Recaps

Cheng Shi left An Mingyu behind after she pretended to faint, then discovered that the trial town lay beside the Abyssal Volcano. When An Mingyu caught up and used the Dice of Destiny to recommend the left path, Cheng Shi chose to go right.

• Cheng Shi recognized that An Mingyu was pretending to faint, but left the inn without hearing her explanation.
• Cheng Shi emerged into a town near the Abyssal Volcano and realized the trial was taking place underground.
• Cheng Shi examined the volcano and considered investigating the unfamiliar town for information.
• An Mingyu caught up with Cheng Shi, apologized for testing him, and asked whether he always disliked helping others.
• An Mingyu consulted the Dice of Destiny, which indicated that the left path was better, but Cheng Shi chose to go right.

Cheng Shi learned that An Mingyu was a Fire Keeper and one of its two Fire Seekers, and that the Fire Keepers had killed someone who knew his identity. The chapter ended with An Mingyu revealing that the person killed just before the trial was Old Man, the Chosen of Time.

• Cheng Shi asked An Mingyu about the trial, and she identified the Door of Falling and suggested investigating the magma crystal mine.
• An Mingyu told Cheng Shi she had seen Destiny through memories exchanged with Li Jingming, then asked to share memories with him.
• An Mingyu revealed that she knew Cheng Shi had helped the Fire Keepers and identified Fang Shiqing as one of the people he had helped.
• Cheng Shi threatened An Mingyu with his scalpel, but she revealed she was a Fire Keeper and one of its two Fire Seekers.
• An Mingyu explained that Cheng Shi's identity and connection to the Fire Keepers had been exposed, so the organization had killed someone who refused to forget the information.
• An Mingyu named the person they had killed as Old Man, the Chosen of Time.

Cheng Shi met the Blind Man, An Mingyu, who tried to recruit him into the Fire Keepers while explaining her connection to Destiny. She revealed that she had prophesied Destiny at the start of the Faith Game and lost her sight after glimpsing the god’s hidden presence.

• Cheng Shi suspected the Blind Man was using his connection to the Fire Keepers to draw him into protecting their organization.
• Cheng Shi led An Mingyu to a deserted alley and demanded that she explain what she knew before he shared anything.
• An Mingyu decided Cheng Shi was trustworthy and well suited to the Fire Keepers, and she hoped to recruit him.
• Cheng Shi asked when and how An Mingyu had seen Destiny.
• An Mingyu said she had become a Prophet on the first afternoon of the Faith Game, rolled a one with the Dice of Destiny, and was drawn into a void where she sensed Destiny beneath the darkness.
• An Mingyu said she had been forced back to the Starting Point of Life Path blind, and Cheng Shi reacted with shock.

Cheng Shi questioned the Blind Man about her vision and her suspicions about his past actions. She explained that she had helped Fang Shiqing and the City Defenders out of mischief, framing it as devotion to their Lord of Grace.

• The Blind Man described how Nothingness’s gift let her perceive Cheng Shi as a spiderweb and Hu Wei as shifting mist.
• Cheng Shi asked how she had killed Old Man, but the Blind Man insisted that he answer her questions in return.
• The Blind Man asked why Cheng Shi had helped Fang Shiqing and the other two City Defenders.
• Cheng Shi admitted he had pushed them toward the truth and erased his traces to create mysteries of Destiny as an offering to their Lord of Grace.
• The Blind Man compared Cheng Shi’s shameless reasoning to Zhen Yi’s.

Cheng Shi learned from the Blind Man what happened at the Fool's Society gathering, including Cheng Shushi joining the Fire Keepers and Old Man being doomed to die after the trial. The Blind Man invited Cheng Shi to join and offered him proof of membership, but he chose to visit the lava crystal mine instead.

• The Blind Man recounted how the Fire Keepers used the Fool's Society gathering as a trap and captured Old Man and Cheng Shushi after the dream ended.
• Cheng Shushi joined the Fire Keepers, while Old Man refused to forget and was killed by the Blind Man, Qin Xin, and Cheng Shushi; the Special Trial delayed his certain death.
• The Blind Man urged Cheng Shi to join the Fire Keepers and offered him a Proof of Fire Keeping insignia so they could recognize him after using Remembrance Mourning.
• Cheng Shi asked about Qin Xin's position and the meaning of the Blind Man's trust, then said he had decided to visit the lava crystal mine outside town.

Cheng Shi weighed the risks of the Fire Keepers and their possible connection to Zhen Yi, then chose to investigate a local prison for clues about the trial. The Blind Man’s divination showed that his unexpected choice closely followed Destiny’s guidance, leaving her increasingly curious about him.

• Cheng Shi decided to remain wary of the Fire Keepers because he did not know whether the Blind Man had learned about them through Zhen Xin and Zhen Yi.
• Cheng Shi and the Blind Man returned toward the town center, where he explained that he wanted to seek information at the local prison rather than go to the mines.
• The Blind Man explained that the town had no formal administrators and was jointly managed by broker factions.
• The Blind Man rolled her sixteen-sided die and got fifteen, indicating that Cheng Shi’s choice had an extremely high probability of following Destiny’s guidance.

Cheng Shi and the Blind Man searched a makeshift prison for information about the town and the factions operating there. They learned that the Proxy Hand was active during the Civilization Era, but the prisoner they questioned offered little useful information.

• Cheng Shi and the Blind Man entered a ruined earthen prison where several men lay drunk.
• At the Blind Man’s suggestion, Cheng Shi stabbed one of the men awake, and she healed him with a potion.
• Cheng Shi claimed he was a Fire Giver and a freelance writer, then threatened the prisoner into sharing news about the town.
• The prisoner revealed that Alard had locked him up because he could not pay Alard’s older sister after sleeping with her.
• The Blind Man explained that Alard belonged to the Proxy Hand, an organization that gathered underground resources for surface factions during the Civilization Era.

Cheng Shi and Blind Man questioned prisoners in the Proxy Hand’s prison and heard about Yadelik’s strange behavior toward a shanty worker. Suspecting Yadelik might be connected to their trial, Cheng Shi killed him to investigate his memories himself.

• Cheng Shi asked the prisoners why they were locked up and learned that most had gone to the shanty without paying or were guards.
• A burly man told Cheng Shi that Yadelik had declared love for a shanty worker while drunk, then whipped her when she wanted to leave and build a home with him.
• Cheng Shi and Blind Man recognized that Yadelik’s unusual behavior might relate to the trial and decided to verify their suspicion.
• Blind Man suggested taking Yadelik to Qin Xin, but Cheng Shi refused and slit Yadelik’s throat with his scalpel.

Cheng Shi used a Finger Bone Brooch to question Yadelik’s corpse and learned that the dead man claimed Aromani was his wife, contradicting the shantytown’s account. He and the Blind Man followed a Destiny-based trail toward Aromani, while Cheng Shi discovered that An Mingyu sincerely rejected integrating another faith.

• Cheng Shi revived Yadelik’s corpse with the Finger Bone Brooch and asked about his relationship with the woman he had beaten.
• Yadelik’s corpse identified Aromani as his wife, but a big man insisted that Yadelik had never married and was notorious for stealing from women.
• The Blind Man used her Drawing silk from the cocoon talent to trace people connected to Yadelik’s destiny and tracked Aromani beyond the town.
• Cheng Shi carried Yadelik’s corpse as he and the Blind Man followed the spider silk, while the big man drank himself back to sleep.
• The Blind Man said she was a devout believer of Destiny with no desire to integrate another faith, and Cheng Shi realized she was completely sincere.

Cheng Shi and Blind Man traveled toward the mine while discussing destiny and the strange results Blind Man got when divining about him. Blind Man explained that Zhen Xin could control Zhen Yi’s memories, but challenged Cheng Shi for asking why she had not erased them all.

• Blind Man guided Cheng Shi through the town toward the mine, while he inspected the surroundings and teased Yadelik with flowers.
• Blind Man described destiny as scripts people chose to perform and said she could see indistinct glimpses of the acts people were about to perform.
• Blind Man revealed that divinations about Cheng Shi were normal, but attempts to investigate him personally always produced a one on her die.
• Cheng Shi asked whether Zhen Xin and Zhen Yi would learn his story, and Blind Man said Zhen Xin could control Zhen Yi’s memories.
• Cheng Shi asked why Zhen Xin did not take back all of Zhen Yi’s memories, and Blind Man pointed out that he was being greedy about other people’s stories.

Cheng Shi revealed to An Mingyu that Origin had written the cosmos’s scripts, and she died after apparently attempting to divine Origin. He left Qin Xin uncertain about what had happened but suggested An Mingyu might still return.

• Cheng Shi told An Mingyu that Origin, not Destiny, had written the scripts and allowed Destiny to observe them.
• An Mingyu suddenly collapsed and died, and Qin Xin caught her before she hit the ground.
• Cheng Shi found the ashes of An Mingyu’s shattered Dice of Destiny and realized she had attempted a prophecy about Origin.
• Cheng Shi explained that he had hoped to cooperate with the Fire Keepers but had not expected An Mingyu to divine Origin.
• Qin Xin asked what had happened, and Cheng Shi declined to explain, saying An Mingyu might still be revived.

Cheng Shi questioned whether he could trust Qin Xin, who reassured him that the Fire Keepers would not make him a burden and revealed his deep faith in protecting beauty and friendship. Cheng Shi realized Qin Xin was likely the Fire Keepers’ founder, then removed his mask and used Healing Art on the Blind Man.

• Cheng Shi questioned whether Qin Xin could be trusted, and Qin Xin promised the Fire Keepers would stand by him without forcing him to join.
• Qin Xin showed Cheng Shi his Master of Deception Card and handed it to him while claiming falsely that he was not a Fire Keeper.
• Qin Xin explained that he believed Cheng Shi had helped the Fire Keepers out of kindness and promised that Memory would erase his knowledge of Cheng Shi after the trial.
• Cheng Shi inferred that Qin Xin was the founder of the Fire Keepers, though he wondered how a believer of Memory could establish an organization opposing it.
• Cheng Shi removed the Warrior’s Mask, took off the Lush Antler Crown, and cast Healing Art on the Blind Man.

Cheng Shi failed to revive the Blind Man with Healing Art, then used the Death Amusement Ring to turn the corpse into a Shrieking Servant. The servant left for The Great One’s Bone Throne with Cheng Shi’s plea for help, while Qin Xin was left stunned and confused.

• Healing Art failed to revive the Blind Man, and Cheng Shi accepted Qin Xin’s explanation that Prosperity’s fall had disrupted resurrection.
• The Lips of Foolish Play claimed the Blind Man had not died completely and suggested sending her to The Great One.
• Cheng Shi concluded that The Great One might be able to reverse the Blind Man’s death and fired the Death Amusement Ring at the corpse.
• The lightning consumed the Blind Man’s flesh, leaving a skeleton that rose as a Shrieking Servant and went through a portal to The Great One’s Bone Throne.
• Cheng Shi denied fusing with Death and secretly told the Shrieking Servant to ask for help, while Qin Xin watched in disbelief.

Cheng Shi regrouped with Qin Xin and Wang Mou after the Blind Man’s death, and the three compared clues about people with disordered memories. An explosion erased part of town, forcing them to rush toward Wu Cun and leaving the trial’s survival stakes suddenly more urgent.

• Qin Xin explained that Wang Mou had gone to the mine while he searched town, and said he trusted Cheng Shi despite the Blind Man’s death.
• Qin Xin told Cheng Shi that the Blind Man had wanted him to join the Fire Keepers, but that the memorial remembrance would make them forget the trial afterward.
• Cheng Shi and Qin Xin met Wang Mou, who had found Aromani in the mine’s infirmary and brought her back for questioning.
• A huge explosion erased part of the town, and the three recognized it as the work of Wu Cun, the Ember Annihilator.
• Cheng Shi, Qin Xin, and Wang Mou rushed toward the blast site to stop Wu Cun before she destroyed the trial’s clues, while Cheng Shi recalled the Blind Man’s prophecy that only five people would remain at the table.

Li Wufang let Wu Cun investigate alone, trusting her ability to control her destructive urges, but she suddenly unleashed Annihilation on a wide stretch of town and provoked him. Li Wufang attacked her with arrows and imposed laws on the area as the battle began.

• Wu Cun told Li Wufang she could control herself and insisted that they split up to investigate faster.
• Li Wufang let Wu Cun take the right fork while he prepared to search the other direction.
• At 11:00, Wu Cun unleashed Annihilation, erasing a vast section of streets, buildings, trees, and rocks.
• Li Wufang fired several Arrows of Punishment into the dust and raced across nearby rooftops.
• Li Wufang proclaimed laws forbidding teleportation, high leaps, rapid movement, and life exchange in the area.

Li Wufang, Wang Mou, Cheng Shi, and Qin Xin were caught in the aftermath of Wu Cun’s battle, and Qin Xin stopped her annihilation storm with a mysterious mirror. Wu Cun disappeared, and Wang Mou recognized Qin Xin’s mirror as the Dreamless Mirror.

• Li Wufang fired Arrows of Punishment at Wu Cun while Cheng Shi and the others arrived at the ruined block.
• Wang Mou sent mechanical mice into the smoke, then fled when Wu Cun unleashed an annihilation storm.
• Qin Xin blocked Cheng Shi from retreating and drew a mirror that absorbed the annihilation storm.
• The storm vanished along with Wu Cun, leaving void rifts across the battlefield.
• Wang Mou returned and identified Qin Xin’s mirror as the Dreamless Mirror, asking if he was Still Like in a Dream.

Qin Xin revealed that he was Still Like in a Dream and used the Dreamless Mirror to restore the Door of Falling after an Annihilation disaster. He explained that the town and the people recovered from the dream were real, leaving the group to confront the mirror’s power over Memory and existence.

• Wang Mou identified Qin Xin as Still Like in a Dream and explained the history and abilities of the Dreamless Mirror, a Memory artifact that could overlay dreams on reality.
• Qin Xin confirmed he had prepared a contingency, though he credited the investigator with delaying the Ember Annihilator long enough for his plan to work.
• Qin Xin withdrew the Dreamless Mirror, and the gray-white ruins and vanished people returned as reality regained its colors.
• Cheng Shi asked whether Yadelik’s corpse was fake, and Qin Xin explained that the Dreamless Mirror had restored real people and places erased by the disaster.
• Qin Xin explained that the Door of Falling’s Memory had already existed and that the mirror could turn it into a dream, temporarily distort reality, and restore what had been annihilated.

Cheng Shi and the others uncovered that Wu Cun had sought their help in using annihilation to understand a Seed of Annihilation, which could reveal the power of new life. As Li Wufang and Wang Mou prepared to track her, Qin Xin told Cheng Shi that the Wang Mou he knew had died by suicide, leaving Cheng Shi suspicious of the Doctor’s identity and Qin Xin’s uncertain memory.

• Li Wufang sensed that the lingering annihilation power near Wu Cun’s disappearance was nurturing something, and Cheng Shi and Wang Mou identified it as new life.
• Wang Mou explained that annihilation seemed to await the creation of a new world and concluded that Wu Cun wanted Li Wufang to annihilate her after she found a Seed of Annihilation.
• Qin Xin described the Seed of Annihilation as a blueprint for reconstructing the world and said Wu Cun was likely trying to understand her Lord of Grace through new life.
• Qin Xin recorded the scene with Memory’s power, while Li Wufang set a tracking trap and Wang Mou prepared to use his Doctor Assassin abilities.
• Cheng Shi asked Qin Xin why Wang Mou had concealed his profession, and Qin Xin said he had known a similar Erudite Scholar named Wang Weijin who died by suicide.
• Cheng Shi wondered why a follower of Memory could be unsure of his recollection and grew more suspicious of the people around him.

Cheng Shi and the others questioned Aromani about her connection to Yadelik, only to learn she belonged to the Brotherhood of Extreme Desire, a group devoted to Filth and Decay. Aromani began recounting events under pressure, but her flirtation with Cheng Shi left the gathering increasingly awkward.

• Cheng Shi and the others returned to the inn to discuss the trials and question the unconscious Aromani about Yadelik.
• Wang Mou woke Aromani, who mistook her abduction for a paid visit and demanded that the players cover the room fee.
• Cheng Shi asked Aromani what had happened between her and Yadelik, and she warned them not to oppose the Brotherhood of Extreme Desire.
• Li Wufang explained that the Brotherhood consisted of Filth and Decay's devotees and protected people involved in sexual services.
• Cheng Shi threatened Aromani with a scalpel to persuade her to give a detailed account, but her flirtatious response made his smile stiffen.

Cheng Shi and the others questioned Aromani about the incident involving Yadelik and learned that Xilolin had fabricated the story to extort the mining district. After Cheng Shi revived Yadelik, his strange behavior convinced the group that he might be connected to the trial’s temporal anomaly, leaving them eager to investigate him.

• Cheng Shi intimidated Aromani into recounting how Yadelik had acted out a fantasy of marrying her before punching the ground beside her, and she revealed that Xilolin had arranged the rumor to pressure her brother Alad.
• Cheng Shi knocked Aromani unconscious, and Qin Xin judged that she had been telling the truth.
• Cheng Shi used the Lush Antler Crown and a Healing Art to revive Yadelik.
• Yadelik rushed to protect Aromani and called her his wife, prompting the group to suspect he was the trial figure named Cencha and had been caught in a temporal anomaly.
• The four men stared at Yadelik until he grew frightened and asked what they wanted to do to him.

Cheng Shi and the others interrogated Yadelik and Aromani, discovering that one of them had been replaced across time, though they could not yet tell which. After deciding to investigate their pasts, the group split up, while Cheng Shi reassured Li Wufang that Destiny was guiding them; a familiar voice then addressed Cheng Shi from behind.

• Cheng Shi threatened Yadelik and questioned him about his relationship with Aromani, learning that they were engaged rather than married.
• Yadelik and Aromani accused each other of inventing their shared plans, and Yadelik chose his own life over his fiancée when Wang Mou posed a deadly hypothetical.
• Aromani tried to recruit Yadelik into the Brotherhood of Extreme Desire, while the others recognized that one of the pair was the temporal Cencha.
• Cheng Shi and Qin Xin concluded that either Yadelik or Aromani had been replaced and decided to investigate their pasts to identify the anomaly.
• Li Wufang asked whether An the Chosen had left the trial, and Cheng Shi argued that their discovery was guidance from Destiny.
• A familiar, cool voice praised Cheng Shi's understanding of Him from behind.

An Mingyu returned from death and used a Dice of Destiny to affirm the players’ decision, while the team split up to investigate. After Li Wufang and Wang Mou left, Cheng Shi knocked Aromani unconscious and asked An Mingyu what she had seen in the Origin.

• An Mingyu emerged from a bone door, and Cheng Shi restrained his curiosity about what she had seen before her death.
• An Mingyu rolled a twelve with the Dice of Destiny and said the players had made the right decision.
• Wang Mou corrected Li Wufang about who had found Yadelik and Aromani, then revealed his name and profession.
• Cheng Shi proposed pairing Qin Xin with himself and An Mingyu, while Li Wufang and Wang Mou investigated separately.
• Wang Mou took Yadelik toward the mine to investigate before looking for Alade, and Li Wufang followed him.
• After Li Wufang and Wang Mou left, Cheng Shi knocked Aromani unconscious and asked An Mingyu what she had seen.

An Mingyu revealed that her divination had shown nothing of the mysterious Source-Primordial, while Cheng Shi questioned her about her brief encounter with Death and resurrection. The conversation ended with An Mingyu naming the gods she had previously greeted.

• An Mingyu told Qin Xin she could not share what she had learned until she understood the danger to the Fire Keeper.
• After Qin Xin left with the unconscious Aromani, An Mingyu told Cheng Shi that her divination had shown neither the Source-Primordial nor even darkness.
• Cheng Shi teased An Mingyu and asked her to describe what happened when she greeted Death.
• An Mingyu explained that Death seemed to reject her but ultimately chose to resurrect her, and Cheng Shi learned that she had only been briefly seen in Fishbone Hall.
• An Mingyu told Cheng Shi that she had previously greeted War, Folly, Time, and Deception, the Twin Gods of Lord of Grace in Nothingness.

Cheng Shi questioned the Blind Man and Qin Xin about their audiences with Folly, then learned War had summoned the Blind Man early in the Faith Game. He left wondering whether War’s apparent interest in death and Destiny meant the god had truly gone out.

• Cheng Shi asked the Blind Man about Folly, and she brought Qin Xin back to describe his audience with Him.
• Qin Xin said Folly had asked whether his foolish act would have an answer, then dismissed him from the void before he could reply.
• Cheng Shi suspected Folly might know about the Fire Keepers but changed the subject rather than press Qin Xin about whom he had consulted afterward.
• The Blind Man recalled that War summoned her at the end of the Faith Game’s first month and sighed after finding no answer in her on an ash-covered battlefield.
• Cheng Shi compared her audience to Squinty Old Zhang’s and wondered what War was observing and whether He had truly gone out.

Death confronted Deception over An Mingyu’s corpse, whose death had entangled Death’s power with Origin. Deception accused Death of refusing to release An Mingyu because it feared losing control over death to Origin, leaving Death silent.

• Death recognized that An Mingyu’s skeleton carried Origin’s power and that Destiny was buffering the clash with its own authority.
• Death summoned Deception, accused it of contaminating An Mingyu with divine power, and threatened it with a scythe.
• Deception evaded Death’s attacks, noting that the Covenant would revive it if Death killed it.
• Deception explained that Death could have withdrawn its power and let An Mingyu pass toward Origin, but instead had kept the corpse entangled.
• Deception accused Death of fearing that a death touched by its power would escape its control, and Death fell silent.