Chapter Summaries

Angel met Naimeicui, the powerful emerald snake who recognized him through Frost Isel’s token and agreed to tell him about Feng and the prophecy. Naimeicui recounted how Feng inspired its pursuit of strength and revealed that his return to the Tidal Realm six hundred years ago brought it hope.

• Naimeicui appeared after Angel used Frost Isel’s token to draw its attention, and it recognized Angel as the person foretold by Feng.
• Angel followed Naimeicui to the hilltop despite Ermi’s warning that Naimeicui was impossible to contend with.
• Naimeicui asked Angel about the void, the universe, and the stars, then recalled that Feng had once asked it what it thought about while gazing at the stars.
• Naimeicui told Angel that it had wanted to become as dazzling as the stars, and Feng promised to make it less small in exchange for a picture.
• Naimeicui said Feng’s teachings helped it become an Elemental Sovereign and later reach the level of a Level Three Wizard.
• Naimeicui explained that it eventually reached a bottleneck, and that Feng’s return to the Tidal Realm six hundred years earlier brought it hope.

Naimeicui told Angel that Feng had predicted its chance to reach the Legendary level would come through someone who followed in Feng’s footsteps and brought the treasure key. Angel realized the prophecy pointed to him, though Naimeicui said it had resisted relying on a future opportunity and still had not broken through after six hundred years.

• Naimeicui recalled that Feng could not explain how elemental creatures advanced, but said its opportunity was recorded in the Book of Kel and told it to wait.
• Naimeicui identified the book as the Book of Kel, also called the Book That Writes Destiny, and said Feng had compared it to Augustine’s Twin Mirrors.
• Angel recognized the Book of Kel as likely an elite mysterious object and wondered whether it had arranged his path to the Tidal Realm.
• Naimeicui explained that the foretold opportunity would arrive when someone following Feng’s footsteps brought out the key to the treasure, and Angel showed it the Ojia Intricate-Pattern Key.
• Naimeicui confirmed it was at the peak of Level Three True Knowledge and sought to reach Legendary, leaving Angel unsure who could guide its breakthrough.
• Naimeicui said it had rejected the prophecy and cultivated in seclusion for six hundred years, but had failed to break through and now felt forced to wait.

Angel learned that Feng’s painting in Naimeicui’s vine house was a passage to the void corresponding to the center of the world, where Feng’s treasure lay. He and Naimeicui entered the passage and witnessed a void storm erupt across its coordinates.

• Angel showed Naimeicui the Shadow Box Trilogy, and Naimeicui agreed not to stop him while warning that humans entering the Tidal Realm would eventually force resistance or Fusion.
• Naimeicui told Angel that Feng’s unknown treasure was a form of repayment, then led him up a giant vine to a house among the flowers above the clouds.
• Naimeicui revealed that Feng had turned a painting of Naimeicui into a passage to the void and waited until the right time to enter it with Angel.
• Angel and Naimeicui entered the void and sensed a contracting void storm suddenly expand toward them.
• Angel and Naimeicui retreated beyond the storm’s reach as it consumed the passage’s void coordinates.

Angel learned that Feng’s treasure lay at the heart of a centuries-old void storm, leaving him unable to reach it until Naimeicui might overcome its bottleneck. He returned to the Vine House to seek a solution, while outside the Lost Forest the thinning mist revealed the Vine Tower and an emerald serpent appeared.

• Naimeicui told Angel that the treasure was inside the void storm, which had surrounded its site for over four hundred years.
• Angel circled the enormous storm with Toby but could not see the treasure site, and Naimeicui said it might enter the storm after breaking through its bottleneck.
• Angel suspected Feng had anticipated the storm and that Naimeicui’s breakthrough was the key to reaching the treasure.
• Angel and Naimeicui returned to the Vine House, where Angel asked to stay and investigate a solution, and Naimeicui agreed.
• Outside the Lost Forest, Dangros worried about Angel and Toby as Qubige noticed the mist thinning and the Vine Tower coming into view.
• An emerald serpent appeared among the flowers in the Lost Forest and identified the enormous vine as the Vine Tower.

In Dream Wilderness, Angel learned that Aoli had joined the Sin-Hunting Group and been sent to the front lines, then checked in with Frod and read messages from Sanders and Leon. The Tree Spirit warned him that Xilending might be seeking to borrow the Dream Conch for a trap, and Angel ended by asking how to survive a void storm.

• Angel learned from Aiya and a younger maid that Aoli had joined the Sin-Hunting Group to gain power and help him.
• Angel used God's Perspective to find Aoli aboard a Sin-Hunting Group airship and discovered she had fused with a Sin Creature; Frod confirmed she had been deployed to the front lines, and Angel asked him to keep watch over her.
• Angel approved the Mother Tree Network team's suggestions, checked Leon's news, and learned from Sanders that Su Mishi would assume a new authority in five days.
• The Tree Spirit warned Angel that Xilending was searching for him to borrow the Dream Conch and might be planning a trap.
• Angel acknowledged the warning, then asked the Tree Spirit how to survive within a void storm.

Angel asked Tree Spirit whether anyone could survive or teleport through a void storm, then learned that even most Legendary beings could not. After ruling out his first theory about Naimeicui’s advancement, Angel decided Feng might have left a special spatial item in the Tidal Realm and set out to ask Naimeicui about it.

• Tree Spirit told Angel that only an exceptional spatial item or a being with deep spatial knowledge might offer a chance of surviving a void storm.
• Iron Armor Granny returned with Rain Civet and learned that Traveling Frog had chosen to travel alone until his next visit to Dumartin.
• Tree Spirit and Iron Armor Granny questioned Angel about the void storms and learned he had found a treasure’s coordinates inside one, with a being half a step from Legendary nearby.
• Tree Spirit warned Angel that even a newly advanced Legendary natural wizard would struggle to survive in a void storm, and Angel assured him he was safe.
• Angel reconsidered his belief that Naimeicui’s advancement would let him enter the storm and listed possible explanations for the obstacle.
• Angel suspected Feng might have left a powerful spatial item with Naimeicui and left Dream Wilderness to ask about it.

Angel searched for the Floating Flower in the Lost Forest and asked Naimeicui whether Feng had left clues to crossing the void storm. After ruling out Naimeicui and elemental creatures as the source of the gaze Angel had repeatedly sensed, they were left without an explanation for the hidden watcher.

• Angel felt watched again as he approached the Floating Flower, then touched it and summoned Naimeicui.
• Angel asked whether Feng had left anything that could help him cross the void storm, and Naimeicui said Feng had left only a painting and knowledge.
• Angel described the repeated sensation of being watched, and Naimeicui used the Floating Flower to replay its recorded perceptions of the moment.
• Angel experienced the scene from the Floating Flower's perspective, but its senses showed no sign of anyone watching him.
• Angel told Naimeicui about the earlier incidents and ruled out a curse; Naimeicui said no unfamiliar elemental energy had appeared in the Lost Forest since Angel arrived.

Angel and Naimeicui investigated the mysterious watcher and found traces of abnormal spatial fluctuations in the void, supporting the theory that the watcher had spied on Angel from there. They left a hidden Floating Flower to watch for another attempt while Angel planned to stay near the Vine House.

• Naimeicui concluded that the watcher might have been observing Angel from the void corresponding to his location in the Tidal Realm.
• Angel opened a void gate, and he and Naimeicui found residual abnormal fluctuations in the void, though they could not determine who had caused them.
• Naimeicui proposed hiding a Floating Flower in the void and keeping Angel near the Vine House to catch the watcher if they spied a fourth time.
• Angel agreed to the plan, and Naimeicui concealed a Floating Flower so effectively that Angel and Ermi could not sense it.

Angel and Naimeicui lured the hidden watcher into the void, but it escaped before they could catch it. The Floating Flower could not reveal the watcher, but Angel recognized its form as a Void Traveler.

• Angel stayed in the Vine House for three days, unable to find a way past the void storm and reach the treasure site.
• Angel noticed Toby reacting to an unseen presence and realized the watcher had returned.
• Angel used a gate of light to enter the void with Naimeicui, but the watcher fled before they could catch it.
• Naimeicui used the Floating Flower to review the encounter, but its record showed no figure, leading it to conclude the watcher was probably invisible.
• Angel told Naimeicui he had glimpsed the watcher's form and identified the creature as a Void Traveler.

Angel invited the special Void Traveler to meet him so he could learn why the creatures kept spying on him. After a day of pondering the void storm, Angel discovered that more than a hundred Void Travelers had arrived in the Tidal Realm, led by the enlarged one he had once rescued.

• Angel sent a message into the void inviting the special Void Traveler to speak with him, then returned to the Vine House and continued wondering why the Void Travelers tracked him.
• The special Void Traveler received Angel’s message and decided to go see him, while the other Void Travelers vanished from the void.
• Angel decided to search Maraya Iceberg and White Cloud Township for clues about entering the void storm, but postponed leaving because he needed to answer Sanders’s summons in the Dream Wilderness.
• Toby stayed in reality to play music with the Blue Sound Bells, and Angel returned to the Vine House to prepare to enter the Dream Wilderness.
• Angel sensed that Toby had stopped playing and discovered over a hundred Void Travelers gathered in the garden, with the special Void Traveler at their center.
• The special Void Traveler noticed Angel’s mental tentacle and turned its gaze toward the Vine House.

Angel questioned Wang Wang, a Void Traveler who had tracked him using a strand of his hair supplied by Spotty Dog. Wang Wang described visiting Spotty Dog’s territory in the Nightmare Realm and revealed that it could travel through the void, leaving Angel wondering whether other Void Travelers shared this ability.

• Angel invited Wang Wang into the Vine House and learned that it had chosen its name because Spotty Dog called it that.
• Wang Wang explained that it had tracked Angel by scent and used a golden hair of his, which Spotty Dog had given it, to pinpoint his location.
• Angel recalled being swallowed by Spotty Dog in Sleepless City and suspected that Spotty Dog had taken his hair while he was unconscious.
• Wang Wang told Angel that Spotty Dog had summoned it to the Nightmare Realm, where it encountered bizarre and frightening creatures, including a dancing headless cat lady.
• Wang Wang said it could follow a target’s scent through the void, prompting Angel to ask whether all Void Travelers could travel that way.

Angel learned that Wang Wang could traverse the void and connect Void Travelers through a cross-world communication network. Spotty Dog used that network to contact Angel from the Nightmare Realm, but spoke only in barks Angel could not understand.

• Angel learned that Wang Wang could bypass most void disasters, though carrying him limited its travel to roughly the Azure Forest Region.
• Wang Wang revealed that Spotty Dog had sent it to establish a network connecting the Nightmare Realm to Angel.
• Wang Wang pressed against Angel's face and linked his thoughts to Spotty Dog, who answered with familiar barking.
• Wang Wang explained that it relayed Spotty Dog's live voice through the Void Travelers' network and served as an intermediary between worlds.
• Angel tried to question Spotty Dog directly, but could not understand its barking, while Wang Wang said it communicated with its lord directly.

Angel learned that the Void Travelers’ network enabled instantaneous communication across planes, then tried unsuccessfully to persuade Wang Wang to stay. Wang Wang prepared to leave a kin member as a relay, and Angel asked Wang Wang for a favor before it departed.

• Angel realized the Void Network could enable instantaneous cross-plane communication and reconsidered the Void Travelers’ importance.
• Wang Wang told Angel it would arrange for a kin member to remain with him and relay messages through the network.
• Wang Wang introduced a pale violet Void Traveler and explained how Angel could signal it to enter the network.
• Angel tried to convince Wang Wang to stay by describing the dangers its kin member might face, but Wang Wang offered to relay Angel’s instructions itself.
• Angel agreed to keep one of Wang Wang’s kin and asked Wang Wang to help him before leaving, promising a reward.

Angel enlisted Wang Wang to test whether he could traverse an unusual void storm that had lasted for over four hundred years and might conceal an untouched site within it. Wang Wang entered the storm alone, while Angel and Naimeicui considered how his traversal differed from that of other Void Travelers.

• Wang Wang agreed to help Angel traverse the void storm, asking him in return to take care of another Void Traveler and treating the help as compensation for spying on Angel.
• Angel and Wang Wang joined Naimeicui in the void, where Naimeicui tested Wang Wang's Void Traversal by sending a glowing petal toward him; Angel caught it and ate the fruit it became.
• Angel asked Wang Wang to inspect the void storm, and Wang Wang observed its unusual cycles and clean, long-eroded boundaries before agreeing to enter it alone.
• Wang Wang said he could traverse the storm by himself but could not carry Angel across its full breadth, so Angel asked him to search for untouched land inside it.
• Wang Wang vanished into the storm, and Naimeicui told Angel that Wang Wang's Void Traversal left no trace, prompting Angel to speculate that it involved a higher-dimensional space.

Wang Wang found a hollow safe haven inside the void storm, but warned Angel that a terrifying aura filled it. Angel chose to enter, believing the journey was part of Feng’s design, and Wang Wang carried him through the storm, leaving him inside its body.

• Wang Wang returned and confirmed that the ring-shaped void storm contained a hollow area, where it had sensed a frightening aura that did not attack it.
• Angel and Naimeicui considered whether a powerful Demonic Beast or something hidden by Feng could explain the aura, and Angel decided to enter the Treasure Grounds.
• Naimeicui gave Angel information about the void storm’s movements, and Angel memorized it while Wang Wang waited for the storm to contract.
• As Angel approached the storm, its orderly cycles of destruction and rebirth stirred a strange rhythm in his Sea of Mind, which vanished when he tried to trace it.
• Wang Wang traversed the void storm with Angel, and Angel felt his emotions and senses being stripped away before realizing he was inside Wang Wang’s body.

Angel and Wang Wang traveled through the Strange World, where Angel’s thoughts caused dangerous anomalies to appear along their path. Wang Wang escaped with Angel after he silenced his thoughts, and they reached the void near their destination, leaving Wang Wang curious about why Angel had been unaffected by the Strange World.

• Angel reasoned that the Strange World might be an intermediate space between reality and the deeper high-dimensional region he had visited before.
• Wang Wang encountered red mist and a forest of deadly spikes, then became trapped between a collapsing path and a vast descending shadow.
• Wang Wang spotted that Angel was awake and urgently told him to stop thinking, as Angel’s thoughts had brought the anomalies into their path.
• Angel emptied his mind, halting the shadow’s descent, and Wang Wang raced through the passage to a familiar coordinate and left the Strange World.
• Angel and Wang Wang returned to the void, where Angel apologized after learning that his thoughts had caused the anomalies; Wang Wang asked why he had been unaffected.

Angel and Wang Wang traveled through the Void toward a growing array of lights, while Wang Wang struggled against a terrifying pressure. As Angel approached the lights, he realized the pressure came from a world will and concluded that this Void belonged to the Tidal Realm.

• Wang Wang explained the strange space’s iron laws, and Angel could not explain why he had been able to think and perceive inside it.
• Angel sensed pressure in the Void and chose to travel toward its source, with Wang Wang accompanying him.
• As they flew deeper, the pressure intensified until Wang Wang could go no farther, so Angel placed it in his spatial bracelet.
• Angel continued toward the distant lights and recognized the pressure as a world will resembling the one he had sensed on the Yuantan Continent.
• Angel realized that the Void they were traversing belonged to the Tidal Realm and wondered why its world will was present there.

Angel discovered that the Light Road from Sparrow Sparrow and Dodolo’s prophecies existed in the void, formed by countless piles of Void Light Algae. He followed it through the world will’s pressure and finally saw a glimmer of dawn at its end.

• Angel reasoned that the world will might have created or sustained the void storm and wondered whether it was connected to Feng’s treasure trove.
• Angel recognized the distant points of light as the Light Road from the prophecies and the oil painting Feng had left in White Cloud Township.
• Angel identified the points of light as vast piles of Void Light Algae and resisted taking any, suspecting their orderly arrangement held a ritual purpose.
• Angel found that the pressure from the world will increased far more slowly on the Light Road than outside it, suggesting the Void Light Algae arrangement protected travelers.
• Angel followed the Light Road for about two hours and saw dawn at its end.

Angel cautiously crossed the void platform and opened a gaudy chest, finding an oil painting whose scene changed in response to his thoughts. The painting formed a black, suction-filled opening that dragged Angel inside, leaving the platform empty.

• Angel sent an illusion body onto the platform, then analyzed its magic pattern and determined it maintained the platform rather than attacking visitors.
• Angel noticed an immense sacred sphere of light above the platform and realized it was the source of the void's pressure, possibly containing the Tidal Realm's world will.
• Angel reached the chest and opened it, discovering an oil painting instead of Feng's treasure.
• Angel imagined someone standing behind the tree in the painting, and the scene shifted to reveal a figure there.
• The painting rippled and formed a black dot that pulled Angel inside despite his defensive measures and Void Illusion Gate.

Angel entered the world inside Feng’s painting and discovered that the great tree held the mother pattern for his Ojia Intricate-Pattern Key. Unlocking it restored the painted starry sky and revealed a cloaked man who introduced himself as Mirafael. Feng.

• Angel explored the empty wilderness inside the painting and found no way out, so he headed for the great tree.
• Angel discovered an Ojia mother pattern inside the tree that matched the key in his possession.
• Angel used the key to unlock the tree, causing it to split open and restoring the starry sky above.
• Angel sensed a gaze in the tree’s red light and saw a cloaked man appear when the light faded.
• The cloaked man questioned Angel about Ermi and the Twisted Seed, then revealed his face and introduced himself as Mirafael. Feng.