Recaps

Cheng Shi killed Poison after she deduced his plan to break up her party and target Jiang Chi. The chapter then revealed how he had resurrected Gongyang Jiao, who feared Cheng Shi and the gods after overhearing their exchange, and left Gongyang Jiao pleading that he could be useful.

• Poison guessed that Cheng Shi was trying to drive her from the party and use her knowledge against Jiang Chi, but Cheng Shi slit her throat and killed her.
• Gongyang Jiao celebrated Poison's death and called it an honor to die by Cheng Shi's hand.
• The story returned to Cheng Shi leaving the Evil Infant Tribunal, where he used the Lush Antler Crown and a Healing Art to resurrect Gongyang Jiao from pieces of his flesh.
• Gongyang Jiao recalled hiding in the Ring of Bone Servant Lele'er, coveting its fear, and overhearing Cheng Shi, Afros, and Time before realizing Lord Foolish Play had seen through his scheme.
• Gongyang Jiao knelt before Cheng Shi and insisted that he was useful.

Cheng Shi learned from Gongyang Jiao that the Gift of Scars had vanished after the First Prince hid it, leaving its trail cold. Gongyang Jiao and the chameleon joined Cheng Shi’s side, but the search for the dagger remained unresolved.

• Gongyang Jiao offered to prove his loyalty by helping Cheng Shi find Mask fragments and bring the chameleon into his faction.
• Gongyang Jiao returned with the chameleon, whose fear and fervor had both increased after Gongyang Jiao misled him with mixed truths and falsehoods.
• Cheng Shi explained his plan to seize the Gift of Scars, and Gongyang Jiao revealed that the dagger was already missing.
• Gongyang Jiao said the First Prince had hidden the dagger after discovering the Rosna royal court lacked faith, but a minister’s child had taken it and replaced it.
• Cheng Shi learned that the First Prince and the Rosna Royal Family had fled, leaving no clear trail to the Gift of Scars.
• With the dagger’s whereabouts unknown, Cheng Shi prepared to address his unresolved grudges and explained why he and the others had attacked Da Yi’s group.

Cheng Shi revived Poison and asked her for information about Jiang Chi, the Pointer Knight he intended to target. Poison agreed to help while insisting she would not give up the dagger, and she told Cheng Shi that Jiang Chi preferred working with clever, historically knowledgeable people and would not team up with Da Yi if she left.

• Cheng Shi used the Lush Antler Crown to revive Poison, who was startled to find herself back beneath Kannaal City's wall.
• Poison offered to help Cheng Shi kill people but said she could not give up the dagger; Cheng Shi explained that he wanted to learn about Jiang Chi.
• Poison mocked Gongyang Jiao for following Cheng Shi, and Gongyang Jiao retorted that Poison did the same.
• Cheng Shi demanded that Poison tell him about the Knight, and Poison described her past encounters with Jiang Chi as well as his cautious, shrewd fighting style.
• Poison told Cheng Shi that Jiang Chi liked cooperating with clever, historically knowledgeable people and would not end up working with Da Yi if she left.

Cheng Shi split from Poison and the others to meet Da Yi, while they went after Jiang Chi. At the First Prince’s hiding place, Cheng Shi hinted at a connection to Chaos, leaving Da Yi visibly shaken.

• Cheng Shi decided Poison, Gongyang Jiao, and the chameleon would hunt Jiang Chi while he went to meet Da Yi.
• Da Yi waited at the empty residence, suspecting Cheng Shi might be connected to the Great One and that Jiang Chi had gone into hiding.
• Cheng Shi used the chameleon’s silent camouflage to approach the residence and overheard Da Yi wondering whether he was the Great One himself.
• Da Yi refused to trust Cheng Shi’s evasive answers and threatened him with the iron spikes in his hands.
• Cheng Shi said “Chaos,” and Da Yi’s reaction confirmed that he had a connection to Chaos.

Cheng Shi lured Da Yi into the Evil Infant Tribunal and convinced the war believer that he was The Great One by posing as a source of knowledge about Birth and the returning gods. He confirmed Da Yi’s ties to chaos, then faced a new gamble over whether to present himself as an envoy of chaos.

• Cheng Shi connected Da Yi and the war believers to chaos, then asked Da Yi for a corpse to use with the Door Key.
• Da Yi placed a soldier’s corpse before Cheng Shi, who used the key to open the bone door and led him into the Evil Infant Tribunal.
• Da Yi recognized the Tribunal as the place of Birth, and Cheng Shi confirmed it while pretending to speak with authority.
• Cheng Shi claimed that dormant subordinate gods were reviving and that Lucia was returning to Birth’s embrace, leading Da Yi to address him as The Great One.
• Cheng Shi confirmed that Da Yi’s group had ties to an envoy of chaos and spun a Dice of Destiny as he considered how to deceive Da Yi next.

Cheng Shi maintained his disguise as Da Yi mistook him for a lord directing a mission to obtain the Gift of Scars. Their conversation left Cheng Shi suspecting that Da Yi and possibly Hu Wei were involved in Chaos’s efforts to approach War.

• Cheng Shi told Da Yi that the Gift of Scars had already been taken and implied its disappearance was part of a higher power’s will.
• Da Yi accepted Cheng Shi as his lord and explained that Gongyang Jiao’s corpse and Cheng Shi’s words on the high wall had revealed his identity.
• Cheng Shi claimed he had disguised himself as a Fate Weaver to approach Destiny as part of a new attempt to help Chaos act in the age of Nothingness.
• Da Yi asked whether they had changed targets from War to Destiny, prompting Cheng Shi to realize Da Yi might be connected to Chaos.
• Da Yi asked whether Hu Wei knew about the attempt, and Cheng Shi considered whether Hu Wei might be a defector from War with a second faith in Chaos.

Cheng Shi sent Da Yi to hunt Jiang Chi, a follower of Time, while using his exchange with Da Yi to confirm that he was being treated as the Chaos divine envoy Ultraman. After Da Yi left, Afros suspected Cheng Shi was a divine envoy of Chaos and proposed using him to deceive his two Lords of Grace into becoming one.

• Cheng Shi ordered Da Yi to join the others, kill Jiang Chi, and bring back the follower of Time's corpse, preferably intact.
• Da Yi asked whether he could still pay respects to Chaos if they failed to find the Gift of Scars, and Cheng Shi told him about the Chaos Divine Steps and the need to prove his talent or loyalty.
• Cheng Shi used Da Yi's lack of surprise at his behavior and his reaction to Cheng Shi's name to conclude that Da Yi knew him as the Chaos divine envoy Ultraman.
• After Da Yi withdrew, Afros questioned whether Cheng Shi was a divine envoy of Deception or Chaos, then admitted he believed Cheng Shi might be a divine envoy of both.
• Afros suggested using Cheng Shi to approach Chaos and trick his two Lords of Grace into becoming one, leaving Cheng Shi wary of him.

Cheng Shi reasoned that the Decay trial could be won by making Decay even more decayed, then headed out to support the hunt. Meanwhile, Jiang Chi was cornered by the hunters, and as night fell a streak of light plunged toward them.

• Cheng Shi concluded that the trial required its targets to convert to Decay and believed he had found a way to win by deepening Decay.
• Cheng Shi left the residence to join the hunt and support the hunters, wary that the prey might break through and attack him.
• The hunters cornered Jiang Chi beneath the city wall, where Poison rejected his attempt to revive their cooperation and Gongyang Jiao refused to turn against Persimmon.
• Jiang Chi raised the Hour Hand longsword and gripped his Pocket Watch, waiting for the hunters to attack as night fell.
• A blinding streak of light swept over the city wall and plunged toward Jiang Chi and the hunters.

Jiang Chi used time manipulation and a projection trap to survive the Hunters’ coordinated assault, though Poison wounded him before he turned the fight around. Da Yi broke free of the false battle and rejoined the melee as Jiang Chi fought the Chameleon.

• Da Yi and Gongyang Jiao attacked Jiang Chi, but Jiang Chi froze time and retreated to the wall as the Hunters joined the fight.
• Poison distracted Jiang Chi with a false voice, then wounded his thigh before he froze her position and struck her from concealment.
• Jiang Chi trapped Da Yi in a time projection in which Da Yi appeared to kill him, while the real fight continued elsewhere.
• Da Yi recognized the projection trap and saw Poison pinned to the wall, Gongyang Jiao caught in frozen time, and the Chameleon fighting Jiang Chi at close range.
• Da Yi cursed Jiang Chi’s deceptive tactics and returned to the battle.

Jiang Chi was surrounded by Cheng Shi, Da Yi, the Chameleon, and Gongyang Jiao after the Silence Domain trapped them all without their talents. When the domain broke and the others attacked, Jiang Chi fought Gongyang Jiao and raised his Pocket Watch, just as Gongyang Jiao revealed he had been waiting for him to use it.

• The Chameleon’s Silence Domain trapped Jiang Chi and Da Yi, preventing them from using their talents as Jiang Chi tried to escape.
• Cheng Shi blocked Jiang Chi’s path, and Gongyang Jiao reappeared to complete the encirclement beneath the outer wall.
• As the Silence Domain shattered, Da Yi hurled iron spikes, the Chameleon fired an arrow, and Gongyang Jiao charged Jiang Chi.
• Jiang Chi dodged the attacks and charged Gongyang Jiao, stabbing him with his dagger as Gongyang Jiao’s ram claws struck his shoulders.
• With Da Yi’s iron spikes closing in, Jiang Chi raised his Pocket Watch, and Gongyang Jiao grinned and said he had been waiting for him to do so.

Jiang Chi escaped Gongyang Jiao by sacrificing his arm, but Gongyang Jiao used the severed hand and its Pocket Watch to trap Cheng Shi in temporal stasis and launch a surprise attack. Just as Gongyang Jiao crushed the heart of the person standing in Cheng Shi’s place, Poison reappeared and took the fatal blow for him.

• Jiang Chi cut off his own arm to escape Gongyang Jiao, while Da Yi and the Chameleon pursued him and Cheng Shi healed Gongyang Jiao.
• Gongyang Jiao unleashed a scream that struck both enemies and allies, leaving Cheng Shi disoriented and Jiang Chi badly injured.
• Gongyang Jiao used Jiang Chi’s severed hand to reveal the Pocket Watch, freezing the space around Cheng Shi while Gongyang Jiao remained free to move.
• Gongyang Jiao stabbed the person standing before Cheng Shi and crushed their heart, but Cheng Shi survived as the temporal stasis ended.
• Poison appeared from the city wall and took the fatal blow meant for Cheng Shi.

After Gongyang Jiao killed Filth and Decay while trying to take Cheng Shi’s ring, Cheng Shi used the ring as bait and watched Gongyang Jiao die to a sudden arrow. He then pursued Jiang Chi and activated The Sinner’s Redemption, plunging everyone present into darkness.

• Filth and Decay took a fatal blow meant for Cheng Shi, and Gongyang Jiao attacked him to seize the Ring of Bone Servant Lele’er.
• Cheng Shi handed the ring to Gongyang Jiao, who knelt before him, but a silent arrow pierced Gongyang Jiao’s skull and killed him.
• A chameleon returned and bowed to Cheng Shi, while Cheng Shi reflected on Filth and Decay’s sacrifice and the danger of trusting his emissary status.
• Cheng Shi recovered his ring, pursued Jiang Chi, and decided to use The Sinner’s Regret as his final trump card.
• Cheng Shi marked everyone present and activated The Sinner’s Redemption, plunging them into darkness.

Cheng Shi woke in the reset trial with his memories intact and realized Jiang Chi had rewound time using a Time Battlefield. An ancient ring called the Eternal Prisoner of Time appeared on Cheng Shi’s finger, and he confronted Jiang Chi by revealing he knew about the reset.

• Cheng Shi recognized that the trial had returned to Rosna Conscription Plaza and inferred that Jiang Chi had reset time.
• Cheng Shi discovered that the Eternal Prisoner of Time ring protected his memories and consciousness from time resets.
• Cheng Shi decided to use his knowledge of the previous cycle rather than abandon his plans.
• Jiang Chi returned and greeted Cheng Shi, unaware that Cheng Shi remembered the earlier cycle.
• Cheng Shi interrupted Jiang Chi’s familiar conversation and asked how he had reset the Time Battlefield.

Cheng Shi killed Jiang Chi at the start of the trial, then fought Gongyang Jiao while revealing that he intended to carry the match himself. The other contestants watched warily as he promised Poison he would speedrun the trial for her.

• Cheng Shi killed Jiang Chi with a lightning strike, used the Door Key to create a bone-covered door, and filled his ring with fear.
• Gongyang Jiao became eager to attack Cheng Shi, while Da Yi and Poison reacted with shock to Jiang Chi’s death and Cheng Shi’s strength.
• Cheng Shi invited Gongyang Jiao to kill him for the ring and warned the hidden Chameleon to stay neutral.
• Gongyang Jiao charged Cheng Shi, and the two fought viciously across Rosna Conscription Plaza.
• Cheng Shi kept fighting despite his severe injuries, and Poison accepted his offer to speedrun the trial for her.

Cheng Shi defeated Gongyang Jiao and entered the bone-patterned door to check on Afros and pursue his plans. Outside, the Chameleon gave in to his desire to behold the gods and followed him, leaving Poison to decide whether to enter too.

• Cheng Shi blasted Gongyang Jiao into his ring and warned the remaining players that the mission had gone wrong.
• Cheng Shi told the Chameleon that everything he wanted was inside the door, then entered and drank Past Prosperity to speed his healing.
• Poison questioned Da Yi about his mission and speculated about the Chameleon's desire to behold the gods.
• The Chameleon overcame his hesitation and stepped through the door while Poison watched.
• Poison was left weighing whether to follow Cheng Shi and the Chameleon or stay behind.

Chameleon entered the doorway and met Afros, an emissary of Filth and Decay, while Cheng Shi revealed that Poison was waiting outside. Chameleon hoped to earn the gods’ recognition, and Poison appeared at the door to ask if she could come in.

• Chameleon overcame his suspicion of a trap and entered the doorway, where he saw Afros and Cheng Shi.
• Cheng Shi realized Chameleon belonged to the Worship God Society, and Afros described Silence as a silent observer who watched the cosmos.
• Chameleon mistook Cheng Shi for an emissary of Deception and resolved to earn the two emissaries’ recognition.
• Cheng Shi told Afros that Poison was outside resisting her desire to enter, calling the situation fun.
• Poison poked her head through the doorway and asked if she could come in.

Cheng Shi brought the Poison to meet Afros, hoping the Filth and Decay emissary could guide her toward Faith Fusion and persuade her to give up the Gift of Scars. The Poison received an opportunity to learn from Afros, while Cheng Shi left their relationship framed as a transaction rather than trust.

• Cheng Shi weighed the Poison's and Da Yi's competing claims to the Gift of Scars and decided he would not give up his own claim or Da Yi as an ally.
• Cheng Shi deduced that the Poison pursued the Gift of Scars because she needed a path toward a second faith and lacked guidance from her Lord of Grace.
• Cheng Shi brought the Poison before Afros, believing Afros's experience with two faiths could offer her guidance in Faith Fusion.
• Afros welcomed the Poison as a fellow believer, and Cheng Shi left her to decide how to use the opportunity.

Cheng Shi arranged for Poison to meet Afros and become a test subject for Filth and Decay, while revealing that he was an envoy of Deception. After Afros took Poison into the Evil Infant Tribunal, Cheng Shi secured a one-year oath of loyalty from the Chameleon and offered him a future opportunity.

• Poison recognized Afros, introduced herself, and accepted his assessment of her understanding of Filth and Decay.
• Cheng Shi proposed that Afros use people of the new era to test his will, presenting Poison as a willing and compatible subject.
• Afros agreed to the proposal, and Poison entered the Evil Infant Tribunal with him for a drink and a private conversation.
• Cheng Shi revealed to Poison and the Chameleon that he was an envoy of Deception called Fool's Game, though he remained Cheng Shi.
• Before Afros closed the Tribunal door, Cheng Shi whispered a request to him and promised not to provoke Time before finding himself again.
• Cheng Shi offered the Chameleon a one-year oath of loyalty in exchange for a future opportunity, and the Chameleon signed the agreement as Qu Yan.

Cheng Shi gathered Da Yi and Qu Yan, whom each mistook for a powerful emissary, and led them through Rosna to capture the hidden First Prince and his family. He explained that he planned to find the abandoned historian and repair the teleportation array to track down the Gift of Scars, leaving the group heading into the empty imperial court.

• Cheng Shi left the Evil Infant Tribunal with Qu Yan and told Da Yi that Hu Wei had been sent elsewhere and Qu Yan would travel with them.
• Da Yi and Qu Yan each interpreted Cheng Shi and the other's behavior as evidence of their own beliefs, then followed Cheng Shi through Rosna.
• Cheng Shi directed Da Yi and Qu Yan to capture the First Prince, his wife, and their child, and they found and bound the family.
• Cheng Shi explained that the Gift of Scars had been lost and that the historian might help them locate it by restoring the teleportation array.
• The group entered the deserted imperial court to find the historian and learn when the First Prince's dagger had disappeared.

Cheng Shi exposed how the First Prince had tried to rid himself of the dagger by sending it to Old Galen’s child, Ailian, and Galen beat the prince to death in fury. Cheng Shi then told Galen that saving his child depended on repairing the damaged teleportation array, and the group set off after confirming the First Prince’s account.

• Qu Yan revived Old Galen with a healing potion, and Galen mistook Cheng Shi and the others for World Destroyers.
• Cheng Shi questioned the First Prince about the dagger and revealed that it had been placed where Ailian could find it.
• The First Prince confessed that he had used Ailian to get rid of the dagger, prompting Galen to kill him with a stone brick.
• Qu Yan revived Galen, who begged Cheng Shi to save his child, and Cheng Shi told him to repair the damaged teleportation array.
• Cheng Shi confirmed the First Prince’s story and urged the group to move faster.

Cheng Shi and his companions restored the teleportation array beneath the imperial prison, hoping to use it to reach Ailian and the fleeing royal family. The array failed to activate, leaving them uncertain whether the destination’s anchor had been disabled, but Cheng Shi insisted they still had a chance.

• Old Galen explained that he had secretly damaged the array to keep the World Destroyers from pursuing the fleeing royal family, and Cheng Shi deduced that blood had contaminated it rather than powered it.
• Old Galen revealed that the array required twelve and a half barrels of Roundleaf Cold Pine sap, and the Chameleon went to retrieve the remaining supply.
• Cheng Shi, Old Galen, and the two players spread the exact amount of sap across the repaired array and waited on its central platform.
• When the array did not activate, Old Galen panicked, while Cheng Shi suspected the royal family might have disabled an anchor at the destination.
• Cheng Shi told his companions that interference had begun but that change still gave them a chance.

Cheng Shi planned to draw out the hidden holder of the Gift of Scars by gathering Rosna’s people and staging the arrival of a messenger of Decay. As the crowd assembled at the Conscription Plaza, Old Galen watched Qu Yan impersonate the messenger, while the purpose and outcome of the gathering remained uncertain.

• Cheng Shi decided to summon the city’s people to expose the leader who might possess the Gift of Scars, and chose to pose as a messenger of Decay through a proxy.
• Cheng Shi dressed Qu Yan in Yu Mu’s black robe, gave him the Tombstone Stone, and instructed him to stand at the Rosna Conscription Plaza while Cheng Shi spoke from behind.
• Cheng Shi gave Da Yi the Dye Plague and ordered him to spread it through the city to inspire fear of Decay and delay the World Destroyers.
• Cheng Shi brought Old Galen to the imperial court’s high wall and told him that Ailian might have turned to Death if the gathering produced no results.
• The people streamed into the plaza, praising Decay and welcoming the figure in the black robe as the messenger, while Old Galen wondered whether the arrival meant salvation or punishment.

Cheng Shi used Qu Yan’s apparent divine gift and thunder to draw Rosna’s residents into the plaza, where he sensed their fear beneath their show of devotion. He then joined Qu Yan to announce that the Lord of Grace had forgiven Rosna, leaving the gathered people doubtful and terrified as they awaited what came next.

• Qu Yan posed as the envoy of Decay, displaying an ordinary dagger made to seem powerful by a hidden Tombstone Stone.
• As residents gathered and feared the thunder Cheng Shi unleashed on the Imperial Court, the Amusement Ring’s charge repeatedly refilled.
• Cheng Shi concluded that fear, rather than devotion, filled the plaza and spoke to Ram inside the ring about the Screaming Count’s death.
• Old Galen considered recording the Rosna Empire’s final chapter, while Cheng Shi left the wall and joined Qu Yan in the crowd.
• Cheng Shi announced that he had come as the envoy of Decay to bring the Lord of Grace’s forgiveness to Rosna, and the frightened residents wondered whether it was a scam.

Cheng Shi freed the people of Kannaal from their oaths to Decay and used a healing miracle to recreate a scene from history, hoping to draw the Twin Gods of Nothingness into the trial. His scheme appeared to trigger a return to the past, where five blood-covered figures recognized the Gift of Scars in Qu Yan’s hands.

• Da Yi searched the frightened crowd for the resistance leader while Cheng Shi declared that the Rosna Empire had never known true piety.
• Cheng Shi told the people that Decay had released them from their vows and urged them to defend their homeland.
• Cheng Shi healed the crowd with a Healing Chain, causing the Sin-Cleansing Ring scars to fade and the people to cheer for Decay.
• Cheng Shi revealed that he had recreated a historical scene to attract the attention of Deception and Destiny and provoke changes in Existence.
• After Cheng Shi asked how Rosna historians recorded history, five blood-covered figures appeared on the wall, said they had returned, and identified the Gift of Scars with Qu Yan.

Cheng Shi and his companions encountered five players from another trial who charged into the plaza seeking a legendary dagger. Da Yi killed their leading attacker, and the survivors debated retreating or recording the event as history was altered.

• Cheng Shi recognized that the newcomers included a Doom Herald and a Disciple of Silence and warned Qu Yan and Da Yi to watch them.
• Qu Yan held his position while the Disciple of Silence rushed toward him, but Da Yi intercepted the attacker and killed him with a counterattack.
• The remaining players regrouped, learned that He Zu was dead, and argued over whether to retreat or keep pursuing the legendary dagger.
• The tall, thin player opened a history book and recorded the scene, causing history to be altered again.