Chapter Summaries

Angel told Dox that the special One-Eyed Wraith carried an alchemical device that could manipulate minds and transmit voices, giving Dox the final evidence for his contest with his inspiration. As Dox entered the last stage of reconciling with himself, the group reached a foul-smelling corridor and wondered whether the route to the Stairway of the Hanging Prison lay inside a sewer.

• Angel explained that the special One-Eyed Wraith carried an alchemical tool for manipulating minds and transmitting voices, and Dox said the information completed his case.
• Black Earl canceled the Mind Tether to Dox so he could finish his reconciliation with his inspiration without disturbance.
• Angel joked with Wai about whether Dox would succeed, while Black Earl complained about Angel and Wai.
• The group followed Dox slowly through the narrow passage and reached a labyrinthine corridor near the entrance to the depths.
• Wai asked whether the passage to the Stairway of the Hanging Prison was inside the sewer as the group faced its overwhelming stench.

Angel led the group into the labyrinth despite uncertainty about whether the Stairway of the Hanging Prison lay inside the stench-filled stink ditch. Dox's inspiration had sublimated but could not yet provide answers, so the group moved on while Angel worried about later arrivals and the ruler near the Twin Clock Towers.

• Angel admitted he might have been wrong about the Stairway of the Hanging Prison being outside the stink ditch, while Wai worried about the overpowering stench and Black Earl stayed on Angel inside the Purification Field.
• Dox awakened and explained that he had reconciled with his inspiration, which had sublimated, but he could not yet tell them whether the Stairway of the Hanging Prison was in the stink ditch.
• Angel told the group to proceed, promised the smell would not seep into the illusion, and hurried to avoid the ruler who might arrive at the Twin Clock Towers.
• Angel led everyone into the labyrinth, where the monsters were gone but the stench remained, and Dox resumed questioning him about the earlier events.

Angel explained that Ermi had enabled him to force One-Eyed Wraiths to fuse, then heard Black Earl’s warning that Ermi might develop a rudiment of consciousness. The group discovered a hole at the maze’s end, and Angel suggested their route might lead into a sewer.

• Angel gave everyone the research booklet Record of Different Wraith-Fusion Poses, which explained how One-Eyed Wraiths fused.
• Angel revealed that Ermi had tested a way to force One-Eyed Wraiths into fusion without being rejected.
• Black Earl warned Angel that the information Ermi absorbed might awaken a new consciousness, and Angel agreed to have Rhein examine Ermi after their current task.
• Dox asked whether the silver ornament and crown could be combined, but Angel noticed the maze ended nearby and illuminated it with Flashlight.
• Angel showed the group a hole in the maze floor and said they might be entering a sewer.

Angel and his companions entered Abyss City’s stinking sewer, using his Purification Field and Ermi’s shadow reconnaissance to navigate its ruined passages. They avoided a glowing opening in the wall that closed after they passed, but Kael worried that similar traps could become harder to recognize.

• Angel explained that the sewer had once been an ordinary underground waterway, and Black Earl urged the group to proceed, claiming his danger assessment found little risk.
• Dox led the group down the stairs into the sewer while Angel sent Ermi’s shadows ahead and used an illusion to show everyone the surroundings.
• The group followed the better-preserved path toward the Stairway of the Hanging Prison and found no Demonic Beasts, though the sewer grew wider and its foul-water channel appeared.
• They spotted a glowing opening in the wall and ignored it, then Angel used a Puppet Eye to confirm that the opening had closed behind them.
• Kael warned that a larger version of the opening could resemble an ordinary side passage and be difficult to identify.

Angel’s group found a ten-thousand-year-old wax-sealed follower of the Mirror Demon God in the underground labyrinth and continued toward the Stairway of the Hanging Prison. After they left, the corpse’s emblem flashed green, while two hidden beings discussed the Noah descendants and Naraka’s possible return.

• Angel explained why he wanted to encounter another dog hole and led the group onward toward the Stairway of the Hanging Prison.
• Angel showed the group a damaged Mirror Demon God emblem and an image of a wax-sealed corpse on a platform built into the wall.
• Black Earl judged the corpse to be a ten-thousand-year-old formal wizard and confirmed it had been a Demon God follower; Angel deduced that someone had built the platform later.
• The group declined to take the corpse and continued through the labyrinth, while its emblem flashed green after they had gone.
• In a hidden dark space, one being urged Adanis to inspect the newcomers, but she dismissed the Noah descendants and returned to her supposed dream cultivation, while they discussed Naraka’s return.

Angel led the group toward the vine-covered passage, reasoning that the vines might guard the path to the Stairway of the Hanging Prison rather than act as ordinary Demonic Beasts. Disguised as Tree Spirit, he approached them without provoking an attack, and a vine reached toward him as he sensed the vines beginning to communicate.

• Angel detected Demonic Beasts ahead and showed the group a wall of thick, spiked vines concealing a passage.
• Angel argued that the vines guarded the hidden path and recommended taking it; Black Earl agreed, while Dox accepted the decision.
• Angel transformed his appearance to resemble Tree Spirit and left the Moving Illusion to approach the vines alone.
• The vines reacted to Angel but did not attack him, though they showed hostility toward the others behind him.
• Angel sensed a growing ripple as a thin vine extended to within half a meter of his brow, apparently preparing to communicate.

Angel reasoned that the vines had once befriended the missing Wood Spirit and used Exile Space to carry his companions past them. The vines opened a concealed passage for Angel, who entered briefly, then returned to ask whether they knew where the Wood Spirit was.

• Angel speculated that the cowardly Wood Spirit had influenced the vines to distrust humans and that a wise ruler might have altered their guarding instructions.
• Angel explained the vines’ resistance to his companions and proposed carrying them through Exile Space; Black Earl, Dox, Wai, and Kael agreed and entered.
• Angel also placed Dangros and Swift Spirit in Exile Space, where Dangros woke and lit the darkness with flames to burn away the foul stench on himself.
• Angel returned to the vines as a Tree Spirit, and they parted to reveal a concealed, normally sized doorway.
• Angel stepped through the doorway, then came back after realizing he could ask the vines where the Wood Spirit was.

Angel entered an alternate space that resembled the Stairway of the Hanging Prison and led the group across its bizarre suspended stairs. They reached a platform with an ancient alchemical puppet, which Angel identified as the key to continuing their journey.

• Angel realized the vine had expected him to sense the Wood Spirit as one of its own, and hurried away in embarrassment.
• Angel passed through a black spatial curtain and arrived on a platform above a chaotic void, then released everyone from Exile Space.
• Angel explained the alternate space to the group, and Black Earl sensed no danger nearby.
• The group crossed a twisting stairway that differed from the Stairway of the Hanging Prison and reached another platform.
• Angel assessed an ancient alchemical puppet and said its box served as a ticket box for unlocking the next stairway.

Angel identified the alchemical puppet as a ticket seller and confirmed that the group could pass by presenting a pass or paying a toll with a treasure judged by Xixia's Casket. The group remained on the platform, preparing to test the casket while Angel warned them not to provoke the puppet.

• Angel explained that the puppet resembled the alchemical attendants and ticket sellers found on Mansi Magic Material Street, then pointed out magic patterns linking it to the platform.
• Angel approached the puppet, which classified him as a civilian and said he needed to present a pass or pay a toll to pass.
• The puppet instructed Angel to offer a treasure to Xixia's Casket, which would decide whether the toll was sufficient.
• Black Earl speculated that Xixia's Casket might be a rare appraisal tool combining prophecy and alchemy, while Angel warned that the puppet was connected to the dimensional space's magic energy array.
• Dox denied intending to steal Xixia's Casket after Black Earl used Death Scent to warn him of danger, and Angel proposed testing the casket with magic crystals.

Wai offered magic crystals to Xixia's Casket as a test, but it rejected them and struck him with five crystals, leaving a blood-red flower mark on his forehead. After Angel healed Wai and heard his account, he decided to test the casket himself to discover what it considered a treasure.

• Angel agreed to let Wai make the first offer after noticing Black Earl's slate on him, while Black Earl secretly guided Wai through the procedure.
• Wai placed ten magic crystals in Xixia's Casket and touched it to learn whether his offering met its standard.
• Xixia's Casket trapped Wai in darkness, rejected the crystals, and struck him with five of them, forming a blood-red flower mark on his forehead.
• Angel healed Wai, and Wai described the strange experience to the group.
• Angel and Black Earl considered whether a soul inside the casket had appraised the offering, and Angel decided to test the casket himself.

Angel tested Xixia's Casket with two coins whose value came from their personal meaning: a Demon Coin he had earned in Lasudelan and a scratched gold coin that recorded his long voyage from the Old Earth Continent. After the Casket began glowing red without announcing a result, Angel reached toward it.

• Angel presented two gold coins, and Wai identified one as a Demon Coin engraved with Crown Clown's true name mark.
• Angel explained that the Demon Coin was the first currency he had earned after opening a shop in Lasudelan, then tossed it into Xixia's Casket.
• Angel described how he had scratched a mark into the other coin each day during his years aboard the Devil Sea, and then tossed it into the Casket.
• The Casket gathered a faint red glow and displayed shifting patterns, but it gave no clear sign of whether the coins had passed the test.
• Angel reached a hand toward Xixia's Casket to investigate its reaction.

Angel entered the darkness within Xixia's Casket and negotiated with Xixia, learning that she was a consciousness fused with the casket and that treasured objects were defined by their emotional value. After Xixia granted him permission to proceed, Angel asked whether she was a Source-Worshipper.

• Angel removed his defenses and entered the pitch-black space after Xixia's voice asked him to seal away powers that could resist her.
• Xixia identified herself as the mind fused with the casket, and Angel insisted that their questions follow the Crown Clown's standard of fairness.
• Angel described the Flame Mark and Odecras in broad terms, but Xixia said he had not revealed what she wanted to know.
• Xixia explained that treasured items carried emotional value, accepted Angel's two gold coins, and granted him the qualification to proceed.
• Angel asked Xixia whether she was a Source-Worshipper.

Angel confirmed that Xixia had once been a Source-Worshipper and revealed the Origin Fire, giving her hope that her people might still survive. Xixia emerged from the Dark Mist to confront Angel about the fire and the possible survival of the Baiyuan Clan.

• Angel questioned Xixia about being a Source-Worshipper, and she eventually admitted that she still considered herself one.
• Xixia asked whether any Source-Worshippers remained outside, and Angel hinted that he had learned about the ancestral altar from one in person.
• Angel summoned a white Origin Fire, and Xixia recognized it as the fire of the Source-Worshippers' ancestral altar.
• Xixia recalled the reports of her people's extinction and felt hope stir at the sight of the Origin Fire.
• Xixia emerged from the Dark Mist in a human form, deciding to face Angel because he possessed the fire and might know whether the Baiyuan Clan still had a future.

Angel met Xixia inside Xixia’s Casket and explained that he had not come to trade the Origin Fire, but hoped to let her meet another living Source-Worshipper. Xixia agreed to answer his questions in exchange, and Angel began by asking whether the ruler she had mentioned was a Three-Eyed Blue Demon.

• Xixia revealed that the palace-like space was Xixia’s Casket and explained that its apparent passage of time came from altered perception, not a time ability.
• Xixia assumed Angel had brought the Origin Fire to bargain with her, but Angel argued that he had learned of her by chance and that his companions had not come to find her.
• Angel explained that Xixia could not use the Origin Fire because she could neither sense the Ancestral Altar nor help revive the Baiyuan Clan.
• Angel offered a way for Xixia to meet a Source-Worshipper who had spoken to him personally, and Xixia agreed to see him after Angel prepared.
• Xixia asked what price Angel wanted, and he requested answers to his questions; she warned that an oath with a ruler limited what she could disclose.
• Angel asked whether the ruler Xixia had mentioned was a Three-Eyed Blue Demon.

Angel questioned Xixia about the Wise One Sovereign and learned that it was the author Blue Fatty, who wrote Record of Different Wraith-Fusion Poses. Xixia gave Angel advice on reaching the Sovereign and finding its favored Wood Spirit, ending by offering a tracking method using something she had taken from the Wood Spirit.

• Xixia explained that the Wise One Sovereign gathered knowledge, revised the underground waterways' magic arrays, and wrote books under the name Blue Fatty.
• Angel recognized Xixia's booklet as Record of Different Wraith-Fusion Poses and stopped himself from mentioning that he was not yet twenty after Xixia objected to hearing about his age.
• Angel told Xixia that his group needed to cross the Wise One Sovereign's hall and hoped to bring its favored Wood Spirit to it; Xixia described the Wood Spirit as miserly and extremely cowardly.
• Xixia advised Angel to search the lower floors of the Stairway of the Hanging Prison, explaining that the Wood Spirit likely avoided the dangerous upper levels and that the first three floors had no expanded prison spaces.
• Xixia said she had taken an item from the Wood Spirit and offered it as a medium for a tracking spell, prompting Angel to ask to see it.

Angel traded his meaningful Demon Coin with Xixia for a ring taken from the Wood Spirit, then questioned her about Abyss City and its surviving Sovereigns. Xixia agreed to wait while Angel prepared to show her one of her own kind, and Angel arranged for his companions to pay their passage fees first.

• Xixia exchanged Angel's Demon Coin for a silver ring that could help a prophecy wizard trace the Wood Spirit.
• Angel declined Xixia's offer of a random trade and suggested she let the approaching Wandering Merchants draw prizes.
• Angel questioned Xixia and learned that Abyss City's decline was inevitable, a prominent figure had helped the Source-Worshippers gain recognition as humans, and some Sovereigns still waited for Abyss City to rise again.
• Xixia demanded that Angel fulfill his promise to let her see one of her own kind, and Angel said he needed about twenty minutes to prepare.
• Angel asked Xixia to let him out so he could arrange his companions' passage fees, then promised to return with the visitor for a meeting inside the casket.

After returning from Xixia’s box, Angel explained that each person needed a meaningful treasure to exchange for a ticket to the Stairway of the Hanging Prison. As the others prepared to bargain, Wai traded his deathly crystal ball, while Kael revealed the keepsake he had struggled to give up: a crumpled piece of parchment.

• Angel returned after spending nearly half an hour speaking with Xixia, though only three minutes had passed outside, and told the group she needed items with personal meaning in exchange for tickets.
• Angel said he would prepare the item owed to Xixia for their private deal, while Black Earl declared that he would obtain a ticket of his own.
• Wai refused to enter Angel’s Exile Space and chose to exchange his longtime crystal ball, which he used to cast Death Scent, for a ticket.
• Wai asked Angel to make him a replacement crystal ball, and Angel agreed to consider the commission.
• Angel examined the group’s treasures as they prepared to trade, and Kael produced a crumpled piece of parchment as the item he had long struggled to relinquish.

Kael recounted how a variant formula on an old parchment had shaped his path as a researcher and decided to surrender it to Xixia's Casket. The casket accepted it as a treasure, and Dox then offered an Ashilia Academy Holy Light Vine Staff in exchange for a ticket.

• Kael explained that he had found the parchment in a wizard's ruin and spent decades studying its variant of the Basil Dual-Phase Formula, even after realizing it might be flawed.
• Kael said the parchment marked the beginning of his journey and that he was ready to let it go; Angel advised him to trust his own judgment.
• Kael gave the parchment to Xixia's Casket, which accepted it as a treasure and returned a red symbol while calling him a fool.
• Wai and Dox teased each other about their treasures, and Angel identified Dox's glowing vine staff as Ashilia Academy's Holy Light Vine Staff.
• Dox insisted the staff was his treasure and walked toward Xixia's Casket to offer it.

Angel prepared Bobota for a meeting with Xixia, but Dodolo’s powerful prophecy revealed that Angel had encountered someone from the Origin-Worshiping Clan who should have died long ago. After consulting Dodolo, Angel left the Dream Wilderness and prepared to meet Xixia, carrying Dodolo’s cryptic warning: “The wise were not foolish.”

• Angel explained that Dox’s Holy Light Vine Staff belonged to an old friend, and Dox confirmed that he had handed it over to her.
• Angel entered Ermi’s protective barrier and traveled to the Dream Wilderness to prepare Bobota for meeting Xixia.
• Angel found Bobota with Dodolo at the Ocean Theater, where Dodolo warned Bobota to say little and wait longer.
• Dodolo told Angel that his prophecy had revealed a long-dead member of the Origin-Worshiping Clan, and Angel quickly briefed Bobota on the stakes of meeting Xixia.
• Angel discussed the ruins and cultivation with Dodolo, who advised him that “the wise were not foolish.”
• Angel returned to reality, dismissed Ermi’s barrier, and prepared to meet Xixia.

Angel returned to Xixia’s Casket and presented her with an ornate forehead chain that would let her meet Bobota, a member of her Baiyuan Clan. Xixia hesitated to use it, revealing that she was nervous about meeting him, and asked Angel to keep chatting while she gathered herself.

• Angel spoke with Dox about his passage ticket and learned that Black Earl had exchanged his old stone slab for one made by Wai.
• Angel entered Xixia’s Casket for their final transaction while Black Earl warned Wai that a dangerous domain lurked inside.
• Black Earl suspected Xixia was the Sia Saintess after learning she had been an old friend of a Noah ancestor.
• Angel gave Xixia an elaborate forehead chain and explained that it would let her meet Bobota.
• Xixia delayed activating the chain, denied being afraid, and asked Angel to talk with her while she collected herself.