Recaps

Cheng Shi reunited with A'ming in the fog and deduced that A'ming was the executioner, an enemy of Uncle Huang's faith. After the group regrouped, they discovered the Memory had placed them in Duke Brooks's servants' quarters during a banquet, and Fang Shiqing sent everyone to seek new identities; Cheng Shi returned alone to the quarters.

• Cheng Shi found A'ming after A'ming killed six dwarves in the fog, and they waited for the fog to clear.
• Cheng Shi inferred that A'ming was the executioner and learned that A'ming feared Uncle Huang, the Maestro of Lost Rhythms.
• Fang Shiqing regained consciousness, and the group reunited as the fog dispersed and saw the six beheaded dwarves.
• The group learned they were in Duke Brooks's servants' quarters during a banquet where the duke planned to announce the expulsion of refugees from Gasmella.
• Fang Shiqing ordered everyone to split up and find new identities, then Cheng Shi watched A'ming leave and secretly returned to the servants' quarters.

Cheng Shi investigated the dwarves’ deaths, then followed Bailing upstairs to find Duke Brooks murdered. They hid in a wardrobe as Duchess Dilar confronted a man who denied killing the duke.

• Cheng Shi found a Dwarf battle knife and a fine ring among the dead dwarves, and suspected the six had killed one another.
• Bailing told Cheng Shi that Duke Brooks had not appeared and that his announced appearance was thirty minutes away.
• Cheng Shi concluded the nobles in the great hall were not his target and persuaded Bailing to get them past the guards and upstairs.
• Fang Shiqing and Xu Lu were refused entry to the second floor and left after Fang said Cheng Shi and the others were enough.
• Cheng Shi and Bailing found Duke Brooks dead in his room and hid in a wardrobe when footsteps approached.
• Dilar entered with a man who insisted he had not killed Duke Brooks, though she accused him of doing so.

Cheng Shi and Bailing were discovered hiding in the room where Brooks had died, and they fought the guard who had arranged the duke’s murder. The guard revealed himself as a powerful Singer of Order and crushed them with his abilities, leaving Bailing apparently unconscious and Cheng Shi at his mercy.

• The Duchess left the room after arguing with the guard about Brooks’s death and the consequences for the territory.
• The guard exposed Cheng Shi and Bailing hiding in the wardrobe and accused them of being servants of Filth and Decay.
• Cheng Shi recognized the ring on the guard and realized he had hired the dwarves to assassinate Brooks.
• Cheng Shi slowed the guard with Accelerated Metabolism while Bailing struck him with an arrow, but the guard invoked Order and disarmed them.
• The guard’s chant inflicted four debilitating statuses, pinning Cheng Shi and Bailing to the floor as Bailing lost consciousness.
• The guard drew his longsword and approached Cheng Shi.

Cheng Shi was killed by the guard, but A'ming avenged him and Fang Shiqing secretly revived him using a note Cheng Shi had left for her. Cheng Shi then restored Bailing, while Fang Shiqing noticed a stronger scent of corruption and wondered what had passed between them.

• The guard pierced Cheng Shi's heart and killed him, just as A'ming arrived; A'ming then stabbed the guard from behind and avenged Cheng Shi.
• Fang Shiqing, Xu Lu, and A'ming found Cheng Shi and Bailing dead beside the duke's body, and Xu Lu guessed Cheng Shi had tried to steal the duke's identity.
• After Xu Lu and A'ming left the room, Fang Shiqing used a page from her book to revive Cheng Shi, following the note he had left asking her to save him.
• Cheng Shi thanked Fang Shiqing and used Rewound Healing to bring Bailing back to life.
• Bailing murmured that something had been real, while Fang Shiqing sensed stronger corruption and watched the pair suspiciously.

Cheng Shi revived Bailing with a hidden potion and exposed the captured A'ming as Huang Bo, then prepared to force him to confess. Huang Bo revealed himself before the interrogation could begin.

• Bailing drank Cheng Shi's hidden Contempt of the Dead potion before the fight, allowing her to return to life.
• Cheng Shi told Fang Shiqing that A'ming might not be himself, and she used her Eternal Prison page to bind him.
• Cheng Shi confronted the captured A'ming and identified him as Huang Bo, while Fang Shiqing's talent still read him as A'ming.
• Cheng Shi listed clues linking A'ming to the suspicious events and poured out Truth of Confession, but A'ming laughed and revealed Huang Bo's familiar smile.

Cheng Shi killed Huang Bo, then helped the group revive the guard and open the apparent Final Gate. Suspicious that the exit came too easily and the Prophet’s vision remained unexplained, Cheng Shi realized they had overlooked the broker.

• Cheng Shi exposed Huang Bo’s impersonation of A'ming, killed him, and burned his corpse despite the risk to the real A'ming.
• Xu Lu noticed Huang Bo had needed the guard to uncover the trial’s answer, and Cheng Shi deduced that the guard was still alive and tied to the next step.
• Cheng Shi healed and hypnotized the guard, who transformed into the Memory Gate with a golden frame marking it as the Final Gate.
• Cheng Shi stopped Xu Lu from leaving, suspecting that the gate was not the true ending because the Prophet’s vision and the Duchess’s whereabouts remained unresolved.
• Cheng Shi reconsidered the maze’s clues and realized that the guard had mentioned a broker.

Cheng Shi exposed the Duchess as a pair of dwarf impostors and discovered the manor’s second Final Gate. Bailing and Fang Shiqing entered the gate, but Xu Lu fled, insisting that Cheng Shi’s story and the gate were part of a deadly deception.

• Cheng Shi inferred that the prophecy allowed for a second answer and suspected the Duchess knew about the dwarves’ plot.
• Cheng Shi and the others tracked the Duchess to the hills, where he began telling a story about dwarves impersonating town leaders.
• The disguised dwarves tried to flee, but Fang Shiqing and Bailing stopped them, revealing the impostors beneath their human skin.
• Cheng Shi hypnotized and questioned the dwarves, and one of them became the second Final Gate.
• Bailing kissed Cheng Shi and entered the gate, and Fang Shiqing followed after trying to push Xu Lu through.
• Xu Lu escaped and shouted that Cheng Shi was lying and that the Final Gate was fake.

Cheng Shi and Fang Shiqing faced Xu Lu’s warning that Cheng Shi intended to kill them, but Fang Shiqing chose to trust him and entered the Final Gate after receiving his compensation. Cheng Shi then caught Xu Lu, threw her into the Memory Gate, and cleared the trial with an S rating.

• Xu Lu told Fang Shiqing that her Lord of Grace had warned her not to trust a believer of time, and accused Cheng Shi of killing the others and planning to kill them.
• Cheng Shi revealed that he had received an instruction to kill the believer of Destiny, and Fang Shiqing chose to stand with him as Xu Lu fled.
• Fang Shiqing accepted Cheng Shi’s Mask of Mirth and a Healing Art imprint, then entered the Final Gate.
• Cheng Shi followed Xu Lu, who had collapsed after the knockout drug he had smeared on his hand took effect.
• Cheng Shi dragged Xu Lu to the Final Gate and threw her into the Memory Gate, then left the trial.
• Cheng Shi received an S performance rating, rewards, and increases to his Path to Godhood and Ladder of Audience scores.

After surviving the Final Gate, Bailing questioned her devotion to Filth and Decay and found an invitation from the Fire Seeker. Meanwhile, Xu Lu grew resentful of Cheng Shi, while A'ming realized Cheng Shi had saved him by rewinding his condition; the chapter ended with the Fire Seeker expecting Bailing to join them.

• Bailing woke after the trial, recalled how she had become a Sensory Hunter, and found a letter inviting her to meet the Fire Seeker.
• Fang Shiqing met with the man in the bright hall and reported that the Doctor of Forgetfulness had refused an invitation, but the Sensory Hunter would probably accept.
• Xu Lu woke in her rest area and struggled with the revelation that Destiny's guidance had led her into danger; she hid her anger from Xie Yang and asked him for another potion.
• A'ming woke unharmed after being tortured, realized Cheng Shi had used a time rollback to save him, and found that his teammates had left him directions to clear the trial.

Cheng Shi was summoned before Deception, who explained that another deity had killed him and then restored him to life. Their conversation revealed that Deception regarded Cheng Shi as one of their works and knew about players, leaving Cheng Shi considering revenge against the deity who killed him.

• Cheng Shi appeared in the starry sky before a vast divine eye, mistook it for his Lord of Grace, and was erased after speaking the name Time.
• A smiling Deception revived Cheng Shi from stardust and joked about his angry outburst.
• Cheng Shi challenged Deception for failing to protect him, and Deception said they had arrived with their eyes closed and had not witnessed his death.
• Deception told Cheng Shi that Zhen Xin was their chosen one and called Cheng Shi their second satisfying work.
• Deception sensed Cheng Shi's anger about being a player and asked whether he planned to take revenge on the deity who killed him.

Cheng Shi learned that taking the Mask at the Starting Point of Life Path had made him a constant source of desecration to Destiny, and the Lord of Grace came to tease him and ask why he spared Destiny’s believer. The Lord of Grace then proposed a secret-exchange game, leaving Cheng Shi to decide what to ask.

• The Lord of Grace told Cheng Shi that removing the Mask had begun his revenge against Destiny by desecrating Him.
• Cheng Shi recalled choosing the Dice of Destiny while also grabbing the Mask, which left him gravely wounded and made him a believer of Deception with the Lips of Foolish Play and a Dice of Destiny.
• The Lord of Grace pointed out that Cheng Shi had desecrated Destiny again and asked why he had not killed Destiny’s believer.
• Cheng Shi said he believed making the woman question her rotten destiny and the Lord of Grace who protected her would hurt more than death.
• The Lord of Grace offered to exchange secrets in a Memory game, with each of them asking two questions and at least one of the two answers being truthful.
• Cheng Shi concluded that he could not ensure the Lord of Grace would tell the truth and decided to ask whatever he wanted to know.

During his audience with Deception, Cheng Shi learned that players could become gods and pressed the god about the Faith Game, the Fire Keepers, and the limits of divine power. Deception promised him a power capable of deceiving gods once he became its chosen one, but told him to endure Destiny until then.

• Cheng Shi asked Deception why the gods descended and what the Faith Game meant, and Deception answered, "To become gods."
• Cheng Shi asked whether players could become gods, and Deception said they could before asking why Cheng Shi did not want godhood.
• Deception recognized Cheng Shi as a child of Nothingness and revealed that the gods did not know about the Fire Keepers, though it did.
• Cheng Shi concluded that the gods might be using the Faith Game to become omnipotent and claimed his Master of Deception talent could expose a god's lies.
• Deception offered to grant Cheng Shi power capable of deceiving the gods after he became its chosen one, and told him to endure Destiny until he could deceive it.
• Cheng Shi returned to the rest-area rooftop and heard someone ask to trade for two bottles of Past Prosperity for Lulu.

Cheng Shi browsed the channels, learned that True Heart had fallen in the rankings while searching for someone, and reflected on the power of Deception. A new seven-day special trial began, and he was transported into darkness with five teammates.

• Cheng Shi read the Professional Channel and saw that the Chosen of Prosperity and the Chosen of Deception had changed.
• Cheng Shi checked the Ladder of Audience and found True Heart had fallen from first place to twenty-first.
• Cheng Shi asked why True Heart had dropped, and channel users speculated that she had gone looking for someone.
• Cheng Shi considered the points he had earned and the power of Deception, then spent the week coasting.
• Cheng Shi entered the seven-day special trial, What Path Leads to Death, with five teammates.

Cheng Shi woke alone in an inn room and cautiously met the armed woman in the room next door. After they answered a knock and entered the corridor, two high-ranking players introduced themselves, revealing that this trial had brought them into a high-end game.

• Cheng Shi inspected his room, then discovered that someone next door was listening and exchanged greetings with her through a slit in the wall.
• A knock sounded at both rooms, and a voice outside said that only the two of them remained.
• Cheng Shi told the woman to wait while he opened his door, but she opened hers first and stepped into the corridor.
• Cheng Shi saw three imposing men in the corridor and identified the woman as an Assassin by her tattoo and gear.
• Fang Jue introduced himself as a Law Giver with 2,437 points, and Du Xiguang introduced himself as a Memory Traveler with 2,502 points.

Cheng Shi joined a seven-day trial with several high-scoring players and concealed his true score by claiming to be a follower of Chaos. The chapter revealed how he had revived A'ming in the previous trial, then ended with Yun Ni holding a dagger to Cheng Shi's Adam's apple.

• Cheng Shi sized up Du Xiguang, Yun Ni, and Wei Guan, learning their faiths, roles, and high scores.
• Cheng Shi noticed a silent ascetic monk at the end of the corridor and inferred that he followed Silence.
• Cheng Shi introduced himself as a 2401-point Reason Corroder, prompting surprise and frowns from the others.
• The chapter revealed that Cheng Shi had used State Reversion to revive A'ming after killing Huang Bo, then chose to claim Chaos to distract others from his true score.
• Yun Ni suddenly pressed her dagger to Cheng Shi's Adam's apple, and Cheng Shi joked that she could have it.

Cheng Shi investigated Everbloom Town while the players waited for a sacrifice to appear, learning that the town had sought help from the Grand Inquisition over a string of deaths. After the innkeeper said Prosperity’s Will was waiting in the town center, Cheng Shi went there.

• Yun Ni tested Cheng Shi with a dagger, but accepted his claim that not every high-ranking player appeared on the Ladder.
• Fang Jue told the group to investigate separately, avoid unnecessary killing, and meet at the inn after sunset.
• Cheng Shi completed his Edict, changed into the inn’s clothes, and gathered information by speaking with the locals.
• Cheng Shi learned that Everbloom was a town of Prosperity’s followers, governed by the Natural Alliance under the Isle of Hope’s larger powers.
• The innkeeper told Cheng Shi that the Law Enforcement Bureau was overwhelmed by deaths and that Prosperity’s Will awaited him in the town center, so Cheng Shi headed there.

Cheng Shi learned that Bloom Awaits Withering prevented death in Everbloom Town, tested its protection with Yun Ni, and insisted that Priests were still needed to heal injuries. He investigated a string of mysterious deaths and learned that the town was under curfew after a fourth person collapsed outside a tavern.

• Cheng Shi reached Everbloom Square and discovered that Bloom Awaits Withering was a Sacred Artifact whose protection kept residents from dying before their natural lifespan.
• Yun Ni stabbed Cheng Shi to test the artifact, and he survived as the force of prosperity erased the death aura but left his wound bleeding.
• Cheng Shi healed himself, then stabbed Yun Ni after she demanded they exchange blows; he rebuked her for treating him as a test subject without consent.
• Cheng Shi went to the Law Enforcement Bureau and learned that a jeweler and two other people had died in the streets at night without visible injuries.
• The town's self-governing alliance imposed a curfew, and Cheng Shi heard that another drunk patron had collapsed outside a tavern on its first day.

Cheng Shi and the other players compared clues about the deaths in Everbloom Town, weighing whether to catch a killer or make a sacrifice to Death. Wei Guan refused to cooperate, claimed he already knew the answer, and walked out of the inn despite a curfew warning.

• Cheng Shi ruled out a Decay believer as the killer and considered whether the trial required catching the culprit or helping it kill someone.
• Fang Jue organized the players’ investigation findings, and Wei Guan mocked the group rather than sharing his own conclusions.
• Du Xiguang and Cheng Shi discussed the competing ways to solve the trial, while Yun Ni reported that the four bodies had no injuries and suggested an underground curse.
• Cheng Shi shared his clues and told Fang Jue that drawing close to Order could itself be chaos, prompting Fang Jue to regard him as a dangerous rival.
• Wei Guan claimed the others’ ideas were worthless and that he already knew the answer, then ignored the inn page’s curfew warning and left the inn.

After Wei Guan disappeared while baiting the killer, the players found him dead near the inn. Fang Jue’s truth-revealing decree exposed Yun Ni’s admission that she had wanted to kill Wei Guan, and Du Xiguang moved to inspect her memories.

• Fang Jue told the players to prepare for a sleepless night and search separately after Wei Guan left to lure out the killer.
• Cheng Shi followed Wei Guan but lost his trail, and the players searched for him without success.
• The ascetic monk led the players to Wei Guan’s corpse on a street south of town.
• Fang Jue used Order’s decree to compel everyone present to tell the truth.
• Yun Ni questioned whether Cheng Shi followed Deception, and Cheng Shi tricked her into admitting she had wanted to kill Wei Guan.
• Du Xiguang pressed a finger to Yun Ni’s forehead to inspect her memories.

After Du Xiguang exposed an embarrassing memory of Yun Ni, the group turned to investigating Wei Guan’s mysterious death. Cheng Shi found an unusual temperature difference in the corpse’s limbs and chest and asked for a needle to examine the heart.

• Du Xiguang’s Memory Flowlight projected Yun Ni changing clothes, so Yun Ni stabbed him repeatedly and later invited Cheng Shi to her room after he admitted the scene was nice.
• Fang Jue questioned the silent believer, who broke his silence to deny killing Wei Guan, deepening the group’s worry about the unknown murderer.
• Fang Jue, Du Xiguang, Cheng Shi, and Yun Ni searched the scene and corpse but found no injuries or obvious clues.
• Cheng Shi noticed Wei Guan’s limbs were warm while his chest was cold, then asked for a needle to insert into the center of the chest, straight into the heart.

Yun Ni examined Wei Guan’s corpse, and the group discovered that his heart had vanished. Du Xiguang identified a Demigod Artifact that killed through fear, leaving the group to suspect the killer was inside the inn and wonder whether it was safe to return there.

• Yun Ni pierced Wei Guan’s chest, but Cheng Shi found that Wei Guan’s heart was missing rather than wounded.
• Du Xiguang used Memory to identify When Fear Arrives, an SSS Demigod Artifact that stole its marked victim’s heart when they felt fear.
• Cheng Shi realized Du Xiguang had lied about not needing memory and suspected he had traded away his own memories for power.
• Fang Jue deduced that the killer was in the inn because Wei Guan must have been marked before he left.
• Cheng Shi questioned what could frighten a vigilant believer of Folly, and the group wondered whether they should return to the inn that night.

After Wei Guan's death, the players returned to the inn rather than report the murder to the Law Enforcement Bureau. Yun Ni launched a dangerous search of the guests' rooms, and Cheng Shi and the others followed her trail into a room where its occupant had vanished.

• Du Xiguang suggested reporting Wei Guan's death to the Law Enforcement Bureau, but Fang Jue rejected the idea because the murderer might be their target.
• Cheng Shi returned to the inn and warned Yun Ni not to risk her life, but she left without explaining her plan.
• At three o'clock, Cheng Shi, Du Xiguang, Fang Jue, and a burly man followed Yun Ni's trail to a room on the third floor.
• The group found the room wrecked and its guest missing, and Cheng Shi realized Yun Ni had sent the traveler to another plane as an offering to Annihilation.
• Fang Jue and Du Xiguang rushed after Yun Ni while Cheng Shi searched the room for clues.

While searching the inn for clues, Yun Ni stumbled into a trap set by the Grand Inquisition and was executed by its judge. Her death left Cheng Shi and the others to face the trial with fewer allies, while the travelers she had displaced returned to their beds.

• Cheng Shi and the others continued searching rooms with Yun Ni, despite finding no useful clues and risking a panic among the inn's travelers.
• Yun Ni entered a room occupied by four Grand Inquisition judges, who bound her with the power of Order and forced her to plead guilty.
• The judge used a Demigod Artifact to strike Yun Ni with lightning, and she vanished instead of becoming a charred corpse.
• Fang Jue and Du Xiguang escaped the room after Yun Ni warned them, then told Cheng Shi that she was dead and that the Grand Inquisition had arrived.
• The travelers Yun Ni had sent to other planes returned to their beds, while Cheng Shi's group realized their numbers had fallen from six to four.

Cheng Shi suspected that someone had controlled Yun Ni’s mind before her death, while the Grand Inquisition sealed the inn to capture the hidden culprit. Morkius arrived and used the power of Order to compel the gathered passengers to obey, leaving Cheng Shi on the verge of turning himself in.

• Cheng Shi examined Yun Ni’s room and reasoned that someone had briefly controlled her, causing her to warn her teammates before she was killed.
• The Law Enforcement Bureau sealed Everbloom Town and the Madly Growing Light inn at Judge Morkius’s request, ordering the passengers to assemble downstairs.
• Fang Jue and Du Xiguang discussed Morkius’s place in history and the era’s early timeline, while Du Xiguang stayed silent when asked what he had traded his memories for.
• Four judges took positions around the hall, and Morkius entered as the passengers speculated about his reputation.
• Morkius saluted the crowd, and his power of Order made Cheng Shi feel compelled to turn himself in.

At the Grand Inquisition’s gathering, a fleeing bard drew suspicion, and Cheng Shi raced to search his room for clues. There, he found the silent monk struggling to restrain the Demigod Artifact When Fear Arrives.

• First Inquisitor Morkius announced that the Grand Inquisition had identified the culprit and challenged the sinners to escape judgment.
• A bard in a cyan windbreaker tried to flee, prompting Fang Jue to attack with Order chains and Du Xiguang to touch him while Cheng Shi slipped away.
• Cheng Shi recognized the fleeing man as the bard from the inn and suspected that he had used When Fear Arrives to spread fear before the murders.
• Cheng Shi went to the bard’s room to search for the murder weapon and trial clues, where he found the silent monk resisting something.
• The monk turned and revealed that he was restraining the glowing dagger When Fear Arrives.