Chapter Summaries

Wenren Sheng discovered that the Riddle Little Ball recognized him and could trap even powerful Anomalies in riddles, so he prepared nine riddles as a trump card. Meanwhile, researchers in the Southwest Mountains struggled with experiments that worked only the first time and decided to report the strange failures.

• Little Illusion showed Wenren Sheng the Riddle Little Ball, which transformed and praised him when he held it but returned to gray and ignored her when she took it back.
• Wenren Sheng studied the ball, devised nine riddles using knowledge from another spacetime, and kept it as a way to trap Principal-Level Disaster Anomalies.
• Wenren Sheng's family returned from their victory, and Wenren De went to cook a celebratory meal.
• At a research institute in the Southwest Mountains, an Old Man and his students discussed experiments that produced correct results only on the first attempt.
• After hearing that other scientists faced similar failures, the Old Man decided to report the problem to his superiors.

Wenren Sheng left home to join the Holy Sword Project Group and arrived at its Far North Research Base, where he witnessed rising hostility between Otherworldly Users and Ordinary People. After considering the dangers of soul research and the broader conflict, he called Li Yuanfeng and entered the base.

• Wenren Sheng prepared to leave home, set a protective riddle in the basement, and told his family the password.
• Wenren Sheng told Li Yuanfeng that Little Ball had come to him and that the Bro of the Seven Sworn Brothers was probably dead in a maze, then chose to visit the Holy Sword Project Group.
• Wenren Sheng flew to the Far North Region and heard Otherworldly Users and Ordinary People arguing over their roles, risks, and future.
• Wenren Sheng realized the conflict had reached the Research Base and worried that tensions outside were even worse.
• Wenren Sheng considered the risks of Soul Reincarnation research, called Li Yuanfeng, and entered the Research Base with a guide.

Wenren Sheng visited the Physics Holy Sword project team after discussing ways to resolve tensions between Otherworldly Users and ordinary people. He learned how the project extracted the essence of space and suspected that anomalies were disrupting scientific experiments.

• At dinner, Wenren Sheng proposed training new Otherworldly Warriors alongside the Black Shirts as a short-term solution to conflict, and completing the Soul Reincarnation project as a long-term one.
• A department head revealed that his grandfather had died eliminating an anomaly and welcomed Wenren Sheng's proposal.
• The person in charge took Wenren Sheng to the Physics Holy Sword project's auxiliary laboratory, where the team leader explained plans to use the technology to build a defensive belt.
• The team leader showed Wenren Sheng equipment that used mysterious artifacts to extract the essence of space from air drawn out of the Physics Space.
• Wenren Sheng learned that researchers struggled to reproduce experiments outside the Physics Space and suspected anomalies were interfering with scientific research.

Wenren Sheng studied the research behind Absolute Physical Space and set out to find a durable material for his Physics Holy Armor. He recruited Little Illusion to search for one, then rejected You Jin’s invitation to join an Otherworldly User political society.

• Wenren Sheng spent a week studying the project materials and concluded that the Physics Holy Armor needed a tougher container material than the one used for Holy Swords.
• Wenren Sheng persuaded Little Illusion to search for suitable mysterious materials by lending her the Riddle Little Ball for three days.
• You Jin, deputy leader of the base’s security team, invited Wenren Sheng to join the Otherworldly User Priority Society, which aimed to put Otherworldly Users’ interests first and seize power.
• Wenren Sheng recognized the society’s ideas as similar to the Sole Supremacy Society’s and politely saw You Jin out without agreeing to join.

Wenren Sheng rebuffed You Lu’s attempt to draw him into her club’s plans and reflected on the growing unrest among Otherworldly Users. At a Disaster Anomaly Administration meeting, Director An outlined the divide between Order Faction and Chaos Faction Anomalies and identified preventing Chaos Faction appearances as the next priority.

• You Lu warned Wenren Sheng that the Patrol Division could revoke his otherworldly seed, but he insisted no one could take it from him and cautioned her against acting too cleverly.
• You Lu returned to her group and told its members to behave themselves and wait for developments.
• Wenren Sheng considered the worsening conditions and returned to reading research materials he believed could change the future.
• At a Zhongjiang City Disaster Anomaly Administration meeting, Director An and the other officials argued over whether to concentrate defenses or preserve scattered bases.
• Director An explained that the Anomalies they had defeated belonged to the Order Faction, while Chaos Faction Anomalies could only be handled by uncovering their rules, making prevention the Administration’s next focus.

Director An rejected demands from dissenting Otherworldly Users and ordered their roundup, while Wenren Sheng finished studying the Physics Holy Armor and witnessed the arrests. He left the Research Base to warn his family about the coming crackdown.

• Xiong Chengying proposed expanding otherworldly species cultivation and tightening tracking, and Director An assigned him the task.
• A deputy director reported that dissatisfied Otherworldly Users had organized around seven demands, and Director An ordered the group reported and rounded up.
• After three more weeks of study, Wenren Sheng decided he was ready to make the Physics Holy Armor once Little Illusion found suitable materials.
• Wenren Sheng saw Black Shirts arrest You Jin and the others at the Research Base and realized a crackdown was beginning.
• Wenren Sheng flew home to tell his family about the changing situation.

Wenren Sheng and his family discussed the growing pressure on Otherworldly Users and received warnings about a new prevention check. Wenren De learned that the check would secretly restrict Zhao Han and Wang Wenwen’s powers, while the chapter left the family realizing the measure was linked to their closeness to Wenren Sheng.

• Wenren De, Wang Wenwen, and Zhao Han discussed rising housing costs, the Patrol Division’s pressure, and the dangers facing Otherworldly Users.
• Wenren Sheng reassured the group that he would prevent anyone from forcing them into a dangerous situation, then showed Wu Shanshan footage of his award ceremony.
• Zhao Han and Wang Wenwen received notices ordering them to attend an Otherworldly Power Uncontrolled Prevention Check in three days, while the others received none.
• Zhao Han’s prediction suggested the check was dangerous, and Wang Wenwen guessed that it targeted people with weaker powers.
• Wenren De consulted the white cat, which revealed that the check would let a powerful Otherworldly Power control the two women’s abilities and prevent them from acting independently during dangerous incidents.
• Wenren De realized the notices were based on the women’s closeness to Wenren Sheng and returned to the living room relieved that his son’s influence could keep the family safe.

Wenren Sheng accompanied Zhao Han and Wang Wenwen to examinations meant to control Otherworldly Users, while reflecting on the damage such distrust could cause. He discovered the control attempt failed against their Otherworldly Users and hurried them home before the examiners noticed.

• Wenren De told Wenren Sheng that Zhao Han and Wang Wenwen faced possible danger from the examinations, and Wenren Sheng promised to accompany them.
• Three days later, Wenren Sheng waited with Zhao Han and Wang Wenwen at the District Patrol Division and saw Xie Yanjie working as an examiner.
• During the examination, Wenren Sheng sensed a concealed fluctuation try to link to Zhao Han and Wang Wenwen's Otherworldly Users, then retreat immediately.
• Zhao Han and Wang Wenwen emerged from the examination without noticing anything unusual, while Wenren Sheng realized the control attempt had failed.
• Wenren Sheng urged them to go home and decided to tell Old Li about the failed control attempt.

Xie Yanjie finished examining the Otherworldly Users while Wenren Sheng debated coercive rule with Li Yuanfeng and chose to leave governance to others. In a disturbing dream, he saw Western Continent People preparing to eat a helpless person and heard an unrecognizable student cry for help; after waking, he decided to ask Wenren De to interpret the dream.

• Xie Yanjie told an inspector that her examination had gone well and that her Otherworldly User was powerful.
• Wenren Sheng argued with Li Yuanfeng that people should be united through ideas rather than controlled, and Li Yuanfeng recounted how officials had forcibly relocated settlers.
• Wenren Sheng concluded that other capable people could handle affairs and returned to his room for a nap.
• Wenren Sheng dreamed of Western Continent People preparing to eat a person who called him Teacher, and he asked Little Illusion about the western regions and the Black Robed Men.
• Wenren Sheng woke at three in the afternoon, still unable to identify the voice in his dream, and decided to ask Wenren De to interpret it.

Wenren Sheng learned that Liu Jian had been abducted by the Black Robed Men, who were cultivating his Seed of Hatred to create a Dark Three God. After the authorities and divinations failed to locate Liu Jian, Wenren Sheng resolved to find another way to rescue him.

• Wenren De interpreted Wenren Sheng's dream as a warning that one of his male students was in trouble, leading Wenren Sheng to suspect Liu Jian.
• In a dungeon, a Black Robed Man urged a barely human captive to hate the world, while black-red mist spread and the prison grating collapsed.
• Wenren Sheng realized the Black Robed Men had taken Liu Jian to the Western Continent to use his Seed of Hatred, then learned from Inspector Liu that Liu Jian and a boatload of people had vanished more than half a month earlier.
• Wenren Sheng decided he could not abandon Liu Jian and asked Wenren De and Zhao Han to use divination to locate him.
• Wenren De's divination pointed vaguely to a remote mountain, while Zhao Han could not calculate Liu Jian's location, so Wenren Sheng left to seek another approach.

Wenren Sheng found Blood Island but discovered that a blood mist sealed it behind a sacrifice-based riddle. He decided he could trap the Black Robed Men inside rather than break in, but first needed to recover the Riddle Little Ball from Little Illusion.

• Ai Han De Bu told Wenren Sheng that the Black Robed Men were on Blood Island and anticipated a violent clash between teacher and student.
• Wenren Sheng flew his Puppet Man across the Mediterranean and followed a bloody aura to the hidden island.
• A blood mist repelled the Puppet Man and revealed that seven sinful sacrifices were needed to open a path, though one sacrifice was left unstated.
• Wenren Sheng realized he could use the Riddle Little Ball to prevent anyone from leaving Blood Island, but Little Illusion still had it.
• Little Illusion complained that the Riddle Little Ball had rejected her riddles, including one about something warm in the sky whose answer was a little bird's belly.

Wenren Sheng used the Riddle Little Ball to trap anyone leaving Blood Island in riddles, while Ai Han De Bu watched his actions. Several Black Robed Men became trapped, and the others stopped trying to answer as they searched for a way out.

• Little Illusion returned the little ball to Wenren Sheng, who sent it through the river passage to the Puppet Man and set three riddles around Blood Island.
• Ai Han De Bu praised Wenren Sheng’s plan, and Wenren Sheng made the invisible Puppet Man wait outside the island.
• Harold emerged from the blood mist and encountered an invisible maze that demanded he solve a riddle about a heroic figure.
• Harold searched online and consulted poetry forums before guessing Sun Chu, but the riddle declared his answer wrong and banished him.
• After three Black Robed Men vanished into the maze, the others tested routes out of the island and avoided answering the riddle.

The Black Robed Men trapped on the island offered increasingly valuable rewards to solve a riddle that could free them. Wenren Sheng stole the deposit they sent out by boat, leaving them without a way to hire outside help and facing the prospect of dying on the island.

• The Black Robed Men realized they could not leave the island and would become monstrous if they stopped hunting, so they posted a cash reward for the riddle's solution.
• An expert traced the verse to an obscure Song Dynasty work, but could not identify its author, so the Black Robed Men added a Skull Head with divine power to the reward.
• After Otherworldly Users demanded a better offer, the Black Robed Men added a Disguise Mask, a Substitute Doll, and Longevity Fresh Blood, then arranged to send a deposit out by boat.
• Wenren Sheng controlled the Puppet Man to take the box of reward items as the boat passed through the sea.
• The Black Robed Men discovered the deposit was gone and panicked that they would remain trapped, abandoning their hopes of becoming demon lords and creating a real Fragment World.

Wenren Sheng watched the Black Robed Men use the King of Lies to solve his riddles, paying for its answers with their own people. After Barney solved two riddles, the remaining Black Robed Men were forced onward, knowing they might be sacrificed next.

• Two Blood Embroidered Robe Men, Carson and Barney, arrived and took charge of the Black Robed Men confronting Wenren Sheng’s riddle.
• Barney prayed to the King of Lies, withered away, and received the correct answer to the first riddle.
• The Black Robed Men encountered Wenren Sheng’s Mulan riddle, which Barney found difficult to understand.
• Carson suggested that Barney sacrifice one of their companions to pay for the King of Lies’ help, and Barney dragged back and drained the fastest fleeing man.
• Barney prayed again, received the answer, and explained that Mulan’s purchases at four separate markets revealed she was a woman.
• The surviving Black Robed Men continued forward in fear, aware that they could be used as the price for more answers.

Wenren Sheng forced the Blood Island Earl to return Liu Jian by trapping the Black Robed Men in deadly puzzles, then healed Liu Jian after seeing the extent of his injuries. Liu Jian tried to kill himself, but Wenren Sheng stopped him.

• Carson and Barney ran out of men while Wenren Sheng kept setting puzzles, so Wenren Sheng demanded Liu Jian’s return.
• Carson and Barney reported to the Blood Island Earl, who agreed to return Liu Jian because betrayal would deepen his hatred and draw him back later.
• The Black Robed Men delivered Liu Jian, but Wenren Sheng continued the puzzles and flew away with him, leaving them furious and terrified.
• Wenren Sheng used the Mysterious Healing Art to restore Liu Jian’s battered body over several hours.
• Liu Jian thanked Wenren Sheng, then tried to stab himself in the head, but Wenren Sheng restrained him.

After Liu Jian spiraled into self-hatred, Wenren Sheng condemned his self-pity and struck him unconscious. Liu Jian woke in a powerless, impoverished place where corrupt officials imprisoned innocent people, beginning an exile that promised worse suffering ahead.

• Liu Jian blamed himself for his father's downfall and begged Wenren Sheng to kill him, while Wenren Sheng called his despair petty and compared it with the hardships endured by countless others.
• Wenren Sheng ordered the Puppet Man to strike Liu Jian, and Liu Jian later woke in a filthy ditch among people in a backward settlement.
• Local thugs mistook Liu Jian for Ge Ming D, stripped him of his clothes, and hauled him to a ruined County Yamen after he lost his Strange Seed and powers.
• Liu Jian was beaten into signing a confession and imprisoned, where he saw that officials had jailed honest people for arbitrary reasons and filled a quota with prisoners.

Wenren Sheng used an accelerated illusion of the Republic Era to help Liu Jian overcome his despair and renew his resolve. Liu Jian returned to the real world determined to face reality and set off east toward a city.

• Wenren Sheng, Ji Zhengyan, and Little Illusion created and accelerated the Republic Era game to temper Liu Jian's will.
• Wenren Sheng and Little Illusion discussed sharing, and Little Illusion agreed to give her Sister some time to come out.
• Liu Jian awakened and asked Wenren Sheng to call him Comrade Liu Jian, saying he would face real-world struggles with renewed resolve.
• Wenren Sheng welcomed Liu Jian back and sent him onward, but Liu Jian returned to ask where he was and request a map.
• Wenren Sheng told Liu Jian he was in the West Territory and pointed him east toward a city, so Liu Jian set off.

After Liu Jian was brought back from the path Fate had predicted for him, Aihandebu marveled at the human capacity to resist destruction. Two days later, Wenren Sheng agreed to train Otherworldly Users for the Patrol Division’s national popularization education program, while his friends discussed who would take on teaching assignments.

• Aihandebu questioned how Liu Jian’s fate had changed, and Wenren Sheng explained that life resisted its destined destruction, leaving Aihandebu laughing at the surprise.
• Zhao Han, Wang Wenwen, and Wu Shanshan discussed the Patrol Division’s teaching assignments at Wenren Sheng’s home.
• Ouyang Tian asked Zhao Han and the others to take Liu Tian’s girls’ school assignment, and Wang Wenwen volunteered to help.
• Wenren Sheng refused Ouyang Tian’s request to teach at a girls’ school and told him to ask the others or Wenren Sheng’s mother.
• Inspector Liu asked Wenren Sheng to train new teachers for National Otherworldly Popularization Education, and Wenren Sheng agreed.
• Zhao Han asked to learn the Teaching Skill, and Wenren Sheng said it required a broad, selfless heart and a willingness to share knowledge.

Wenren Sheng planned to teach dangerous otherworldly knowledge to adolescents and promised to develop a teaching tool using Illusion Acceleration. After Ji Zhengyan resisted helping, he agreed to teach Wenren Sheng the skill, but made him take over his rare training assignment.

• Zhao Han received a Seed of Narration prompt revealing that Wenren Sheng’s boast about surpassing ancient sages was true, but she kept it to herself.
• Wenren Sheng explained that adolescents needed moral guidance before learning mysterious knowledge and said he was developing a tool to address the risks of teaching them.
• Wenren Sheng visited Ji Zhengyan to ask for help with an educational experiment, but Ji Zhengyan refused to leave his bed.
• Teacher Qin persuaded Ji Zhengyan to teach Wenren Sheng Illusion Acceleration so Eastern Continent could remain stable.
• Ji Zhengyan agreed to teach Wenren Sheng the skill, warned him about its taboos, and assigned him the Patrol Division’s training sessions held once every five years.

Dr. Stein allied with the Heaven's Mandate Society in Miken and proposed restricting his technology to people who passed an ideological assessment. The Society planned to use his work to control a growing Otherworldly User, while Bracken doubted the doctor's claims of wanting to save humanity.

• Dr. Stein addressed a conference in Miken, lamented the devastation caused by monsters, and announced that his team would require an Ideological Imprint before sharing its technology.
• Birch warned Maple Father that the Imprint could enable dangerous thought control, but Maple Father argued that radical measures were necessary to face the crisis.
• The Heaven's Mandate Society began seeking allies, and Maple Father explained that Dr. Stein's technology might help keep their Otherworldly User from slipping out of control.
• Bracken objected to using underhanded methods against their relative, but Birch said the Society needed safeguards because the Otherworldly User might return to his own world.
• Dr. Stein argued that technology could give ordinary people the lifespan, bodies, and brains of Otherworldly Users, and Maple Father agreed to work with him.
• Bracken privately recalled that Dr. Stein had neglected his children and doubted his claims about saving humanity.