Recaps

Cheng Shi exposed Zhen Xin’s deception and learned that she had come to deliver a practical gift for Blind Man, though Cheng Shi had already obtained the Ear of Secret Prying. Zhen Xin demonstrated her unusual ability to create convincing evidence by framing Zhen Yi for taking Kraun, leaving Cheng Shi to wonder what she truly understood about the world.

• Cheng Shi exposed the disguised Zhen Xin, and Mouth Brother involuntarily admitted that Cheng Shi had lied, revealing a connection to the Ear of Secret Prying.
• Zhen Xin deduced that Cheng Shi possessed the Ear and possibly several other Deception creations, while Cheng Shi left the stage and refused to confirm her guesses.
• Cheng Shi realized Zhen Xin had likely come in response to his request for something practical, bringing the Ear as a gift for Blind Man.
• Cheng Shi challenged Zhen Xin’s claim to understand the world, and she conjured a scene of Zhen Yi taking the revived Kraun away in a tiny pouch.
• Zhen Xin used a hard pen to make the theater’s traces support the story that Zhen Yi had deceived everyone and taken Kraun, letting Cheng Shi avoid fabricating a cover story.

After the treasure hunt, Cheng Shi questioned Zhen Xin’s motives and considered whether to share what he knew about another world with her. Zhen Xin offered an S-rank talent to prove her sincerity, leaving Cheng Shi to decide whether to trust her.

• Cheng Shi realized Zhen Xin might have used Zhen Yi’s reputation to cover her own schemes, and worried she would frame him too.
• Zhen Xin asked Cheng Shi for more details about the world An the Chosen came from.
• Cheng Shi proposed exchanging secrets and asked whether he could trust Zhen Xin.
• Zhen Xin admitted she wanted to recruit Cheng Shi into the History School, but recognized that he needed an intellectual ally.
• Zhen Xin offered Cheng Shi her Silent S-rank talent, Unspoken Understanding, and said saving Ming Yu had earned her unconditional trust.

Cheng Shi received Zhen Xin’s memories and learned why she had trusted him, including her hope of helping every version of An Mingyu. Her memories revealed that she grew up in a caring orphanage alongside An Mingyu before leaving to be adopted.

• Cheng Shi took Zhen Xin’s card and confirmed through Tongue Brother that she had not deceived him.
• Cheng Shi learned that Zhen Xin trusted him because he had saved An Mingyu and because she hoped to help all the Mingyus and herself.
• Cheng Shi recognized An Jing in Zhen Xin’s memories and learned that An Mingyu had grown up visiting the orphanage where An Jing worked.
• The director arranged for a wealthy, childless couple to adopt Zhen Xin, and Zhen Xin agreed after seeing how much the orphanage cared for her.
• Zhen Xin left the Sunshine Welfare Institute despite An Mingyu’s reluctance to part.

Cheng Shi learned that Zhen Xin’s adoptive parents had abused her and taught her to deceive, leading her to create Zhen Yi as a way to survive. Zhen Xin explained that An Mingyu had visited her every month and become her redemption, while Cheng Shi recognized how those visits had kept her alive.

• Zhen Xin recalled how her adoptive parents adopted her to gain access to a wealthy household, then trained and abused her while teaching her to deceive.
• Zhen Xin lied to Grandma that she was happy with her new family, and Grandma died reassured; her adoptive parents then accepted Zhen Xin’s deceptive persona, while Zhen Yi emerged at home.
• Cheng Shi connected Zhen Xin’s past to his own and asked what she had once deceived herself about; Zhen Xin said she had told herself everything was good and still insisted that it was.
• Cheng Shi’s voice spoke the bleak words, “This world has long since lost all hope,” and he understood why An Mingyu had helped Zhen Xin in another world.
• Zhen Xin told Cheng Shi that An Mingyu and Aunt Jing had visited her every month, and called Mingyu her best friend, family, and redemption.
• Cheng Shi realized that An Mingyu’s visits had helped Zhen Xin endure her abusive home and that An Jing and Zhen Yi had also been among the good people in her life.

Cheng Shi and Zhen Xin discussed the Fool’s Game and headed toward Squinty Old Zhang to learn what had happened. Cheng Shi explained that the Fool’s Game had found him in an earlier trial, while Zhen Xin revealed that Poison had encountered Zhen Yi; they arrived ready to deal with what lay ahead.

• Cheng Shi told Zhen Xin that the Fool’s Game had once existed but was now dead, though Zhen Xin suspected it was still alive and connected to the trial’s answer.
• Cheng Shi led Zhen Xin toward Squinty Old Zhang, and she offered to trade him a secret for answers.
• Zhen Xin guessed that Cheng Shi was thinking about Poison and revealed that Zhen Yi had encountered her in the trial.
• Cheng Shi told Zhen Xin that the Fool’s Game had found him in a previous trial and led him toward the true Nothingness.
• Cheng Shi speculated that Zhen Yi’s rejection and his future self’s return had drawn the Fool’s Game’s attention, then promised Zhen Xin more stories after they finished dealing with Squinty Old Zhang.

Cheng Shi and Zhen Xin found Zhang Jizu hiding by the theater roof, where he gave them a written account of what happened after Deception appeared. In the account, Kraun begged the God of Merriment to save Sandlais and offered his own body as proof of devotion, leaving Zhang Jizu to conclude that Cheng Shi’s scheme had failed.

• Cheng Shi and Zhen Xin found Zhang Jizu, who had prepared a written explanation in case Cheng Shi came looking for him.
• Zhang Jizu recounted how Deception had dragged him and the bound Kraun into the void after Cheng Shi’s impersonated Kraun was dismembered onstage.
• Deception asked Kraun whether he would follow, and Kraun agreed but first asked if Sandlais had been saved.
• Deception said Sandlais had not been saved because its people were not funny, prompting Kraun to offer his mouth, tongue, ears, and everything he possessed to make them funny.
• Kraun insisted he was willing to pay with his life to prove his devotion, and Deception called him quite funny.

Kraun was destroyed and his scattered essence flew to three places, while Zhang Jizu survived Deception’s test by making Cheng Shi the subject of his answer. Back in reality, Cheng Shi invited Zhen Xin to join the Clowns, and she accepted their offer with interest.

• God of Merriment destroyed Kraun, whose scattered essence shot toward three places, then asked Zhang Jizu whether Kraun’s piety was genuine.
• Zhang Jizu avoided answering directly by promising to watch Cheng Shi and report on him, and Deception released him after offering a riddle about Foolish Play.
• Back on the roof beam, Zhang Jizu showed Cheng Shi his audience response, and Cheng Shi mocked him for using him to escape trouble.
• Zhen Xin wondered why God of Merriment had caused Li Jingming to fuse with Death, while Cheng Shi concealed what he knew and considered inviting her to the Clowns.
• Cheng Shi asked whether Zhen Xin could control Zhen Yi, then formally invited her to join the Clowns, and Zhen Xin expressed interest in the organization.

Zhen Xin joined the Clowns after Cheng Shi described the organization and its access to secrets about the gods. Zhang Jizu then revealed a note from the God of Merriment that tasked him with introducing a war girl to Old Bones.

• Cheng Shi claimed the Clowns held secret knowledge about the gods, and Zhen Xin decided to join the organization.
• Zhen Xin agreed to keep her membership from her deceptive little sister, while Zhang Jizu reflected on his growing involvement with the Clowns.
• Zhang Jizu showed Cheng Shi and Zhen Xin a supplemental note he had withheld until Zhen Xin became an insider.
• Cheng Shi read the God of Merriment's message telling Zhang Jizu to introduce the pitiful war girl to Old Bones.

After God of Merriment suggested Ai Si consider Death, Cheng Shi and Zhen Xin discussed War, the Covenant, and the split in Order. Cheng Shi then suggested that Zhen Xin consider Chaos as a possible faith, leaving her stunned.

• Zhen Xin guessed that God of Merriment wanted to pair Death with War, and Cheng Shi concluded that the plan might be a test of War.
• Zhen Xin described War as an orderly and silent god whose own divinity and authorities seemed suppressed.
• Cheng Shi told Zhen Xin that Order had split during a God War and that Iron Rule of Order occupied its divine throne.
• Cheng Shi asked whether Zhen Xin had considered a fusion of faiths and suggested Chaos as a possible direction.

Cheng Shi persuaded Zhen Xin to test whether Chaos had become Order under the God of Merriment’s influence, revealing information that convinced her to cooperate. As the trial’s deception began to unravel, Cheng Shi proposed extending the false drama by impersonating Fool’s Play and shocking the returning believers.

• Zhen Xin considered Cheng Shi’s theory that the God of Merriment had intervened in Chaos and demanded to know the full script before acting as his pawn.
• Cheng Shi secretly shared information with Zhen Xin, who questioned how he had learned it and what he intended to do with it.
• Zhen Xin agreed to attempt faith fusion with Chaos and trade the results for secrets about another world.
• Zhen Xin told Cheng Shi that the illusion had failed and the others were returning to the theater after discovering that Zhen Yi and Kraun were fakes.
• Cheng Shi proposed that he impersonate Fool’s Play while Zhen Xin and the others played themselves, continuing the false drama to shock the believers.

Cheng Shi justified his plan to impersonate Foolish Play to Zhen Xin while trying to keep her from noticing inconsistencies in his lies. Meanwhile, Li Jingming revealed how he had monitored the stage, and Long Jing returned to find a Masked man confronting the players.

• Zhang Jizu questioned Cheng Shi about when he had encountered Foolish Play, prompting Cheng Shi to suspect that Zhang was testing him.
• Cheng Shi told Zhen Xin that deception could be an act of devotion if Foolish Play had consented, then said he had a plan to use identity suppression against Long Jing.
• Li Jingming revealed that he had secretly planted a memory item among Kraun's corpse fragments to monitor the stage from afar.
• Long Jing realized that Cheng Shi and Zhen Yi had fooled him during the chase, but he accepted his loss and hoped to restore his standing with Foolish Play.
• Long Jing and the Dragon King returned to the theater and found a tall, slender Masked man standing over the three players onstage.

Cheng Shi, Zhen Xin, and Zhang Jizu continued their act before Long Jing, who realized the masked figure was Lord Foolish Play and tried to claim credit for his trial performance. Long Jing’s boastful devotion and the Lips of Foolish Play exposing his thoughts left the theater struggling to contain its laughter.

• Long Jing recognized the masked figure as Lord Foolish Play after hearing the voice of the ghost from the Place of Piety.
• Long Jing bowed and praised Lord Foolish Play, claiming his devotion and mentioning that he had obtained one ear during the trial.
• Zhang Jizu wondered whether Cheng Shi’s convincing portrayal of Foolish Play meant the deity truly existed, while Zhen Xin silently questioned Cheng Shi about his own worship.
• Long Jing continued boasting about his devotion, and the Lips of Foolish Play revealed his private thoughts about the trial benefiting Zhen.
• The Dragon King covered Long Jing’s mouth as the players onstage fought to keep from laughing.

Cheng Shi impersonated Lord Foolish Play to reward the players and test Long Jing’s response to guidance toward a second faith. The chapter ended with Long Jing unexpectedly asking to fuse with Time, leaving Cheng Shi stunned.

• Cheng Shi praised the players’ performances and credited Zhen Yi with finding the Ear of Secret Prying.
• Zhen Yi asked Lord Foolish Play to guide Zhen Xin toward a second faith, while Cheng Shi used the request to bait Long Jing.
• Cheng Shi agreed to Zhen Yi’s request and arranged for his illusion to make a wish as well, prompting Long Jing to seek a reward.
• Long Jing praised Lord Foolish Play and asked for guidance in finding a second faith.
• Long Jing declared that he wanted to follow a path leading to Time, shocking Cheng Shi.

Long Jing sought a path to fuse Deception with Time and learned that Lord Foolish Play could arrange a meeting with Hour Hand. As Cheng Shi performed the role of Foolish Play, he secretly used a vessel of Nothingness tainted by Deception to make the act convincing.

• Long Jing recalled that he had planned to fuse Deception with Existence, then turned to Time and befriended Old Man before Old Man died.
• Lord Foolish Play appeared to take over Cheng Shi, overwhelmed those nearby with Deception’s aura, and offered to connect Long Jing with Hour Hand.
• Lord Foolish Play described Hour Hand as the first hour hand sculpted by Time and said that Memory had fallen, making Time’s surrender a matter of time.
• Zhen Xin, Zhang Jizu, and Li Jingming questioned whether Cheng Shi had been replaced by a real deity, while Cheng Shi continued his carefully planned performance.
• Cheng Shi revealed that he had taken the Kraun-like God of No Faith from behind the theater curtain and that it had dissolved into his consciousness as a vessel tainted by Deception.

Cheng Shi secretly captured the container tainted by Deception, the hidden treasure of Sandlais, and used Reflection of Departure to disguise its disappearance as the God of No Faith’s fall. As the trial ended, the other players confronted him about Hour Hand after Foolish Play had taken over his script and promised Long Jing an introduction.

• Cheng Shi deduced that the God of No Faith was a container hidden by the God of Merriment and that the other players had only seen fragments of Sandlais’s past.
• Cheng Shi used Reflection of Departure to create a copy of himself, concealed the container’s disappearance, and swallowed the container tainted by Deception.
• Cheng Shi recognized Squinty Old Zhang’s suspicions and reflected that his tests of Zhen Xin and Long Jing were part of his effort to gain power and prepare for greater conflicts.
• Foolish Play left Cheng Shi after rewarding the players, and Zhen Xin, Squinty Old Zhang, and Li Jingming concealed themselves as Long Jing departed the trial.
• The four clowns returned to the Joyful Theater, where Cheng Shi claimed Foolish Play had rewritten his script and asked whether anyone knew of Hour Hand.

Cheng Shi tested whether claiming to serve Time might earn him divine favor, then grew uneasy when Zhang Jizu’s warning suggested Foolish Play could be trying to return through him. Lips of Foolish Play denied that Cheng Shi was a vessel for Foolish Play, but Cheng Shi remained cautious as he and Zhang Jizu ended on a joke about a forgotten debt.

• Cheng Shi claimed to be the Hour Hand to see whether Time would treat him as a servant, while the other players speculated about Foolish Play and recognized one another as jesters.
• Li Jingming left the trial after saying he had gained much from it, and Zhen Xin departed after arranging to bring Cheng Shi the audience’s results.
• Zhang Jizu asked Cheng Shi for a memory-erasing item, then warned him to be himself and used the Remembrance Requiem to forget what he had learned about Foolish Play.
• Cheng Shi realized Zhang Jizu suspected Foolish Play might resurrect itself through him by gathering its fragments, and he wondered whether the Mask and Lips of Foolish Play were part of such a plan.
• Lips of Foolish Play told Cheng Shi he was merely a vessel for an idiot clown soul, not for Foolish Play, but Cheng Shi kept his suspicions in mind.
• After Zhang Jizu awoke with no memory of the warning, Cheng Shi crushed the note and teased him about owing a hundred S-grade items; Zhang Jizu offered cemetery graves as collateral.

After the trial ended, Cheng Shi parted from Zhang Jizu and went to find Ai Si, intending to keep God of Merriment’s pawn close and recruit her. Ai Si emerged from a buried Coffin Camp believing Long Jing had lost and that she owed Cheng Shi two favors.

• Cheng Shi thanked Zhang Jizu for his help and offered to call on the Clown for aid if he ever needed it.
• Zhang Jizu left the trial, and Cheng Shi headed to the Place of Piety to meet Ai Si.
• Ai Si waited underground in a Coffin Camp for two days before Cheng Shi found her and coaxed her out.
• Ai Si guessed that Long Jing had lost, sighed over failing to help Cheng Shi, and promised him two favors.

Cheng Shi delivered Lord Foolish Play’s guidance to Ai Si, giving her a chance at Faith Fusion and a way to share its developments. Before the trial ended, Ai Si revealed the secrets she had heard, leaving Cheng Shi wondering whether the Dragon King’s lost memories were connected to Memory.

• Cheng Shi told Ai Si that Lord Foolish Play had sent guidance, and she worried that she was not capable enough to become his servant.
• Cheng Shi relayed the instruction to pray to the lord on the Bone Throne and tell Lord Foolish Play about anything interesting during Faith Fusion.
• Ai Si realized Cheng Shi was the person whose coattails she could cling to and promised to share news with him.
• Ai Si told Cheng Shi the secrets she had heard in the mist, and he wondered who the Dragon King had lost from his memory.
• Cheng Shi and Ai Si left the trial together, and Cheng Shi received an S performance rating, five S-rank masks, 19 Path to Godhood points, and 3 Ladder of Audience points.

Long Jing and Li Jingming each received zero points for the Path to Godhood, leaving them to question what secret they had missed in the trial. Li Jingming investigated his sinister mirror and found that the Mask matched a painting hidden in Memory's Archive.

• Long Jing woke in the ruined theater with zero points for the Path to Godhood and wondered whether Sandlais held another secret.
• Long Jing inspected the Hour Hand and considered seeking an audience with it, despite uncertainty about whether the God of Merriment would allow Deception to fuse with time.
• Li Jingming returned to the Taoist temple and concluded that the trial's events seemed correct despite his double-zero score.
• Li Jingming summoned the full-length mirror and asked its Mirror Walker whether it knew Foolish Play; the Mirror Walker refused to answer further without a pact.
• Li Jingming entered Memory's Archive and discovered that the Mask matched the shape of a painting that Memory had smeared over.

Zhen Xin tried to find a way to reach Chaos and investigate the risks of Faith Fusion, while Zhen Yi took her turn and decided to help her sister pursue Chaos. The chapter left Zhen Yi praying to the God of Merriment.

• Zhen Xin reviewed her zero Path to Godhood score and wondered why Zhang Jizu had questioned Cheng Shi about the timing of the Foolish Game’s descent.
• Zhen Xin worried that Mingyu might be hiding risks related to Faith Fusion and planned to verify whether fusion could harm an individual.
• Zhen Xin devised a playful way to seek an audience with Chaos, then changed places with Zhen Yi after altering the scalpel exhibit.
• Zhen Yi teased Zhen Xin over the exhibit and found her sister’s notes listing Faith Fusion options, including Chaos as an option she had crossed out.
• Zhen Yi decided to help Zhen Xin fuse with Chaos and began praying to the God of Merriment.

In Fishbone Hall, Zhang Jizu warned the God of Death about Deception’s request, and the Great One reluctantly agreed to help while cautioning him about his growing ties to Cheng Shi. Zhang Jizu also learned that Nothingness and Existence had no subordinate gods and that Nothingness once fought Existence in a war over control of the era.

• The God of Death accused Deception of meddling in its Faith Fusion, but Zhang Jizu advised it to accept Deception’s request to avoid indirect harassment from other gods.
• The God of Death agreed to help Deception once more and warned Zhang Jizu to stay away from Cheng Shi because he carried too much of Deception’s aura.
• Zhang Jizu asked whether Nothingness had a subordinate god called Fool’s Play, and the God of Death said Nothingness and Existence had never had subordinate gods.
• The God of Death explained that Nothingness and Existence fought a great battle after Nothingness descended, and that the gods still feared the two might be united despite their apparent rift.
• The God of Death dismissed Zhang Jizu’s concern about what would happen to believers with Faith Fusion if Nothingness split apart, then sent him away.

Ai Si sought Death’s faith to escape the lifespan cost of her War contract, but her prayer brought her before Death, who mistook her for a message from Deception and went to confront War. Meanwhile, Cheng Shi appeared backstage at the Joyful Theater and faced a packed audience.

• Ai Si prayed to Death for a chance to extend her life, but a void fluctuation swept her from reality before she finished.
• Death questioned Ai Si about death and war, then sent her away and traveled toward War to answer what it believed was Deception’s message.
• Cheng Shi awoke backstage at the Joyful Theater in Sandlais and cautiously peered through the curtains at the waiting audience.
• Cheng Shi opened the curtains and laughed, asking whether the audience had really expected a performance.

Annihilation confronted Death in the Void, seeking revenge and a victory to restore Sinking’s reputation. Death summoned the divine scythe, and the clash ended with Death’s green flames incinerating the Void around them.

• Annihilation halted Fishbone Hall in the collapsing Void and attacked, beginning a God War with Death.
• Annihilation recalled how the Void rulers had rejected it and how Death had humiliated it during the Void Civil War.
• Annihilation ordered its believers to kill Death’s believers while it tried to hold Death back and seize an advantage in their war of faith.
• Death warned Annihilation that it would suffer defeat, then summoned an enormous scythe as Annihilation descended with disintegrating worlds.
• Annihilation’s power began stripping divinity from Death’s scythe, but Death unleashed green flames that incinerated the surrounding Void.

Deception trapped Death and Decay’s substitute in the void while Annihilation used their clash to set a trap and pursue Cheng Shi. Death warned that Cheng Shi was in grave danger, but Deception denied caring about him.

• Deception revealed it had blocked the void’s fluctuations and prevented other gods from noticing the battle.
• Deception tricked Annihilation into losing its chance to escape, and Death attacked it with its scythe.
• Annihilation’s apparent defeat triggered Decay’s substitute to release a prison that trapped Death and Deception.
• Deception recognized that Annihilation had disguised itself using Decay’s redundant divinity and had used the trap to escape.
• The real Annihilation emerged from a dying world and headed toward its unsuspecting target.
• Death warned that Annihilation intended to destroy Cheng Shi, but Deception claimed Cheng Shi was only one of its many believers.

God of Merriment challenged Death over his claim that Deception had an Emissary, then urged Death to investigate what happened to Order and War in the Sea of Desire. After Deception vanished, Death failed to escape the prison and wondered whether Deception’s path—and the fate of his employee—had been predetermined.

• God of Merriment insisted that Death was deceiving himself about Deception’s Emissary, while Death argued that no god had fallen during the war with Existence.
• God of Merriment asked why Death had not investigated War and suggested that Order and War had undergone strange changes in the Sea of Desire.
• Death warned God of Merriment not to provoke Filth and Decay and cautioned that, without his protection, he could not safeguard his followers’ gifts.
• God of Merriment teased Death about his followers and War’s bloodlust, then vanished despite having seemed trapped.
• Death’s attempt to cut through the rotting prison failed, and he found no trace of Deception’s divinity on his scythe.
• Death concluded that Fool’s Game had not fallen and wondered whether his employee’s future, Deception’s fate, or Destiny’s plan was predetermined.