Recaps

Cheng Shi suspected that Li Wufang had been altered by a temporal “Cencha” and pretended to understand his plans while trying to uncover what had happened. When Li Wufang asked where to find Jiang Chi, Cheng Shi recalled that Jiang Chi might also have been affected by the anomaly.

• Cheng Shi considered that Li Wufang’s changing attitudes might mean three versions of him existed across different times.
• Cheng Shi killed Gels, hid his actions, and acted as though the inspector’s assumptions about him were correct.
• Li Wufang erased traces of the scene, and Cheng Shi told him to leave Yadelik as bait; Li Wufang agreed and knocked Yadelik unconscious.
• Li Wufang asked where they should go to find Jiang Chi, leaving Cheng Shi to improvise an answer.
• Cheng Shi recalled Poison calling Jiang Chi a peak-level newcomer and suspected that time’s “Cencha” had caused Jiang Chi to appear abruptly.

Cheng Shi questioned Li Wufang about time rifts and the trial’s “Cencha,” while privately suspecting that several players had been affected. He left Li Wufang with a scalpel at his throat, demanding proof that the investigator was not compromised.

• Cheng Shi speculated that Jiang Chi might have crossed from another timeline and stolen the identity of the Jiang Chi in this one.
• Cheng Shi told Li Wufang that the man he was looking for was dead, prompting Li Wufang to ask whether Cheng Shi had found a time rift.
• Li Wufang suggested someone might have crossed a time rift to their side, and Cheng Shi inferred that the investigator was one of time’s “Cencha.”
• Cheng Shi wondered whether Jiang Chi, Doctor Assassin, Qin Xin, and the Fire Keepers had also been affected, recalling Qin Xin’s repeated question about merging with death.
• Cheng Shi suggested Blind Man’s changed behavior might be “Cencha,” then reassured Li Wufang that nothing was wrong with him.
• Cheng Shi pressed a scalpel to Li Wufang’s throat and demanded to know how he could confirm that Li Wufang was unaffected.

Cheng Shi tricked Li Wufang into believing he had received a warning from Destiny and assigned him to watch a prisoner while he investigated the others. After learning that Li Wufang belonged to the Fated One, Cheng Shi left to seek Blind Man and began planning a deception to uncover what had happened in the trial.

• Cheng Shi claimed that Destiny had warned him to be careful, and Li Wufang revealed that the Fated One never doubted its own people.
• Cheng Shi told Li Wufang to watch the prisoner and explained that he needed to determine whether Jiang Chi was dead and whether time had changed his teammates.
• Li Wufang accepted Cheng Shi's orders, while Cheng Shi advised him to test Qin Xin and said the Doctor was harmless unless he refused to share the Abyssal Crystal.
• Cheng Shi received a divine revelation from Deception that repeated his false warning, then admitted to himself that his claims to Li Wufang had been lies.
• Cheng Shi decided to find Blind Man, question the Prophet who had once seen Destiny, and use deception to expose the truth of the trial.

Cheng Shi suspected that time discrepancies had silently altered multiple players, perhaps even himself, and went to the warehouse seeking answers from the Blind Man. There, the Blind Man revealed that she and Qin Xin were both Fire Keepers, prompting a tense exchange as Cheng Shi returned.

• Cheng Shi recalled changes in Wang Weijin, Li Wufang, and Qin Xin, and concluded that time discrepancies may have occurred repeatedly during the trial.
• Cheng Shi worried that he might have been displaced from his original timeline without realizing it, and resolved to investigate the time trap with the Blind Man.
• Qin Xin sensed Cheng Shi approaching the warehouse and remained silent while sitting across from the Blind Man.
• The Blind Man threatened to reveal her and Qin Xin’s identities unless Qin Xin spoke, then announced that they were both Fire Keepers.
• Qin Xin and the Blind Man exchanged observations about each other as Cheng Shi entered the warehouse smiling.

Qin Xin reassured An Mingyu that he remained committed to protecting beauty, then revealed that someone who had once been like her had become a true Fire Keeper. Cheng Shi tested Qin Xin’s consideration and left uncertain about how much Qin Xin had changed, until Qin Xin made room for him and An Mingyu.

• Qin Xin told An Mingyu that the Fire Keepers suffered alongside the world and that he wanted the ability and original heart to protect beauty.
• Qin Xin revealed that a woman who had once been like An Mingyu had become a Fire Keeper, and An Mingyu welcomed the news.
• Cheng Shi arrived and stayed put to test whether Qin Xin would make room for him and An Mingyu.
• Qin Xin walked past Cheng Shi, patted his shoulder, and left to sleep, saying he hoped he would not have nightmares.

Cheng Shi confirmed that he and the Blind Man, An Mingyu, had been displaced from their original timeline, while Qin Xin had been replaced by someone from another world. After gaining An Mingyu’s trust, Cheng Shi revealed that he had founded The Fated and invited her to join.

• Cheng Shi spoke with the Blind Man about Qin Xin’s departure and learned that she also recognized the trial had changed.
• The Blind Man revealed that her divination said she did not belong beneath this starry sky, confirming that she had been displaced from her original timeline.
• Cheng Shi and the Blind Man exchanged assurances of trust, and she said the current Qin Xin came from a world where passing on the flame was difficult.
• Cheng Shi told the Blind Man about The Fated and revealed that he had founded the organization.
• Cheng Shi invited An the Chosen to join The Fated as his die landed on one point.

Cheng Shi tried to recruit An the Chosen into the Fated, but she exposed his lack of trust and challenged him to explain Fate. He began by asking whether she believed Fate could protect her until the universe’s end, then seized her Dice before she could divine again.

• Cheng Shi invited An the Chosen to join the Fated, and she sensed his web of Fate closing around her.
• An the Chosen questioned Cheng Shi’s sincerity and pointed out that he sought her trust while refusing to trust others.
• Cheng Shi defended his false sincerity with a pastry-box analogy, and An the Chosen agreed to join the Fated to bring back local specialties for another Fire Seeker.
• An the Chosen asked Cheng Shi to explain the Fated’s belief in predetermination, and he asked whether she believed Fate could protect her until the universe’s end.
• Cheng Shi took the Dice from An the Chosen and warned her not to divine again.

Cheng Shi recruited Blind Man into The Fated after learning how strongly she wanted to know about the Origin. He then asked her to help piece together a path home through time, but his suspicion led him to request the Master of Deception Card first.

• Blind Man asked Cheng Shi how he knew about the Origin and agreed to join The Fated as a full member.
• Cheng Shi weighed Blind Man’s value as an intelligence source against the trouble her ties to Zhen Xin and Zhen Yi could bring.
• Blind Man declared that she was independent of Fire Keeper and Zhen Xin, and offered her private knowledge of Zhen Yi as proof of sincerity.
• Cheng Shi gave Blind Man a die as The Fated’s token and revealed that he, Blind Man, and Hong Lin were its members.
• Cheng Shi asked Blind Man to help reconstruct a road home through time, then requested the Master of Deception Card so she could tell a lie and settle his unease.

Cheng Shi and Blind Man investigated how temporal Cencha affected them and their teammates, and Cheng Shi suspected that exposure to Abyssal Crystals triggered it. They planned to search near the alley where Li Wufang and Wu Cun had separated for another hidden crystal.

• Cheng Shi and Blind Man agreed to investigate how Cencha began and when they were affected, while noting Qin Xin was unlikely to help them.
• Cheng Shi reasoned that Wu Cun might have been replaced by a version from another timeline after separating from Li Wufang.
• Blind Man explained that Still Like in a Dream was a Dream-Peeking Ranger, leading Cheng Shi to suspect Qin Xin had also been replaced by time.
• Cheng Shi proposed that exposure to Abyssal Crystals caused Cencha, pointing to changes after the mine searches and the Sage's replicated experiment.
• Blind Man reminded Cheng Shi that Li Wufang and Wu Cun had not entered the mine during the first search, so he proposed searching near the alley where they separated for another Abyssal Crystal.

Cheng Shi persuaded Blind Man to have Qin Xin investigate the area where the Abyssal Crystal might have triggered Cencha, hoping a time shift would bring back the original Qin Xin. Meanwhile, Qin Xin realized he had crossed into another spacetime and suspected time had made it happen deliberately.

• Blind Man questioned Cheng Shi’s motives, but he urged her to verify whether the Abyssal Crystal was in the affected area before Cencha changed again.
• Cheng Shi proposed sending Qin Xin to investigate, reasoning that another time shift might replace the current Qin Xin with one of the other versions.
• Blind Man agreed to find Qin Xin and told Cheng Shi to watch over the Doctor and preserve the experiment’s procedure and results.
• Cheng Shi waited until the hour passed before releasing Blind Man, who left the warehouse to speak with Qin Xin.
• Qin Xin sensed his final teammate and recognized that he had entered another spacetime through Cencha, though he suspected time itself had caused the crossing.

Qin Xin questioned Li Wufang about his mysterious organization and whether he was connected to another timeline, then left without letting Li Wufang attack him. He pondered how to recognize the future in the temporal Cencha as the Blind Man arrived.

• Qin Xin decided Li Wufang was the only person in the trial who might represent the future he sought and went to meet him.
• Qin Xin questioned Li Wufang about his identity and time-studying organization, but Li Wufang dismissed his probes.
• Li Wufang claimed Gels had tried to assault a miner and showed Qin Xin a scalpel, while Qin Xin warned him that killing Yadelik could jeopardize another rescue.
• Li Wufang nearly drew his longbow to kill Qin Xin, but held back after Qin Xin mentioned Yadelik and the Fate Weaver.
• Qin Xin went outside and wondered what the future would look like in the temporal Cencha; then the Blind Man arrived.

The Blind Man told Qin Xin that Cheng Shi had identified the Abyssal Crystal as a possible key to the Cencha and directed him toward it. While searching for a way back, Qin Xin encountered Wu Cun and countered her ambush, leaving an investigator caught in the battle.

• The Blind Man explained that Cheng Shi had found a reason for the time inconsistencies and said the Abyssal Crystal might be the key to the Cencha.
• Qin Xin headed away from the outpost, but found the residential area had vanished and sensed the presence of annihilation.
• Wu Cun unleashed a wave of annihilation that destroyed Qin Xin and shattered his Dreamless Mirror.
• Qin Xin reformed from the mirror fragments, tracked Wu Cun through distorted space, and struck her twice with his sword.
• Wu Cun erased a hillock with an annihilating attack, revealing an investigator hiding behind it as he asked whether either of them believed he was just passing by.

Li Wufang used real laws of Order to expose Wu Cun and help Qin Xin turn the fight against her. Qin Xin seized a brief opening to tear off Wu Cun’s head.

• Wu Cun avoided Qin Xin’s pursuit while Li Wufang taunted her and urged Qin Xin not to hold back.
• Qin Xin suspected Li Wufang was waiting for them to weaken each other, so he charged at the Search Officer.
• Li Wufang faked prohibitions against memory and war before using the real law, “Here, teleportation is forbidden!”
• Qin Xin used the opening to rush Wu Cun, and Li Wufang then forbade anger, briefly confusing her.
• Qin Xin grabbed Wu Cun by the throat and tore off her head.

Qin Xin killed Ember Annihilator and told Li Wufang that Wu Cun had survived through her Seed of Annihilation. As Blind Man worried that the players’ identities might have changed across worldlines, Li Wufang took over watching the Doctor and wondered what Qin Xin and the Fate Weaver had discovered.

• Qin Xin crushed Ember Annihilator’s corpse, then told Li Wufang that Wu Cun was still alive and left to investigate her Seed of Annihilation.
• Li Wufang emerged from hiding and questioned Blind Man about the four survivors in her prophecy, suggesting they were the Doctor, Blind Man, himself, and the battle’s winner.
• Blind Man suspected that a time discrepancy had affected the players and wondered whether Qin Xin and Cheng Shi had changed into versions from another worldline.
• Blind Man agreed to sleep and left Li Wufang to watch the Doctor in the warehouse.
• After Blind Man entered the warehouse, Li Wufang wondered whether the prophecy had changed and whether Qin Xin and the Fate Weaver had found something better than the Abyssal Crystal.

Cheng Shi followed Qin Xin to investigate whether Abyssal Crystals explained temporal dissonance, but Qin Xin said the preserved area held none. Suspecting Qin Xin was hiding something, Cheng Shi attacked and used a headless corpse to bring another fighter into the confrontation.

• Cheng Shi followed Qin Xin down the mountain while disguised as Li Wufang, wary of the destruction Wu Cun had caused.
• Qin Xin confronted Cheng Shi at the foot of the mountain and reported that the area was intact but contained no Abyssal Crystals.
• Cheng Shi challenged Qin Xin's claim, arguing that he could not have searched the area thoroughly in the time available.
• Qin Xin refused to hand over his Master of Deception Card but offered to let Cheng Shi investigate the area himself.
• Cheng Shi accused Qin Xin of wanting to pass the fire in this world rather than return to his own, then threw a scalpel at him.
• Qin Xin flicked the scalpel aside, and Cheng Shi hurled a headless corpse at him.

Cheng Shi resurrected Wu Cun to disrupt Qin Xin and test his suspicions about the Abyssal Crystal, then challenged Qin Xin while hiding in smoke. Wu Cun joined the fight against Qin Xin, leaving the battle between all three underway.

• Cheng Shi revived Wu Cun with the Lush Antler Crown and threw her corpse toward Qin Xin, forcing Wu Cun and Qin Xin into a sudden clash.
• Qin Xin had searched the target area but found no Abyssal Crystal, while Cheng Shi relied on the Dragon King's memory notes and Past Life Replay to continue his investigation.
• Cheng Shi attacked Qin Xin with Thunder Punishment, and Qin Xin charged at him with his longsword.
• Cheng Shi dropped a Miasma Bomb and merged into the smoke to test whether Qin Xin was a warrior or a Hunter disguised as one.
• Wu Cun realized she and Cheng Shi were effectively fighting Qin Xin together, then attacked Qin Xin with precise blades of annihilation.

Cheng Shi used the Miasma Bomb to disorient Qin Xin and Wu Cun, then tested his Faded authority with a child’s attack and transformed into a warrior. He and Qin Xin clashed, each determined to expose the other, as their fight began in earnest.

• Cheng Shi discovered that Qin Xin had survived the Ember Annihilator’s attack and was stabbing himself to resist the Miasma Bomb’s influence.
• Wu Cun was affected by the smoke’s pleasure-inducing desire and annihilated it, forcing Cheng Shi to flee and hide behind an earthen hut.
• Cheng Shi pressured a little boy into striking him with a Tombstone Stone and found that the attack activated his Faded authority.
• Cheng Shi changed his belief, put on the Warrior Mask, and prepared to fight Qin Xin as a warrior.
• Qin Xin and Cheng Shi charged at each other and collided.

Cheng Shi and Qin Xin revealed their true powers and began a fierce battle inside Qin Xin’s wall of fire, while Wu Cun was trapped with them. Cheng Shi struggled to survive Qin Xin’s relentless flaming arrows.

• Cheng Shi knocked Qin Xin backward with a single punch, prompting Qin Xin to ignite and emerge reborn as an Eagle Eye Scout.
• Cheng Shi introduced himself as a Fate Weaver, and Qin Xin named himself an Eagle Eye Scout before firing an arrow that surrounded the three of them with a wall of fire.
• Qin Xin and Cheng Shi warned Wu Cun not to move, then launched into battle as Cheng Shi teleported toward Qin Xin to attack at close range.
• Cheng Shi feinted a teleportation, endured a devastating blow, and struck Qin Xin in the neck, sending him flying.
• Qin Xin recovered and unleashed a rain of flaming arrows, forcing Cheng Shi to teleport repeatedly to avoid being burned alive.

Cheng Shi struggled to escape Qin Xin’s overwhelming fire assault, using Wu Cun and then a bone door to the Abyss of Desire as shields. The standoff paused when Qin Xin stopped firing, while the two exchanged warnings about the powers they relied on.

• Qin Xin repeatedly outmaneuvered Cheng Shi and intensified the fiery rain, forcing Cheng Shi to use Wu Cun as a shield.
• Cheng Shi judged that Qin Xin’s precise, emotionless tactics made him even more troublesome than Big Cat, but hesitated to spend his remaining consumable Stage Play Ball.
• As Wu Cun neared death from the heat, Cheng Shi killed her, turned her bones into a Door Key portal, and used the bone door to block the flames.
• Qin Xin stopped firing in astonishment when he saw Cheng Shi use the door, then accused him of becoming indebted to desire by relying on Filth and Decay.
• Cheng Shi taunted Qin Xin about trusting the fire of war, and Qin Xin vowed to give everything, even his life, to the fire in his hands.

Qin Xin tried to shatter reality and escape the time trial through the void, but his flames could not break the space. Cheng Shi then used a Dice of Destiny to help intensify the fire, and reality finally exploded, sending them into the void.

• Cheng Shi realized Qin Xin had shifted his goal from defeating him to burning through reality and escaping into the void.
• Qin Xin unleashed his final arrow, but the resulting inferno still failed to break the space, and he collapsed in defeat.
• Cheng Shi rolled a Dice of Destiny through the Bone Gate, and it landed on one beside Qin Xin.
• Cheng Shi asked Qin Xin if he was ready to go home, then snapped his fingers and intensified the flames.
• Reality shattered under the flames, breaking the shackles of time and sending everything within the wall of fire into the void.

Cheng Shi and Qin Xin fell into the cracks between intertwined timelines, where Cheng Shi stayed anchored to Death’s passage and hauled Qin Xin to safety. Qin Xin revealed that his world was collapsing after Decay fell, leaving Cheng Shi questioning how the timelines had diverged.

• Cheng Shi realized Qin Xin’s plan was not about finding the Abyssal Crystal and helped him break through the trial’s barrier.
• Cheng Shi and Qin Xin fell into the cracks between existences, where Qin Xin began plunging toward oblivion while Cheng Shi remained anchored to Death’s bone door.
• Cheng Shi caught Qin Xin’s rope and taunted him before learning they were trapped in the gaps where timelines intertwined.
• Qin Xin explained that his world had been forced to study time but that the Fire Keepers sought only to protect their own world, not invade others.
• Cheng Shi pulled Qin Xin up as Qin Xin revealed that Decay had fallen and the Faith Game in his world was becoming unsustainable.
• Cheng Shi wondered how Decay could have fallen in Qin Xin’s timeline when Prosperity had fallen in his own.

Cheng Shi charged Qin Xin an entrance fee before letting him into the bone door, then recognized him as the true Grand Marshal. Qin Xin proposed that the beings on different timelines might be only slices of them, leaving Cheng Shi to connect this idea to Truth's Slice Experiment.

• Cheng Shi stopped Qin Xin from entering until Qin Xin paid him with a tube of Remembrance Mourning.
• Cheng Shi questioned Qin Xin about his artifacts of Memory and realized Qin Xin was the true Grand Marshal whose title Hu Wei had taken.
• Cheng Shi told Qin Xin that Order had fallen in his world and asked why the beings differed across timelines.
• Qin Xin admitted he did not know why the beings differed and suggested that each timeline might contain only a slice of them.
• Cheng Shi understood Qin Xin's suggestion as a reference to Truth's Slice Experiment.

Cheng Shi and Qin Xin realized the covenant might have been designed to fuse gods’ powers into fragments across countless timelines, leaving Cheng Shi shaken by the scale of the experiment. Cheng Shi affirmed that he would keep living by the values of someone he cared about, and he and Qin Xin set out to continue passing on the fire.

• Qin Xin proposed that the covenant’s true purpose was to fuse the gods’ powers and create fragments across the universe’s timelines.
• Cheng Shi connected Qin Xin’s theory to Truth, Faith Fusion, and the possibility that Cheng Dashi had been testing whether an altered timeline could change the future.
• Cheng Shi laughed at the thought that their world might be only one among countless samples, then told Qin Xin they should leave.
• Cheng Shi admitted his many fears and said he would act according to the lessons of the person who had once lived in his world.
• Qin Xin chose not to ask who Cheng Shi remembered, joked that he had had enough of passing on the fire, and urged them to continue doing it.

Cheng Shi and Qin Xin escaped the gap of existence by using the Dice of Destiny and the Blind Man’s help. After they reunited with An Mingyu, Cheng Shi realized that she and Qin Xin might have come from different timelines and asked which world they were from.

• The Blind Man called for Qin Xin, and Cheng Shi urged him to make noise so she could locate them.
• Cheng Shi used the Never-Lost Gambling Tools to swap through a Dice of Destiny while Qin Xin followed with a tethered arrow, and the Blind Man told them more dice were outside.
• Cheng Shi pulled Qin Xin through the barrier into reality, where the Blind Man stood near the Abyssal Volcano.
• An Mingyu reacted warily to Cheng Shi and Qin Xin, making Cheng Shi suspect that both had changed timelines during their escape.
• Cheng Shi asked the Fire Keepers which world they had come from.

Cheng Shi learned that the Blind Man and Qin Xin came from different timelines, and that this Qin Xin was not the friend he remembered. The Blind Man revealed that a replay of the past had saved Cheng Shi with a Dice of Destiny from the memory, leaving him to wonder whether Destiny had returned the token to him.

• Cheng Shi tested Qin Xin by asking for his Master of Deception Card, and Qin Xin handed it over while claiming he was not Cheng Shi's friend.
• The Blind Man asked Qin Xin who would remain at the end of the trial, and his answer revealed that he knew a prophecy with only four players rather than five.
• The Blind Man and Cheng Shi concluded that Qin Xin came from another world, while the Blind Man came from a world where passing on the flame was difficult.
• The Blind Man explained that Li Wufang had told her about the four-person prophecy, and Cheng Shi resolved to investigate further at the mine.
• The Blind Man said she had used a page recording Past Life Replay to find Cheng Shi, and that the replay's Dice of Destiny had saved him after his original die vanished.