Recaps

Zhen Xin revealed how she had infiltrated the trial to investigate Cheng Shi, only to discover that the prophecy had deceived her too. After returning to the Sighing Forest, she told Zuo Qiu and Aunt Jing that the person she sought had set a trap, then recalled entering the void and finding no one there.

• Zuo Qiu told Aunt Jing that the person he sought had deceived him by setting a trap for Zhen Yi, whose memories he had taken.
• Aunt Jing transformed the historian puppet into Zhen Xin, who said she had been treated like a messenger and believed Cheng Shi might become a deceiver in the future.
• Zhen Xin recalled that she had helped the Blind Man spread a false prophecy to bring the Chosen back, then joined the trial to investigate Cheng Shi after suspecting he had changed.
• Zhen Xin and Aunt Jing arranged to conceal her identity by replacing the doomed Dream-Peeking Ranger with a puppet after its death.
• Zhen Xin entered the void through Cheng Shi's shadow, found no one there, and asked the absent figure to come out before offering to speak.

Zhen Xin realized that the future Cheng Shi had used her curiosity to invite the present Cheng Shi into the void, then discussed Cheng Shi with Aunt An in the Sighing Forest. Aunt An admitted she had joined the Worship God Society and planned to explore the Blood Rot Tomb, hoping to reclaim her sense of being human and remain part of Zhen Xin and Mingyu’s lives.

• Zhen Xin deduced that the future Cheng Shi had used her as bait to arrange a meeting with the present Cheng Shi, but he never appeared.
• Zhen Xin tried to attract Deception’s attention, discovered that the future Cheng Shi could block it in the void, and left.
• In the Sighing Forest, Zhen Xin asked Aunt An what she thought of Cheng Shi, and Aunt An called him lonely like Zhen Xin.
• Aunt An explained that she had not deceived Cheng Shi and admitted she had joined the Worship God Society to explore the Sighing Forest’s depths.
• Aunt An told Zhen Xin she wanted to change before she fell into eternal silence, so she could keep caring for Zhen Xin and Mingyu.

Zhen Xin gave An Jing a Master of Deception Card and discussed her concerns about Zhen Yi, Cheng Shi, and the Tongue of Lies. She sent An Jing toward Blood Rot Tomb with Zuo Qiu’s history book while choosing to wait for another chance to find what she wanted.

• Zhen Xin warned An Jing that the Worship God Society was a poor choice and gave her the Master of Deception Card to protect her from deceivers near Blood Rot Tomb.
• Zhen Xin explained that she had given Cheng Shi a Fool's Society card so he could keep Zhen Yi occupied, and said the Tongue of Lies had asked to go to him as compensation.
• Zhen Xin revealed that the flawless history book was Zuo Qiu’s and asked An Jing to return it to him, suggesting he could become her temporary teammate.
• Zhen Xin told An Jing that Zuo Qiu’s route to Blood Rot Tomb was safe but urged her to be extremely careful, and An Jing set off into the fog.
• Zhen Xin stayed behind to wait for a chance to turn things around and prepared to read the message left for Cheng Shi.

Cheng Shi reasoned that his future self had secretly set a trap in the past and used Memory’s words to leave him a clue while deceiving the gods. He suspected the future version had sent Su Yida to kill him, then wondered whether the trap was meant to give his past self a chance before an approaching catastrophe.

• Cheng Shi considered whether the prophecy’s future referred to his own future self and reasoned that the future Cheng Shi would leave clues while hiding his actions from the gods.
• Cheng Shi recalled Memory’s complaint about a stroke that had erased itself and realized it was a hint that his future self had already come to the past.
• Cheng Shi concluded that his future self had laid a trap for him and suspected that he had sent Su Yida to kill him.
• Cheng Shi reasoned that his future self would avoid directly meeting his past self unless something had forced him to intervene.
• Cheng Shi imagined that he might return to warn his past self if he were about to die or lose the chance to remember Old Jia, and he hesitated.

Cheng Shi realized that Cheng Dashi had left him a warning about a future tragedy and a hidden clue to changing it. In the void, he deduced that the clue was Prosperity and that the turning point might lie within the trial.

• Cheng Shi concluded that Cheng Dashi’s message warned that reality would shatter in a future tragedy.
• Hong Lin mistook Cheng Shi’s daze for trouble, retreated from Eupusca, and followed his decision to enter the void.
• Hong Lin tore open a Void Rift, carried Cheng Shi and Amir through it, and sealed the rift behind them.
• Cheng Shi searched the void for Cheng Dashi’s traces, then considered how Su Yida and Prosperity’s shadow fit into the hidden scheme.
• Cheng Shi deduced that Prosperity was the clue Cheng Dashi had planted and that the trial might contain the tragedy’s turning point.

Cheng Shi realized that his future self might be plotting to use Prosperity as a way to break the Faith Game, and Hong Lin confided her doubts about being a chosen one and the game's unwinnable nature. When Cheng Shi tried to ask whether he could trust her, Hong Lin recognized his prelude to a lie and challenged him to reveal his plan.

• Cheng Shi wondered whether Prosperity and the gods behind the Faith Game were the breakthrough point his future self had chosen.
• Hong Lin told Cheng Shi she feared being targeted by mysterious beings and suspected the Faith Game might have no victory or way to clear it.
• Hong Lin explained why she trusted Cheng Shi enough to share her doubts, comparing him to a fox capable of eating a tiger.
• Cheng Shi asked whether being a chosen one counted as being a top scorer, and Hong Lin reluctantly agreed it did.
• Cheng Shi took Hong Lin's hand and asked if he could trust her, but Hong Lin identified his words as a sign he was about to lie and demanded to see his plan.

Cheng Shi invited Hong Lin to make a huge bet that would draw others into their trial, then used her belief in fate and good luck to persuade her that they were destined to survive. Hong Lin was left stunned by his claim that Destiny had written her into the world's final scene.

• Cheng Shi decided to attract Prosperity's attention by joining the game rather than betraying Hong Lin again.
• Cheng Shi proposed a huge bet to Hong Lin, and she questioned what the wager would accomplish.
• Cheng Shi said he needed a partner willing to go all in, and Hong Lin weighed the invitation against her growing trust in him.
• Cheng Shi asked whether Hong Lin believed in fate and whether she thought her luck was good, and she answered yes to both.
• Cheng Shi claimed that Destiny had written Hong Lin into the world's ending and that she would remain protected until her destined moment, leaving her mind reeling.

Cheng Shi tried to recruit Hong Lin into the Fated by presenting destiny as a gamble, but his speech unexpectedly summoned a die that could establish destiny as a second faith. Hong Lin grew interested in joining and asked Cheng Shi to explain the gamble against the heavens.

• Cheng Shi invited Hong Lin to join the Fated and declared that they would make use of destiny to shape the script.
• After Cheng Shi prayed, black mist gathered and formed a new Dice of Destiny, shocking Hong Lin and leaving Cheng Shi baffled.
• Cheng Shi explained that the die could make destiny a nonbeliever’s second faith, and Hong Lin wondered whether joining the Fated required choosing destiny.
• Hong Lin told Cheng Shi that other gods had approached her about a second faith, but she had rejected them because none seemed suitable.
• Hong Lin said the Fated now interested her and asked Cheng Shi to describe his gamble against the heavens.

Cheng Shi tried to recruit Hong Lin into a plan to use faith grafting to steal Decay’s power and make Prosperity’s revenge its Prairie Fire. He revealed a contract and Tombstone Stone to persuade her, but changing the contract still depended on Tongue of Lies.

• Cheng Shi explained to Hong Lin that their plan was to redirect Decay’s believers’ faith to a believer of Prosperity and turn the act into revenge.
• Hong Lin realized Cheng Shi expected her to endure the faith grafting and objected that Decay’s believers would never accept her as an envoy.
• Cheng Shi revealed the contract Eupusca had made with the Fungus-Footed People and proposed replacing their names with the Twisted Night Python and Hong Lin’s.
• Hong Lin challenged how Cheng Shi would disguise her as an envoy of Decay, and he revealed Tombstone Stone, which could erode the Prosperity aura around her.
• Cheng Shi told Hong Lin that the contract could be altered, though he had learned from Lips of Foolish Play that Tongue of Lies could eat the names written in it.

Cheng Shi persuaded Hong Lin to join the gamble and helped her disguise her power of Prosperity as Decay while they altered the contract. After Hong Lin revealed the divinities sealed within her, she began sealing them into Cheng Shi, and they waited for nightfall.

• Cheng Shi claimed the Tongue of Lies could erase the contract signatures if Hong Lin completed their unfinished truth-or-dare game, and the tongue unexpectedly spoke to prove it.
• Hong Lin agreed to the gamble on the condition that the tongue altered the contract first, and Cheng Shi argued that the wager would let Prosperity and Destiny oppose Decay and Truth.
• Hong Lin took the Tombstone Stone and used Eupusca's blood to make her power of Prosperity produce a convincing trace of Decay.
• Cheng Shi used the Tongue of Lies to remove Eupusca's and the Fungus-Footed People's names from the contract, then replaced the signatures using Hong Lin's blood and a branch of the Twisted Night Python.
• Hong Lin revealed the divinities of Prosperity, Birth, Order, War, Memory, and Deception sealed within her, then began sealing them into Cheng Shi.
• Cheng Shi and Hong Lin finished preparing the plan and waited for nightfall.

Cheng Shi brought Hong Lin into the Sighing Forest at night so the Twisted Night Pythons would feed decay through their contract and draw the attention of a powerful watcher. He left Hong Lin alone to endure the growing decay, and her furious roar finally drew the watcher’s attention.

• Cheng Shi warned Hong Lin that their gambling match would begin when they left the void, and she agreed to proceed despite her fears.
• Eupusca confronted them as they returned to the Sighing Forest, but left after losing interest in Hong Lin’s changed appearance and aura.
• The Twisted Night Pythons gathered around Hong Lin and channeled increasing amounts of decay into her through Cheng Shi’s contract.
• Cheng Shi gave Hong Lin an ordinary die and vanished, leaving her to endure the decay alone.
• Hong Lin roared in anger as the pythons’ chorus of decay attracted the attention of the watcher.

Cheng Shi returned to the Fungus-Footed People and persuaded them to embrace Decay as a supposed trial, while secretly preparing to save them through the power of Death. He vanished after revealing that his deception—not Prosperity—would keep them from dying.

• Mechanical eyeballs and giant pythons converged on the contract's location in the Sighing Forest.
• Cheng Shi used the Dice of Destiny to return to the Fungus-Footed People's tribe, where Decay was spreading and the old chieftain was trying to maintain hope.
• Cheng Shi appeared and told the Fungus-Footed People that their fourth trial required them to stop resisting Decay.
• The old chieftain accepted Cheng Shi's command, and the tribe began allowing Decay to enter their bodies.
• Cheng Shi secretly invoked his power as a believer of Death, promised that those who obeyed would not die, and disappeared after tossing down a die.

Hong Lin was near death as mechanical pythons attacked, and Cheng Shi returned to shield her. He fooled her into believing he had the power of Death, insisting their bet was not lost even though he had already given that power to the Fungus-Footed People.

• Mechanical pythons disguised among the Twisted Night Pythons attacked Hong Lin, while the real pythons defended her as an emissary of the Final Tomb.
• As Hong Lin weakened and prepared to use her fragment of Order, Cheng Shi returned and took the mechanical pythons’ attacks, losing his shoulder and right leg.
• Hong Lin realized Cheng Shi had gone to help the Fungus-Footed People, but he told her they had become Decay and appeared to confirm that they had lost the bet.
• Cheng Shi declared that the offering had not begun and pretended to invoke the Judge of the Dead’s power, using green fluorescent paint to fool Hong Lin.
• The narration revealed that Cheng Shi had given his Death trump card to the Fungus-Footed People and was now a pure Honest Clown, but he trusted that his deception could keep Hong Lin alive.

Cheng Shi turned the decay engulfing Sighing Forest into an offering to prosperity, and prosperity descended, transforming the forest into a lush rainforest and restoring Hong Lin. As Hong Lin confronted the mechanical pythons, the Scholarly Council ordered its members to find the Desolate Walker and keep it alive.

• Cheng Shi explained that the decay surrounding them counted as prosperity because the decayed Fungus-Footed People still believed in prosperity, and their faith had been stolen and redirected.
• Prosperity descended into Sighing Forest, sending a beam of light to heal Hong Lin and transforming the dead forest into a verdant rainforest.
• The tide of prosperity swept through the Twisted Night Pythons, turning them into trees, while Hong Lin realized that prosperity had personally accepted Cheng Shi's offering.
• Cheng Shi told Hong Lin to deal with the machines, and she transformed into a giant bear and crushed the mechanical pythons as the scholars lost control of the faith experiment.
• The Fungus-Footed People praised the Lord of Grace, forgiveness, and Lord Baldhead as they embraced prosperity.
• The Scholarly Council used the Truth Ritual and ordered its members to find the Desolate Walker and ensure it did not die.

Zuo Qiu and An Jing reached the Blood Rot Tomb and witnessed Vulture leap into the Blood Lake as the Sighing Tide receded. Zuo Qiu revealed how the History School learned the route from the Man in the Coffin’s memories, leaving the pair to face the tomb as the blood began gathering again.

• Zuo Qiu and An Jing crossed the Sighing Forest and found the Blood Lake beneath the inverted Blood Rot Tomb, where decayed blood dripping from the tomb caused the Sighing Tide.
• Vulture leaped into the Blood Lake, and Zuo Qiu explained that the rumor promising a reward for bathing in its blood was false.
• An Jing used the Ranger Puppet’s threads to conceal them from the Sighing Tide while Zuo Qiu described the pilgrims whose bodies had formed the wasteland.
• Zuo Qiu revealed that his memories came from the Man in the Coffin and recounted how a Filth and Decay player killed the group’s sole survivor for his magic lamp.
• Zuo Qiu explained that a History School believer later recovered the Man in the Coffin’s memories, allowing the school to pose as the group and guide Lin Xi to the tomb.

Zuo Qiu and An Jing witnessed Prosperity invade the Blood Rot Tomb, exposing the Decay pilgrims trapped beneath the Blood Lake. As the pilgrims’ song nearly drew them in, An Jing silenced it, while a Rot Singer escaped by taking a surviving trace of Prosperity; An Jing then wondered whether Xin Xin had found the person she sought.

• Zuo Qiu explained that he shared stories to pass memories on, and An Jing realized his devotion to Memory was genuine despite his claim otherwise.
• Cheng Shi’s offering brought Prosperity into the underground, causing green growth to overtake the ruins and clash with Decay at the Blood Rot Tomb.
• As the Blood Lake drained, An Jing and Zuo Qiu discovered countless decaying pilgrims beneath it, whose cries formed a song that nearly compelled them to join.
• An Jing silenced the surroundings and freed herself and Zuo Qiu from the song’s influence.
• A Rot Singer crawled from the lakebed, seized a remnant of Prosperity, and healed as he escaped.
• Zuo Qiu recorded the events in his history book, while An Jing wondered whether Xin Xin had met the person she was seeking.

Cheng Shi unexpectedly found himself before Prosperity in Her true, monstrous form, where She offered to merge him with Her. He was left stunned by the god’s invitation and the possibility of sharing Her authority.

• Cheng Shi lost consciousness after Prosperity descended and awoke above an endless sea of treetops before a colossal flesh-and-wood tree.
• Cheng Shi realized the tree was Prosperity’s true form, then recoiled as mouths, tongues, eyes, ears, and a nose appeared across its branches and trunk.
• Prosperity told Cheng Shi that Deception had listed him among its treasures and observed that he was afraid despite his denial.
• Prosperity invited Cheng Shi to abandon Nothingness and Deception, embrace Prosperity, and become one with Her.
• Cheng Shi sensed that Prosperity was genuine and wondered whether a human could truly share a god’s authority.

Cheng Shi feared Prosperity intended to consume him, but his plea for help brought Destiny, who confronted Prosperity over its attempt to assimilate decay. After their clash knocked Cheng Shi unconscious, he awoke to find the Eyes of the Gods gathering over the Sighing Forest.

• Cheng Shi suspected Prosperity’s true will was to make everything part of itself and feared it planned to use him as fertilizer.
• Cheng Shi called for help using the Dice of Destiny, and Destiny appeared above the treetops.
• Destiny accused Prosperity of violating the covenant by assimilating decay through grafted faith and said it had come to correct a rewritten destiny.
• Prosperity urged Destiny to set aside its prejudice and coexist, then an explosion knocked Cheng Shi unconscious.
• Cheng Shi awoke beside Hong Lin and saw the Eyes of the Gods opening across the treetops and turning toward the forest.

As Destiny fought Prosperity above the Sighing Forest, Cheng Shi realized the gods gathering there might be targeting Decay, whose faith he had offered to Prosperity. He was suddenly summoned to Decay’s tomb, where he found the god in a sorrowful, rotting state.

• Hong Lin watched divine eyes appear above the canopy and became fervently eager to join the Fated, while Cheng Shi cowered in confusion.
• Cheng Shi reasoned that the gathered gods might be trying to seize authorities and that Decay was the likeliest target.
• Cheng Shi vanished before Hong Lin could finish asking where he had gone, leaving her to wonder which god had summoned him.
• Cheng Shi awoke in a dark place filled with sorrow and recognized its atmosphere as familiar to old age and decay.
• Cheng Shi found Decay beside a blood-red throne in a vast tomb and feared she had summoned him because he had offered her faith to Prosperity.

Cheng Shi faced the dying God of Decay, who praised him and warned him to stay away from prosperity. Meanwhile, Deception was trapped by Time and Memory alongside a mysterious shadow, and the scene ended with the gods dispersing.

• Cheng Shi tried to summon Deception with Mask, then apologized to the God of Decay for his trial offerings.
• The God of Decay told Cheng Shi he had done well, explained that he had summoned him out of curiosity, and warned him to stay away from prosperity.
• Deception found itself trapped beneath a starry sky by Time and Memory, while a bodiless shadow joined them.
• Deception and the shadow joked about escaping and confronting Prosperity, but Memory warned that the covenant prevented anyone from killing Prosperity.
• Time sent the shadow away, then departed; Memory vanished after questioning Deception about approaching existence, and Deception disappeared as well.

Cheng Shi mistook Decay’s weakened state for its death, took its divine fingernail, and was destroyed when the gift caused his body to rot. The resulting eruption of decay devastated Sighing Forest as the Eyes of the Gods turned their attention to the tomb and began clashing above the canopy.

• Decay gave Cheng Shi one of its fingernails and told him to stay away from Past Prosperity.
• Cheng Shi picked up the fingernail and drank Past Prosperity potions to resist its decay, angering Decay.
• Decay unleashed a flood of black blood that consumed Cheng Shi and sent a vastly intensified Sighing Tide across Sighing Forest.
• Zuo Qiu fled, An Jing abandoned the wandering swordsman puppet and escaped with Little Caiwei, and Zhen was caught beside Blood Lake as the mist flattened the ruins and devastated the forest.
• Hong Lin sensed the destruction, while the Eyes of the Gods discussed Decay and Truth before a new battle began beneath the canopy.

Cheng Shi was reborn as a skull in Death’s Bone Hall, where Death revealed that a new God War had begun and explained Mother of Prosperity’s assimilation of her children. The chapter left Cheng Shi stunned to learn that Prosperity had invited him to join with Her because he was unusually compatible with Her will.

• Death resurrected Cheng Shi as a skull, then tossed him down the Bone Throne’s steps before Cheng Shi enthusiastically praised Him and tried to report on Lele’er.
• Death told Cheng Shi that Mother of Prosperity had encountered a problem and that the dispute between Her and Decay had begun because of him.
• Death projected events from the Sighing Forest, showing Chaos confronting the Iron Rule of Order, which Death clarified was not the true Order; He also confirmed that a new God War had begun.
• Death explained that Mother of Prosperity had assimilated Her children Herazul and Flazhol after they agreed to embrace prosperity.
• Cheng Shi admitted that Prosperity had invited him to coexist with Her, and Death said he was likely the first human She had tried to assimilate because he was compatible with Her will.

Cheng Shi learned from Death that Destiny had arranged his rescue and heard the history behind Prosperity, Lele'er, and Garuda. Death explained the gods’ conflict over Prosperity’s assimilation of faith, leaving Cheng Shi convinced that Cheng Dashi’s goal had always been to bring Prosperity down.

• Death told Cheng Shi that Destiny had made a deal to save him after Death took the budding authority of Filth and Decay from his body.
• Death explained that Dizer had betrayed Prosperity out of fear of assimilation, then tried to seize Decay’s divine seat and became a Desolate Walker.
• Death recounted how Lele'er sought fear, became the Fear Mother Tree, and how Garuda sacrificed himself by assimilating with Prosperity.
• Death revealed that Prosperity wanted the gods to coexist with her, while Truth planned to use her violation of the covenant to seize her authority.
• Death described how Chaos, Iron Rule of Order, Folly, and Annihilation took opposing roles in the conflict, and said Existence may have trapped Cheng Shi’s other Lord of Grace.
• Cheng Shi concluded that Cheng Dashi had targeted Prosperity and that the gods had united against her growing power.

Cheng Shi questioned Death about the God War and learned that Truth planned to use Dizer’s identity as the Son of Prosperity to inherit Prosperity’s authority while she was trapped. Hoping to claim a share of the upheaval, Cheng Shi asked whether Prosperity’s eldest daughter Flazhol could inherit that authority.

• Cheng Shi wondered whether Death would benefit from gods dying and whether Hong Lin’s faith would change if Prosperity fell.
• Death explained that the Covenant prevented gods from dying, but Truth could trap Prosperity and transfer her authority without erasing it.
• Cheng Shi offered to help Death gain a share of the God War’s benefits, but Death warned that mortals could not inherit divine authority without the proper standing.
• Death revealed that Truth controlled Dizer’s body and planned to use Dizer’s identity as Prosperity’s son to inherit her authority.
• Cheng Shi asked whether an apostle who delivered divine revelations could inherit authority, then named Flazhol and asked if Prosperity’s eldest daughter had the right of inheritance.

Cheng Shi persuaded Death that Flazhol might have survived and proposed using Memory’s remaining power to write a Divine Envoy of Prosperity into history, creating a chance to claim Prosperity’s authority. Death accepted Cheng Shi’s explanation that it had saved Flazhol and judged him suited to become Prosperity’s inheriting emissary.

• Cheng Shi told Death that the Fungus-Footed People had received salvation during the trial and that his Divine Envoy identity could help claim Prosperity’s authority.
• Cheng Shi showed Death Memory’s ring and offered to return to the trial to use his last chance to change history.
• Cheng Shi argued that Death had saved Flazhol and that Prosperity had devoured Garuda in revenge; Death agreed that this was what had happened.
• Cheng Shi urged Death to send him back before the trial ended so he could make the Divine Envoy’s identity part of history.
• Death called Cheng Shi greedy and clever, said his plan was feasible, and asked whether he wanted to inherit Prosperity’s authority.