Recaps

Cheng Shi witnessed the ascetic die while trying to seize the demigod artifact Fear Arrives, realizing the dagger had killed him through fear before Morkius’s thunder struck. Morkius took the dagger, leaving the three remaining players facing an even harder trial.

• Cheng Shi tried to persuade the ascetic to drop his Silence Domain, but the ascetic refused and kept hold of the dagger.
• Morkius arrived with law enforcers, Fang Jue, and Du Xiguang, then struck the ascetic with Thunder Punishment.
• Morkius offered the surviving ascetic a chance to serve as a war prisoner, but the ascetic lunged for Fear Arrives near Cheng Shi.
• The ascetic died beneath Morkius’s thunder, and Cheng Shi realized Fear Arrives had killed him with fear before the lightning hit.
• Morkius picked up Fear Arrives, and the three remaining players reacted with dismay as the trial grew more difficult.

After Morkius took the demigod artifact When Fear Arrives and tightened the watch on Everbloom Town, Cheng Shi uncovered signs that Du Xiguang was hiding a clue about a puppet killer. Fang Jue revealed that Du Xiguang shared his Order's Faint Light, and Du Xiguang proposed a journey through Memory at three that night.

• Morkius displayed When Fear Arrives to bait the killer, then took it away and announced that the Madly Growing Light of Life was unsealed while travelers remained confined to Everbloom Town.
• Cheng Shi healed himself and learned from Fang Jue that the pursued bard had been a flesh-and-blood puppet whose memories Du Xiguang claimed could not be read.
• Cheng Shi realized Du Xiguang had lied about the puppet's memories and decided to follow him secretly while questioning the bard's drinking companions.
• Cheng Shi told Fang Jue that the ascetic had obtained When Fear Arrives before dying at Morkius's hands.
• Fang Jue revealed that his Order's Faint Light had secretly preserved Du Xiguang's physical condition, and Du Xiguang handed him a ticket for a Memory journey at three that night.

Cheng Shi investigated the dead Bard and concluded that a hidden Desire Master might be plotting against Morkius, then received a note summoning him to a sealed space beneath the inn’s bar. Meanwhile, Du Xiguang and Fang Jue left on a mysterious nighttime journey, and Cheng Shi went alone to meet the suspected murderer.

• Cheng Shi questioned the Bard’s drinking companions and learned that the puppet Ados had traveled widely, paid for drinks, and recited prayers to several gods.
• Cheng Shi deduced that the murderer was likely a Desire Master and considered whether the planned sacrifice was Morkius or the murderer himself.
• A servant sent to Cheng Shi’s room with medicine fell inside, and Cheng Shi discovered a note concealed in the servant’s jacket.
• Du Xiguang and Fang Jue discussed Cheng Shi’s alertness and prepared to leave the inn for a nighttime journey.
• At three o’clock, Cheng Shi found that Du Xiguang and Fang Jue were gone, then headed alone to the sealed space beneath the bar to meet the suspected murderer.

Cheng Shi followed a mysterious invitation and was swallowed by a hidden passage, while Du Xiguang brought Fang Jue into a memory of the past to search for When Fear Arrives. Their attempt to claim the dagger was interrupted by the ascetic monk, and Fang Jue’s rule against infighting failed to prevent Du Xiguang from turning on him.

• Cheng Shi realized the attendant who invited him was a flesh-and-blood puppet, then followed a note to the inn’s bar and was swallowed by the floor.
• Du Xiguang used an admission ticket and Her Time’s Notebook to bring Fang Jue into a replay of the past, just before the Grand Inquisition sealed off the inn.
• Fang Jue separated the room from the outside while Du Xiguang found When Fear Arrives beneath the pillow.
• When Du Xiguang touched the dagger, its resistance knocked him onto the bed, and the ascetic monk broke into the room and attacked them for it.
• Fang Jue invoked the Law forbidding infighting, but Du Xiguang used divine power to confront the ascetic monk.

Fang Jue and Du Xiguang found When Fear Arrives in a memory, but Morkius’s unexpected arrival and Du Xiguang’s sudden collapse ended their attempt. Cheng Shi awoke in an underground cavern and confronted the innkeeper, who confirmed that Ados was a puppet but denied controlling him.

• Fang Jue used his law to quiet When Fear Arrives, and he threw the dagger to Du Xiguang, who was immediately struck by Morkius’s Thunder Punishment.
• Fang Jue realized events had diverged from his memory, then watched Du Xiguang lose consciousness and was expelled from the memory into the custody of an adjudicator.
• Cheng Shi awoke in an underground cavern and recognized the innkeeper of the Madly Growing Light of Life as the person behind the plot.
• Cheng Shi deduced that the innkeeper had used fear and the dagger to target Morkius and destabilize the Grand Inquisition during its war with the underground.
• The innkeeper praised Cheng Shi’s deductions, revealed that he was not acting alone, and said Ados was a puppet who belonged to himself.

Cheng Shi learned that Chenosli, a former first-level inquisitor of the Grand Inquisition, and other outcasts had joined in worshipping a deity they hoped to summon. Chenosli revealed their plan to plunge the Isle of Hope into war and suffering so everyone would awaken to their Lord’s presence.

• The innkeeper explained that Ados had turned himself into a flesh-and-blood puppet, and that Katarro had done the same.
• Cheng Shi suspected the underground group worshipped Filth and Decay, but the innkeeper showed that he also wielded Order’s power.
• Chenosli revealed that he had been a first-level inquisitor and Morkius’s junior fellow disciple, while insisting he had never abandoned his devotion to Order.
• Chenosli said the group’s members came from different faith factions and had gathered underground after suffering injustice from their fellow believers.
• Chenosli declared that the group planned to spread war and chaos across the Grand Inquisition’s lands to prepare for their Lord’s descent.

Cheng Shi learned that Chenosley and his companions were Chaos believers who had orchestrated the killings to provoke war and prepare for their god’s descent. He accepted Chenosley’s plan, took When Fear Comes, and killed him, but concluded that Chenosley was not the answer he sought.

• Chenosley revealed that he believed Cheng Shi was chosen by Chaos and wanted him to help kill Moxius and spark war between the Grand Tribunal and the Tower of Truth.
• Chenosley explained how Athos and the others had used copies of When Fear Comes to approach Moxius, and offered his own death as a sacrifice and a way for Cheng Shi to pass as the killer.
• Chenosley said the group had killed Wei Guan but denied killing the ascetic, leaving Cheng Shi unsure who was responsible for the ascetic’s death.
• Cheng Shi accepted the deal and took the demigod artifact When Fear Comes from Chenosley.
• Cheng Shi gave Chenosley the false name Ultraman and killed him, then decided that Chenosley was not his answer.

After returning from the cavern, Cheng Shi discovered that events had changed while he was gone: Du Xiguang was dead, Fang Jue had been arrested, and the ascetic monk had vanished from everyone’s memory. He searched for an explanation but found that Katarro and even the hidden entrance beneath the bar were gone.

• Cheng Shi returned to the inn after taking the Alchemy Notes and found no sign of Fang Jue or the others in Ados's former room.
• Cheng Shi spent the night awake and planned to confront Morkius for compensation over the judge's Thunder Punishment.
• Cheng Shi heard travelers claim that Du Xiguang had been killed and Fang Jue arrested by Morkius, though the timing and details contradicted what he remembered.
• Cheng Shi discovered that no one remembered the ascetic monk and wondered whether history or his own memories had been altered.
• Cheng Shi searched for Katarro and the entrance beneath the bar but found both missing, leaving him without a lead.

Cheng Shi used a newly refined pill to make five drunkards appear dead, hoping the apparent murders would draw Morkius to him. He returned to the inn and waited for Morkius to find him as another sleepless night began.

• Cheng Shi decided to provoke a response by staging new apparent deaths rather than approaching Morkius or Fang Jue directly.
• Cheng Shi followed five of Ados's drinking companions and offered them free pills he called Drunk Life Dream Death.
• The five drunkards swallowed the pills and immediately fell into a deathlike state with stopped hearts and cooling bodies.
• Cheng Shi dragged the apparent corpses into an alley and left evidence of his presence untouched.
• Cheng Shi returned to the inn and waited for Morkius to find him, while he remained the only player inside.

Cheng Shi baited Morkius into his room to learn why certain players had survived his Thunder Punishment, but discovered Morkius was not the answer to the trial. After Cheng Shi invoked Chenosli and killed Morkius with When Fear Arrives, he planned to visit Fang Jue in the cells at dawn.

• Cheng Shi reasoned that death might be the answer to the trial and lured Morkius to his room by marking fake corpses with the aura of When Fear Arrives.
• Morkius attacked Cheng Shi with his Demigod Artifact, Moment of Execution, and burned him nearly to death, but Cheng Shi's death aura collapsed before he died.
• Cheng Shi learned that Du Xiguang had apparently survived a strike from Morkius and concluded that Morkius was not the trial's answer.
• Cheng Shi claimed that Lord Chenosli had taught them how to withstand the punishment, startling Morkius into turning around.
• When Fear Arrives killed Morkius, and Cheng Shi took Moment of Execution, healed himself with Past Prosperity, and prepared to visit Fang Jue in the cells.

Cheng Shi visited Fang Jue in prison, where Fang Jue accused him of masterminding the deaths during the trial. After they exchanged questions, Cheng Shi revealed Moment of Execution and tested Fang Jue, who escaped through a spatial rift summoned by Order; Cheng Shi then prepared to end the trial.

• Cheng Shi entered the prison using Morkius's judge's badge and questioned Fang Jue, who believed Cheng Shi had schemed against everyone.
• Cheng Shi asked whether Fang Jue and Du Xiguang had altered their memories by returning to the past, and Fang Jue confirmed they had.
• Fang Jue asked how Cheng Shi had manipulated Morkius into killing the others, then deduced that Cheng Shi had used his knowledge of Morkius and the Grand Inquisition to set the trap.
• Cheng Shi rejected Fang Jue's theory and revealed Moment of Execution, then struck him with lightning to test whether he could survive the attack.
• Fang Jue survived and escaped through a spatial rift that opened behind him, while Cheng Shi realized Order had come to retrieve its believer.
• Cheng Shi put away his staff and hood and considered how to bring the trial to an end.

After Sir Morkius vanished and the escaped killer remained at large, the inquisitors investigated the apothecary’s charred corpse and concluded that he had died in an alchemical accident. Katarro, who had secretly played the attendant and escaped killer, left town as Cheng Shi cleared the trial and received his rewards.

• Five corpses woke up, exposing the fake deaths as a prank, while the inquisitors discovered that When Fear Arrives had also vanished.
• The five drunkards went to the apothecary’s inn seeking more medicine and found his charred corpse among scattered alchemical materials.
• The inquisitors ruled that the apothecary had died after being overwhelmed by an excessive amount of death divinity, not at the escaped killer’s hands.
• Katarro gave a playful farewell outside the Law Enforcement Bureau, pulled down his hood, and disappeared into the night.
• Cheng Shi cleared the special trial with a C rating and received five masks, including one S-ranked Suspicious Mask.

After the trial, the players returned to reality and dealt with its aftermath. Fang Jue told Ji Yue about Cheng Shi and the missing Moment of Execution, and she concluded that the players might have been misled about the trial’s sacrifice.

• Wei Guan learned that a divine nature container had ruptured and began planning to capture more divine nature.
• Yun Ni woke in the rain and dismissed fairness as something only the strong could claim.
• Du Xiguang erased a memory with his notebook and taunted the version of himself trapped in the mirror.
• Fang Jue searched records for Morkius and told Ji Yue that a Reason Corroder named Cheng Shi possessed the Moment of Execution.
• Ji Yue suspected the players themselves might have been the trial’s sacrifice and suggested Cheng Shi had used them to verify the answer.
• Fang Jue considered warning his friends in Order and placing a bounty on the Moment of Execution, while noting he had brought back a Folly believer’s corpse.

Cheng Shi reviewed how the players had cleared the death trial by sacrificing themselves through distinct methods, then explained how he had gambled on an alternative answer and won. Just as he wondered whether he had deceived a god, energy from the profound abyss enveloped him again.

• Cheng Shi reflected on the trial and realized that Wei Guan, Yun Ni, the ascetic monk, and Du Xiguang had each cleared it by dying through different methods.
• Cheng Shi concluded that the trial required players to face death themselves, with each method of dying available only once.
• After Morkius failed to kill him, Cheng Shi fabricated the alchemist's death and submitted the Law Enforcement Bureau's nominal death as his answer.
• Death approved Cheng Shi's answer, and he cleared the trial with When Fear Arrives and Moment of Execution in his possession, though he earned no points.
• Cheng Shi considered whether he had deceived a god, and energy from the profound abyss suddenly surrounded him.

Cheng Shi met the third god of the Life Path on a vast fishbone staircase and was asked to trade Garuda’s Dagger. The god revealed that Garuda was its trusted emissary, a discarded divine artifact of Life, who had fallen in love with a “whore.”

• Cheng Shi found himself on a colossal staircase of fish bones as countless skulls urged him to climb toward the waiting master.
• When Cheng Shi took his first step, his flesh and blood were stripped away, leaving a crystal-clear skeleton that continued up the staircase.
• After Cheng Shi counted 404 steps, skulls surged into a torrent and formed a Bone Throne beneath a gigantic skull.
• The third god of the Life Path asked Cheng Shi to make a trade and told him to take out the item it wanted.
• Cheng Shi produced Fear Arrives, which the god identified as Garuda’s Dagger, a discarded divine artifact of Life.
• The god said Garuda was its most trusted emissary but had made a mistake by falling in love with a “whore.”

Cheng Shi met Death, learned the story behind the Fear Mother Tree and Garuda's Dagger, and received a reforged divine artifact. He left the vanishing Bone Throne with the Ring of Bone Servant Lele'er on his finger.

• Death explained that Lele'er, once the daughter of Mother of Prosperity, fell into the Abyss of Desire and became the Fear Mother Tree, then recounted how she rejected Garuda and corrupted his dagger.
• Death asked Cheng Shi what reward he wanted, and Cheng Shi requested guidance instead of a Discarded Divine Artifact.
• Death transformed Moment of Execution into a ring containing Thunderclap's divinity and promised to bestow the other half when Cheng Shi grew stronger.
• Cheng Shi persuaded Death to add a branch of the Fear Mother Tree's divinity to the ring, and Death named the new artifact the Ring of Bone Servant Lele'er.
• Death vanished, the Bone Throne collapsed, and Cheng Shi awoke with the red-glowing ring on his right index finger.

Cheng Shi admired his new Discarded Divine Artifact, the Ring of Bone Servant Lele'er, and concealed it among his other rings before enjoying lunch. Xie Yang traded books for medicine, and Cheng Shi’s questions exposed that he was likely connected to War; afterward, Cheng Shi read the books aloud with the help of the Lips of Foolish Play, which recited a bizarre boar-birthing procedure.

• Cheng Shi examined the Ring of Bone Servant Lele'er, counted its five Screaming Maws, and hid it among four ordinary rings.
• Xie Yang threw Cheng Shi a backpack of history books, and Cheng Shi gave him a bottle of Past Prosperity in exchange for information.
• Cheng Shi asked Xie Yang about the Grand Inquisition’s conflict with the Tower of Reason and suggested Xie Yang followed War, making Xie Yang’s smile freeze.
• Xie Yang left with the medicine and tried to give it to Xu Lu, claiming he had found it during the trial.
• Cheng Shi read the books in the warehouse through the Lips of Foolish Play, which recited instructions for a Kanliwal Boar Beast’s birthing procedure.

Cheng Shi read about Xie Yang’s previous trial and watched the Chosen Ones lose points on the Ladder of Audience, while wondering what had changed. When the next Special Trial began, he discovered it was an Annihilation scenario and hurried to prepare for survival.

• Cheng Shi learned from the books he had brought back that Xie Yang’s previous trial took place in Hanlin Town of the Kanliwal Empire.
• Cheng Shi saw reports that several Chosen Ones, including the Grand Marshal and Li Jingming, had lost points and considered possible reasons for their decline.
• Cheng Shi learned that Xu Lu had disappeared, and Xie Yang had grieved for her before sending his love letter to Fan Tingting.
• Cheng Shi received the Special Trial prompt for “The Annihilation of the Vanished World,” with an objective to break free from restraint and obtain salvation within three days.
• Cheng Shi packed survival tools into his personal space as the six-person team match succeeded and the trial began.

Cheng Shi and five teammates awoke on a rainy mountainside and discovered that their personal spaces had been locked. They introduced themselves, including celebrity Tao Yi, while Cheng Shi noticed that Su Yida had lied about his identity.

• Cheng Shi woke on a misty mountain and found that his personal space was inaccessible.
• Cheng Shi surveyed his five teammates as they reacted to the sealed spaces and the approaching storm.
• The pink-haired girl introduced herself as Tao Yi, a Life Mage with the number 1783.
• Su Yida rambled about his acting career before identifying himself as an Existence Mage with the number 1864.
• Cheng Shi realized Su Yida had lied about his identity.

Cheng Shi watched the six players introduce themselves as worsening rain threatened their survival trial, and he uncovered that Su Yida had concealed his faith in Deception. The group prepared to perform their Edicts of Passage before deciding whether to climb the mountain or descend.

• Su Yida introduced himself with a lengthy account that Cheng Shi suspected contained a lie, then interrupted Cui Ding Tian as the old man searched for his missing son, Cui Qiushi.
• Cui Ding Tian revealed that he believed in Decay and had 1,677 Ladder points, while Cheng Shi noticed Tao Yi react briefly to his faith.
• Zhao Qian introduced himself as a Civilization Hunter, Gao Yu as a Civilization Mage, and Cheng Shi as a Life Priest.
• Lightning and heavier rain prompted Zhao Qian to warn that the disaster might be a flood or landslide and urge everyone to perform their Edicts of Passage.
• Su Yida left the group, and Cheng Shi deduced that he was a Deception Mage who had disguised his faith and gone to conceal his Mask.

The group confronted their Edicts of Passage in the wilderness as Zhao Qian and Cui Ding Tian fought, while Gao Yu shared a strange piece of history that seemed to hint at Cheng Shi's identity. Su Yida returned with mushrooms that only Tao Yi could see, leaving Cheng Shi suspicious of what was happening.

• Zhao Qian revealed that he was an Eagle Eye Scout and challenged the group to fight so he could complete War's Edict of Passage.
• Cui Ding Tian volunteered to face Zhao Qian, and the two exchanged a fierce flurry of blows as Cui's coughing worsened.
• Gao Yu introduced himself as an Erudite Scholar of the Mechanical Engineering Department and recounted the story of Grand Scholar Glo's beacons, which formed a mocking Mask after his death.
• Cheng Shi wondered whether Gao Yu's account was an accidental reference to him, then learned that Gao Yu belonged to the History School and could not disclose the historical moment he had witnessed.
• Su Yida returned with mushrooms he claimed to have found in the land's past, and Tao Yi accepted them while Cheng Shi saw nothing in his hands.

The group moved through worsening rain toward sturdier ground while Cheng Shi concealed his suspicions about Su Yida and asked Gao Yu about alchemical creation. Gao Yu named Zainjil, prompting Cheng Shi to recall Chenosli’s claim that Zainjil had been assassinated by rival scholars.

• Su Yida used his Deception talent to make Tao Yi see and eat imaginary mushrooms, while Cheng Shi concealed that he had seen through the trick.
• Zhao Qian led the group toward a sturdier mountain as the rain intensified, and Tao Yi scouted a path through the vegetation.
• Tao Yi caught Cheng Shi with a vine when he slipped, and Cheng Shi thanked her with exaggerated flattery.
• Cheng Shi asked Gao Yu about the Alchemical Creation school and joked about making a puppet companion, while Su Yida overheard them.
• Gao Yu named Zainjil and Bakhus as notable figures, and Cheng Shi remembered Chenosli’s claim that Zainjil had been assassinated by scholars from other schools.

Cheng Shi learned that Zainjil may have created a god before his laboratory disaster, then discovered that history remembered him as Ultraman, a possible herald of Chaos. He concluded that he might have changed the Isle of Hope’s history during the previous trial and suspected Memory had intervened.

• Cheng Shi heard that Zainjil had secretly attempted the forbidden Flesh-Born God experiment using stolen divine nature and alchemical puppet technology.
• Gao Yu explained that histories blamed the laboratory disaster for killing nearly everyone at Zainjil’s school, but Cheng Shi questioned the account because Chenosli had said Zainjil was assassinated after completing an achievement.
• When Cheng Shi asked about Ados and Morkius, Gao Yu said a mysterious figure named Ultraman had killed the inquisitor and become the subject of legends about Chaos.
• Cheng Shi realized that Ultraman was the name he had once blurted out and wondered how his words had entered the history of the Isle of Hope.
• Cheng Shi suspected that he had changed the Faith Game’s history during the previous trial and considered whether Memory had altered it after he met Death.

During the trial’s first day, Cheng Shi and the group climbed to a mountainside shelter as the rain became a catastrophic flood. They built a floating basket, but a colossal wave struck and submerged the landscape, leaving everyone underwater.

• Cheng Shi accepted help from Tao Yi and rode up the cliff in a chair secured by vines while Gao Yu climbed using a magical assistive device.
• Zhao Qian led the group in sheltering on the mountainside as the rain intensified and the rising water threatened to submerge them.
• Tao Yi, Gao Yu, and Zhao Qian built a raft and vine basket to carry the group upward, while Su Yida confirmed he would try to rewind Memory if they failed.
• Su Yida spotted a gigantic wave approaching, and Zhao Qian ordered everyone into the baskets and Cheng Shi to prepare underwater healing and breathing support.
• The wave crashed over the mountain, injuring the group and turning the peaks into reefs beneath the sea.

After a massive wave knocked the team underwater, Cheng Shi kept everyone alive and steered their makeshift raft beneath the storm. Their journey ended when a rising dead giant beast broke apart the raft and swept them into its stomach.

• Cheng Shi stayed conscious through the wave, used Underwater Healing and Shared Divine Grace to help the team breathe, and took control of the raft.
• Zhao Qian woke first, followed by the others, while Tao Yi and the team helped propel the raft through the water.
• Cheng Shi refused Tao Yi's offer to steer, and the team traveled for several hours through the calmer water beneath the storm.
• Zhao Qian sensed something rising from below and warned that the team could not avoid it.
• A powerful current spun the raft into a colossal dead beast, whose suction and the impact broke the raft apart.
• Cheng Shi grabbed Gao Yu and told Tao Yi that they had crashed into the giant beast's stomach.