xiangnan told King Mask how Susanoo had defeated his squad with Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi and Yasakani no Magatama, leaving Wu Xiangnan to escape Takama-ga-hara alone after being revived.
• Wu Xiangnan confirmed that the Night Watchmen had kept his report about Takama-ga-hara and the Red Moon classified for years.
• Zuo Qing retrieved the Takama-ga-hara Red Moon archive and compared it with the newly completed Ningchang County Fishing Village Time Loop investigation archive.
• Zuo Qing received a call reporting that Lin Qiye and Jialan had still not been found.

After the deep-sea search failed to find Lin Qiye and Jialan, An Qingyu reassured his companions that they had likely survived and led them toward Headquarters to seek help. Meanwhile, Zuo Qing asked Lu Wuwei to locate King Mask and Lin Qiye, and Lu Wuwei sensed that they were in the same direction.

• The deep-sea search and rescue team returned without finding Lin Qiye or Jialan, and An Qingyu arrived at the shore.
• An Qingyu reasoned that Lin Qiye and Jialan had probably survived because neither had been found, and he decided to return to Headquarters for help.
• Baili Pangpang, Cao Yuan, Shen Qingzhu, Jiang Er, and An Qingyu left by jeep for a military base to catch a plane to Shangjing.
• Zuo Qing asked Lu Wuwei to locate King Mask, whose existence could be sensed again after the Fishing Village's closed loop was broken.
• Lu Wuwei also searched for Lin Qiye and found that he and King Mask were in the same direction.

Lu Wuwei left Night Watchmen Headquarters to search for King Mask and Lin Qiye, while the Nightfall Squad mistook another delivery rider for him. In Takama-ga-hara, Merlin sent Lin Qiye and Jialan to a palace to learn what happened there, then secretly removed his Mind Magic spells and traced something into the ground.

• Lu Wuwei took Zuo Qing’s delivery receipts and left to find King Mask and Lin Qiye, after collecting his delivery fee.
• Baili Pangpang and the Nightfall Squad searched for Lu Wuwei, but initially mistook a delivery rider with a Little Yellow Duck helmet for him.
• Shen Qingzhu spotted Lu Wuwei riding away and noted that the duck on his helmet could fly, prompting the squad to chase him.
• Lin Qiye learned from Merlin that Susanoo had gathered the intact divine corpses in Takama-ga-hara, but Merlin denied that Susanoo was the traitor.
• Merlin directed Lin Qiye and Jialan to a ruined palace where the truth was recorded, then secretly erased his Mind Magic spells and traced something into the earth.

Lin Qiye made Jialan promise not to transfer her immortality without his permission, then uncovered murals in the shattered palace depicting the God War of Takama-ga-hara. The murals suggested that Tsukuyomi had been corrupted by the Red Moon and betrayed Amaterasu, leaving Lin Qiye to examine what happened next.

• Lin Qiye asked Jialan to promise not to transfer her immortality to him without his permission, and she agreed after he threatened to ignore her if she refused.
• Lin Qiye used his Mental Power to uncover blood-red murals beneath the shattered palace’s stone fragments.
• Lin Qiye identified three figures in the first mural as Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo, the three supreme gods of Takama-ga-hara.
• Lin Qiye and Jialan saw a mural showing Tsukuyomi attacking Amaterasu beneath the Red Moon.
• Lin Qiye concluded that the Red Moon had corrupted Tsukuyomi and that the Cthulhu Gods used him to weaken Takama-ga-hara’s resistance.

Lin Qiye and Jialan deciphered the murals showing Susanoo slaughtering the maddened gods after Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi died. As Susanoo began losing his sanity, Merlin said someone would stop the calamity, while Jialan discovered a love of lamb skewers.

• Lin Qiye and Jialan interpreted the murals as showing Susanoo killing the gods after Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi fell together.
• A roar shook Takama-ga-hara, and Lin Qiye rushed out with Jialan to find Merlin grilling lamb skewers beside the carriage.
• Merlin explained that Bake-kujira's contamination was eroding Susanoo's mind despite Yasakani no Magatama, and said someone would stop the calamity.
• Lin Qiye worried Merlin would leave to fight Susanoo, but Merlin said he was more interested in truth than combat and hinted that destiny would bring someone to intervene.
• Jialan enjoyed her first lamb skewers, then grabbed Merlin's wrist when he pretended to throw the extra food away.

Merlin told Lin Qiye and Jialan to rest before he gave Lin Qiye a mysterious gift, while Jialan joined Lin Qiye in his room and he gave her the bed. Back in Great Xia, An Qingyu and the Fifth Special Squad asked Lu Wuwei to find Lin Qiye, and he revealed that Zuo Qing had already commissioned him to do so.

• Merlin prepared a palace for Lin Qiye and Jialan and told them to sleep so Lin Qiye could receive his gift with his Mental Power at its peak.
• Jialan entered Lin Qiye's room with a quilt, saying she was afraid to sleep alone, and Lin Qiye offered her the bed while he slept on the floor.
• Merlin sat alone beneath the Red Moon as scarlet light and whispering voices stirred his suppressed frenzy.
• An Qingyu and the Fifth Special Squad caught up with Lu Wuwei on Yaoguang and asked him to find Lin Qiye.
• Lu Wuwei said Zuo Qing had commissioned him to find Lin Qiye, and Baili Pangpang offered to join him, but Lu Wuwei warned the search was too dangerous.

Baili Pangpang and the others followed Lu Wuwei as they searched for the missing captain, while An Qingyu explained Cao Yuan’s secret to Shen Qingzhu. In Takama-ga-hara, Merlin stopped Lin Qiye from using god corpses for Dimensional Summoning, and the chapter ended with Merlin asking whether Lin Qiye liked Jialan.

• Lu Wuwei gave Baili Pangpang and Cao Yuan the last two Little Yellow Ducks, and they used them to fly after him while the others took turns controlling Yaoguang.
• An Qingyu told Shen Qingzhu that Cao Yuan was a prison containing the Black King and that Qiye had asked him not to reveal the secret to Cao Yuan.
• Lin Qiye considered using a colossal beast’s corpse as an offering for Dimensional Summoning, but Merlin warned that the Red Moon’s pollution could attract taboo beings and cause dangerous backlash.
• Merlin asked Lin Qiye whether he liked Jialan, and Lin Qiye acknowledged that she liked him.

Lin Qiye questioned whether his feelings were truly his own after Cupid's Arrow of Love had been driven into his heart, while Merlin brought him to a shrine in Takama-ga-hara. There, Merlin revealed the Yata no Kagami and explained how it stored decades of faith from the Human Circle and how gods used that faith to strengthen their laws.

• Lin Qiye told Merlin he liked the girl but doubted whether Cupid's Arrow of Love had caused his feelings.
• Merlin led Lin Qiye and the other girl through Takama-ga-hara to a golden shrine beyond a vermilion torii.
• Lin Qiye saw that the shrine's Aurora Rivers resembled those he had encountered in the Human Circle ruins.
• Merlin identified the floating mirror as the Yata no Kagami, which contained the Human Circle and had gathered its faith for more than fifty years.
• Merlin explained that gods used the Power of Faith to strengthen their laws and rapidly increase their power.

Lin Qiye and Merlin discussed faith, Forbidden Ruins, and the mystery of the Cthulhu Mythos before noticing the Red Moon was newly eroding the Yata no Kagami. Lin Qiye connected the timing to Baili Pangpang and the meditation cushion, but the final piece explaining the connection remained unknown.

• Lin Qiye asked Merlin why the Cthulhu Mythos was powerful despite having little faith, and whether faith could strengthen Forbidden Ruins.
• Merlin said humans could not absorb faith without divinity, leaving Lin Qiye puzzled about how the meditation cushion had strengthened his and Baili Pangpang's Forbidden Ruins.
• Jialan noticed the Yata no Kagami was broken and bleeding red, and Merlin explained that Red Moon contamination was spreading through the gap.
• Merlin realized the contamination had only begun seeping into the mirror a month or two earlier, despite the break being over fifty years old.
• Lin Qiye connected the timing to Baili Pangpang sitting on the meditation cushion and suspected strengthened Disarm All Things had protected the Human Circle, but he could not identify the final piece of the puzzle.

Merlin gave Lin Qiye the faith Takama-ga-hara had accumulated over more than fifty years, using forbidden spells to seal it inside him for the day he became a god. After enduring the painful baptism, Lin Qiye passed out, and Jialan caught him.

• Merlin explained that he would seal Takama-ga-hara's accumulated faith inside Lin Qiye for him to use after ascending to godhood.
• Lin Qiye accepted the gift and called Merlin "Uncle Merlin" for the first time.
• Merlin used Shadow Maw to draw the faith from the stars and Aurora River into Lin Qiye's body.
• Merlin cast Holy Radiance Prelude: Caged Bird, sealing the faith within a golden birdcage in Lin Qiye's heart.
• The faith formed a golden caged bird, and a birdcage mark appeared on Lin Qiye's chest as his pain subsided.
• Lin Qiye passed out from exhaustion, and Jialan caught him and laid him on the ground.

After sealing the Power of Faith in Lin Qiye, Merlin prepared arrays to hide its aura and questioned Jialan about her identity and her feelings for Lin Qiye. Jialan promised to stay on Lin Qiye’s side, and Merlin revealed that Lin Qiye had said he liked her, leaving her overjoyed as he urged them to work things out themselves.

• Merlin warned Jialan not to move Lin Qiye while he slowly adapted to the sealed Power of Faith, then cast arrays to conceal its aura and pursue an undisclosed purpose.
• Merlin told Jialan that his visions could not reveal her past or future and asked who she was, but she kept her history secret.
• Merlin challenged Jialan’s claim that she loved Lin Qiye and questioned why she had approached him; she said she had waited two thousand years for him and would always stand by his side.
• Merlin let the purple array fade, explaining that he believed Jialan because Lin Qiye would search for her if she were imprisoned.
• Merlin told Jialan that Lin Qiye had said he liked her, though he was unsure whether his feelings were genuine or caused by Cupid’s arrow, and Jialan excitedly praised the God of Magic.

After recovering from the Power of Faith, Lin Qiye learned that Merlin planned to stay in Takama-ga-hara and investigate the origins of the Cthulhu Mythos, even after accepting the Red Moon’s contamination. Lin Qiye and Jialan left in a silver carriage, while Merlin turned back to face an approaching threat.

• Lin Qiye woke beside Jialan, and Merlin checked his memory by asking him about forbidden spells.
• Merlin told Lin Qiye and Jialan to leave Takama-ga-hara, explaining that he intended to investigate the Cthulhu Mythos and had voluntarily allowed the Red Moon to contaminate him.
• Lin Qiye bid farewell to Merlin, then left with Jialan in a silver carriage pulled by Ghost White Horses.
• After the carriage left the concealing magic array, a roar and a wave of killing intent pursued it.
• Merlin rushed toward the roar to intercept the approaching threat.

Lin Qiye realized Susanoo was pursuing him because he had absorbed Takama-ga-hara’s Power of Faith, while Merlin stayed behind to stop the god. Merlin sealed Susanoo temporarily, but a second Red Moon appeared and he identified it as Tsukuyomi.

• Lin Qiye recognized Susanoo’s roar and realized Susanoo was chasing the Silver Carriage to kill him for absorbing Takama-ga-hara’s Power of Faith.
• Merlin attacked Susanoo with magic to keep him from reaching Lin Qiye and Jialan.
• Susanoo destroyed Merlin’s white- and black-robed clones, but Merlin suppressed him with the Demon Sealing Ring.
• Merlin sensed that Susanoo was fated to die at someone else’s hands and began casting more spells to seal him.
• A second Red Moon appeared in the sky, and Merlin recognized it as Tsukuyomi.

Merlin struggled to resist the twin Red Moons as Susanoo broke free and hurled the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi after Lin Qiye’s Silver Carriage. Lin Qiye reached the Gate of Reception, but Susanoo’s sword cut through the pursuing Corpse Beasts and closed in on the carriage.

• The twin Red Moons weakened Merlin’s mind, and Susanoo shattered the Demon Suppressing Ring with the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi.
• Susanoo hurled the sword toward the Silver Carriage, while Merlin cast thousands of Instant Magic Arrays to slow it.
• Lin Qiye resisted the urge to return and help Merlin, and Jialan comforted him as the second Red Moon appeared overhead.
• Lin Qiye’s carriage raced toward the Gate of Reception while Corpse Beasts followed behind it.
• The Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi tore through Merlin’s Magic Arrays and the Corpse Beast horde, heading straight for the Silver Carriage.

Lin Qiye and Jialan faced Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi as it pierced the carriage, and Jialan’s immortality began to fail against the divine weapon. While the sword threatened to break through, Jialan explained that she had used a fake Cupid’s Arrow to confess her feelings, leaving Lin Qiye to realize she truly liked him.

• Lin Qiye saw Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi pursuing the carriage and realized it had locked onto the people inside.
• Jialan transferred her immortality to the carriage, which let it withstand Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi’s strike but did not stop the sword from cracking its protective coating.
• Jialan was injured as Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi pushed through the carriage, and Lin Qiye worried about her.
• Jialan brought up Lin Qiye’s confession and asked whether he thought Cupid’s Arrow had caused him to like her.
• Jialan revealed that the arrow she had used was fake and admitted she had wielded it to make Lin Qiye realize she liked him.