Chapter Summaries

Sini Cui Ze’s theft of the Ink-Tentacle King’s eggs drove it into a rage, and its growing power began to break the array that confined it. Angel escaped a school of pursuing fish and arrived above the lava lake, where he discovered the Ink-Tentacle King attacking the apprentices below.

• The Ink-Tentacle King erupted from the abyss, and the apprentices realized its fury might be connected to the eggs Sini Cui Ze had hidden in her spatial necklace.
• The Ink-Tentacle King trapped the fleeing apprentices with its roar and battered the magic energy array until its pillars cracked and the array neared collapse.
• Yixiu and Zhu Guli urged Sini Cui Ze to return the eggs, while Kafolian questioned whether doing so would calm the Ink-Tentacle King.
• Rosen saw the array cracking and warned that the Ink-Tentacle King’s unnatural surge in strength could require more apprentices as sacrifices, but Muse asked him to watch Angel’s approach.
• Angel escaped the pursuing flying fish, healed his injuries, and removed the fish-scented cloak that had exposed him.
• Angel reached the lava lake and saw the Ink-Tentacle King attacking Kafolian, Sini Cui Ze, Alan, and the other apprentices.

Angel escaped the Ink-Tentacle King’s light barrier as a vast fish tide pursued him, then devised a way to make the two threats fight each other. He laid illusion nodes around the escaping Ink-Tentacle King and activated a massive mist illusion as the fish tide entered it, preparing to twist their perception.

• Angel narrowly avoided the mana array’s pillars of light by using his soul to move at extraordinary speed, while the others learned his identity and watched the enormous fish tide pursuing him.
• Luna spotted the fish tide filling the sky, and the gathered wizards recognized the resemblance to the catastrophe depicted in “Apocalyptic Catastrophe.”
• Angel saw that the Ink-Tentacle King had nearly broken free and conceived a plan to make it fight the fish tide, but his depleted soul power and repeated use of Selyan Witch's Brew left him short on time.
• Qili flew through the pressure on her broom and carried Angel to four locations around the Ink-Tentacle King so he could place dozens of illusion nodes.
• Angel activated the nodes to cloak the Ink-Tentacle King in a vast mist illusion just as the fish tide rushed into it, intending to twist the fish tide’s perception and provoke a battle.

Angel turned the fish tide against the Ink-Tentacle King and Phosphorfire Jellyfish, creating an opening for the others to escape before Rosen sacrificed the two beasts. As the survivors fled the collapsing lava region, Angel recovered with Qili and learned Luna was thanking him, though the cat soon scratched him when he tried to pet her.

• Angel muddled the perceptions of weaker fish, and the briefly confused Ink-Tentacle King struck the Phosphorfire Jellyfish, provoking a battle that devastated the fish tide.
• Angel used Boundless Silence and fled to the edge of his fog illusion while the two beasts fought; when the fog vanished, Qili rescued him as the fish scattered.
• Sini Cui Ze escaped with the Ink-Tentacle King's eggs, driving the enraged beast to a new peak of strength and trapping the fleeing group beneath its oppressive aura.
• Rosen appeared and sacrificed the Ink-Tentacle King and Phosphorfire Jellyfish, then disappeared as the lava region began erupting and the survivors fled.
• Qili told Angel that Luna was thanking him, but Luna scratched Angel when he tried to pet her, and Qili explained that she understood the cat's moods.

Angel reunited with Alan in the Purification Garden as lava spread across the grasslands and the group searched for a way out. Suspecting the sky’s membrane would open after the hourglass ran down, Angel stayed with the main group to recover and investigate, and Tana said Alan had spoken of him.

• Hermes and Loki thanked Angel for saving them, and Loki asked whether Angel had flown into the sky to lure the fish monsters; Angel stayed silent after Qili scolded Loki.
• The group found the wilderness engulfed by fast-spreading lava and continued flying while fighting swarms of flying fish.
• Dan Yeluo, Frod, and Yixiu departed after Yixiu blamed Sini Cui Ze and Kafolian for the crisis, and Zhu Guli soon left on her own.
• Angel brought out the Gondola and chose to remain with the main group, believing the sky’s membrane might be the exit once the hourglass ran down; Qili stayed with him.
• Angel invited Hermes and Tana aboard the Gondola to rest and examined the unconscious Alan, whom he recognized as an old acquaintance from Gelu Town.
• Tana told Angel that Alan had mentioned him.

Angel learned that Alan had entered the Purification Garden with Tana on their mentor Felicia’s orders, while Hermes promised to protect them. Far away, Nausicaa reunited with Shan and Xiliu and proposed that the Garden’s dangerous sky might be its exit, just as a flock of flying fish attacked.

• Tana told Angel that Alan had spoken of him and revealed that Angel had trained for less than a year and a half, astonishing Hermes and Qili.
• Tana explained that Felicia had sent her and Alan to the Purification Garden, while Hermes vowed to keep them safe.
• Nausicaa, Shan, and Xiliu traveled together after Xiliu tracked them using her blood, and they discussed finding the Garden’s exit.
• Nausicaa suggested that the flying-fish-filled sky might be the exit and that breaking through it could be part of the blood sacrifice.
• Nausicaa warned Shan that a flock of flying fish was attacking, and they prepared to fight.

Angel and his companions fought a flock of frost-wielding flying rays, and Angel’s Fear Spell helped turn back the Golden Flying Ray before Hermes killed it. After the battle, Tana explained her dual talents, and the group continued onward while Sini Cui Ze prepared a meal using a spatial necklace Angel recognized.

• Hermes, Tana, Kafolian, and Qili fought the flying rays while Angel stayed near the Gondola with Alan and Loki.
• The Golden Flying Ray broke through Hermes’s defense and charged at the Gondola, so Angel cast a Fear Spell that made it flee in terror.
• Hermes killed the Golden Flying Ray with his sand curtain, and the remaining flying rays were defeated soon afterward.
• Tana told Angel that she had bloodline-side and mysterious-side talents, then explained that she planned to specialize in one after leaving the Purification Garden.
• Sini Cui Ze began preparing a meal with Ink-Tentacle King eggs, and Angel recognized her Pink Butterfly Heart necklace as one he had made for Dedewiya.

Angel watched Sini Cui Ze prepare a dish, but Alan interrupted before Angel could eat it and warned that she might be a Dark Foodie. After most of the group drank the soup, Alan told Angel that Sini Cui Ze’s methods resembled those of the legendary Food Wraith Xin Ji, whose food could bind wraiths through bargains.

• Sini Cui Ze served Angel Bursting Lava Crimson Egg Soup as thanks for helping her obtain Ink-Tentacle King eggs.
• Alan woke, seized Angel’s soup, and warned Tana that a Gourmet Wizard’s food could be dangerous; after examining it, he found no clear problem but trusted his intuition that something was wrong.
• Hermes and the others drank the soup, while Angel and Qili refused it.
• Angel and Alan discussed their experiences and then used Voice Transmission to discuss Alan’s suspicion that Sini Cui Ze was a Dark Foodie.
• Alan explained that Sini Cui Ze’s earlier exchange with a staff-wielding old man reminded him of Xin Ji’s Food Wraith bargains, and warned Angel that eating her food could have bound him to a contract.

Angel left his companions and crossed the membrane into the Sea of Purification just as a two-hour destruction countdown began for the world he had left behind. He descended into the unfamiliar ocean and found an undersea fortress, where a powerful creature attacked him with a harpoon.

• Angel warned Alan, Hermes, and Qili that the exit might be in the sky, then used a Mist Illusion to leave them behind and sent his soul toward the membrane.
• When the hourglass ran out, nothing changed at first, but Angel passed through the membrane with his body and heard that sacrifice had begun and the world would be destroyed in two hours.
• Angel found himself in a vast sea beneath a starry sky, decided he could not return to the original world, and began searching the seabed for a way forward.
• Angel encountered ordinary fish and a curious dolphin as he descended through the dark ocean, then spotted a lit fortress more than three thousand meters below the surface.
• A strange creature rushed from the fortress and attacked Angel with a harpoon that kept tracking him despite his evasions and Boundless Silence.

Angel defeated a harpoon-wielding Frogskin Monster, then investigated its underwater fortress, which he suspected was connected to the Sea of Purification’s exit. Inside, he found an air-filled dwelling covered in strange writing and primitive humanoid totems.

• Angel shattered the harpoon with a Gravity Veins attack, then escaped the blast and spotted a huge whale in the darkness.
• Angel killed an attacking creature with a Fear Spell and Nightmare Illusion, then named its corpse a Frogskin Monster.
• Angel dissected the Frogskin Monster and found gills, unusual organs, and energy-bearing mucus before discarding the corpse.
• Angel used Boundless Silence to enter the nearby circular fortress and discovered its ingenious passage led to an air-filled room.
• Angel explored the fortress’s two floors and found strange writing and primitive humanoid totems covering the walls.

Angel searched a submerged fortress for clues to the frog-skin monsters’ promised land, then continued deeper into the Sea of Purification. As the Flying Fish World neared destruction, Nausicaa reunited with Shan and Xiliu, while Jiebo watched the apocalypse before leaving with a warning about the Southern Region.

• Angel examined murals and unfamiliar writing in the fortress, guessed the frog-skin monsters’ promised land might be on the sea’s surface, and continued exploring the seafloor.
• Nausicaa told Shan that a veiled woman had ambushed her and admitted she could no longer search for the Sea of Purification.
• Xiliu woke on Ganke’s shoulder as Shan tried to help the badly injured Nausicaa.
• The Flying Fish World began breaking apart amid lava, storms, and rampaging Flying Fish as its countdown neared zero.
• Jiebo left the doomed world with a cloaked woman and said a similar catastrophe might soon strike the Southern Region.
• At the world membrane, Jiebo watched an armless, legless figure ride a manta ray into the Sea of Purification.

As the Purification Garden collapsed into chaos, Rosen spoke with his daughter Melantha about her dead mother and her interest in the Soul Pool. Angel entered a deep ocean trench in search of clues, while Qili followed him; Angel reached the trench floor and began exploring.

• The apprentices who had failed to find the Sea of Purification were swept away as the Purification Garden collapsed, and Rosen watched the sacrifice begin in the Mechanical Tower.
• Melantha returned to Rosen after visiting her mother's grave, and Rosen said he had felt only gratitude toward her mother.
• Melantha noticed Angel studying Ruge Tribe murals on the screen, and Rosen explained Angel could not read them because he lacked Text Comprehension.
• Melantha told Rosen she had come for the Soul Pool, and Rosen said Baroque had told her about it.
• Angel entered a dark trench, and Qili arrived with Luna, learned that Angel had gone down, and followed him.
• Angel descended more than five thousand meters, killed a horned seal, and used a Light Spell to survey the trench floor.

Angel explored a deep-sea trench, discovered an abandoned Frogskin Monster settlement, and fought off a powerful ambusher. As he prepared to investigate the creature's remains, a huge disturbance surged toward him from farther down the trench.

• Angel followed a faint current through the trench and found strange triangular structures topped with circles, some bearing skulls that he identified as totems.
• Angel entered a transparent dome containing an oxygen-filled, recently abandoned Frogskin Monster settlement and found traps, empty houses, and signs of advanced craftsmanship.
• Angel heard unexplained sounds inside the settlement, then detected a stealthy reptilian creature approaching him from behind.
• The creature resisted Angel's Fear Spell, wounded him, and attacked furiously until Angel used the dome's reflection to track it and destroyed it with a Gravity Cannon.
• The ground shook and a powerful humming came from deeper in the trench as currents surged toward Angel.

Qili descended into the undersea settlement and reunited with Angel after he rescued Luna from the violent current. As a gigantic black octopus attacked them, Angel fled with Qili, who spotted what looked like a human figure near the creature’s neck.

• Qili followed Luna’s guidance through the raging current, and Angel caught Luna with a Magic Hand when the current swept it away.
• Qili and Angel examined the ruined settlement, identified clues linking its inhabitants to the Frogskin Monsters, and found that Qili could help translate their writing.
• A gigantic black octopus smashed through the building and attacked them, and Qili judged it to be a Demonic Beast too powerful to fight.
• Angel carried Qili and his own body out of the settlement as the octopus pursued them, and Qili glimpsed a human figure near its neck.

Angel and Qili escaped the giant octopus, and Angel recovered in an underwater watchtower. They learned that Merui's Sword was the chest scale of the Ru Clan's ancestor and that the Ruge Tribe's Apocalypse Altar was likely their destination, but they still did not know where to find the scale.

• Angel and Qili ran through the narrowing trench until the giant octopus could no longer follow, and Angel passed out after returning to his body.
• Qili carried Angel to a stone watchtower and explained that he had fainted because his weak body could not handle the Witch's Soup.
• Angel and Qili read a wall inscription that said Merui's Sword was needed to reach the Land of Finality.
• Qili interpreted Angel's illusion of the murals and discovered that Merui's Sword was the chest scale of the Ru Clan's ancestor.
• Qili explained that the Ruge Tribe worshipped the Ru Clan and that Sky Mechanical City may have relocated them to the Sea of Purification.
• Angel and Qili concluded that the Apocalypse Altar was likely their destination, but they did not know where to find Merui's Sword.

Angel and Qili returned to the trench to find the Ruge Tribe member and Merui's Sword, but their search brought them face-to-face with the giant octopus. Qili fought the monster while Angel tried to reach its neck, and the octopus exposed his position by sensing disturbances in the water.

• Qili told Angel she had seen what was probably a Ruge Tribesman on the giant octopus, so they decided to return to the trench and search for Merui's Sword.
• Angel and Qili found the Ruge Tribe settlement in ruins and continued deeper into the trench, where Qili froze a sea beast that tried to ambush them.
• The giant octopus descended on them and attacked, so Qili drew its attention while Angel gave her the Myriad-Defense Nova scroll and used Boundless Silence to approach its neck.
• Qili's netherflame injured the giant octopus, which summoned hundreds of sharp-mouthed sea beasts to attack them.
• The giant octopus detected Angel by sensing unusual currents, forcing him to abandon stealth and fly openly toward its neck.

Angel and Qili risked their lives to free the merfolk from the giant octopus and escape with Luna. As they fled, the octopus began evolving into an Ink-Tentacle King, a change noticed by a mechanical voice at the Mechanical Tower.

• Angel found the merfolk trapped inside a bubble at the front of the giant octopus and asked Qili to hold it back for twenty seconds.
• Qili used her Nether Lantern Mother Flame to pull the octopus into a soul challenge, leaving herself unable to move while Angel created a mist illusion.
• Angel broke the bubble with Flame Array, Illusory Slaughter, and took the merfolk, then used the Gravity Veins to reach Qili.
• Angel pulled Qili away from the octopus's strike, and Qili activated the Myriad-Defense Nova to shield them as they escaped the mist illusion with Luna.
• The giant octopus swelled and turned red as it evolved into an Ink-Tentacle King, and a mechanical voice at the Mechanical Tower noticed the change.

Angel and Qili recovered Merui's Sword from the sacrificed Ruge Kaguangbudan and inferred that heart scales marked Ruge rank. At the watchtower, Angel encountered Yixiu after a siphon worm nearly attacked him, and a translucent figure revealed that Yixiu had noticed Angel's sword.

• Angel and Qili identified the dead Ruge as Kaguangbudan and read its garment’s prayer naming the giant octopus Oktupol.
• Angel removed Kaguangbudan’s four golden heart scales, and he and Qili each took one Merui’s Sword.
• Qili deduced that the number of heart scales marked a Ruge’s rank and warned that apprentices might resort to stealing scales to assemble swords.
• Angel approached the lit watchtower and overheard Yixiu attacking Frod, but Yixiu spotted him and confronted him.
• Luna killed a concealed third-rank siphon worm beside Angel, and Yixiu claimed he had only taken precautions.
• A translucent figure ran from the watchtower and warned Angel that Yixiu had discovered the Merui’s Sword on him.

Angel confronted Yixiu after Frod’s soul revealed that Yixiu had killed him and was trying to seize Angel’s Merui’s Sword. Angel agreed to kill Yixiu in exchange for Frod’s mysterious item, then pursued and killed him, bringing his corpse back to the watchtower.

• Frod’s soul accused Yixiu of killing him to steal Merui’s Sword, and revealed that Yixiu possessed one heart scale and needed another.
• Yixiu denied the accusations and offered to swear an oath, but Frod promised Angel a mysterious item if he killed Yixiu and rescued Frod’s soul from the Sea of Purification.
• After Frod privately named the item, Angel agreed to kill Yixiu, who fled and sent a swarm of insects at him.
• Angel used Flame Formation Illusory Slaughter to burn through the insects, then pursued Yixiu and immobilized him with gray veins.
• Angel killed Yixiu with a Gravity Cannon and brought his corpse back to the watchtower.

After avenging his family, Frod promised to lead Angel to the Dream Conch of Moonlit Coast, but a mysterious guiding light tried to seize his soul. Angel rescued Frod into a Soul-Nurturing Flower, and the group examined Yixiu’s belongings before Angel turned to the Ru Clan chest scale.

• Frod recovered his normal state after Yixiu’s death and promised to take Angel to find the Dream Conch of Moonlit Coast.
• Yixiu’s soul emerged from his corpse, and Qili burned it with violet ghostfire until a mysterious guiding light carried it away.
• The guiding light tried to pull Frod away, but Angel used the Soul-Nurturing Flower and Soul-Severing Murmur to save him.
• In a hidden grotto, Signey told Connor that someone had taken a soul from beneath the guiding light, and Connor ordered her to continue controlling the Soul Pool.
• Angel searched Yixiu’s belongings, learned the leather pouch held insect eggs, and let Qili take several potion-filled spatial pouches.
• Angel stored the remaining spoils and turned his attention to the Ru Clan chest scale.

Angel and Qili learned that chest scales could locate Merui's Swords and other scales, while a forged sword revealed the route to the Apocalypse Altar. After Frod said farewell to his corpse and gave Angel his belongings, Angel and Qili prepared to head southeast.

• Frod explained that chest scales came in four colors and that matching scales could be forged into a Merui's Sword.
• Angel and Qili discovered that a scale could detect nearby swords and scales, while attaching spiritual force let them sense scales much farther away.
• Frod explained that forging a Merui's Sword revealed the Apocalypse Altar's location but ended the ability to sense other scales, and Angel's sword pointed southeast when released.
• Angel gave Qili the gray scale to monitor other scales, then entered the watchtower with Frod so he could see his corpse.
• Frod recounted how Yixiu had killed him, thanked Angel for helping him take revenge, and left his potions and magic-patterned hide to Angel.
• Frod declined Angel's offer to carry his remains, and Angel collected Frod's spatial pouches before leaving the watchtower.