Chapter Summaries

Wise Sovereign explained that Adanis might still be cultivating demon god believers, then introduced Little One-Eye as a source of information about Clear Sky Poem Room. Little One-Eye’s arrival exposed the origin of Wise Sovereign’s pen name, and the group prepared to question it while Wise Sovereign agreed to leave.

• Wise Sovereign said Adanis could use mirrors to deceive people and cultivate new demon god believers, and Angel and the others might learn more when they encountered them.
• Little One-Eye arrived through a cup of water, and Black Earl recognized it as a member of the One-Eye Family.
• Dox coaxed Little One-Eye into revealing that it had named Wise Sovereign Blue Fatty, angering Wise Sovereign.
• Wise Sovereign explained that Little One-Eye had learned about Clear Sky Poem Room from Nether Servant, who had seen it through mirrors.
• Wise Sovereign told Little One-Eye to answer questions about Clear Sky Poem Room truthfully and said it could consult Second Treasure about other questions.

Angel questioned Little Treasure about Sweet Dream and learned that it was an abstract Mysterious Dream with no main body, stored in a mirror-world. The chapter ended with Angel speculating that its beautiful dreams might trap sleepers so they could not wake on their own.

• Wise Sovereign entered a blank picture frame and appeared in its portrait, peacefully asleep inside Sweet Dream.
• Little Treasure explained that Sweet Dream was a mysterious object born from a fragment of a blank dream and could be entered through any mirror surface.
• Angel questioned whether Sweet Dream granted benefits, and Little Treasure’s response suggested that it gave users a positive effect.
• Angel described Lonely Cabin, which granted immortality to anyone inside but killed them if they left without a replacement; Dox worked out how its deadly effect could be avoided.
• Angel suggested that Sweet Dream might have a negative effect and asked whether sleepers could become trapped in its beautiful dreams.

Angel confirmed that Sweet Dream could not wake its user without help and learned from Little Treasure about hidden spaces and unknown creatures in the Clear Sky Poem Room. After Wise Sovereign emerged from his dream, he accepted Angel’s genuine interest in Sweet Dream’s creation and offered to discuss the process with him.

• Angel inferred that Sweet Dream users could remain trapped in a good dream until someone woke them, and Little Treasure’s emotions confirmed his guess.
• Little Treasure described the Clear Sky Poem Room’s darkness, its many mirror spaces, and creatures including glowing furballs and a green-lit black panther.
• Wise Sovereign emerged from the painting and confirmed that Sweet Dream users would keep dreaming unless someone woke them.
• Wise Sovereign questioned Angel’s interest in Sweet Dream, and Angel wrote in the Truth Book that he wanted to study its creation and possible compatibility with the Dream Wilderness.
• Black Earl revealed that Angel had once come close to refining a mysterious object, surprising Wise Sovereign.
• Wise Sovereign believed Angel’s explanation and offered to discuss Sweet Dream’s birth process with him later.

The Wise Sovereign discussed escape plans for the Clear Sky Poem Room, then separated the group for private conversations. In a mural room, he showed Angel scenes from Abyss City’s past and identified the figure beneath a golden sun as Naraka.

• The Wise Sovereign outlined assistance and shelter plans if Angel and the others left the Clear Sky Poem Room under hostile circumstances, while Angel judged they should be ready to escape on their own.
• Angel asked about trials on the way to the Clear Sky Poem Room, and the Wise Sovereign said the greatest trial lay at its doors and urged them to reconsider sending everyone.
• Angel chose not to tell the Wise Sovereign about the otherworldly Infant Spirits, then the Wise Sovereign began separate conversations with Angel, the Black Earl, and Dox.
• The tiny Wise Sovereign led Dox away, while Angel and the Black Earl received separate rooms and Kael and Wai were invited to read books with Little Treasure’s guidance.
• The Wise Sovereign showed Angel murals of Abyss City from ten thousand years earlier and identified a wizard bearing the golden circling-bird insignia as Prison Warden Franklin.
• The Wise Sovereign pointed out a figure standing beneath a golden sun in the mural and told Angel that he was Naraka.

Angel learned from Wise Sovereign that the murals recorded Abyss City’s experiments, many of them conducted by the Source-Worshipper faction marked by the Serpent-Coiled Awl emblem. The chapter ended with Angel studying a confidential experiment mural in which Naraka stood before an eye-like rift, determined to uncover its meaning.

• Wise Sovereign explained that Naraka had approached the possibility of a miracle despite being one step short of Legend, and Angel dismissed the idea of predicting anyone’s future.
• Wise Sovereign showed Angel a mural depicting crow-winged people transformed through an experiment conducted by the Serpent-Coiled Awl faction, which he identified as a pure-blood Source-Worshipper group.
• Wise Sovereign explained that the faction’s experiments included life extension and the cultivation of magic plants, then pointed out murals of other studies, including the Hundred Hands Experiment and the Hallucination Separation Experiment.
• Wise Sovereign stopped at a mural showing Naraka facing an eye-like rift marked with the Serpent-Coiled Awl emblem, but refused to disclose the confidential experiment’s details.
• Angel memorized the mural’s details and resolved to find the answer, considering Dodolo as a possible source of help.

Angel learned from the Wise Sovereign that the Immortal Serpent Crest represented the Serpent-Coiled Awl’s pursuit of immortality for the entire Source-Worshippers race, rather than being identical to the Serpent-Coiled Awl symbol. The Wise Sovereign then offered to reveal Abyss City’s past experiments if Angel became a participant in its former cooperation with the Serpent-Coiled Awl, but Angel recognized that he could not commit Savage Cave to an alliance.

• Angel asked the Wise Sovereign about the Immortal Serpent Crest and explained that a Kula Kuka Clan priest had named the Serpent-Coiled Awl symbol the Immortal Serpent Crest and its ring-shaped awl the Cone of Immortality.
• The Wise Sovereign explained that the Serpent-Coiled Awl pursued immortality and that the Immortal Serpent Crest symbolized its goal, while cautioning Angel that knowledge from ten thousand years earlier might not be fully reliable.
• The Wise Sovereign proposed that the Serpent-Coiled Awl intended to place the Immortal Serpent Crest on the Source-Worshippers’ shared Origin Fire Altar, potentially making the entire race immortal.
• Angel asked whether the Serpent-Coiled Awl had succeeded, and the Wise Sovereign said he did not know because its research in Abyss City had focused on other matters.
• The Wise Sovereign offered to reveal the truth about Abyss City’s past experiments if Angel became a participant in the former cooperation between Abyss City and the Serpent-Coiled Awl.
• Angel realized the Wise Sovereign wanted cooperation involving the force behind him and decided he could not agree on Savage Cave’s behalf without authority or a clear benefit.

The Wise Sovereign revealed that he had arranged for the exiled Noah clansmen known as Hollow Men to be cared for, and used that information to secure Black Earl’s agreement to cooperate with Naraka City. Black Earl set limits on the partnership and obtained the Wise Sovereign’s promise to share information about the Hollow Men; their formal contract had to wait until the exploration ended.

• After Angel refused to cooperate, the Wise Sovereign focused on persuading Black Earl, showing him a map of Naraka City and explaining his long-standing connection to the Noah Clan.
• The Wise Sovereign revealed that he had arranged for Big Treasure and Little Treasure to help the exiled Hollow Men rebuild their lives, and said he knew the circumstances of every one of them.
• Black Earl realized that the Hollow Men and their descendants faced dangers because they carried the Noah bloodline, and asked the Wise Sovereign how many were still alive and where they were.
• Black Earl agreed to cooperate with Naraka City on three conditions: the partnership would not harm the Noah Clan or compel him to help rebuild the city, he would retain independence, and he would receive information about the Hollow Men and their descendants.
• The Wise Sovereign accepted the conditions with limits on information about Hollow Men in major wizard organizations or beyond the Southern Region, and he and Black Earl confirmed a verbal contract.

After leaving Wise Sovereign's Hall, Angel, Black Earl, Dox, Kael, and Wai continued through the dark passage toward the Clear Sky Poem Room, despite the dangers ahead. Angel revealed that the Wise Sovereign had offered him cooperation, and Black Earl disclosed that he had accepted the same proposal.

• Angel asked Kael and Wai if they still wished to continue, and both insisted on joining the others despite the danger.
• Wai used Dox's feelings as a supposed danger detector, while Dox denied caring about Wai's safety.
• The group left Wise Sovereign's Hall, and the Wise Sovereign secretly monitored their progress through the magic energy array while waiting to intervene if necessary.
• As they traveled, Angel told Dox that he had discussed borrowing Sweet Dream with the Wise Sovereign, contingent on surviving the Clear Sky Poem Room.
• Angel said the Wise Sovereign had invited him to cooperate, but he had declined because he could not commit on behalf of Demon Illusion Island and Savage Cave.
• Black Earl revealed that the Wise Sovereign had proposed the same cooperation to him, and that he had agreed.

Angel and his companions continued toward the Legacy Site while weighing the Wise Sovereign’s warning about a powerful otherworldly creature. As Black Earl detected an unfamiliar natural fragrance and the group debated where the creature might come from, he suggested it could originate in the Mirror Realm.

• Black Earl told Angel that the Wise Sovereign had offered terms he could not refuse, but said their cooperation would not affect the operation.
• Black Earl detected a distant fragrance that no one else could smell, and Angel doubted Adanis had come to confront them herself.
• Dox reasoned that the approaching creature needed a way into the Southern Region, intelligence, and a reason to come there.
• Dox proposed several possible origins, including the Abyss, Loft World, and Quest World, while Angel considered whether the creature might be an Infant Spirit.
• Black Earl reminded the group that the creature could have come from the Mirror Realm.

Angel and the others considered whether Adanis might use a powerful Infant Spirit and the Mirror Realm to stop them. Black Earl revealed that a strange fragrance had suddenly vanished, leaving Angel concerned that it might signal a trap as the group continued through the passage.

• Dox realized that Adanis could send powerful creatures from the Mirror Realm, and Wai warned the group to watch for reflective surfaces.
• Angel revealed that the otherworldly monster was a powerful Infant Spirit, prompting the group to prepare to fight undead.
• Black Earl explained that the fragrance he had been tracking had vanished without its source moving, and Angel speculated that Adanis might have concealed it with a spatial barrier.
• Wai supported Angel's theory that the scent might belong to Adanis, while Black Earl urged the group to prepare for the possibility without treating it as certain.
• Angel asked Black Earl whether he could reproduce the scent, but they set the idea aside as the group reached a fork with one path blocked.
• Dox wondered whether Adanis could reverse the paths with a mirror, and Angel watched him thoughtfully as they took the only open route.

Kael discovered that cracks at a ruined fork formed a hidden mirror surface, and Angel realized energy crystals had likely gathered inside it. Adanis revealed herself and trapped the group between the mirror surface and a water-wall mirror medium, forcing them to run down the remaining path as a voice calling itself a mermaid princess protested being called Clownfish.

• Kael showed the group a recording that revealed a pattern formed by cracks on three walls at a fork.
• Angel recognized that an energy node might have crystallized and led everyone back to inspect the pattern.
• Adanis appeared when Angel prepared to remove the crystal, and mirror surfaces spread across the cracked walls.
• The group tried to retreat toward Wise Sovereign's Hall, but Adanis blocked the passage with a water-wall mirror medium.
• The group ran down the only open route while Dox prepared to cast Planar Corridor if needed.
• A voice in the surrounding space objected to being called Clownfish and insisted it was a mermaid princess.

Angel and his companions were trapped as the Clownfish's mirror fish spread the Mirror Realm around them. Angel discovered he could destroy the fish, but their numbers overwhelmed him, so he decided to attack the magic energy array's spatial node and have Dox open a Planar Corridor.

• Angel recognized that the descending path was an illusion and stopped Dox from smashing the rubble on the upward path after spotting a pattern linked to the mirror fish.
• The Clownfish appeared in a mirror as a Ru Clan-like creature and sent out countless human-faced fish that spread the Mirror Realm.
• Black Earl tested the fish with a clay doll and found that attacks dragged attackers into the mirrors, while Angel discovered he could reach into them and shatter groups of fish.
• The fish continued multiplying and surrounded the group, leaving them with less than twenty meters of space to move.
• Angel told the group he would attack the magic energy array's spatial node while Dox prepared to open a Planar Corridor.

Angel and the others prepared to retreat, but Olao intervened and persuaded Clownfish to withdraw her human-faced fish. Olao then allowed them to proceed toward the Clear Sky Poem Room to face a flower-holding Infant Spirit, leaving his reason for watching them—and whom he had singled out—unclear.

• Angel threw an external array plate toward a spatial node, and it landed in position, ready to destabilize the area for the Planar Corridor.
• Olao's voice stopped the human-faced fish, and Clownfish stammered as she explained that Adanis had encouraged her attack.
• Olao persuaded Clownfish to withdraw her fish and return to the Mirror Realm, while Adanis and Olao argued about whether the group should be thrown into the Empty Mirror Sea.
• Adanis left, and Olao told the group to proceed, naming the flower-holding Infant Spirit as their trial and asking them, especially one of them, not to disappoint him.
• Dox suspected Olao had singled out Angel, but Angel teased him and denied that Olao's words had referred to him.
• Black Earl concluded that Angel likely believed his denial, and wondered which person present had truly caught Olao's attention.

Dox, Wai, Kael, Angel, and Black Earl approached the source of a floral fragrance near the Clear Sky Poem Room, suspecting it was connected to the Infant Spirit guarding the way. After Kael and Wai proposed that a flower might be parasitizing the Infant Spirit, Angel and Black Earl decided to study the scent before moving closer.

• Dox and Wai connected Olao's mention of a flower-holding Infant Spirit to the floral fragrance Black Earl had smelled, so Angel used Ermi to restore the Moving Illusion and Purification Field.
• The group followed a winding, partly collapsed slope and reached a broad avenue near the Clear Sky Poem Room, where Black Earl estimated the fragrance's source was within about a hundred meters.
• Wai worried that the Infant Spirit might be more dangerous than an ordinary undead creature, while Dox remained confident they could fight or escape using the Planar Corridor.
• Kael suggested the flower might be parasitizing the Infant Spirit, and Wai reasoned that the flower could be the true threat and the creature obeying Adanis.
• Angel agreed with Wai's deduction and said he and Black Earl would study the fragrance's composition to identify its source before proceeding.

Angel used the Transcendent Extractor to identify the fragrance outside the Moving Illusion as coming from Demon-Eating Flowers tainted with Nightmare Realm aura. The group prepared to continue through the Underground Waterway, uncertain whether the Demon-Eating Flower or the Infant Spirit was their main threat.

• Angel modified active ore to absorb the surrounding fragrance, then used Kulori's Transcendent Extractor to analyze it.
• Angel discovered that the fragrance came from Demon-Eating Flowers and contained a trace of Nightmare Realm aura.
• Angel worried that Black Earl or Olao might connect him to the Nightmare Realm, but he refused to reveal the source of his information when Black Earl asked.
• Black Earl said the scent resembled Demon-Eating Flowers he had encountered before, though it differed, and recommended keeping the Purification Field active.
• Dox questioned whether Demon-Eating Flowers could parasitize undead spirits and whether the flower or the Infant Spirit was their true target.
• Black Earl urged the group to continue until they could see the Demon-Eating Flower for themselves.

The Wise Sovereign watched Angel’s group escape Adanis’s trap when Olao appeared and dispelled the void, then wondered why Olao had intervened for Angel. In the Clear Sky Poem Room, Olao and Adanis argued over the group’s trial and what Olao would do if they reached him, while Angel’s group continued through the ruined Nightmare Realm.

• The Wise Sovereign sensed Adanis’s Mirror Realm attack trapping Angel’s group, but Olao appeared and restored the area before he could intervene.
• Adanis questioned Olao about why he expected Angel’s group to arrive, and Olao said he would explain if they failed to come.
• Olao told Adanis that if Angel’s group passed the otherworldly Infant Spirit’s trial, he would stand on their side.
• Adanis struggled with her doubts about Olao’s hopes, then regained her composure and turned in shock toward the Clear Sky Poem Room’s entrance.
• Angel’s group continued toward the southeast passage, and Angel recognized the collapsed square as the place where he had first arrived in the Nightmare Realm.

Angel and his companions encountered an Infant Spirit beyond layers of unusual silk nets and hardened red wax, and debated how to get past them without exposing themselves. Angel decided to test the Infant Spirit with an illusion, leaving the group poised to face it directly.

• Angel led the group into a dark alley, where Dox sensed the Infant Spirit and sent Wai and Kael back to wait outside.
• The group found the Infant Spirit moving behind dense layers of silk nets spread over red wax, and Angel confirmed that the materials appeared ordinary despite their ominous nature.
• Black Earl reasoned that the Infant Spirit might be intelligent or unable to detect the group, while Dox cautiously sensed the nets and saw their strands glow deep crimson.
• Angel and Black Earl discussed how to proceed as Dox hesitated to approach, and the group rejected burning the nets because it could reveal their presence.
• Angel agreed that they needed to confront the Infant Spirit and said he would first test it with an illusion.

Dox sent a sandworm called Little Stinkbug to probe the Infant Spirit’s webbing and red wax while the group watched from the safety of the Moving Illusion. The sandworm reached the ceiling and neared the webbing, but Dox’s control over it began fluctuating, leaving the cause unexplained.

• Dox volunteered to probe with a sandworm larva, and he soaked it in the smell of a filthy gutter before naming it Little Stinkbug.
• Wai teased Dox into agreeing that he would retrieve the sandworm by the same route it came, and Angel backed Wai’s trap.
• Black Earl noted that the Infant Spirit had ignored the sandworm, suggesting it possessed intelligence or was being controlled.
• Dox directed Little Stinkbug around the red wax by sending it up the wall and across the ceiling.
• As Little Stinkbug neared the webbing, Dox repeatedly felt his control over it weaken and return, but the sandworm continued toward its target.

Dox and the others tested the woven net and red wax, discovering that the net absorbed foreign energy while the wax trapped sandworms and severed Dox’s control over them. When the trapped sandworms returned, their crimson-corrupted state flooded Dox with despair, and he concluded that they had gone mad.

• Dox concluded that the woven net absorbed energy that did not belong to a creature’s body, while the sandworm remained alive and unharmed.
• Dox sent a sandworm named Cullinan Zilolo Baldev onto the red wax, which melted beneath it and swallowed it, cutting off Dox’s bloodline connection.
• Black Earl returned both sandworms in stone cages, and Dox sensed a flood of negative emotions through his bloodline before severing the connection and collapsing.
• Angel used an illusion of warm sunlight and beautiful memories to lift Dox out of his despair.
• Dox recovered and told the group that the sandworms had gone mad.

Angel recognized the sandworms’ madness as the influence of a Nightmare Realm creature and chose to test a different approach instead of attacking the traps. His Mist Serpent passed through the spiderwebs as they opened for it, revealing the Infant Spirit ahead.

• Dox explained that the sandworms had gone mad and could no longer safely return their bloodlines to the mother body, while Black Earl concluded the Infant Spirit had discovered the group but was hiding.
• Angel soothed the sandworms’ negative emotions enough to make them sleep, and Dox reluctantly went to care for them.
• Angel detected a faint Nightmare Realm aura in the sandworms and decided to try using the identity of Shava rather than immediately fighting.
• Angel released a smoke-like Mist Serpent, which blasted through the first spiderweb before every following web opened voluntarily in its path.
• The Mist Serpent grew stronger as it advanced, and the Infant Spirit’s true form came into view.