Chapter Summaries

Angel asked Xixia to evaluate the treasures his companions had surrendered, hoping to learn about Black Earl. Xixia explained the crystal ball’s connection to Death Scent and revealed the strange origin of Kael’s parchment, leaving Angel with a possible lead to help his dying mentor Jon.

• Angel asked Xixia to discuss the four treasures, and she chose to examine Wai’s dark crystal ball first.
• Xixia explained that the crystal ball embodied Death Scent and could help people facing death, but it could not save Jon because the World Will’s erosion had already reached his marrow.
• Xixia speculated that Black Earl might possess a similar medium for Death Scent that could help Jon, though she warned it might not revive him; Angel thanked her and renewed his hope.
• Xixia examined Kael’s parchment and asked Angel about its spatial formula, then explained that its original owner had been a food wizard who derived it while hallucinating after eating intoxicating food.
• Angel realized Kael had spent decades studying a transformed formula that its original owner had produced on a whim, though the parchment had also helped Kael enter the wizarding path.

Xixia explained that she favored Black Earl because she had once befriended a woman who fell in love with a mysterious young wizard of the Noah Family, though she never learned how their story ended. After Angel helped lift Xixia’s mood, he said he had questions about the Noah Clan that might concern that wizard.

• Xixia explained that the Holy Light Vine Staff held the tangled emotions of five people and that Dox had guarded it through friendship before choosing to let it go.
• Xixia said the stone slab had carried Black Earl’s nose avatar for about sixty years and revealed that her leniency toward Black Earl came from her past connection to a Noah ancestor.
• Xixia recalled befriending a woman trapped by her family’s expectations and helping her exchange letters with a young Noah wizard, though she did not know how their relationship ended.
• Xixia described the Noah wizard as mysterious, unusually learned, and impossible for her prophetic abilities to see through.
• Angel diverted Xixia from her gloomy memories by mentioning Wai, then said he had questions about the Noah Clan that might relate to the wizard.

Angel asked Xixia to interpret the Uisu writing found in Abyss City’s underground church, learning that it mentioned a Mirror Shadow and a Noah forebear connected to Xixia’s friend. By questioning Xixia about the Warden’s daughter, Angel confirmed that Margaret and Augustine had been close and that Margaret may have used the Wise One to contact him.

• Angel explained why he suspected the Black Earl had foreknowledge of the underground waterways and showed Xixia the Uisu writing from the church.
• Xixia translated the hidden envoy as a Mirror Shadow and identified the Warden as the ruler who received a stolen sacred relic.
• Xixia found the name of her close friend among the writing and said the Black Earl had not concealed other information, though his translations contained errors.
• Angel told Xixia that his team sought a hidden destination in the Garden Maze, then deduced that her friend was the Warden’s daughter.
• Xixia revealed that the Warden’s daughter was Margaret and the Noah Clan member was Augustine, and suggested Margaret may have asked the Wise One to help contact him.

Angel persuaded Xixia to help him learn about the Wise Sovereign, promising they could uncover what happened to Margaret and Augustine. He brought Xixia into a dream to meet Bobota, and the chapter left her facing a familiar figure beyond the hall doorway.

• Angel explained that the Wise Sovereign was the only one who knew Margaret and Augustine’s fate, and Xixia admitted she had been unable to get answers from it for ten thousand years.
• Angel’s confidence persuaded Xixia to become his ally, and she agreed to tell him what she knew about the Wise Sovereign within the limits of her oath.
• Angel told Xixia that she would meet Bobota in a dream, then led her onto the Dream Bridge.
• In the Dream Wilderness, Xixia marveled at feeling her body and the warmth of sunlight again, but restrained herself from leaping out a window.
• Xixia followed a corridor into a hall, where she saw a familiar figure instead of Angel.

Xixia encountered Lulu and Coco in a lifelike dream and questioned what Angel intended by recreating her old companions. After finding Coco with Jon at Pat Manor, she scolded both Gargoyles, just as someone asked whether she knew them.

• Xixia recognized Lulu, who excitedly rushed toward her, and knocked the Gargoyle down with a familiar kick.
• Xixia comforted Lulu and learned that Coco was behind the drapes with a frightening old man.
• Xixia heard the man asking Coco for samples and stormed through the drapes, only to find Coco happily eating ice cream while Jon examined it.
• Jon introduced himself as Jon, said Bobota was in the dining room, and asked Xixia whether she was a wizard.
• Xixia lectured Lulu and Coco about trusting humans too easily until someone nearby asked whether she knew the two Gargoyles.

Angel tried to convince Xixia that the Dream Wilderness was real, but her suspicion persisted until she questioned two gargoyles she recognized. After Xixia returned, Jon and Angel reminisced about their past before Jon left them to talk.

• Xixia confronted Angel, who introduced Jon and suggested she ask Bobota about the Dream Wilderness, but she accused Angel of inventing the place and its inhabitants.
• Angel revealed that Coco and Lulu were the gargoyles he had brought into the Dream Wilderness, and Xixia took them outside to question them.
• Jon told Angel that Xixia's suspicion was understandable because Angel had given her no explanation and had joked that she was in a dream.
• Jon remembered Angel's childhood mischief, and Angel recalled how he had tried to become more mature to fulfill Jon's hopes.
• Angel teased Jon about his wife, family, and embarrassing drunken confessions, then warned that Leon might remember even more.
• Xixia returned looking confused, and Jon left Angel alone with her, fretting that Leon could reveal his secrets.

Xixia learned from Bobota that Dream Wilderness was a real, evolving world and accepted Angel’s offer to return to it, though she warned him that the Wise One might seek to exploit it for Abyss City. Angel received Xixia’s passage-clearing ticket and began asking her to confirm more information before he left.

• Xixia concluded that Coco and Lulu’s consciousnesses were real but questioned whether Bobota was genuine, then went upstairs to meet him.
• Angel showed Lulu and Coco around Pat Manor while he waited for Xixia to return from her conversation with Bobota.
• Xixia confirmed that Bobota was a Source-Worshipper and learned that Dream Wilderness allowed her to meet others and access news from the outside world.
• Xixia decided she wanted to keep using the forehead-chain login device, but warned Angel that the Wise One was loyal to Abyss City and might try to use Dream Wilderness.
• Xixia gave Angel a glowing red ticket that would guide him to the Stairway of the Hanging Prison, then prepared to send him out of the casket.
• Angel asked Xixia to wait so he could confirm some information with her.

Angel led the group out of Xixia's Casket and down the stairs into the Exile Space while Gray Merchants pursued them. Dox paid for a replacement ticket with a treasured sword, and Angel arranged a future knowledge exchange with Black Earl before offering to share what Xixia had told him about the Wood Spirit.

• Black Earl warned that Gray Merchants had passed the One-Eyed Wraiths and entered the stinking ditch, so Angel led the group toward the Exile Space stairs.
• Xixia punished Dox for his crude remarks by causing him to lose his ticket, and Dox traded his longtime thrusting sword for a replacement.
• Wai explained that Dox had used the sword for decades, while Angel revealed that Xixia had known an ancestor of the Noah Clan and hinted that the story might relate to their exploration.
• Angel and Black Earl agreed to exchange useful knowledge, though Angel refused to visit the Noah Clan Lands alone.
• Angel told the group they would seek the Wood Spirit after leaving the Exile Space and offered to show them information about it from Xixia.

Angel explained how the Wood Spirit reached Xixia’s platform and lost its cherished silver ring, then revealed that the ring belonged with three other silver objects. He assembled all four into a single, finely crafted object whose purpose remained unknown.

• Angel explained that the Wood Spirit had sought safety on Xixia’s platform, refused to give up its ring, and was eventually kicked off after Xixia forcibly took it.
• Angel said he had traded a gold coin with Xixia for the Wood Spirit’s ring so the group might use it to track the Wood Spirit.
• Angel placed the Wood Spirit’s ring, a silver crown, an oval pendant, and Dangros’s silver band on four Magic Hands for the group to inspect.
• Wai and Kael recognized that the objects seemed like parts of one whole, and Angel confirmed that Kael’s earlier observation had inspired the connection.
• Angel assembled the four objects into one seamless silver object, leaving the group unsure what it was used for.

Angel and the others assembled the silver objects and concluded they formed the head of a short staff, possibly belonging to the Wood Spirit and the Igulo Family. The staff’s history remained uncertain, and they planned to see whether the silver ring would draw the Wood Spirit to them at the Stairway of the Hanging Prison.

• Angel simulated a black staff shaft beneath the silver pieces, revealing that they could form a short staff rather than a dagger.
• Angel explained that Xixia had described the Wood Spirit’s most inconspicuous form as a pitch-black stick, while Black Earl discussed how the staff might have given birth to a spirit.
• Dox raised questions about why the staff ornaments had been scattered, why the Wood Spirit treasured the ring, and whether the staff had belonged to Sanders.
• Angel proposed that One-Eyed Wraiths might have removed or discarded the ornaments, but he admitted he did not know why Sanders had told him only about losing a dagger.
• Angel asked Black Earl about tracking the ring, and Black Earl said they could discuss it if the Wood Spirit did not appear when they reached the Stairway of the Hanging Prison.

The group crossed the shifting staircase, where stepping away from a red mark exposed travelers to a shadow in the void and revealed that each ticket holder had a separate route. Angel and Wai continued together briefly, and Angel arranged to examine a crystal ball tied to Wai’s Death Scent ability before their paths split.

• Kael discovered that his red mark led along a different route, and the group learned that leaving the marked stairs brought an enormous shadow out of the void.
• Kael chose to follow his own mark, and Dox later departed along a separate path as the branching routes appeared one by one.
• The Black Earl left on his own route, leaving Angel and Wai together on the staircase.
• Angel identified that Wai’s supposed death aura concealed an opposing aura and offered to refine a crystal ball suited to Wai’s ability.
• Wai recalled that the Black Earl owned a crystal ball given to him by an old friend and promised to bring it to Angel after they escaped.
• Angel’s red mark split away from Wai’s, and Angel headed toward the Stairway of the Hanging Prison entrance while wondering who the Black Earl’s friend had been.

Angel learned from Black Earl that the Stairway of the Hanging Prison had shattered in places, leaving the Wood Spirit’s whereabouts uncertain. He paused his journey to seek answers from Xixia in the Dream Wilderness, where she entered again and was welcomed by Head Maid Mana.

• Angel continued alone up the red-lit staircase while the others chatted through the Mind Tether.
• Black Earl told Angel that he had found the exit but discovered that much of the Stairway of the Hanging Prison had shattered, though its staircase remained climbable.
• Angel realized Xixia’s information about the Wood Spirit might be outdated and worried that the Wood Spirit had left.
• Angel received notice that Xixia had entered the Dream Wilderness, created an illusionary refuge around himself, and prepared to meet her.
• Xixia returned to Pat Manor’s castle hall, where Head Maid Mana recognized her and warmly led her to the kitchen for fried rice.

Xixia tried and enjoyed Head Maid Mana’s scallion egg fried rice before confronting Angel about tracking her through his Dream Wilderness authority. She left with Mana for Skyvault Tower after telling Angel that her information about the Stairway of the Hanging Prison was six years old, leaving him uncertain whether the Wood Spirit was still there.

• Xixia overcame her dislike of eggs and oil, tasted Mana’s scallion egg fried rice, and found it delicious.
• Angel arrived, and Xixia refused to discuss the food with him because she did not want to please him, then challenged him about locating her.
• Angel explained that his Dream Gate authority alerted him when marked individuals entered the Dream Wilderness, and he had marked Xixia because she was a Source-Worshipper.
• Xixia warned Angel about creatures in the void and said no one had retreated; Angel then asked what she knew about the Stairway of the Hanging Prison and when she had last received information.
• Xixia left with Mana for Skyvault Tower, while Angel learned her information was six years old and considered whether the Wood Spirit might still be hiding in the Stairway.

Angel visited Iron Armor Granny in the Dream Wilderness, learned about Maya’s worries, and asked for help identifying a cane he had found in the ruins. Butler Gude linked the cane to a portrait of Sanders as a young wizard, and Angel left without telling his mentor; Iron Armor Granny then recalled the name Xixia and wondered where she had heard it.

• Angel found Wizard Maya visiting Iron Armor Granny and guessed that she was under pressure over Dodolo and an impending breakthrough.
• Iron Armor Granny explained that Maya was worried about Dodolo and other troubles, and had urged her to watch New City’s growth for inspiration.
• Angel showed Iron Armor Granny the assembled cane bearing the Igulo Family crest, but she had never seen Sanders use it.
• Iron Armor Granny summoned Butler Gude, who recalled seeing the cane in a portrait of young Sanders displayed in the Igulo Family castle.
• Butler Gude described the paintings and sculpture that embarrassed Sanders, and Angel decided not to tell his mentor about the cane.
• After Angel left, Iron Armor Granny remembered that he had mentioned Xixia and wondered where she had heard the name.

Angel climbed the suspended ladder through the void, safely protected by Xixia’s mark, and reunited with the others at the exits. The group emerged through a concealed doorway and turned to investigate the nearby fountain, where they recognized the statue of a child they had seen before.

• Angel entered the Dream Wilderness, confirmed Xixia’s mark protected him from the void’s Demonic Beasts, and continued climbing toward the exit.
• Dox argued with Wai about whether Angel would be the next to find an exit, while Black Earl, Dox, Wai, and Kael waited for the others.
• Angel reassured the group over the Mind Tether, then pretended to have climbed for a long time before announcing that he had found his exit.
• Everyone left through separate exits that appeared at one real doorway, which vanished after the red marks returned to it.
• Angel explained that a hidden magic energy array concealed the doorway, and the group turned to inspect a fountain with a statue of the child they had seen in the residential area.

The Wise Sovereign left Nether Slave to clear contamination in the underground labyrinth and learned that intruders, possibly including a descendant of Noah, had entered the sewers. The Divine Maiden ordered the Wise Sovereign to investigate the descendant and drive him away—or sever his hopes if he kept seeking her.

• The Dog Hole reported to the Wise Sovereign that outsiders had entered through Prisonfront Passage, including a group hidden by a Moving Illusion.
• The Wise Sovereign dismissed the intruders as unimportant and allowed the Dog Hole to stay with Nether Slave and help clean up the contamination.
• The Wise Sovereign returned to his palace, changed into the form of the Three-Eyed Blue Demon, and prepared to rest.
• The Divine Maiden contacted the Wise Sovereign and said a descendant of Noah was approaching her, ordering him to discover the descendant's purpose.
• The Wise Sovereign agreed to investigate and wondered whether the Divine Maiden meant to sever the descendant's hopes or someone else's.

Black Earl detected a powerful visitor approaching the Stairway of the Hanging Prison and prepared the group to flee through a Planar Corridor if necessary. The visitor turned out to be the Wise Sovereign, who said he had come to speak with someone from the Noah Clan.

• Angel and Black Earl discussed their contingency plans in case the Wood Spirit had left the Stairway of the Hanging Prison.
• Black Earl sensed a dangerous visitor approaching, raised a protective dome, and told Angel to prepare a Planar Corridor.
• Black Earl said he would stay behind if necessary to give the others time to escape, while Angel readied the corridor materials.
• The visitor arrived as a seemingly young, three-eyed being with blue-green skin, and the group recognized him as the Wise Sovereign.
• The Wise Sovereign said he had come to find someone from the Noah Clan and asked that person to come forward.

Angel and the Wise Sovereign questioned each other about the Noah Clan and the visitors’ purpose, while Angel played up uncertainty about whether he belonged to the clan. After the Wise Sovereign named Augustine as the target of their search, Angel admitted he wanted to seek Augustine’s legacy and left their passage through the great hall to the Wise Sovereign’s decision.

• The Wise Sovereign inferred that Xixia or someone else had told the visitors about him, but Angel dodged his questions and redirected the conversation.
• Black Earl acknowledged Angel as the group’s leader and said he came from the Noah Clan, deepening the Wise Sovereign’s suspicion that Angel was a Noah descendant.
• Angel pretended to disclaim any connection to the Noah Clan when the Wise Sovereign warned that the clan should not have come, then challenged him to reveal what he knew about their destination.
• The Wise Sovereign said the visitors were seeking Augustine’s legacy, and Angel admitted he had such intentions.
• Angel told the Wise Sovereign that their journey depended on whether he would let them pass through his great hall.

Angel negotiated with the Wise Sovereign over passage through his hall and exchanged questions with him while concealing details of his conversation with Xixia. The Wise Sovereign revealed that reaching Augustine's remnants would be dangerous, but he could help the group leave if they met a necessary condition that he had not yet disclosed.

• Angel agreed to answer the Wise Sovereign's questions, while Dox insisted that he could speak for himself and volunteered to judge whether Angel's future statements were true.
• The Wise Sovereign asked where Angel had learned about him, and Angel said Day had provided the information; Dox confirmed that Day was the curled-horn Half-Blood Demon at the Third Narrow Mouth.
• Angel asked about the Wise Sovereign's conditions and learned that answering questions was only a bonus condition, while the necessary condition would allow the group to search for Augustine's remnants through the hall.
• The Wise Sovereign warned that the destination was dangerous and said he could not guarantee a safe return, though he would not stop the group from leaving and could close the hall by going to sleep.
• Angel said he had spent nearly an hour speaking with Xixia and offered to discuss only what she had told him about the Wise Sovereign; Dox confirmed the hour, and the Wise Sovereign accepted that limit.

Angel questioned the Wise Sovereign about the conditions for passage through his Hall and deduced that the Wise Sovereign was not fully aligned with the being behind the necessary condition. The Wise Sovereign offered a chance to earn a more detailed answer by attempting to rescue the Wood Spirit, leaving Angel wary of his sudden confidence in them.

• Angel recounted what Xixia had told him and realized the Wise Sovereign's Hall was their only route to Augustine's legacy site.
• The Wise Sovereign said rescuing the Wood Spirit could earn them passage, but an unexpected accident had changed the stakes.
• Dox asked whether accumulated bonus conditions could persuade the Wise Sovereign to help them in danger, and the Wise Sovereign said he could offer only limited assistance and could not act on their behalf.
• Angel inferred that the necessary condition came from another being and that the Wise Sovereign might be using them to learn more about it.
• The Wise Sovereign offered a more detailed answer if they attempted to bring out the Wood Spirit, and Angel suspected he had an ulterior motive.